Autodesk Build, based on the former PlanGrid, is construction productivity software. It includes tools to collaborate, collect, and manage project information throughout the project’s construction and operations lifespan. It enables document centralization and tracking.
$39
user per month
Bluebeam
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Bluebeam Revu is a PDF management, control, and editing tool. It enables collaboration and markup within shared documents across projects’ life cycles and has takeoff and bid creation capabilities.
$240
per year per user
Pricing
Autodesk Build
Bluebeam
Editions & Modules
Nailgun
$39
user per month
Dozer
$59
user per month
Crane
$139
user per month
Revu Standard
$349
per seat
Revu CAD
$449
per seat
Revu eXtreme
$599
per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autodesk Build
Bluebeam
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk Build
Bluebeam
Considered Both Products
Autodesk Build
Verified User
Engineer
Chose Autodesk Build
PlanGrid doesn't have all the capabilities that Bluebeam Revu offers. However, it makes up for that in its ease to use of the capabilities it does offer with regards to documentation, reviewing, and sharing of drawings.
I'm not going to lie, I still use Bluebeam Revu on the computer. There is still a big gap on what they are able to do. But on the iPad I use PlanGrid and enjoy it better. Being able to move through drawings is way easier on PlanGrid
BlueBeam is a program that some of our customers use as their management tool. It is a little more cumbersome than Plan Grid. We would certainly prefer using PlanGrid over other products that we have tried. Our field staff prefers to have a consistent platform to share the …
Compared on pricing, PlanGrid was best. Procore does submittals and pay apps, but GoBridgit was completely unrealistic in price for us to consider them. The overall use of PlanGrid along with current pricing makes it worthwhile for us. If pricing goes up, it would no longer be …
The programs are not exactly parallel, however, we formerly posted RFIs on Bluebeam and by owner request we are now using Plangrid. I have found that this feature on Plangrid is slightly more intuitive and the interface is more user-friendly. Bluebeam, on the other hand, has …
PlanGrid is great for quickly communicating information within the field, however, its office capabilities are more limited compared to some alternative software I have used.
I feel that Plangrid does a good job at combining most of the best attributes of the above programs into one solid software. Finishline seems to be a bit stronger punchlist tool but it doesnt have any other features, can't be used a doc control, etc.
We use Bluebeam and PlanGrid on a daily basis for different purposes. Bluebeam does some things better than PlanGrid, but these are things that PlanGrid was not really designed to do. However, Plangrid is the best when it come to punchlists, and no other product that I have …
Bluebeam and PlanGrid work great together, not sure one could replace the other. Bluebeam is really great for more detailed markups, better than PlanGrid in that respect. When you zoom out on the markups for PlanGrid, markups get really thick and unreadable.
In comparison to other products, Plangrid excels for field documentation and management. There are other solutions on the market that are well suited for their niche as well, but for field management Plangrid has been the most robust and easiest to use. Have so many features …
The only software I've ever used that even comes close to Revu is Adobe Acrobat Pro, which I find is most confusing and has a less attractive interface. Since Revu 2015 (the oldest version I've used), there's always been a dark mode Adobe does not have. PlanGrid and Procore, …
Bluebeam is a diverse program with many functions and tools, whereas competitive programs only specialize in one or few tasks. Although there are many tools within the program, users can still quickly learn how to use the program to best fit their needs. There is always a help …
I personally like the tools that Bluebeam offers over Acrobat and feel that, for my company, Bluebeam was much better suited. Scaling tools, markups, as-builts, RFI’s, submittal approval, and detail creation all really show its strength.
This program directly replaces our use of Adobe company wide. We have also phased out PlanGrid for the most part as the tools of Procore and Bluebeam both have been more user friendly for our teams.
If Bluebeam can be compared to any other PDF editing software, the closest competitor would be Adobe Acrobat. Unfortunately, this really isn't a fair comparison because to tools available (and user interface) in Bluebeam FAR outweigh the ones available in Adobe Acrobat. This …
Bluebeam has more capabilities than both PlanGrid and Acrobat when using it to review and edit PDFs. It is not as intuitive to use as either since it does provide more abilities to markup files. It is not as easy to load and share files as PlanGrid, but it does provide access …
PlanGrid performs really well in all aspects of construction from the general to the sub/trade. The platform distributes and communicates project documentation in an extremely user-friendly manner. As with most software, it is cheaper the larger the scale of the project. In situations where the project is relatively small, and the trade contracts are also of relatively low dollar value, the product can be cost-prohibitive.
The program is great for editing construction drawings, stamping/approving official documents and overlaying revised documents to see design changes. You can use it as an estimating takeoff tool, estimating database, document control, cloud document storage, the list goes on! Bluebeam poses many applications for the user to utilize for the desired needs. There may be some other software that has one specific function that can perform the specific task better, but Bluebeam is a holistic program with many tools for use.
Plangrid is the best SaaS I have seen for ease of uploading construction plans and automated organization of those plans.
For companies that are not using other products for mobile access, the Plangrid mobile apps are perfect to allow people on and off site to share and collaborate in many phases of construction project documentation.
Plangrid has a very responsive technical support team (although it is pretty much email only).
Plangrid's website layout is easy to use and understand and allows new users to jump right in and do basic to moderate tasks without little training.
Once you set Bluebeam Revu as your default PDF handler, it launches immediately when clicking a PDF to open. The speed with which it opens documents is impressive.
Creating PDF's out of other documents, such as Word, Excel, JPG's, etc. is simple.
Digitally signing documents is a simple, secure process. You can keep your signature password-protected, yet still access it quickly.
The Bluebeam Revu mobile application ( I use the iOS version on an iPad Pro), is awesome. Not only does it handle PDF's like you would expect it to, it allows for effortless digital signing of documents on the fly. Nice to be able to quickly sign a document and email right back out from the tablet no matter where I am.
The photo attachment process is a bit complicated. In ProCore (another similar software I've used), you can upload photos directly into RFIs for your reference, or into e-mails. For PlanGrid, you have to first upload the photo into the documents tab, then link them into the RFI. It's not intuitive and can add confusion to the documents tab.
Photos can't be directly uploaded. Between different devices and colleagues, it's possible you'll get an important photo outside of the PlanGrid photo capture feature within its app. Again, it's complicated for users to use.
In their new drawings viewer, the icons for actions do not have icons available. I had to use them all in order to understand what they meant, and I'm fairly tech savvy. I'm not sure if a new person to PlanGrid will pick up on each icon's abilities very easily.
There's no all-in-one solution in CM, but PlanGrid is fairly barebones, and I don't believe it has any ability to connect to other software. There's no ability to take meeting munites; you can hack the field reports feature to accomplish this, but it's clear that was not the intent of the designers.
If you have several tabs open and you try to drag one out for a side by side view then you do not have all the modification options and you have to combine them back together.
There is a lag time when hitting the print option.
There is also a lag time when opening files, sometimes I think the window is frozen.
I wish the basic version also had basic file editing, as in editing a document as Adobe does.
We are at the point where we have shown our teams what is possible with this software. We cannot take it away and go back to the way we used to do things. I think that they would push back on us to give them access to something electronic. It is a good program that we will continue to use
Bluebeam is a powerful PDF viewer and mark-up tool. We are more familiar with it than Adobe Acrobat Pro or other viewers, and it has more features geared towards construction document managers than Acrobat Pro does.
Hard to get the hang of this software, but with time it become very repetitive and easier to navigate. I have used this software for over a year now and the constant updates by Autodesk have made the software better and better to use at work. This allows me to use this tool more effectively
I'm constantly finding that Bluebeam Revu does more than I knew it could. And when I find something that it can't do, I've found that Bluebeam truly listens to its user base and will work to incorporate any good suggestion when feasible.
Online chat during business hours is extremely helpful. The Plangrid staff has gone above and beyond many times to help us. One time they even offered to completely rebuild our 900+ sheet project so I could slip sheet a few old drawing revisions! This undoubtedly would have taken hours on Plangrid's end. They are always responsive and are continually improving, listening to user feedback.
Its hard for me to give a rating on this one as we rarely have to use the support feature for Bluebeam. However, when we have used it, they have been ultra supportive in helping us get exactly what we needed. I know another engineer was trying to figure out a feature and the rep gave a detailed tutorial on how to complete the task
Plangrid, while not serving the external document distribution function, is unrivaled for internal document distribution and sharing in the construction industry. The speed at which documents are navigatable, the ability to download your projects for viewing without an internet connection, and the document mark-up and photo tools place it head and shoulders above the competition.
We feel there is not another program out there that would compare to Bluebeam at this current time. Some of the other programs out there do not include studio or the overlaying process which is one of our main uses. The ease of hyperlinking makes this product stand out the most.
It helped us "wow" a joint commission survey in 2016 and have a successful survey because he loved how we could access plans on an iPad, check suite sizes, and didn't have to carry around huge, heavy sets of life safety plans.
A major positive aspect is being able to take your computer home without taking the entire set of paper drawings. They have made it so easy to navigate a set of drawings that I can work at home using only the digital drawings.
Collaboration with owners and architects has been a great feature. Setting up a Bluebeam studio and having everyone get in and mark things up, then having the architect be able to go in and see what markups have been added, has made the constructability review process much much better.
Even when not working on drawings, Bluebeam is a very good tool for working with standard PDF documents. The markup tools are very easy to use.
The negative aspect is the takeoff function because some people would like estimators to use the Bluebeam takeoff because it would make their job easier down the road; however, the actual act of doing a full scale takeoff in Bluebeam would require much more time.