PlanSwift vs STACK vs getting one priced bid tonight
Seats vs one bid.
PlanSwift, STACK and Togal sell a seat to somebody whose job is estimating, and if that is your job they are probably the right answer; Portravo sells one priced bid to somebody who is running the crew and has to get a number out tonight.
What the platforms are actually good at
Speed in the hands of a trained estimator, deep assembly libraries you can tune for years, multi-user takeoff on the same plan set, and integrations into accounting and project management. If you are pushing volume through an estimating department, that is real leverage and it is worth the seat.
They also win on breadth of trade coverage, including priced HVAC equipment, which Portravo lists but does not price.
What that shape costs a small shop
A seat is a standing cost whether you bid four jobs this month or none. Most of these tools are sold annually, and the setup is real: you are building your library and learning the takeoff tooling before the first bid comes out faster than doing it by hand.
The honest failure mode is a subscription that renews while nobody has opened the software since the last busy season.
Where Portravo fits
Portravo is priced per estimate: $75 for one, or $199 a month for 5 and $399 a month for 15 if you are bidding most weeks. Credits from a single purchase do not expire, so a slow month costs nothing.
The scope is narrow on purpose. Upload the plan PDF, confirm the quantities, price them using available local material prices or a labeled benchmark fallback, with the source and as-of date printed on each line, apply your own labor rate card, then export Excel for you and a clean PDF for the customer. If you need seats, a shared library and priced mechanical equipment, buy the platform.
Which shape fits you
Answer these honestly. Three or more on either side settles it.
- 01Do you or an employee estimate full time? Platform.
- 02Do more than two people need to work the same plan set? Platform.
- 03Do you need priced HVAC equipment, not just the counts? Platform. Portravo does not price it.
- 04Do you need a broad custom cost library across many trades? Platform.
- 05Do you bid a few jobs a month between site visits? Per-estimate.
- 06Does the customer need to see where each price came from? Per-estimate.
No account needed. Upload your plan PDF, pick the trades and pay $75 per trade; the takeoff starts right away. Your first takeoff has a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Upload plans and start- Is Portravo a replacement for PlanSwift or STACK?
- Not for a full-time estimator. Those tools win on seats, speed in trained hands, shared libraries and trade breadth. Portravo is for a contractor who needs one priced bid without buying and learning a seat.
- What does Portravo cost?
- $75 per takeoff pay as you go, or a monthly plan: Starter $199 for 5 takeoffs, Pro $399 for 15, Trade $699 for 30. One takeoff is one trade on one project; the whole job, every trade on one project, is $149 pay as you go. Pay-as-you-go credits never expire. Your first takeoff has a 14-day money-back guarantee.