Compared from each maker's own pages

Takeoff software for drywall subs in Canada, compared

Six tools a drywall and steel stud sub in Canada might shortlist: On-Screen Takeoff, PlanSwift, STACK, Buildxact, Bluebeam and PreConstruct AI. How each runs, the price its maker lists, how you start, and where each one fits best, all read on 7 November 2026.

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Which takeoff software do drywall subs in Canada compare?

For "best takeoff software for drywall" and "takeoff software canada", Google Canada's first page on 7 November 2026 showed the makers of PlanSwift, STACK, Buildxact and Bluebeam, beside the software directories. On-Screen Takeoff is the takeoff product searched for most by name in Canada, about 210 times a month in Google's Keyword Planner. PreConstruct AI is a newer option, built in Ontario for interior finishes, concrete and wood framing subcontractors. This page sets the six side by side from each maker's own pages.

The six side by side

What each maker says about its own product, read on its website on 7 November 2026; the pages are linked below. Prices are as those pages showed them, and none of them named the currency. Prices and plans change, so check theirs before you decide.

Product	How it runs	Listed price	How you start	For drywall takeoff
On-Screen Takeoff	An installed Windows program (Windows 10 Pro or Home recommended), installed by a local Windows administrator, with an internet connection required.	No price on its site: a free trial, a demo, or its sales line.	A free 14-day trial, or a demo.	Point, click and drag takeoff of walls, doors and more; Multi-Condition Takeoff draws several conditions at once; Auto Count counts objects of the same shape and size; Overlay shows what changed between two versions of a drawing.
PlanSwift	An installed Windows program; its system requirements recommend Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise, 64-bit.	Essential: $2,000 a year for one seat. Core, which adds Auto Takeoff: $3,000. Billed yearly.	A free 14-day trial with every feature and no credit card.	Measures and prices walls, ceilings and openings, with assemblies for material, labour and waste, custom formulas, plan comparison and a live Excel link. Its AI tools are Auto Count, Auto Scale, Auto Bookmark and, on Core, Auto Takeoff; its page says to verify their results.
STACK	In the cloud, from any device with an internet connection, with permission controls for your team.	Takeoff & Estimate: as low as $299 per user a month. The full platform, with field and project management: as low as $348.	A free account, or a demo.	Measures walls and ceilings while excluding windows, doorways and openings; pre-built or custom assemblies; crew labour, overhead and waste added to the estimate. Its menu lists AI Takeoff and Version Compare.
Buildxact	In the cloud, mobile-friendly. Read on its Canadian site.	Entry: $178 a month, billed yearly as $2,131. Pro: $267 a month. Teams: $356 a month. Each needs a yearly commitment.	A free 14-day trial, or a demo.	PDF takeoffs linked to the estimate, reusable templates, and estimates by material, linear foot and square foot. The same tool handles leads, bids, schedules, purchase orders and invoices, and its page names Xero and QuickBooks as accounting software it works with.
Bluebeam	Bluebeam Revu for Windows desktop, plus Bluebeam on the web and on mobile, on every plan.	Per user, billed yearly: Basics $260, Core $330, Complete $440, Max $590 (an introductory price).	A free trial.	PDF markup and measurement: length and area on Basics; perimeters, counts and overlay-and-compare on Core; Quantity Link to Excel on Complete; AI drawing reviews and comparisons on Max.
PreConstruct AI	A web app: you sign in from a browser, with nothing to install. Built in Ontario; the database and servers are in Montréal.	250 US dollars a month for 20 bids and 1 seat (the founding price for the first 50 paying companies; 350 after them). Team: 499 for 50 bids and 5 seats; Business: 999 for 120 bids and 15 seats. Priced by the drawings, not the seat.	Your first bid free: one drawing set up to 75 sheets, from the upload to the proposal. No card, and no demo call.	Reads the text on each sheet: partition legends and schedules become wall types you check, and door, window and ceiling schedules are read. Wall suggestions are a beta: walls are proposed from CAD line work and you confirm each one, or draw them. Then the estimate and a proposal, priced from your own material prices and crew rates.

Where each one is the better pick

On-Screen Takeoff: Your estimators already know it, you want symbols counted, or you want an overlay of revised drawings in the takeoff tool.
PlanSwift: You want one yearly price per seat, symbols counted, and your quantities flowing into your own Excel pricing sheets.
STACK: You want takeoff and estimating in the cloud alongside field tools such as punch lists and daily reports.
Buildxact: You want estimating, job scheduling and invoicing in one tool, tied to your accounting software.
Bluebeam: Your company already reviews and marks up drawings in Revu, and you want to measure in the same PDF tool.
PreConstruct AI: You bid from PDF drawing sets in metric, imperial or both, want the partition legend read into wall types and each quantity read from the drawings to show its sheet, and want to see the price and try a full bid before you talk to anyone.

How much does drywall takeoff software cost?

As each maker's own pricing page showed it on 7 November 2026: PlanSwift $2,000 a year for one seat (Essential) or $3,000 (Core); STACK from $299 per user a month for takeoff and estimating; Buildxact from $178 a month billed yearly; Bluebeam from $260 per user a year. On-Screen Takeoff lists no price. None of those pages named the currency, so confirm it with them. PreConstruct AI: 250 US dollars a month for 20 bids and 1 seat (the founding price for the first 50 paying companies; 350 after them). Team: 499 for 50 bids and 5 seats; Business: 999 for 120 bids and 15 seats. Priced by the drawings, not the seat.

Is there drywall takeoff software you can try free?

On 7 November 2026: On-Screen Takeoff, PlanSwift and Buildxact offer 14-day free trials, PlanSwift's with no credit card; STACK offers a free account; Bluebeam offers a free trial. With PreConstruct AI, your first bid free: one drawing set up to 75 sheets, from the upload to the proposal. No card, and no demo call.

What should a Canadian drywall sub check before choosing takeoff software?

Five things. Whether it handles the drawings you get, in millimetres, in feet and inches, or both. The currency of the price, and whether it is per seat, per year or per job. Where your drawings and bids are stored. Whether it runs on the computers you have, Windows only or in a browser. And whether you can trace each quantity back to its sheet. Ask each maker about the ones their pages do not answer.

How to compare them on your own job

Take a drywall job you have already bid, with its drawings and your final quantities. Run it through each tool you are considering and compare the wall types, the linear feet or metres of each wall type, the doors and the ceiling areas line by line against what you sent. Then check whether each number shows the sheet it came from: a quantity you cannot trace is one you will measure again. How to test any of them.

Is PreConstruct AI Canadian?

Yes. It is built in Ontario, and its database and servers are in Montréal. Each company chooses imperial, metric or both; metric schedule sizes are read as millimetres, and Canadian rebar sizes from 10M to 55M are built in for concrete. Prices are in US dollars, and the estimator types the tax rate on every job; it never suggests one.

What PreConstruct AI does not do

Wall suggestions are a beta: you check and confirm each wall, or draw them.
It reads the text on the drawings; it does not count symbols.
It publishes no accuracy figure and promises no speed.
It never sizes a member: sizes come from the drawings and the engineer.
It never suggests or calculates sales tax: you type the rate on every job.

Try it on the set you are bidding

Your first bid free: one drawing set up to 75 sheets, from the upload to the proposal. No card, and no demo call.

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