Free Bluebeam alternative
ContractorCounter starts free: upload PDF or image drawings, calibrate the scale once, and mark up, measure, and count in the browser. No trial clock, no card required to start.
The free plan is a working markup and measurement workspace. Paid plans add clean exports, a live Bill of Quantities, and shared review when the work grows into them. Comparing the field first? See the 7 best Bluebeam alternatives.
Desktop AEC suites price for enterprises. ContractorCounter is priced for contractors: free to start, a flat monthly Pro plan, or a one-time lifetime license.
Markup tools, calibrated linear and area measurement, symbol counts, comments, and stamps — the everyday Revu jobs, in a browser.
A practical comparison for contractors choosing a markup and drawing review workflow.
| Category | ContractorCounter | Bluebeam |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Contractors who want fast browser-based markup and measurement. | AEC teams that need the full desktop Revu toolset and Studio ecosystem. |
| Price | Free plan; Pro US$29/month; Team US$99/month (5 seats); Lifetime US$499 one-time. | US$260–$440 per user per year (Basics / Core / Complete, 2026 list pricing); no free tier. |
| Free plan | Yes — markup, calibrated measurement, and counts with no card and no trial clock. Free exports carry a watermark. | No free tier; paid annual subscription only. |
| Platforms | Any modern browser — Windows, macOS, iPad. No install. | Windows-first desktop app; Mac users typically run a VM or second machine. |
| 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 | Shared team workspace on the Team plan; clean PDF exports anyone can open. | 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. |
The exact line between the free plan and Pro — no surprises mid-job.
| Feature | Free | Pro (US$29/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Markup tools (callouts, stamps, text, highlights) | Included | Included |
| Calibrated measurement (length, area, volume) | Included | Included |
| Symbol counts | Included | Included |
| PDF export | Watermarked | Clean, no watermark |
| Quote & export branding | ContractorCounter branding | Your logo and company branding |
| Live Bill of Quantities | Not included | Included |
| Seats | 1 | 1 (Team plan: 5) |
Common questions
Yes — and it is a working tool, not a time-boxed trial. On the free plan you can upload PDF or image drawings, calibrate the scale, mark up with the full tool set (callouts, arrows, stamps, text, highlights), measure lengths and areas, and run symbol counts. There is no card required and no trial clock counting down. The honest catch: exports on the free plan carry a ContractorCounter watermark, and the live Bill of Quantities plus team review are paid features. When the work grows into clean exports or connected quantities, Pro is US$29/month flat, or the lifetime license is US$499 one-time. The plan table above shows exactly where the line sits, so you are never surprised by a paywall mid-job.
Bluebeam lists Revu at US$260 per user per year for Basics, US$330 for Core, and US$440 for Complete (2026 pricing), and there is no free tier. ContractorCounter starts free — markup, calibrated measurement, and counts with no card required — then Pro is US$29/month, Team is US$99/month for five seats, and a lifetime license is US$499 one-time. A full year of Pro works out to US$348, which lands between Bluebeam Basics and Complete — but you only pay for the months you actually use, you can prove the workflow on the free plan before spending anything, and the lifetime license costs less than two years of Basics with no renewal ever. For occasional reviewers and seasonal workloads, the month-to-month shape usually matters more than the headline number.
ContractorCounter is focused on drawing markup, PDF annotation, calibrated measurement, counts, stamps, comments, and clean exports. Estimating can happen after the markup work is clear.
Yes — ContractorCounter is fully browser-based, which means it runs on Windows, macOS, and iPad without an installer, a Windows-only desktop dependency, or a virtual-machine workaround for Mac users. Upload PDF or image drawings, calibrate the scale once per sheet, and the full markup, measurement, and counting workflow runs in the tab — at the desk or on site. Because the workspace lives in the browser, the same drawing opens identically on every machine, so the office and the field are always looking at the same markups without anyone syncing files or matching software versions. If your team has been locked out of desktop-first tools on Mac or iPad, this is the structural difference to test first.