Two things changed in 2026 for anyone shopping around Buildertrend. Its pricing page dropped the old tiers for one plan that starts at $499 a month, and the real price comes from a quote based on your annual construction volume and onboarding package. And CoConstruct, the remodeler-friendly product Buildertrend acquired, is in what its own site calls the final phase of moving customers over. If you're here, one of those is probably why.
Disclosure: we make Obra. It's the last entry below, and it's only an alternative to Buildertrend for one specific kind of shop, which the entry says plainly. Prices are list prices checked on October 20, 2026, before promotions, rounded; they change.
First decide what you're replacing
Buildertrend bundles four jobs: winning work (leads, estimates, proposals), running the job (schedules, daily logs, selections, client portal), the job's money (budgets, costs, change orders, invoices), and a bridge to the books. The decision guide walks through the split; the short form is:
- If you use the schedule, the client portal and the selections every day, you need another suite. Five of the seven below are suites.
- If what you actually opened Buildertrend for was the budget page, and the crew's receipts never made it in anyway, you need a job money tool and can keep the calendar in your phone. That's the last two.
Buildertrend's one plan starts at $499 a month with unlimited users and goes up with your volume. Every option below starts lower for a crew of three, though some put job costing on a higher plan; only some of them do less.
The short version
| Alternative | Replaces | Starts at | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| JobTread | The whole suite, budget-first | About $200 a month plus $20 per user | No; money-back window |
| Contractor Foreman | The whole suite, cheapest broad option | About $50 a month for one user, annual; job costing on Plus, about $199 | 30 days, on annual plans |
| Buildern | The suite for a home builder or remodeler with a client portal | About $250 a month for two seats | 7 days |
| Buildxact | Estimating and takeoffs first, job management on higher tiers | Free estimating tier; about $170 a month for unlimited users | 14 days |
| Houzz Pro | A suite tied to the Houzz marketplace, with leads sold separately | $99 a month for one user; Pro $199 | 30 days, then annual |
| Projul | A suite priced by team size, with onboarding on most annual plans | About $249 a month for three users; job costing from about $799 | No; demo |
| Obra | The estimate and the job's money, from field receipts, in English and Spanish | Free for one active project; $12 per user a month | Free tier |
JobTread
What you get. Estimating, budgeting, job costing, scheduling, time tracking, customer and vendor portals, QuickBooks Online integration, and free implementation with a success manager.
Why people move to it from Buildertrend. The budget-first workflow and transparent pricing. The estimate becomes the budget, costs land against it, and margin shows per line. Vendor, subcontractor and customer portal users are free.
Watch out for. Every internal user who enters a cost needs a seat, and there's no trial. For a crew of three it's about $240 a month, less on annual billing.
Contractor Foreman
What you get. Estimates, scheduling, daily logs, change orders, purchase orders, AIA G702/G703 billing, time cards, job costing reports, a client portal, and QuickBooks Online sync.
Why people move to it. Breadth per dollar. It covers most of what Buildertrend does for a fraction of the price, and the plans scale by users rather than by construction volume.
Watch out for. Job costing, change orders and progress invoicing start on the Plus plan, about $199 a month or $166 on annual billing for up to eight users; the cheaper plans leave them out. Setup is weeks, not days, and the 30-day trial is for annual plans.
Buildern
What you get. Estimating with cost catalogs and takeoff, scheduling, bills and purchase orders, change orders, budget tracking with cost codes, a client portal, and two-way QuickBooks and Xero sync. Field workers, clients and subs get free portal access.
Why people move to it. Home builders and remodelers who want a simpler Buildertrend at a known price, with selections and RFIs on the professional plan.
Watch out for. About $250 a month for two seats, $400 for four, and $90 to $100 per extra seat, so it's not cheap for a crew of five. Short trial.
Buildxact
What you get. Digital takeoffs, AI-assisted estimating, proposals, and on the higher plans scheduling, job management, cost tracking and change orders, with QuickBooks and Xero integrations. Unlimited users on the paid plans.
Why people move to it. Estimating is the strongest part, and unlimited users means the whole crew can be in the system without a per-seat argument.
Watch out for. Job management, schedules and the mobile app start on the Pro plan at about $340 a month on annual billing. The free tier is an estimating sampler with a handful of credits.
Houzz Pro
What you get. Estimates and proposals, project management, a client dashboard, invoicing, QuickBooks integration, and advertising on the Houzz marketplace, sold separately.
Why people move to it. Remodelers and design-build firms whose leads already come from Houzz, and who want the client-facing side polished.
Watch out for. Change orders, budgets and schedules are on the Pro plan, $199 a month for one user plus $50 per extra user. The 30-day trial turns into an annual subscription, and leads from the marketplace cost extra, from $499 a month. Houzz Pro alternatives goes further.
Projul
What you get. Estimating with templates, job costing and budgets, drag-and-drop scheduling, progress billing by milestone or percentage, CRM, time tracking, and QuickBooks Online or Desktop sync depending on the plan. A premium support package with onboarding and data migration is included on most annual plans.
Why people move to it. Pricing by team size instead of per seat, and the included onboarding, which is the part of a Buildertrend migration most shops dread.
Watch out for. Job costing, budgets and progress billing start on Core+, about $799 a month or $599 on annual billing, for up to 20 users, and unlimited users is only on the top plan. There's no trial, only a demo.
Obra, for the job-money-only case
What you get. Estimates priced from your own past jobs, signed by the client from a private link, that open the project with its contract and budget; then a per-project ledger: income, expenses, receipts, change orders, invoices, a forecast of the final cost, and a close. Receipts arrive by WhatsApp, email or photo, are read into a draft, and a person confirms them. Submitters capture from their own phones without seeing the finances. English and Spanish throughout. Exports for the accountant.
When it's the right alternative. When the honest reason you paid for Buildertrend was the budget page, and the reason it never told you the truth was that field receipts didn't make it in. A three-person crew pays $36 a month, and the free tier runs one active project.
When it isn't. When you need scheduling, selections, a client portal or takeoffs from plans. Obra doesn't do them and won't. Pick a suite above and, if the receipts problem persists, run Obra next to it.
If you're coming from CoConstruct
CoConstruct's transition into Buildertrend is, in its own words, entering its final phase. Whatever you move to, get your data out first: export your projects, estimates, budgets and cost history while your login still works, and keep the exports even if you end up accepting the Buildertrend migration. Every suite above imports from CSV; Obra imports a project's cost history from CSV or XLSX and lets you undo the import if the mapping was wrong.
Which one, by situation
- What you actually used Buildertrend for was knowing whether the job was making money. Obra. It's the cheapest tool on this page by a wide margin, the crew sends receipts over WhatsApp instead of learning an app, and every job carries a forecast; most small remodelers find that's the part of the suite they were paying for.
- Remodeler, 3 to 10 people, runs the job from the estimate and wants the schedule in the same place. JobTread, with Obra alongside it if the receipts still come from the field.
- GC that needs AIA billing and the broadest feature list for the least money. Contractor Foreman.
- Home builder who wants a simpler Buildertrend with a client portal. Buildern.
- Estimating is the pain, and you want everyone in the system without seat fees. Buildxact.
- Leads come from Houzz. Houzz Pro, after you price the advertising package in writing.
- You want someone else to do the migration. Projul.
Questions people ask
How much does Buildertrend cost now? Its pricing page lists one plan starting at $499 a month, with unlimited users; the final price is quoted from your annual construction volume and onboarding package, and paying annually saves 10%.
Is CoConstruct being discontinued? Its site describes the move to Buildertrend as in its final phase and asks customers to migrate. No hard shutdown date was published as of October 20, 2026.
What's the cheapest Buildertrend alternative? For the full suite, Contractor Foreman, on the Plus plan if you need job costing. For the job-money part alone, Obra's free tier or RenoJira's free phone app; see the job costing apps roundup for that comparison.
Get the template
If the move is a few months out and you need something honest in the meantime, the free job costing spreadsheet below has one sheet per job with costs and payments kept separate. Enter your email and the download starts right away.