Construction AI Pricing Guide for GCs and Subs

After testing five AI tools over the past year and sitting through at least a dozen vendor demos, the question I get most from other GCs is not “which tool is best” — it’s “what does this actually cost, and is it worth it?” Most vendor websites either hide pricing behind a contact form or show a stripped-down entry tier that bears no resemblance to what you’ll actually use. This guide lays out what I’ve found on pricing, what’s bundled versus what’s extra, and how to think about whether the numbers work for your business.

How the Market Is Segmented

Construction AI tools break into three broad categories, each with different pricing logic:

Takeoff and estimating tools — AI-assisted quantity counting and material pricing. Examples: STACK, PlanSwift (Trimble), Togal.ai, On Center.

Estimating-plus-CRM platforms — tools that combine takeoff with bid management, subcontractor solicitation, and sometimes project tracking. Examples: ProEst, DESTINI Estimator, WinEst.

Full project management platforms — enterprise platforms where AI is one module among many. Examples: Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), Oracle Primavera.

The categories matter for pricing because the platforms charge very differently. Takeoff tools typically use per-seat annual subscriptions. Full platforms often price by project volume, seat count, or both — and the math gets complicated fast.

Pricing Tiers for Major Tools

STACK

STACK publishes its pricing, which is unusual in this market. As of early 2026:

• Estimator plan: around $2,588/year per user. Includes takeoff, basic estimating, and the material cost database.
• Estimator Pro: around $4,388/year per user. Adds integrations with ProEst and Sage, advanced reporting, and team collaboration features.

STACK’s AI features — specifically the automated count recognition that identifies and counts similar objects across plan sheets — are included in both tiers. This is the feature that actually saves time. Without it, STACK is a solid digital takeoff tool but not particularly differentiated from PlanSwift or Bluebeam.

PlanSwift (Trimble)

PlanSwift has been the workhorse takeoff tool for mid-market GCs for over a decade. Trimble acquired them and pricing has moved to a subscription model:

• Standard: approximately $1,795/year per user
• Professional: approximately $3,595/year per user

The Professional tier includes API access and some integration hooks. The AI features in PlanSwift are less developed than STACK or Togal.ai — it’s primarily a digital takeoff tool with good assembly libraries rather than an AI-driven platform.

Togal.ai

Togal.ai is built specifically around AI-powered quantity recognition. The tool reads plans and attempts to auto-identify and count items rather than requiring a user to manually trace every area. Pricing is not published but from conversations with their sales team and other contractors, expect:

• Entry tier for small GCs: approximately $3,600-$5,000/year
• Mid-market GC (multiple estimators): $8,000-$15,000/year range, depending on seat count and usage volume

Togal.ai’s accuracy on standard commercial work is genuinely good for area and linear counts. Where it struggles is on complex MEP drawings and anything with non-standard symbology.

ProEst

ProEst combines takeoff with estimating and some bid management features. It targets mid-market GCs that want more than a takeoff tool but less than a full Procore deployment. Pricing is not published:

• Small contractor (1-3 users): approximately $3,500-$5,500/year
• Mid-market (4-10 users): approximately $7,000-$14,000/year

The pricing scales with user count and the add-ons you select. The subcontractor bid solicitation module is an add-on, not included in the base tier.

Procore

Procore is the 800-pound gorilla. They do not publish pricing and negotiate every contract. Based on what contractors in my network have shared and published third-party analysis:

• Small GC ($5M-$20M revenue): $300-$500/month, typically structured as an annual project volume license
• Mid-market GC ($20M-$100M): $500-$1,500/month, often structured as unlimited projects up to a volume cap
• Large GC ($100M+): negotiated enterprise agreements, often $100,000-$300,000/year and up

Procore’s AI features — schedule risk prediction, document intelligence, and automated RFI routing — are not available on the base tier. Most require Procore Build or higher licensing.

Autodesk Construction Cloud (Build)

ACC Build is the primary offering for teams already in the Autodesk ecosystem. AI features include automated clash detection prioritization and document intelligence. Pricing:

• Build: approximately $500/user/month (with annual commitment discounts)
• Docs + Build bundle: typically requires a sales conversation, but expect $400-$650/user/month for teams of 10+

ACC pricing gets complicated when you add Revit, BIM Collaborate, and other modules. The total Autodesk stack for a mid-size GC can easily reach $2,000-$4,000/month before volume discounts.

What’s Included at Each Tier — and What’s Not

Across platforms, here’s what typically gets gated behind higher tiers:

The pattern is consistent: the features that actually connect AI estimating to how you run a job — ERP integration, subcontractor management, field reporting — are either add-ons or enterprise-only.

Hidden Costs to Watch For

Implementation and training. Most platforms charge for onboarding. Procore’s implementation fees for mid-market GCs typically run $5,000-$20,000 for the initial setup, before any training is included. Budget at least one week of an estimator’s time for training on any new platform.

Data migration. If you have historical bid data in spreadsheets or an older estimating tool, migrating it cleanly to a new platform costs time and sometimes money. Expect 40-80 hours of internal labor for a mid-market GC with a reasonable project archive. Some platforms charge for assisted migration.

Integrations. API integrations with Sage 300 CRE, Viewpoint Vista, or Spectrum are often separate add-ons or require a more expensive tier. Confirm which ERP connections are included before signing.

Annual price increases. Software subscriptions in construction have been increasing 8-15% annually. Procore in particular has faced pushback from customers over increases. Ask for contractual price protections if you’re signing a multi-year agreement.

Per-project fees. Some platforms, especially Procore, use project volume caps. If you exceed the cap, you pay overages. Get the cap in writing and confirm how overages are billed.

Cost Comparison at a Glance

These numbers are starting points for budgeting, not final quotes. Actual prices will vary.

ROI Calculation Framework

The business case for any of these tools comes down to three numbers: time saved on estimating, improvement in bid accuracy, and win rate impact. Here’s a framework for working through the math.

Step 1: Baseline your estimating cost. A mid-market GC’s estimating team typically costs $80,000-$130,000/year per estimator in total compensation. At 2,000 hours/year, that’s $40-65/hour. If an estimator spends 60% of their time on takeoff and pricing, that’s roughly 1,200 hours/year on tasks that AI can partially automate.

Step 2: Estimate time savings realistically. Published vendor claims of 80% time reduction on takeoff are not realistic for most real-world projects with complex PDFs and hand revisions. A conservative estimate based on practitioner experience: AI takeoff tools reduce takeoff time by 30-50% on standard commercial drawings. At 30% savings on 1,200 hours, that’s 360 hours freed per estimator per year.

Step 3: Calculate the value. 360 hours x $50/hour (mid-point) = $18,000 in recovered capacity per estimator per year. That’s the time value — either the estimator can bid more work or spend more time on higher-value tasks like scope review and subcontractor follow-up.

Step 4: Account for bid accuracy improvement. If better estimates reduce costly rework or prevent you from winning jobs at unprofitable margins, the value can be significant. Even one avoided low-bid disaster per year — a job that would have lost $30,000 — changes the math substantially.

Step 5: Compare against total tool cost. For a tool at $4,000/year per estimator, the break-even is roughly 80 hours of recovered time. Most mid-market estimators will hit that within two to three months if they use the tool consistently.

The tools where ROI is hardest to justify are the full platforms like Procore at $1,000-$1,500/month. At that cost, you need the AI features to be doing more than takeoff — you need them driving field efficiency, reducing RFI cycle times, or improving schedule predictability. Those benefits are real, but they take longer to quantify and require broader organizational adoption.

What I’d Actually Spend Money On

For a GC doing $15M-$50M in annual volume with two to four estimators, the stack that makes economic sense:

• A dedicated AI takeoff tool (STACK Pro or Togal.ai) at $4,000-$5,000/user/year for estimating efficiency
• Procore or ACC only if you need field operations coordination and you have the project volume to justify the overhead

For smaller subs and specialty contractors, PlanSwift at $1,795/year is a reasonable entry point. The AI features are limited, but the workflow is solid and the learning curve is shorter than the higher-end platforms.

The full Procore or ACC stack is difficult to justify below $25-30M in annual revenue unless you’re doing complex multi-prime work that requires tight document control. The subscription cost and implementation overhead simply don’t pencil at lower volumes.