7 Best On-Screen Takeoff Alternatives in 2026

On-Screen Takeoff (OST) is a Windows takeoff program from On Center Software, a ConstructConnect company that also makes Quick Bid and Digital Production Control. Estimators measure plans by conditions, draw several conditions at once with Multi-Condition Takeoff, handle repeated floors and units with Typical Areas, Groups and Repeating Pages, and price the bid in Quick Bid, in Excel or on OST's own worksheet. ConstructConnect sells it by quote, and existing customers hold either a subscription or a perpetual license with annual maintenance.

In 2026 the way OST is licensed and signed into changed. Named logins began replacing license keys in June, subscriptions now come in four tiers, and what you keep when payments stop depends on which license you hold. If a renewal is coming up, it is a good moment to check whether OST still fits your work. This guide explains the changes from ConstructConnect's own help articles, then compares seven alternatives by the part of OST each one replaces.

What Changed With On-Screen Takeoff in 2026

ConstructConnect explains the changes in two help center articles, one for subscription customers and one for perpetual license holders, alongside its product lifecycle policy. The dates first:

Named logins replaced license keys. From June 2026, starting with version 4.0.0.805, subscription and perpetual customers sign in with an email address and password instead of a license key, and once a company is migrated, the keys for its old version stop working. ConstructConnect says the change affects how you sign in, not your tier, price or license. OST stays a desktop application with the same system requirements, and existing projects, settings and workflows carry over. Quick Bid was planned to follow toward the middle or end of September 2026.

Subscriptions come in four tiers. Essential covers core desktop takeoff, reports, export and printing, with Auto Link, Auto Count, Auto Takeoff on five projects and Project Cloud Sync. Core adds unlimited Auto Takeoff. Plus bundles Essential with Quick Bid and Digital Production Control (DPC), ConstructConnect's software for foremen to track production and time on site, and Professional bundles Core with the same two. You can cancel at any time and keep access to the end of the period, but discounted renewal pricing doesn't survive a lapse: come back later and you pay the full list rate.

What happens when payments stop depends on the license. When a subscription lapses, OST opens in PlanViewer mode: your local projects open and the quick takeoff and annotation tools work, but nothing can be saved to a project, and Takeoff BOOST and Cloud Sync stop. A perpetual license with active maintenance becomes a "legacy" perpetual license at no cost beyond the normal maintenance renewal and its usual annual increases. If you later stop renewing, the software still runs, but the Takeoff BOOST features switch off: Auto Takeoff, Auto Count, Auto Name, Auto Link, project sharing and the transformation tools. Maintenance that has already expired can't be reinstated; the way back is a new subscription at prevailing prices.

Maintenance tiers decide a perpetual license's AI tools. Standard covers core takeoff, reports, export, printing and Auto Name by OCR. Advanced adds Auto Name by AI, Auto Scale, Auto Link, Auto Count and Auto Takeoff on five projects. Premium adds unlimited Auto Takeoff and DPC. Quick Bid stays a separate product at every maintenance tier.

The price is a quote. ConstructConnect's On-Screen Takeoff page says pricing varies with licensing options and business needs, and offers a 14-day trial. Its pricing page lists ConstructConnect Takeoff's plans but no price for OST or Quick Bid. To compare fairly, ask for a quote on the tier you would actually use, and ask what the renewal will cost.

It runs on Windows 11. ConstructConnect certifies OST on Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise. On a Mac, Windows has to run underneath: Boot Camp on an Intel Mac is a supported setup, while Apple silicon Macs need a virtual machine such as Parallels and your own Windows 11 license. ConstructConnect expects that to work but doesn't test it or provide technical support for it. iPads can't run Windows programs at all, and for other devices ConstructConnect points to its browser app, ConstructConnect Takeoff.

None of this changes how On-Screen Takeoff measures. What the changes raise is whether the next renewal pays for the parts of OST you use.

Which Part of On-Screen Takeoff Are You Replacing?

An OST seat can carry several jobs: the takeoff, Quick Bid's estimating, DPC in the field and, on a shared SQL database, a whole department's projects. Separate them before you compare prices, because each alternative replaces a different part.

If you mostly measure and count, and the pricing happens in Excel, what you need is dependable takeoff and a clean way to move quantities into your workbook, and several tools here do that for less than an estimating platform costs. If Quick Bid prices your bids, you need software that prices the work, and you should expect to rebuild your items and assemblies in it. If your foremen report production in DPC, treat that as its own decision: Easy Takeoffs doesn't track production, and you should ask any other vendor before you count on it.

The Seven Alternatives Side by Side

These are published prices for one user before tax, from each vendor's site in October 2026. The terms differ as much as the prices. Easy Takeoffs and Square Takeoff can be paid month to month without a contract. PlanSwift is an annual subscription, and ConstructConnect Takeoff's annual contracts can't be canceled mid-term. Bluebeam bills its plans annually, Togal.AI's Growth plan is billed yearly, and STACK's paid plans are 12-month terms even when you pay monthly. For a wider look at what takeoff software costs over a year of bids, see our guide to cheap construction takeoff software, and Easy Takeoffs pricing for its one plan.

Teams add seats differently. PlanSwift's additional seats cost $1,500 on Essential, ConstructConnect Takeoff Professional's cost $1,700, and Togal.AI quotes its Business plan for four or more users. Square Takeoff quotes multiple licenses by phone, and Easy Takeoffs is one user per account for now, so a team pays for one account per estimator.

The Options, One by One

Easy Takeoffs

$39 a month or $399 a year, one plan with every feature. The 14-day trial needs no credit card.

Easy Takeoffs covers the takeoff side of OST and leaves the pricing to the spreadsheet or estimating system you already use. It runs in a browser and saves projects to the cloud, so there is nothing to install and no license key to manage.

Where OST organizes a takeoff by conditions, Easy Takeoffs uses measurement groups: a group collects related measurements, such as one wall type, and an assembly attached to it turns their lengths, areas and counts into materials. For interior work, built-in assemblies cover metal stud framing, drywall walls and ceilings, and acoustical ceiling grids, working out studs, track and screws; sheets, compound and tape; and tiles, tees, wall angle and hanger wire. There are 44 built-in assemblies across the trades, a community library, and your own formulas and waste factors. Save a project's groups as a tool set and they are ready for the next job.

For repeated units such as apartments or hotel rooms, a repeating group lets you measure the unit once and place linked copies wherever it repeats; one change updates every copy, and for floors the sheet doesn't show, you type the number of units. Sheets are named from their title blocks as they upload, detected scales are offered as suggestions you confirm, and symbol search finds a repeated symbol from one example so you can review the matches and add them as counts. On PDFs exported from CAD, Dynamic Fill measures a room with one click.

Thirteen markup tools cover clouds, callouts, stamps, highlights and more, and eleven geometry and text tools reshape with grab handles after you place them. When a revised set arrives, you can switch between the old and new sheets or swipe a divider across both, and measurements that need a second look are marked for review. Exports include an annotated PDF with a takeoff summary, a CSV, and a copy of your own Excel workbook with each quantity written into the cell you choose. That works much like linking OST conditions to Excel cells, except that it fills a copy when you export rather than keeping a live link. A read-only link shares a project with anyone, no account needed.

Runs on: a browser on Windows, Mac, iPad and Chromebook, with nothing to install.

Choose it if your OST hours go to measuring, counting and marking up, the pricing happens in Excel, and you want to work on a Mac or iPad or pay month to month instead of renewing a license.

Not the right fit if Quick Bid prices your bids or DPC tracks your field production; Easy Takeoffs calculates quantities, not costs, and doesn't track production. It has no automatic first pass that measures a whole sheet the way Auto Takeoff does. Each account is one user for now, without shared team projects, and OST projects don't import.

Bluebeam Revu

Complete is $440 per user a year; Core is $330 and Basics $260. All Bluebeam plans are billed annually and include Bluebeam on the web and mobile, and the 14-day trial needs no credit card.

If your office already pays for Bluebeam for markup and document review, check what your plan measures before you buy anything new. Core measures length, area, perimeter, count, angle and volume, and overlays drawing versions. Complete adds Dynamic Fill, Quantity Link, which sends measurement totals to an Excel workbook, and Batch Link, which hyperlinks a set of sheets. Bluebeam keeps measurements as markups rather than conditions or assemblies, and doesn't price the work, so quantities and costs live in your workbook. Our Easy Takeoffs and Bluebeam comparison puts the two side by side.

Runs on: Windows for Revu. Bluebeam on the web and the iOS app measure area, length, polylength and count; measuring is not yet available on Android.

Choose it if your office works in Bluebeam on Windows anyway, markup and review fill much of the day, and an Excel link matters more to you than conditions.

Not the right fit if you are leaving OST to get off Windows, since Revu's full toolset runs only there, or you rely on conditions and Quick Bid pricing. Our Bluebeam alternatives guide covers its plans and the Revu 20 retirement.

ConstructConnect Takeoff

Starter is $1,200 a year for a single seat; Professional is $2,200 a year for the first seat and $1,700 for each additional seat. Both are annual contracts on ConstructConnect's pricing page, which says subscriptions can't be canceled mid-term, refunded or paused. A trial of Professional is arranged through sales.

ConstructConnect Takeoff is the browser app from the team behind On-Screen Takeoff, PlanSwift and Takeoff BOOST, and the tool ConstructConnect suggests to people who want its takeoff on a Mac or any other system. Pages are named and scaled automatically, you measure with conditions, and Professional adds Auto Takeoff, the Takeoff BOOST AI that measures linear, area and count conditions for you. Starter limits each project to 25 plans; Professional removes the limit and lets estimating teams work from the same project in the cloud, with collaborators who can view and edit. ConstructConnect built it for interior trade contractors (drywall, acoustical ceiling tile, painting and flooring), and its October release notes add estimating in beta, with material and labor costs on a finished takeoff. Ask whether your OST projects and condition styles carry over before you count on it.

Runs on: a browser on Chromebook, iPad, Mac, Windows, Android and iPhone.

Choose it if you want to keep ConstructConnect's conditions and Takeoff BOOST but leave Windows behind, and your work is interior trade takeoff by length, area and count.

Not the right fit if you want to pay monthly; both plans are annual contracts, and Starter is limited to one seat and 25 plans per project.

Square Takeoff

$1,699 a year, $599 a quarter, or $249 a month with no contract. Every plan on Square Takeoff's pricing page includes all features, unlimited jobs and unlimited storage, and there is a 14-day trial.

Square Takeoff, part of Buildertrend, puts takeoff and estimating in one online tool, which makes it worth a look if Quick Bid is the part of OST you would miss. Estimates break out material, labor and equipment from a parts catalog you can build on, bid management keeps the bids on each project organized, and blueprint overlay compares versions. Team management controls who can view jobs and change details, the roof tools measure hips, valleys, gable ends and sheathing, and reports export to Excel.

Runs on: online, on Windows and Mac, with project details available on mobile devices.

Choose it if you price whole jobs in Quick Bid and want takeoff and estimates together online, or you prefer paying monthly without a contract.

Not the right fit if you need prices for several licenses up front; multiple licenses are quoted by phone.

PlanSwift

Essential is $2,000 a year for the first seat and $1,500 for each additional seat; Core is $3,000 and $2,500. Both plans on PlanSwift's pricing page include updates, support and training, and the 14-day trial of Core needs no credit card.

PlanSwift is ConstructConnect's other Windows takeoff program. ConstructConnect positions On-Screen Takeoff for general contractors and larger firms that need bid management, and PlanSwift for trade contractors and small and midsize businesses, with assemblies of materials, labor and waste that you build by dragging and dropping. Assemblies price the work as you measure, labor unit libraries hold your production rates, a live Excel link updates connected cells as the takeoff changes, and bid proposals come from the same estimate. Essential includes Auto Count, Auto Scale and Auto Bookmark; Core adds unlimited Auto Takeoff from the same Takeoff BOOST tools. Moving from OST to PlanSwift keeps you with one company and on Windows, with a published price and the pricing done inside the takeoff program instead of in Quick Bid.

Runs on: Windows. ConstructConnect says it can't be installed directly on a Mac; Mac users run it in Windows through a virtual machine such as Parallels, or through Boot Camp on Intel-based Macs.

Choose it if you work on Windows anyway, want assemblies, labor rates and a live Excel link in one installed program, and would rather see a published price than ask for a quote.

Not the right fit if you are leaving OST to get off Windows. Our PlanSwift alternatives guide covers its licensing, and our Easy Takeoffs and PlanSwift comparison puts the two side by side.

STACK

Premium is $3,588 per user a year and Pro is $4,188, billed annually on 12-month terms. Monthly payments on STACK's pricing page are $349 and $399 per user, still on a 12-month term. A free plan allows one active project a month, 300 plan pages and 50 measurements per project, without printing, exports or reports.

STACK is takeoff and estimating software that runs in a browser on any device with an internet connection. Premium covers the takeoff: unlimited projects and measurements, exports and reports, an item and assembly library, overlays, automatic plan naming and hyperlinking, symbol search and recognition, AI Takeoffs for a first pass at walls, rooms, doors and windows, and unlimited viewer seats. For an OST and Quick Bid setup, Pro is the plan to compare: it adds worksheet estimating, STACK for Excel, the BNI cost library and proposals. Our Easy Takeoffs and STACK comparison puts the two side by side.

Runs on: a browser, on any device with an internet connection.

Choose it if you want takeoff and estimating in one browser platform, with shared items and assemblies for several estimators and free viewer seats for project managers.

Not the right fit if you want to commit for less than a year, or you only measure and count, in which case a Premium seat pays for tools you won't open. Our STACK alternatives guide covers its plans in detail.

Togal.AI

Growth is $3,588 per user per year, shown on Togal's pricing page as $299 a month per user, billed yearly. Business, for teams of four or more users, is quoted and lists quantity discounts.

Togal.AI is cloud takeoff software built around AI, so it suits estimators for whom Auto Takeoff is the part of OST they value most. The Togal button detects, measures and labels spaces on the drawings; image, text and pattern search find and count items from a box you draw; sheets are named automatically; and drawing sets can be compared to measure what changed. Growth includes collaboration with anyone in your account and with outside collaborators who don't need their own subscription, and quantities export to Excel or to estimating software. Our guide to AI takeoff software looks at what each tool's AI does.

Runs on: a web browser; Togal is cloud based, and its help center lists keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac.

Choose it if an AI first pass matters most to you, your team works on the same projects, and you price elsewhere.

Not the right fit if you want to sign up and start on your own; accounts are created from an invitation, and getting started goes through a demo with Togal's team.

Construction Platforms That Come Up as On-Screen Takeoff Competitors

Lists of On-Screen Takeoff competitors also include construction platforms with takeoff inside a larger system. They make sense when you are choosing software to run the whole job, not only to replace a takeoff tool. Here they are next to Easy Takeoffs, which does takeoff on its own:

Quick Bid comes up in the same searches. It is ConstructConnect's estimating program, which prices the quantities OST measures and connects with Excel, QuickBooks, Sage Estimating and ProContractor, so it pairs with a takeoff tool rather than replacing one.

Leaving On-Screen Takeoff Without Losing Work

Plan the move around your renewal. A subscription can be canceled at any time and runs to the end of the period. With a perpetual license, run your trials before maintenance expires: once it lapses, ConstructConnect won't reinstate it or offer the discounted subscription pricing that active maintenance customers get, although OST keeps working without the Takeoff BOOST features.

While everything still works, export what you want to keep. OST prints and exports its Projects, Summary and Estimate tabs, exports the Takeoff and Worksheet tabs to CSV, and exports bids as takeoff files or bid packages that OST can import again. Save the reports for recent and active bids, keep the plan PDFs on your own drive, and list the conditions you used on your last ten jobs; that list is what each alternative has to cover. OST projects don't import into Easy Takeoffs, and you should ask any other vendor, ConstructConnect included, before you count on an import.

If your company keeps OST projects in a shared SQL database and some estimators stay on OST during the move, coordinate updates. ConstructConnect warns that once a database is opened in a new version, people on older versions can't open it, and that only the database owner can upgrade a SQL database, after a full backup.

Then rebuild small, starting with the conditions you use every week. In Easy Takeoffs, begin from the built-in and community assemblies, adjust their formulas and waste factors, and save your groups as a tool set for the next job. If you are moving to a Mac or iPad at the same time, our Mac takeoff software guide covers which options run without Windows.

When Staying on On-Screen Takeoff Makes Sense

OST earns its renewal for departments that use the whole suite. If several estimators share condition styles and SQL databases, price bids in Quick Bid and have foremen reporting production in DPC, switching means rebuilding all of that, and the savings have to pay for the work. If you hold a perpetual license with active maintenance, the 2026 change costs nothing beyond your usual renewal, and ConstructConnect says the update brings AI tools that measure, count and organize plans while your projects, settings and workflows stay as they are.

Switching makes more sense when you pay for a tier whose estimating or field tools you don't use, when part of the team wants to work on a Mac or iPad, or when you would rather see a published price than negotiate a quote each year.

How We Researched This

Prices, plans and licensing come from each vendor's own website, checked on October 30, 2026: ConstructConnect's On-Screen Takeoff, Quick Bid, ConstructConnect Takeoff and pricing pages, and its help center articles on the OST sign-in changes for subscription and perpetual customers, the desktop product lifecycle, OST downloads and system requirements, running its software on a Mac, and exporting and pricing bids in OST; PlanSwift's pricing and features pages; STACK's pricing page and feature comparison; and the pricing pages of Bluebeam, Square Takeoff and Togal.AI, with Togal's help center. Easy Takeoffs details come from the product itself. Descriptions of the other tools summarize what their makers publish. Prices change, so confirm the plan and price with the vendor before you buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does On-Screen Takeoff cost?

ConstructConnect doesn't publish a price. Its On-Screen Takeoff page says pricing varies with licensing options and business needs and offers a 14-day trial, so the price comes from a quote. Subscriptions come in four tiers: Essential and Core for takeoff, and Plus and Professional, which add Quick Bid and Digital Production Control. Quick Bid's price isn't published either; its page offers a demo, and perpetual license holders buy it separately at every maintenance tier. The chart above shows the published yearly prices of the alternatives for comparison.

Does On-Screen Takeoff run on a Mac?

Not directly. OST is a Windows program, and ConstructConnect says none of its desktop applications install on macOS. On an Intel Mac, you can run Windows through Boot Camp, which ConstructConnect supports. On an Apple silicon Mac, the only route is a virtual machine such as Parallels with your own Windows 11 license, which ConstructConnect doesn't test or provide technical support for. Tools that run in a browser work on a Mac without Windows, including Easy Takeoffs, ConstructConnect Takeoff and STACK. Our Mac takeoff software guide covers the options, and Easy Takeoffs on Mac shows how it works there.

Can I use On-Screen Takeoff on an iPad?

No. ConstructConnect says iPads and iPhones can't run Windows programs, and suggests a Windows 11 tablet running a full edition of Windows for OST in the field. On an iPad, browser tools work instead: Easy Takeoffs runs in Safari with Apple Pencil support, ConstructConnect Takeoff runs in the iPad's browser, and Bluebeam's iOS app measures area, length, polylength and count. See Easy Takeoffs on iPad for how it works there.

Is there a free alternative to On-Screen Takeoff?

Not one that does what OST does. STACK has a free plan that doesn't expire, limited to one active project a month, 300 plan pages and 50 measurements per project, without printing, exports or reports. ConstructConnect lets you upload a single-page commercial plan and watch Takeoff BOOST make a first pass in your browser for free. Most paid tools offer trials: Easy Takeoffs, Bluebeam and PlanSwift for 14 days without a credit card, and Square Takeoff and On-Screen Takeoff for 14 days. Easy Takeoffs has no free plan; its trial includes every feature.

What happens to my On-Screen Takeoff perpetual license?

It stays a perpetual license, signed into with a named login instead of a key. With active maintenance, it becomes a "legacy" perpetual license at no cost beyond the normal renewal. If you stop renewing later, OST keeps working, but the Takeoff BOOST features switch off: Auto Takeoff, Auto Count, Auto Name, Auto Link, project sharing and the transformation tools. Once your company is migrated, the license keys for your old version are disabled, and maintenance that has expired can't be reinstated; the way back is a new subscription at prevailing prices.

Can I export my On-Screen Takeoff data?

Yes, the reports and quantities. OST prints and exports its Projects, Summary and Estimate tabs, exports the Takeoff and Worksheet tabs to CSV, and exports bids as takeoff files or bid packages that OST can import again. Moving the measurements themselves is another matter: OST projects don't import into Easy Takeoffs, and you should ask any other vendor, ConstructConnect included, before counting on an import. Export what you need while your subscription or maintenance is active, and keep your original plan PDFs.

What replaces On-Screen Takeoff and Quick Bid together?

Software with estimating built in. STACK Pro puts takeoff, worksheet estimating, a cost library and proposals in one browser platform for $4,188 per user a year. PlanSwift prices with material and labor assemblies in a Windows program from $2,000 a year, and Square Takeoff builds estimates with material, labor and equipment online from $1,699 a year. If your pricing already lives in Excel, a takeoff tool that exports quantities keeps it there: Easy Takeoffs writes them to a CSV or into the cells you choose in a copy of your workbook.

How do On-Screen Takeoff, PlanSwift and Bluebeam compare?

They suit different offices. ConstructConnect positions On-Screen Takeoff for general contractors and larger firms that need conditions, bid management and Quick Bid, and sells it by quote. PlanSwift, from the same company, is aimed at trade contractors and smaller businesses, with assemblies you build by dragging and dropping, a live Excel link, and prices from $2,000 a year. Bluebeam Revu is PDF markup and review software that also measures, with Quantity Link to Excel on Complete at $440 a year. All three run on Windows, and Bluebeam also measures in its web and iOS apps. If you need a Mac or iPad, look at the browser tools in this guide instead.