Bluebeam alternative
Bluebeam Alternative for Construction Markup
ContractorCounter covers the part of Revu most contractors use every day: open the drawing, mark it up, measure, count and send a clean PDF, in the browser on Windows, Mac and iPad, without a desktop suite.
Updated · 6 min read · Sources
On this page
- Bluebeam alternatives by job
- Bluebeam vs ContractorCounter
- What you can do for free
- See it on a real drawing
- Who should switch, and who should stay
- Where your Revu habits land
- Mac and iPad without a virtual machine
- Compare the AI workflow, not the label
- Revu 20 support has ended
- Try it on your own drawing first
- Questions
- Sources
Free preview, no card. Nothing is saved or exported until you subscribe, from US$1 a week, billed US$4 every 4 weeks.
Bluebeam alternatives by job
Most teams replace Revu for one job, not all of them. Pick the row that matches the job; every price was read from the vendor's own pricing page.
| Tool | Best for | Price (vendor list, Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| ContractorCounter | Subcontractors and small teams: mark up, measure and count in the browser (Windows, Mac, iPad), then price a Bill of Quantities into a quote. | Free preview; Pro US$1 a week per person, billed US$4 every 4 weeks, or US$39 a year; Lifetime US$78 one-time |
| Drawboard Projects | Cross-platform drawing markup with real-time collaboration on iOS, Windows and the web. | US$270–US$370 per user per year (US$29–US$39 billed monthly) |
| STACK | Cloud takeoff and estimating for estimating teams that want maintained material databases and bid tools. | Takeoff & Estimate from US$299 per user per month; a free version is offered |
| PlanSwift | High-volume takeoff with assemblies for a Windows office. It cannot be installed directly on a Mac. | US$2,000 (Essential) or US$3,000 (Core) per seat per year |
| Fieldwire | Jobsite task management with plan markup for field teams. | Free for 5 users and 3 projects; paid from US$39 per user per month, billed annually |
| Bluebeam Revu | The full desktop PDF toolset with Studio Sessions, tool chests and advanced editing. Revu is a Windows app; Bluebeam's web and iOS apps have a different feature set. | US$260 (Basics) to US$590 (Max) per user per year |
Bluebeam vs ContractorCounter
Compare the workflow, access and costs that matter to your team. The right choice depends on how you work.
| Category | ContractorCounter | Bluebeam |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Subcontractors and small teams taking drawings through quantities, rates and quotes. | AEC teams that need the full desktop Revu toolset and Studio ecosystem. |
| Price | Free preview; Pro US$1 a week per person, billed US$4 every 4 weeks or US$39 a year per person, teams included; Lifetime US$78 one-time. | US$260–$590 per user per year (Basics / Core / Complete / Max, 2026 list pricing); no free tier. |
| Free access and trial | Free preview with no card: mark up any drawing in the session. Nothing is saved or exported. No trial. | 14-day free trial, no credit card required; paid plans to continue. |
| Platforms | Any modern browser: Windows, macOS, iPad. No install. | Revu is a Windows desktop app; Bluebeam also offers web and mobile tools with different capabilities. |
| Workflow | Open drawings, mark up issues, measure, count, and export clean PDFs. | Deep PDF editing, tool chests, markups list, studio sessions, and enterprise standards. |
| Takeoff to quote | Measurements and counts feed a live Bill of Quantities that flows into multi-version quotes. | Measurement and takeoff tools; pricing happens in separate estimating software. |
| Collaboration | Real-time workspace sharing on every paid plan: invite by email or link, mark up the same drawings together with live cursors and presence — right in the browser. | Studio sessions and projects for large-team, document-control collaboration. |
| Setup | Web workspace for lightweight contractor review: sign up and open a drawing. | Desktop-led install with broader configuration depth. |
What you can do for free
Free preview: mark up any drawing. Nothing is saved or exported. Subscribe for US$1 a week, billed US$4 every 4 weeks when you want to keep, export or share the work.
| Feature | Free preview | Pro (US$1 a week, billed US$4 every 4 weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Markup tools (callouts, stamps, text, highlights) | In the session | Included |
| Calibrated measurement (length, area, volume) | In the session | Included |
| Symbol counts | In the session | Included |
| Live Bill of Quantities | In the session, not exported | Included, with exports |
| PDF export | Paid plan required | Clean, no watermark |
| Saved workspaces | None, nothing is saved | Unlimited |
| AI agent | Not included | Included |
See it on a real drawing
This is the real workspace on a sample drawing. Create a free account, with no card, to use it on your own drawings.
Explore the workspace
Every count stays on the drawing.
This is the real workspace. Create a free account to use it on your own drawings.
Sample drawing · scripted walkthrough and AI responses.
Who should switch, and who should stay
Switch if you are a subcontractor or small team that opens drawings, adds callouts and stamps, measures, counts and exports a PDF. Stay on Revu if you are on Complete or Max and use Studio Sessions across a large team, enterprise tool chests, advanced PDF editing or the Revit-connected sessions.
Where your Revu habits land
Callouts, arrows, text, highlights and clouds work the same way in the drawing markup workspace. Repeated markups become stamps. Measurement starts by calibrating the scale once per sheet, then lengths, areas, volumes and grouped counts read from it (takeoff in Bluebeam shows the Revu side for comparison). Studio collaboration on your own jobs becomes workspace sharing: invite by email or link and mark up together with live cursors. There is no equivalent for tool chests, advanced PDF editing, or joining someone else's Studio Session.
Mac and iPad without a virtual machine
Revu is a Windows desktop app; Bluebeam's web and mobile tools have a different feature set. ContractorCounter runs in the browser on Mac, Windows and iPad with nothing to install, so the same drawing opens on a MacBook at the desk and on an iPad on site. If you need Revu itself on a Mac, here is how to use Bluebeam on a Mac and what each route costs; on an iPad, Revu has been replaced by a field app, covered in Bluebeam for iPad.
Compare the AI workflow, not the label
Bluebeam Max adds AI review and comparison, stitching, Magic Markups and a Revu–Claude integration, which needs a supported Windows Revu version and your own Claude subscription. ContractorCounter's AI assistant places counts, measurements and rate suggestions in the browser for you to review, within the plan's allowance. Test both on the same drawing; the Bluebeam Max review covers what Max adds over Complete.
Revu 20 support has ended
Revu 20 reached end of support on July 31, 2026: no support tickets and no self-service seat moves. End of life follows on December 31, 2026, when Studio Sessions, Studio Projects and API access stop. The perpetual licence keeps running, unsupported. Upgrading means a Revu 21 subscription; what Bluebeam Revu costs in 2026 shows each tier's three-year total, and the migration path off Revu 20 covers the switch.
Try it on your own drawing first
Create a free account with no card and open a real drawing: markup, calibrated measurement, counts and the live Bill of Quantities all work in the session. Nothing is saved or exported and AI is not included, so it is a test, not a free plan. Subscribing keeps the workspace you are on. The free-preview table above shows exactly what changes when you pay.
Questions about Bluebeam alternative
Is ContractorCounter a Bluebeam replacement?
For the markup work most contractors do day to day (opening drawings, adding callouts and stamps, calibrating the scale, measuring lengths and areas, counting fixtures, and exporting a clean PDF), yes, ContractorCounter covers the workflow without a desktop install. It runs in the browser on Windows, macOS, and iPad, has a free preview with no card, and Pro costs US$39 a year (or US$1 a week, billed US$4 every 4 weeks) against Bluebeam's US$260–$590 per user per year. What it does not try to replace is the deep end of Revu: enterprise tool chests, Studio sessions across large AEC teams, advanced PDF editing, and document-control standards. Teams that live in those features should keep Revu. Contractors who use a fraction of Revu to review and measure drawings usually find the browser workflow faster to adopt and far cheaper to run.
What is Bluebeam Max, and is it worth it?
Max is Revu Complete plus Bluebeam's AI review, comparison, stitching, Magic Markups and Revit-connected sessions, at US$590 per user per year against Complete's US$440. It pays off for teams reviewing revised sets every week; it adds nothing to everyday markup, measurement and counting. The full breakdown is in the [Bluebeam Max review](/bluebeam-max-review).
Is there a free Bluebeam alternative?
Create a free account with no card and mark up, measure and count your own drawing in the preview. Nothing is saved or exported, and AI is not included. There is no trial: Pro is US$1 a week, billed US$4 every 4 weeks, and paying keeps the work you are on.
Does a Bluebeam alternative work on a Mac?
ContractorCounter runs in the browser, so it works natively on macOS and iPad as well as Windows — no virtual machine and no second laptop. Bluebeam Revu is Windows-first, which is the usual reason Mac contractors look for an alternative, and Max's AI setup is documented for Windows with the Claude desktop app.
What happens to Revu 20 after July 31, 2026?
Support ended on July 31, 2026: no more support tickets, and no self-service seat releases, so you can no longer move a license to a new machine yourself. End of life follows on December 31, 2026, when Studio Sessions, Studio Projects, and API access are cut off. The software itself keeps running.
Can I keep using my Revu 20 perpetual license?
Yes. A perpetual license keeps working after end of support — offline-only and unsupported, with no seat moves and, from December 31, 2026, no Studio or API access. The practical question is whether an unsupported desktop tool is where you want your markup and measurement workflow to live.
How much does ContractorCounter cost compared to Bluebeam?
Bluebeam lists Revu at US$260 per user per year for Basics, US$330 for Core, US$440 for Complete, and US$590 for Max — the premium AI tier — on 2026 pricing, and there is no free tier. You can try ContractorCounter free in a preview with no card: mark up, measure and count a drawing in the session, with nothing saved or exported. Pro is US$1 a week per person, billed US$4 every 4 weeks (or US$39 yearly), teams pay the same per person, and the Lifetime license is US$78 one-time. Compare like-for-like annual billing: Pro is US$39 a year and Bluebeam Basics is US$260 per user.
See whether it fits your next job.
Start with your own drawing in the free preview. No card required.
Sources
Bluebeam's prices and every price in the market table were re-read from each vendor's own pricing page on the date shown. The Max feature list and the Revu–Claude integration requirements were last checked against the linked Bluebeam pages on 2026-09-09. Our own prices come from our pricing page.
- Reviewed
- Checked by
- Tylar E., founder
Max is priced as an introductory rate that Bluebeam says holds through the 2027 renewal; standard list pricing after that has not been published, so the long-run cost of the AI tier is not yet knowable. Vendor pricing and requirements change without notice, and regional pricing differs. Open the linked pages before deciding on price alone.
Published sources
- Bluebeam trial and platforms14-day trial without a card; Windows Revu and web/mobile tools have different capabilities.
- Bluebeam pricingBasics US$260, Core US$330, Complete US$440, and Max US$590 per user per year, billed annually; Max is marked as an introductory price.
- Bluebeam MaxMax is a premium plan that includes everything in Complete plus AI integration via MCP, AI drawing reviews, AI drawing comparisons, AI multi-view stitching, Magic Markups, and Connected Studio Sessions with Revit.
- Bluebeam support: set up Revu and ClaudeThe Revu–Claude integration requires a Max plan, supported Windows Revu and a Claude subscription. AI-provider usage limits apply; this is not a quoted extra token charge for every Max feature.
- PlanSwift pricingEssential US$2,000 and Core US$3,000 per seat per year; Core adds Auto Takeoff; 14-day trial without a card.
- PlanSwift system requirementsDesigned for Windows Professional and Enterprise; cannot be installed directly on a Mac.
- STACK pricingTakeoff & Estimate from US$299 per user per month; a free version is offered.
- Drawboard pricingDrawboard Projects Team US$29 and Growth US$39 per user per month, or US$270 and US$370 per user per year; iOS, Windows and web.
- Fieldwire pricingBasic free for up to 5 users and 3 projects; Pro US$39, Business US$64 and Business Plus US$89 per user per month, billed annually.
- Togal.AI pricingGrowth US$299 per user per month, billed yearly; Business pricing is custom for teams of four or more.