No credit card

Free Bluebeam: how far the unlicensed version goes

Excellent for marking up and circulating a plan. The takeoff itself stays entirely in your hands.

Is it actually free?

Bluebeam Revu is a construction PDF tool sold by subscription, with a free trial to evaluate it. The free viewers that have existed across versions let you open and comment on a document, not produce a usable takeoff. And even in the paid version the measurement tools are manual: you calibrate the scale, then you trace.

What is genuinely free

The Revu trial, full-featured, to evaluate the measurement and markup tools.
Reading and printing a site PDF, which any free viewer covers.
Shared review sessions, if a team member already holds a licence.

Where it stops

No automatic detection: every room is traced, every run is clicked. On a multi-dwelling plan that runs into hours. And the spreadsheet export gives you measurement rows, not a takeoff structured by trade.

What FloorScan opens up for free

FloorScan detects rooms, walls and openings before any manual work, then produces a takeoff already sorted, exportable to Excel or DXF. Thirty free days across every module, no card. The two tools complement each other well: Bluebeam to circulate and mark up, FloorScan to price.

Open the demo Manual takeoff, no time limit

Free and immediate, no account: the matching calculator.

Plan scale

Frequently asked questions

Does the free Bluebeam viewer allow measuring?

The measurement tools and the export belong to the Revu licence. A viewer opens and comments on the document, it does not replace the subscription for a takeoff.

Does Bluebeam do automatic takeoff?

No, measurement is manual and assisted. Counting features speed up repeated symbols, but room areas are traced one by one.

Can you use both together?

Yes, and it is the most common setup: the marked-up PDF circulates in Bluebeam, and the quantities come out of FloorScan into the spreadsheet used for pricing.

Offers and free tiers taken from public sources at the time of writing. A vendor can change them without notice: check their site before deciding.

That settles the price question. For the feature question, the full comparison:

FloorScan vs Bluebeam

See the feature in detail : DXF takeoff