Including the one question that settles it for a lot of people: if your work is measuring off drawings on screen, the answer is no — and you should read that before you spend anything.
The table below compares how each product is licensed, installed and run. It does not rank them, because they are not all answering the same question.
CostX, Cubit and PlanSwift are serious professional software. Their strength is measurement at depth — including from BIM models, at a scale BillMate does not attempt. If your work is model-led take-off on large projects inside a cost consultancy, those tools earn their licence fees and BillMate is not a replacement for them.
BillMate is for the other situation: you have the measure, or you can take it by hand, and what you need is to turn it into a properly structured, properly priced, client-ready bill of quantities — with a one-click install instead of a training course, and a one-time price instead of a procurement process or an annual renewal. That is a large part of the profession, and it has been badly served.
| Characteristic | BillMate | CostX | Cubit | PlanSwift | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | One-time, published on this site | Quotation | Quotation | Quotation | Already owned |
| Licence model | Buy once, keep it | Per seat, recurring | Per seat, recurring | Per seat, recurring | Part of your office suite |
| Installation | One-click installer — Windows, macOS or Linux | Windows desktop install | Windows desktop install | Windows desktop install | Installed |
| Works on phone and tablet | Yes — full function | No | No | No | Limited |
| Works fully offline | Yes | Varies by licence | Varies by licence | Varies by licence | Yes |
| Time to your first bill | Minutes | Training course | Training course | Training course | Hours of template building |
| On-screen measurement | Yes — from an image, on a paid licence | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reads PDF and CAD files directly | No — export the page as an image | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| BIM / IFC model take-off | No | Yes — its core strength | Yes | Yes | No |
| Dimension-sheet taking-off | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manual |
| Reusable rate library | Yes — import, apply, capture, uplift | Yes | Yes | Yes | Manual |
| Client-ready BOQ document | Yes — letterheaded PDF and CSV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Build it yourself |
| Method-of-measurement templates | BESMM4(R), RICS NRM1, RICS NRM2, RICS POMI, ASAQS SMM, CPWD / DSR, CSI MasterFormat | Yes | Yes | Varies | No |
| Interface languages | 6, including right-to-left Arabic | Varies | Varies | Varies | Your office suite's |
| Where your data lives | Only on your device | Vendor-dependent | Vendor-dependent | Vendor-dependent | Your device |
About this table. It compares structural characteristics — how each product is licensed, installed and run — rather than making claims about the depth of features inside competing packages, which differ by edition and region. Competitor pricing is quoted individually and is not published, so no figure is stated here. Verify current terms directly with each vendor before making a decision. CostX is a product of RIB Software; Cubit is a product of Buildsoft; PlanSwift is a product of ConstructConnect. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, and BillMate is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any of them.
Six things that are not on the other side of the table at any price.
If your day is spent measuring off BIM models, buy CostX, Cubit or PlanSwift instead — BillMate will not do that job, and no amount of the rest makes up for it. If you bill one small job a year, your spreadsheet is fine. And if your firm needs several people editing the same live bill at once, BillMate stores projects per device and is not built for that.
Everyone else: the free plan is 2 projects with the whole rate library, so the cheapest way to settle this is to price a real job in it.
The comparison most people actually need — where the spreadsheet genuinely wins, and where bill production breaks it.
Read itCovered in the table above. The short version: BillMate measures from an image of a plan, but does not read PDFs or CAD files directly and does not touch BIM models. If your work is model-led, buy one of them.
2 projects free, whole rate library, no sign-up.