How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Small electrical shops do not need $299-a-month takeoff suites. Jobber Core ($29/month), Housecall Pro Basic ($59/month) and Fieldwire's free Basic plan cover quoting and job management for most shops under 10 people.
- If your work is plan-based commercial bidding, the takeoff tools earn their keep: STACK Takeoff & Estimate (from $299/user/month, free version available) and PlanSwift (annual plans, 14-day trial) are built for that job.
- Bluebeam Revu Core ($330/user/year) is the cheapest way to do professional on-screen takeoffs from PDFs, and it runs on the Windows machines most shops already own.
- The enterprise platforms (simPRO, ServiceTitan, Procore) all price by custom quote with no published numbers: budget a sales cycle and an implementation project, not a signup.
- Mobile matters more than features for small crews. Fieldwire, Jobber and Housecall Pro all run the whole job from a phone; the desktop takeoff tools do not.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Jobber | Small shops that want quoting plus the whole job in one app | $29/month (Core, billed annually) | Free trial (no credit card required) |
 Housecall Pro | Home-service electrical shops that want everything in one bill | $59/month (Basic, billed annually) | Free trial (14 days, no credit card) |
 Fieldwire | Crews that need drawings, tasks and punch lists in the field | $39/user/month (Pro, billed annually) | Yes (Basic: 5 users, 3 projects, 100 sheets) |
 STACK | Small contractors bidding plan-based commercial work | From $299/user/month (Takeoff & Estimate) | Yes (free version of Takeoff & Estimate) |
 PlanSwift | Estimators who want desktop takeoff with AI-assisted counting | See website (Essential and Core annual plans) | Free trial (14 days, no card on file) |
 Bluebeam Revu | The cheapest professional on-screen takeoff from PDFs | $330/user/year (Core plan) | No |
 simPRO | Trade contractors that want estimating through invoicing in one system | See website (custom quote) | No |
 ServiceTitan | Growing electrical shops that want the full business platform | See website (custom quote) | No |
 Procore | Electrical contractors scaling into commercial construction | See website (volume-based pricing) | No |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best electrical estimating software for small contractors
Small electrical shops do not lose bids on price. They lose them on estimates that take too long to build and miss too much when they are rushed. A takeoff done on printed plans with a scale ruler works until the job has 400 devices across six floors and the bid is due Thursday. The nine tools below are picked for small contractors specifically: budget-friendly entry points, easy learning curves, and mobile apps your crew will actually open. The enterprise suites are here too, for shops outgrowing the small tools.
#1
Jobber
Best for: Small shops that want quoting plus the whole job in one app
Visit getjobber.com
Starting price$29/month (Core, billed annually)
Free planFree trial (no credit card required)
Jobber is the small-contractor default for a reason: it runs the business, not just the estimate. Core at $29 per month annually ($49 month-to-month) gives a solo electrician professional quotes with templates and e-signatures, automated quote follow-ups, scheduling, invoicing with online payments, and a client hub where customers approve quotes and pay. The Home Depot integration pulls live product prices and local store availability straight into quotes, which saves real time on material pricing.
The honest boundary is scope. Jobber quotes beautifully but it does not do plan takeoffs: if your work is bidding commercial jobs from drawings, you need STACK or PlanSwift alongside it. The Grow tier at $99 per month annually adds automation, crews and deeper reporting for teams. The trial needs no credit card. For residential and light commercial shops doing service work and small projects, Jobber is the easiest yes on this list.
What we like- Core at $29/month covers quoting, scheduling, invoicing and client management for a solo operator
- Quote follow-up automations chase unanswered bids for you
- Home Depot product pricing with local availability built into quoting
Watch out for- Real takeoff from plans is not its job, it is a quoting and operations tool
- Per-tier user limits mean growing crews step up to Grow ($99/month) fast
#2
Housecall Pro
Best for: Home-service electrical shops that want everything in one bill
Visit housecallpro.com
Starting price$59/month (Basic, billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days, no credit card)
Housecall Pro is built for home-service trades, and electrical is one of its core verticals. Basic at $59 per month annually ($79 monthly) covers online booking, scheduling and dispatch, estimates and invoicing, card payments, a price book, job costing and review management. Essentials at $149 per month (5 users) adds flat-rate pricing, employee GPS tracking, commissions and QuickBooks Online sync. MAX at $299 per month adds the sales proposal tool and route optimization.
The estimating model is the thing to understand: Housecall Pro prices from a flat-rate price book, which is perfect for service calls and panel upgrades and wrong for plan-based commercial bids. If your work is mostly residential service and small installs, the price book is faster than any takeoff tool. The 14-day trial runs on the full MAX plan with no credit card, and there are no long-term contracts. Watch the card processing fees on top of the subscription.
What we like- Basic at $59/month includes online booking, scheduling, estimates, invoicing, payments and a price book
- Flat-rate pricing and GPS tracking on Essentials
- No long-term contracts
Watch out for- Estimating is flat-rate price-book driven, not plan takeoff
- Essentials at $149/month is the realistic tier for a crew
- Payment processing fees (from 2.59 percent) add up
#3
Fieldwire
Best for: Crews that need drawings, tasks and punch lists in the field
Visit fieldwire.com
Starting price$39/user/month (Pro, billed annually)
Free planYes (Basic: 5 users, 3 projects, 100 sheets)
Fieldwire is the odd one on this list because it does not estimate at all. It is jobsite management: drawings on every phone, tasks, punch lists, photos, checklists and daily reports, now under Hilti ownership. For a small electrical contractor, that makes it the companion tool: the estimate gets built in Jobber or STACK, and the work gets run in Fieldwire. The free Basic plan (5 users, 3 projects, 100 sheets) is enough for a small shop to run real jobs.
Pro at $39 per user per month annually adds reports and exports, sheet version compare, project templates and custom task statuses. The honest math is per-user: a 10-person crew pays $390 a month, which is real money for field management. But crews adopt it because the mobile app works offline and the learning curve is hours, not weeks. If your foremen still carry paper plans, Fieldwire's free tier is the cheapest digital upgrade available.
What we like- A genuinely free Basic plan for small teams
- Pro at $39/user/month adds reports, sheet compare and project templates
- Now backed by Hilti with offline-capable mobile apps
Watch out for- It is field management, not estimating: no takeoff or bid pricing
- Per-user pricing scales fast for large crews
- RFIs, submittals and budgets need Business Plus ($89)
#4
STACK
Best for: Small contractors bidding plan-based commercial work
Visit stackct.com
Starting priceFrom $299/user/month (Takeoff & Estimate)
Free planYes (free version of Takeoff & Estimate)
STACK is the cloud takeoff and estimating platform most small commercial contractors land on when spreadsheets stop working. Takeoff & Estimate starts at $299 per user per month with quantity, labor and material takeoff, flexible estimates and proposals, and unlimited plans and projects. The prebuilt items and assemblies for each trade, plus the ability to build your own from your existing catalog, are what make it faster than generic PDF markup for electrical work.
Two things soften the price. First, there is a free version of Takeoff & Estimate, so a small shop can start measuring plans without spending anything. Second, it is web-based and runs on any computer, and most teams are productive within hours according to the vendor. The honest catch is the seat math: $299 per user per month means two estimators cost $7,176 a year. For a shop bidding commercial work weekly, one accurate bid pays for it. For occasional plan work, Bluebeam plus Jobber costs a tenth as much.
What we like- Purpose-built cloud takeoff with prebuilt trade items and assemblies
- Unlimited plans and projects
- Free version lets a small shop start without a purchase order
Watch out for- $299/user/month is the steepest entry on this list and per-user pricing multiplies fast
- The full platform ($348/user/month) is overkill for small shops
- Works best with a dedicated estimator
#5
PlanSwift
Best for: Estimators who want desktop takeoff with AI-assisted counting
Visit planswift.com
Starting priceSee website (Essential and Core annual plans)
Free planFree trial (14 days, no card on file)
PlanSwift is the veteran desktop takeoff tool, and its 2026 story is AI: both Essential and Core plans include AI that speeds up counting, scaling and navigation, and Core adds Auto Takeoff, which generates a full first pass of the takeoff in minutes for the estimator to refine. For electrical work, that means device counts, conduit runs and fixture schedules extracted from plans far faster than manual clicking.
The commercial shape is simple: Essential and Core are annual plans covering software, updates, priority support and training, with a 14-day trial that takes no card and auto-charges nothing. The vendor's pricing page did not render plan prices in readable form during this review, so check planswift.com before budgeting. The honest fit question is workflow: PlanSwift is a desktop estimator's tool. If your estimating happens at a desk on plan sets, it fits. If it happens in a truck between jobs, you want cloud and mobile instead.
What we like- Takeoff and estimating in one desktop tool for every trade
- Core adds Auto Takeoff, which builds a first-pass takeoff in minutes
- 14-day trial with no credit card and no auto-charge
Watch out for- Plan prices were not readable on the vendor pricing page
- Annual plans only, no monthly option
- Volume pricing starts at 10 licenses, so small shops pay list
#6
Bluebeam Revu
Best for: The cheapest professional on-screen takeoff from PDFs
Visit bluebeam.com
Starting price$330/user/year (Core plan)
Free planNo
Bluebeam Revu is the takeoff tool half the construction industry already knows, and Core at $330 per user per year is the price leader for professional measurement. Core includes specialty markup tools, perimeter, count, angle and volume measurements, drawing overlay and compare, Studio collaboration hosting, and CAD plugins. For an electrical contractor, that covers device counts, conduit measurements and plan markups at a tenth of STACK's annual cost.
Know which tier you are buying. Basics at $260 per user per year covers PDF markup but not measurements, so it cannot do takeoffs. Complete at $440 adds Excel quantity links and batch automation. All plans are billed annually per user, and you can mix plans across the team. Revu runs on Windows, with web and mobile for field markup. There is no free trial stated on the pricing page, but purchases carry a 30-day money-back guarantee. For a small shop doing takeoffs a few times a month, this is the value pick.
What we like- Core at $330/user/year is the lowest annual cost for real takeoff tools
- Industry-standard PDF markup with measurement, counts and drawing compare
- Studio collaboration lets the whole team mark up together
Watch out for- Windows desktop first, with web and mobile as companions
- The $260 Basics tier lacks takeoff measurements, so Core is the real entry
- 30-day money-back guarantee, no free trial stated
#7
simPRO
Best for: Trade contractors that want estimating through invoicing in one system
Visit simprogroup.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
simPRO is the all-in-one for trade contractors: one system from quote to cash. The base plan covers quoting and estimating, field and contractor scheduling, real-time inventory and purchasing, invoicing and payments, and accounting integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and Sage. The Takeoffs add-on brings plan takeoff with symbol recognition into the same system, so the estimate, the purchase orders and the job schedule all share one dataset.
The honest catch is the buying process. Pricing is custom quote only, and simPRO sells with structured implementation and training, which is great for a 20-person shop and heavy for a 5-person one. This is the tool for electrical contractors doing project work with inventory to manage: panel builds, commercial fit-outs, service divisions with vans to stock. For a small residential shop, it is too much system. Talk to sales only when the business is big enough to need purchasing and inventory control, not just estimates.
What we like- End-to-end trade workflow: quoting, scheduling, inventory, purchasing, invoicing and accounting integrations
- Takeoffs add-on counts symbols and marks up plans with recognition
- Offline-capable mobile app for techs
Watch out for- Custom pricing only, expect an enterprise-style sales and implementation process
- The breadth means a real learning curve
- Overkill for shops under 5 field staff
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
ServiceTitan is the platform electrical contractors graduate to. It covers the entire business: CRM, a proposal builder that converts quotes to agreements, job costing with real-time insights, dispatch and scheduling, service agreements, accounting, payroll-adjacent workflows and marketing automation, with 70-plus integrations. The commercial offering specifically targets commercial service and construction contractors, which is where growing electrical shops land.
Everything about the buying process says enterprise: custom quotes, personalized demos, implementation support. There is no public pricing and no trial. The honest fit test is revenue and headcount: ServiceTitan pays off for shops with double-digit technicians running both service and project work, where dispatch optimization and job costing move the needle. A 4-person residential shop will drown in it. When the business outgrows Jobber or Housecall Pro, this is the next conversation.
What we like- The deepest home-services platform: CRM, proposal builder, job costing, dispatch, accounting and marketing in one
- 70-plus prebuilt integrations including Viewpoint and Sage
- Built for residential, commercial and construction trades
Watch out for- Custom pricing only with a demo-led sales process
- Implementation is a project, not a signup
- Priced for growth-stage companies, not 3-person shops
#9
Procore
Best for: Electrical contractors scaling into commercial construction
Visit procore.com
Starting priceSee website (volume-based pricing)
Free planNo
Procore is where electrical contractors end up when they become commercial subcontractors in earnest. The platform covers preconstruction through closeout: estimating workflows, project management, field tools, financial management and analytics, with unlimited users and pricing based on annual construction volume rather than per-seat licenses. That model favors companies putting real volume through the system.
For a small contractor, the honest read is that Procore is usually bought by the general contractor, and the electrical sub gets invited into the GC's Procore project for free. Buying Procore directly makes sense when your own commercial volume justifies it and you need the financial controls, or when GCs start requiring it. Until then, the estimating-specific tools above cost a fraction as much. Pricing is entirely custom and volume-based, so the only number that matters is the one on your quote.
What we like- The construction management standard: preconstruction, project management, financials and field tools on one platform
- Unlimited users, priced on annual construction volume not seats
- Deep ERP and accounting integrations
Watch out for- Volume-based pricing means small shops pay enterprise-style minimums
- No published prices at all
- Implementation is a consulting engagement
What electrical estimating software actually costs
Small-contractor estimating software falls into three price bands, and the band tells you what you are buying. Under $100 a month: Jobber Core ($29), Housecall Pro Basic ($59) and Fieldwire Pro ($39 per user) cover quoting, scheduling and field work for service and small-project shops. From $300 a year to $300 a month: Bluebeam Revu Core ($330 per user per year) and STACK Takeoff & Estimate (from $299 per user per month) are the real takeoff tools for plan-based bidding.
Above that sit the custom-quote platforms: simPRO, ServiceTitan and Procore, where annual contracts run into five figures and implementation is part of the price. The free options are real: Fieldwire Basic is free for small teams, STACK offers a free takeoff version, and every paid tool on this list except the enterprise three offers a 14-day trial. Start free, bid one real job through the trial, and only then talk to sales.
How we chose
We started with the categories buyers search: electrical estimating software, electrical takeoff software, estimating software for contractors and contractor estimating app. For each candidate we opened the vendor's own pricing page, checked plan details against public reviews on G2 and Capterra and practitioner discussion on Reddit, and compared takeoff depth, trade-specific features, mobile apps, learning curve and small-business fit. Where a price could not be verified on the vendor's page we wrote "See website" rather than guessing. We never claim hands-on testing: this is document research, priced from vendor pages.
How to pick estimating software for a small electrical shop
Match the tool to the work you actually bid
Service work (troubleshooting, panel swaps, lighting retrofits) needs fast flat-rate quoting: Jobber or Housecall Pro. Small projects (tenant fit-outs, small commercial) need quoting plus job management: Jobber Grow or Housecall Pro Essentials. Plan-based commercial bidding needs real takeoff: STACK, PlanSwift or Bluebeam. Buying a takeoff suite for service work wastes money; quoting from plans without a takeoff tool wastes bids.
Mobile and learning curve beat feature lists
The best estimating software is the one the estimator actually uses every bid. Cloud and mobile tools (Jobber, Housecall Pro, Fieldwire, STACK) get adopted in days. Desktop tools (PlanSwift, Bluebeam) need a desk and a learning investment. Enterprise platforms (simPRO, ServiceTitan, Procore) need implementation help. If you are the owner and the estimator, pick the tool you will open at 9 PM the night before the bid is due.
Count the seats, then count the add-ons
Per-user pricing multiplies fast in the trades: STACK at $299 per user per month is $7,176 a year for two estimators. Bluebeam at $330 per user per year is $660 for the same two. Payment processing fees (Housecall Pro from 2.59 percent, Jobber 2.9 percent plus 30 cents) are a second bill that scales with revenue. And the enterprise tools price the platform, the implementation and sometimes the data migration separately. Get the all-in first-year number in writing before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest electrical estimating software for a small contractor?
Jobber Core at $29/month and Housecall Pro Basic at $59/month are the cheapest full job-management options. For actual plan takeoffs, Bluebeam Revu Core at $330/user/year is the cheapest professional tool. Fieldwire Basic is free for field drawing management.
Do I need takeoff software or just quoting software?
If you bid from plans and drawings, you need takeoff software (STACK, PlanSwift or Bluebeam) to count devices and measure runs accurately. If you do service calls and small installs priced from experience, quoting software with a price book (Jobber, Housecall Pro) is faster and cheaper.
Can I do electrical takeoffs on my phone?
Not well. Takeoff work needs a big screen: STACK runs in a browser on any computer, PlanSwift and Bluebeam are desktop tools. Phones are for the field side: viewing drawings, punch lists and photos in Fieldwire, or quoting and invoicing in Jobber and Housecall Pro.
How long does it take to learn estimating software?
Cloud tools like Jobber, Housecall Pro and STACK get most users productive within hours to days. Desktop takeoff tools like PlanSwift and Bluebeam take longer to master, though both offer training. Enterprise platforms like simPRO, ServiceTitan and Procore typically need guided implementation.
Should a small shop buy ServiceTitan or Procore?
Usually not yet. Both are built for growth-stage and larger contractors, with custom pricing and implementation projects to match. Most small shops do better on Jobber or Housecall Pro until they have double-digit technicians. Note that Procore is often provided by the general contractor on commercial jobs, so you may already have access.
What is the difference between an estimate and a takeoff?
The takeoff is the measurement: counting devices, measuring conduit runs and listing materials from the plans. The estimate is the pricing: applying labor units and material costs to those quantities to produce the bid price. Takeoff tools (STACK, PlanSwift, Bluebeam) do the first; estimating features turn it into the second.
Sources we checked (9)
- https://www.stackct.com/pricing
- https://www.simprogroup.com/us/pricing
- https://www.servicetitan.com
- https://www.housecallpro.com/pricing/
- https://www.getjobber.com/pricing/
- https://www.fieldwire.com/pricing/
- https://www.bluebeam.com/pricing/
- https://www.planswift.com/pricing
- https://www.procore.com/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.