Electrical Estimating and Bidding Software: What Each Tool Costs per Estimator

Electrical estimating software turns drawings into a priced bid: you count devices, measure conduit and wire, and the program adds material prices and labor hours to each item. The tools compared here split on how much of that work they carry for you.

Commercial bid suites come loaded with an electrical item database and labor units, and connect to a material price service: Accubid (datasheet), McCormick (electrical page), Conest’s IntelliBid (product page), Electrical Bid Manager (version comparison) and PataBid’s Quantify (FAQ). Takeoff-led tools start from measuring the drawings and describe no built-in labor-unit database, so you enter your own labor rates and, apart from STACK Pro’s regional cost library, your own material prices: PlanSwift (features), STACK (pricing page) and Countfire (FAQ). TurboBid and Best Bid also come with an electrical database and labor units, but are sold from their own online stores at published prices (TurboBid home page, Best Bid pricing page).

The second choice is how you pay. Some of these programs are a license you buy once, with yearly maintenance or support that is required, optional or free; the others are subscriptions. The tables give each tool’s first-year cost for one, three and eight estimators and what each later year costs. The sections after them cover labor units, price services, device counts and change orders, where an electrical bid depends most on the software. This page compares bid estimating tools; scheduling, dispatch and invoicing apps for electricians are on our electrical contractor software comparison. It is based on public documentation and published prices; we have not used these products.

Electrical estimating software prices compared

Electrical estimating software prices, ordered by the first-year cost for 3 estimators

Vendor in cost order	How it is sold	Starting price per seat	First year 3 estimators	Each later year 3 estimators	Who it suits (our summary)
1 PlanSwift	Subscription, per seat	$2,000 a year for 1 seat, billed annually Published	$5,000 in the first year, billed annually Published Sources disagree on PlanSwift Essential	The same as the first year	Electrical estimators who count devices and measure conduit and wire on plans, and want those counts priced in the same tool; a paid electrical starter pack adds ready-made electrical assemblies and symbols.
2 TurboBid	Subscription, per seat; Perpetual license + yearly maintenance	$135 per seat a month, billed monthly Published Sources disagree	$5,235 in the first year, one-time license Published on One-Time Purchase	$1,050 a year Published optional maintenance	Residential and light commercial electricians who want a low-cost, self-serve estimating program with a published price and a free trial.
3 Best Bid	One-time license	$2,500 per seat, one-time license Published Sources disagree	$7,500 in the first year, one-time license Published Sources disagree on Best Bid Next Generation	No yearly fee	Electrical contractors who would rather pay once than carry a yearly estimating subscription.
4 STACK	Subscription, per seat	$299 per seat a month, billed annually Published	$10,764 in the first year, billed annually Published on Premium	The same as the first year	Electrical and mechanical estimators who measure runs with drops, ductwork and counts in the browser, with team members collaborating whether on site or working remotely.
5 Accubid	Price on request	Not published	Not published	Not published	Electrical contractors with several estimators, or several offices, who need to work from one shared database of items, assemblies and jobs.
6 Conest	Price on request	Not published	Not published	Not published	Electrical, low voltage, datacom and solar contractors who want a large ready-made database of NEC-friendly electrical items and pre-built assemblies to estimate from.
7 Countfire	Price on request	Not published	Not published	Not published	Electrical estimating teams pricing large, repetitive drawing sets, where counting every device by hand is the slowest part of the bid.
8 Electrical Bid Manager	Price on request	Not published	Not published	Not published	Electrical contractors who want an estimating database made for electrical work, with prebuilt assemblies, electrical takeoff modules and adjustable labor columns from the entry tier.
9 McCormick	Price on request	Not published	Not published	Not published	Commercial electrical contractors who want takeoff and estimating in one program, with a large prebuilt electrical database, NECA labor units and automatic home-run measuring.
10 PataBid	Price on request	Not published	Not published	Not published	Electrical contractors who buy from City Electric Supply or Gescan, because account-specific prices flow into the estimate and materials can be ordered from inside it.

How each cost is worked out: for one, three and eight estimators, one seat each (a concurrent seat can serve more than one estimator, but we cost one per estimator). No source states a typical estimating team, so these sizes are our convention. A subscription costs 12 times its monthly price for those seats, the same each year. A license bought once costs its price for those seats plus a year's maintenance in the first year, unless the vendor says the first year is included; each later year costs the maintenance. Required one-off fees, such as a setup fee, are added to the first year when their price is published; a cost that leaves one out because its price is not published says so. Optional services, such as training, are not included. We rank on the first-year cost because a license is the product, not a fee. That plan may not include every feature you need.

Starting price is the lowest plan price on the billing term the vendor's pricing page shows first. "Who it suits" is our summary of the vendor's own material. The bar under each published first-year cost shows it against the highest one in the column; it measures cost, not quality.

Notes on these figures

1. PlanSwift PlanSwift Essential: Sources disagree. PlanSwift's pages can be read two ways for teams, either the lower seat price on every seat once two or more are bought, or only on seats after the first. The figure here uses the second, higher reading. (sources: planswift.com/checkout/core, planswift.com/features, planswift.com/pricing)
2. TurboBid Monthly Subscription: Sources disagree. TurboBid's help center article on pricing gives a lower monthly price; the figure on its store page is used. (sources: support.turbobid.com/support/solutions/articles/9000003014-…, turbobid.com/products/turbobid-electrical-estimatin…)
3. Best Bid Best Bid Next Generation: Sources disagree. Best Bid's FAQ says one purchase can be installed on any number of computers at one location, but its license agreement allows one copy on one computer unless each user has a license. The costs here follow the license agreement and count one license per estimator at the same price. (sources: bestbidestimating.com/faq, bestbidestimating.com/end-user-license-agreement)

The electrical estimating tools, one by one

What one, three or eight estimators pay

Costs are worked out as described under the first cost table.

First-year and later-year cost for one, three and eight estimators

Vendor	1 estimator One estimator	3 estimators Estimating team	8 estimators Large department
PlanSwift	$2,000 in the first year Published PlanSwift Essential, billed annually Each later year: the same as the first year	$5,000 in the first year Published Sources disagree PlanSwift Essential, billed annually Each later year: the same as the first year	$12,500 in the first year Published Sources disagree PlanSwift Essential, billed annually Each later year: the same as the first year
TurboBid	$1,745 in the first year Published One-Time Purchase, one-time license Each later year: $350 a year Published (optional maintenance)	$5,235 in the first year Published One-Time Purchase, one-time license Each later year: $1,050 a year Published (optional maintenance)	$13,960 in the first year Published One-Time Purchase, one-time license Each later year: $2,800 a year Published (optional maintenance)
Best Bid	$2,500 in the first year Published Sources disagree Best Bid Next Generation, one-time license Each later year: no yearly fee	$7,500 in the first year Published Sources disagree Best Bid Next Generation, one-time license Each later year: no yearly fee	$20,000 in the first year Published Sources disagree Best Bid Next Generation, one-time license Each later year: no yearly fee
STACK	$3,588 in the first year Published Premium, billed annually Each later year: the same as the first year	$10,764 in the first year Published Premium, billed annually Each later year: the same as the first year	$28,704 in the first year Published Premium, billed annually Each later year: the same as the first year
Accubid	Not published	Not published	Not published
Conest	Not published	Not published	Not published
Countfire	Not published	Not published	Not published
Electrical Bid Manager	Not published	Not published	Not published
McCormick	Not published	Not published	Not published
PataBid	Not published	Not published	Not published

No required one-off fees stated: PlanSwift, TurboBid, Best Bid and STACK.

How we chose and ordered these tools

Electric Ease, also named in two search results, was left out by the cap. Our price index lists field service software and does not include estimating tools.

What drives the cost of electrical estimating software

Buying once or renting. Best Bid is a one-time purchase with free updates and no renewal (FAQ); each estimator needs a license, so one estimator pays $2,500 in the first year on Best Bid Next Generation, one-time license (published price; sources disagree) and three pay $7,500 in the first year on Best Bid Next Generation, one-time license (published price; sources disagree). TurboBid’s license works the same way, except that upgrades and support after the first six months are a paid plan (support plan). Conest and Electrical Bid Manager also sell licenses, but the yearly maintenance or support is where their ongoing cost sits, and neither publishes the license or the renewal fee (Conest maintenance agreement, Vision InfoSoft support page). Everything else is a subscription. STACK holds you to a fixed term even when you pay by the month (pricing page), PlanSwift sells yearly plans (pricing page), Accubid and McCormick sell quoted subscriptions (Accubid datasheet, McCormick post), and Countfire’s and PataBid’s terms renew automatically (Countfire terms, PataBid terms).

How seats are counted. STACK prices each estimator’s seat and includes unlimited view-only seats (pricing page). PataBid pools licenses, so an occasional estimator can share one with a colleague (FAQ). Best Bid’s license agreement requires a license for each user, and it gives no volume discounts (license agreement, FAQ). A TurboBid license covers one estimator, and sharing a database across estimators means a local network you set up yourself (help article). PlanSwift prices the first seat and the seats after it separately, and quotes teams of ten or more licenses (pricing page). For eight estimators, the first year runs from $12,500 in the first year, billed annually (published price; sources disagree) with PlanSwift to $28,704 in the first year, billed annually (published price) with STACK; Accubid, Conest, Countfire, Electrical Bid Manager, McCormick and PataBid do not publish a price for 8 estimators. PlanSwift costs less for 8 estimators: $12,500 in the first year, billed annually (published price; sources disagree), against $28,704 in the first year, billed annually (published price) for STACK.

The pieces sold separately. The program may not be the whole bill. Up-to-date material prices are often a separate subscription, covered below. On Conest, Electrical Bid Manager and TurboBid, on-screen takeoff is a separate product as well (SureCount page, Vision InfoSoft takeoff page, TurboBid help article). Ask for each in the quote, with its own yearly price.

Training. Several of these vendors publish prices for training classes. Conest’s two-day IntelliBid basic class is $1,300 one-off (published price) (class page). Vision InfoSoft’s two-hour hands-on foundation class for Electrical Bid Manager is $757 one-off (published price) (training prices). PlanSwift’s two-day classroom seat is $1,595 per seat one-off (published price), with travel on top (classroom training). Best Bid Academy, self-paced video training, is $500 one-off (published price) for one user (Academy page). None of these is in the yearly costs above.

Labor units and NECA-style labor databases

A labor unit is the time an electrician needs to install one item, such as a length of conduit or a receptacle, before the estimator adjusts it for the conditions on the job. Every labor hour in the bid is built from these units, so where they come from matters.

Several tools here load published manuals. McCormick offers three levels of NECA labor units alongside its own (home page). PataBid’s Quantify ships with the Suderman, NECA and MCA manuals and lets you adjust each one (FAQ). Accubid offers industry-standard labor units or your company’s own productivity figures, in several labor columns (product page), and Accubid Classic builds in labor factoring and labor tracking (Classic page).

Others build in their own units and let you adjust them. Conest’s IntelliBid factors labor automatically and lets you set the installation difficulty (features comparison). Best Bid has a difficulty slider over its built-in units (FAQ). Electrical Bid Manager keeps several labor columns per item, and Pro lets you create new columns (version comparison). TurboBid gives each item a labor unit, with an override for service work (help article).

PlanSwift, STACK and Countfire describe no built-in labor database: you keep your own rates in PlanSwift’s libraries, type them into STACK, or bring labor hours in an uploaded price list in Countfire (PlanSwift features, STACK electrical page, Countfire help article). That suits a shop that prices from its own job history. A shop bidding unfamiliar commercial work may prefer to start from one of the manuals above.

Material price services for wire, conduit and fixtures

Wire, conduit and fittings are commodity items, and Vision InfoSoft sells an add-on, EPIC DUO, that pushes commodity price changes every few days (pricing page). How a tool keeps those prices current is a real part of its cost.

Accubid’s Estimating Essentials bundle includes Trade Service (TRA-SER) product and pricing data, with supplier quotes through Supplier Xchange (datasheet). Electrical Bid Manager connects to Vision InfoSoft’s own EPIC service, which covers over two million electrical items with trade and target prices and can be updated daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly (pricing page, product page); EPIC NetPricer pulls in the prices you have negotiated with a local supplier (NetPricer page). Conest connects to the same kinds of service, licensed separately (product page). McCormick updates prices from supply houses, pricing services and Remarcable (release notes), and PataBid pulls account pricing from City Electric Supply and Gescan (supplier integrations).

TurboBid and Best Bid publish what their price feeds cost. TurboBid’s prices start as the US national average (help article), and its TurboCloud service, updated every Monday, is $99 per seat a month, billed monthly (published price) (home page). Best Bid’s Real Time Pricing is $33 a month, billed monthly (published price) after a free trial (pricing page). Neither figure is in the yearly costs above. PlanSwift and Countfire name no price service: material costs are the ones you enter or upload (PlanSwift features, Countfire help article).

Electrical takeoff: counting devices and fixtures from plans

Counting receptacles, switches, light fixtures and panels across a drawing set, and measuring the runs between them, is the core of an electrical takeoff. The tools handle it in three ways.

Takeoff inside the estimating program. McCormick’s Design Estimating Pro has auto-count and an Auto Home Run tool that measures home runs automatically (electrical page). Best Bid’s takeoff screen comes with a branch circuit library that matches its branch circuit assembly (product page). PataBid’s Rapid Count uses AI to count every matching item once you select one (FAQ), and Accubid’s LiveCount links both ways to the estimate, with AI takeoff and Auto Count (product page).

Takeoff-first tools. Countfire finds a selected symbol across every drawing in a project and checks its own counts (takeoff page). STACK searches for and recognizes symbols (pricing page) and measures linear runs with drops (electrical page). PlanSwift’s Auto Count counts matching symbols, and Core adds a tool that drafts a first-pass takeoff (pricing page).

A separate takeoff product. Conest sells SureCount, which counts symbols, measures runs, overlays revised drawings and sends the takeoff straight into IntelliBid (SureCount page). Electrical Bid Manager works with PlanSwift, On-Screen Takeoff or eTakeoff, though on Standard and Plus the On-Screen Takeoff link is a paid extra (takeoff page, changelog, version comparison), and TurboBid with PlanSwift or with digitizer tools such as Scale Master (help article).

PlanSwift and McCormick also open DWG and DXF files for measuring on screen (PlanSwift features, McCormick blog post). McCormick’s plumbing page lists BIM integration without saying what it reads (plumbing page), and none of the other tools describes reading quantities straight from a CAD or BIM model.

Change orders on electrical bids

Once a job is won, every added circuit or moved fixture is a change order, and pricing it from the original estimate keeps the labor and material rates consistent with the bid.

Accubid’s ChangeOrder builds each change from the contract estimate’s details and keeps the item database in step with it (ChangeOrder page, product page). PataBid’s change order module calculates costs and produces change order proposals (Quantify page). Best Bid has a built-in change order form (FAQ), and McCormick’s electrical page says it documents each change order and works out its effect on the bottom line (electrical page). TurboBid lets you take off the original bid and then a revision, such as changes from a customer walk-through, and its reports show the two side by side with a combined total (features page). On Conest and Electrical Bid Manager it depends on the edition, as the feature table shows.

STACK and PlanSwift overlay revised drawings, and Countfire recounts revised drawings and compares specifications, so you can see what changed, but their pages do not describe pricing a change order against the original estimate (STACK pricing page, PlanSwift features, Countfire product page). If you bill many changes on contract work, ask each vendor to price a sample change order in the demo.

Commercial bid suite or lighter takeoff and quoting tool

Commercial bids from full drawing sets, with several estimators. Accubid, McCormick, Conest, Electrical Bid Manager and PataBid carry the electrical database, labor units and price links described above. Accubid supports several estimators across offices on one database (product page); McCormick Hosted lets several estimators work on the same project at once (cloud or on-premises post). All of them quote their prices, so budget time for demos and compare the quotes line by line.

Takeoff-heavy teams that already know their own prices. Countfire, STACK and PlanSwift center on the counting and leave pricing data to you. STACK and Countfire run in a browser, which suits teams on Macs or in several places (STACK FAQ, Countfire FAQ).

Residential and light commercial, one estimator. TurboBid is aimed at that work (home page), and Best Bid puts takeoff and estimating in one program you buy once (product page). In the cost table, read the one-estimator column through to each later year, since Best Bid has no renewal fee (FAQ).

Field service apps. Apps such as ServiceTitan also build estimates, from a pricebook in a phone app used on site (mobile app page), but they price service calls rather than bids from drawings. Their plan prices are in our field service software price index, and the ServiceTitan price list covers that one in full.