The tool a lot of estimators learned on.
PlanSwift deserves its install base: genuinely easy to learn, fast point-and-click takeoff, strong assemblies. It is also Windows-only, sold by the year, and its pricing page has no perpetual license on it.
Choose PlanSwift if your crew already knows it cold, runs Windows, and depends on its trade plug-in ecosystem — the switching cost is real and we are not going to talk you out of it. Choose Groundwork Takeoff if you want the same point-and-click takeoff plus assemblies on Mac, Windows, iPad and the browser, with AI on every seat and the option to own the license outright.
| Checked September 20, 2026 | Groundwork Takeoff | PlanSwift |
|---|---|---|
| Price, per seat, per year — checked September 20, 2026 | ||
| What the vendor publishes | $590 a year or $59 a month, every feature on it | Essential $2,000 · Core $3,000 (adds Takeoff BOOST auto-takeoff) |
| Cheapest tier that does what one Groundwork seat does | $590 — there is only one tier | $2,000 — Essential — includes Auto Count and Auto Scale |
| Volume discount | 3+ seats −15%, 5+ seats −25%, applied at checkout | Not published on the vendor's pricing page |
| Perpetual license | $2,500 once, first year of updates included; $295/yr after that gates new versions, never access | Subscription only — no perpetual license offered |
| AI takeoff included | Every seat, including trial seats | Auto Count / Auto Scale from Essential; full auto-takeoff at Core $3,000 |
| Native Mac app | Apple silicon and Intel | Windows only |
| Platforms | ||
| Windows native | Yes | Yes |
| iPad | Home-screen app | No |
| Browser access | Yes | Desktop install only |
| Works offline | Offline-first, 14-day grace period | Yes — it is a desktop app |
| Takeoff & estimating | ||
| Measuring tools | 6 measuring tools — Linear, Segment, Perimeter, Area, Volume, Count | Fast point-and-click takeoff, and genuinely easy to learn |
| Assemblies — material, labor, waste | Library and Assembly Builder | Strong — material, labor and waste |
| Estimate grid in the same window | Live grid and formula evaluator | Estimating via an Excel round-trip |
| Plan compare / overlay | Live-canvas diff and blend, auto-align | Not offered |
| Where PlanSwift is ahead | ||
| Trade plug-in marketplace | Assemblies instead of plug-ins | Plug-ins across many trades |
| Excel integration | Excel, CSV, batch export | Long-standing and well regarded |
Competitor figures are read off that vendor's own pricing page on September 20, 2026; the sources are listed at the foot of this page. A vendor who publishes no price gets no number here — the empty cell is the finding.
$1,410 per seat, per year. That is PlanSwift's cheapest comparable tier — Essential — includes Auto Count and Auto Scale at $2,000 — less a Groundwork annual seat at $590. Not against their entry tier: against the cheapest tier that does what one Groundwork seat does.
What their pricing page says, and what it does not
PlanSwift publishes two tiers, per seat, per year: Essential and Core. Auto Count and Auto Scale are in Essential; the full automatic takeoff — Takeoff BOOST — is what Core adds. So the honest framing is not that PlanSwift sells AI as an add-on, because it does not: the automatic tools are in the subscription, and Core is where the deepest of them live.
What is not on that page is a perpetual license. There is no option to buy the software outright at any tier — the product is sold by the year, and the price of continuing to use it is the price of renewing.
That is a real difference between the two products and it is enough on its own. You may have read, on a comparison page somewhere, that PlanSwift revoked perpetual licenses people had already bought. We looked for a primary source for that and could not find one, so it is not on this page. The only reachable primary ConstructConnect notice describes a June 2026 authentication change and says explicitly that it "does not change your subscription tier, pricing, or require you to repurchase anything." We would rather lose the punchier version of the argument than print a claim we cannot stand behind.
The platform question
PlanSwift is a Windows desktop application. If two of your estimators moved to MacBooks, or one of them bids from an iPad in the field, that is the end of the conversation rather than the start of one. Groundwork runs native on macOS and Windows, on iPad, and in a browser, on the same seat.
PlanSwift is one of the easiest takeoff tools ever made
Reviewers consistently rate it above heavier products on ease of use, and they are right to. Its assemblies — material, labor and waste — are good, and the trade plug-in marketplace is something we have no equivalent of and are not building. If your whole team is trained on it, runs Windows, and your plug-in workflow is dialed in, the sensible answer may well be to stay.
Sources
Tiers, per-seat annual pricing and what each tier includes: planswift.com/pricing, read September 20, 2026. The absence of a perpetual license is the absence of one on that page. The June 2026 authentication notice quoted above is ConstructConnect's own.
PlanSwift® is a trademark of ConstructConnect. Check current details with the vendor.
Check it against your own set.
The fastest way to settle a comparison page is to open your own plans in both. Ours takes a week and no card.