Softwr

Construction · head to head

Briq vs Clearstory

Briq logo

Briq

Construction

Financial automation and forecasting for contractors sitting on top of construction ERP

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Clearstory logo

Clearstory

Construction

Digital change order and time and materials tag exchange between subcontractors and general contractors

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Briq briq layers on top of an ERP rather than replacing it, so the total finance software bill goes up and the business case has to come from headcount or close-time savings that are hard to measure in advance.; Clearstory value depends on the counterparty using it, so a subcontractor whose general contractors have not adopted it ends up running the digital process and the emailed one at the same time.
  • They diverge on capability: Briq covers Invoice capture and coding, Clearstory covers Digital time and materials tags.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Briq and Clearstory actually diverge.

Attributes where Briq and Clearstory differ
AttributeBriqClearstory
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Construction).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Briq

  • Invoice capture and coding
  • WIP schedules
  • Cash flow forecasting
  • Cost at completion forecasting
  • Multi-entity consolidation
  • Overhead allocation
  • Workflow automation
  • Dashboards and reporting

Only in Clearstory

  • Digital time and materials tags
  • Review and signature routing
  • Change order log
  • Cost exposure reporting
  • Field mobile capture
  • Document export

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Briq

  • A contractor whose month-end close runs three weeks because WIP is rebuilt by hand in Excel every periodnot Clearstory
  • A group with four operating companies on different chart-of-accounts structures that needs one consolidated margin viewnot Clearstory
  • A specialty contractor processing thousands of supplier invoices a month that wants coding and approval automated rather than keyednot Clearstory
  • A finance director who needs a defensible cost-at-completion forecast for a surety or lender rather than a project manager's estimatenot Clearstory

Clearstory

  • A speciality subcontractor that regularly performs extra work and struggles to get tags signednot Briq
  • A general contractor tired of receiving a stack of disputed tags at project closeoutnot Briq
  • A project team that needs the value of pending extras visible during the job rather than after itnot Briq
  • A contractor standardising change documentation across trades on a large projectnot Briq

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Briq

  • Briq layers on top of an ERP rather than replacing it, so the total finance software bill goes up and the business case has to come from headcount or close-time savings that are hard to measure in advance.
  • The output is only as good as job cost coding in the underlying ledger, and contractors with inconsistent cost codes get faster visibility of a mess rather than a clean forecast.
  • No pricing is published and the contract is scoped by entities, modules and transaction volume, which makes budgeting impossible without a full discovery exercise.
  • Implementation is a data mapping project against systems such as Vista and Sage 300 that were not designed to be read this way, so go-live timelines run into months and depend on your own finance team's availability.
  • It targets mid-market and larger contractors; a firm with one entity and a competent controller in Excel will not recover the cost, and the product is oversized for smaller subcontractors.

Clearstory

  • Value depends on the counterparty using it, so a subcontractor whose general contractors have not adopted it ends up running the digital process and the emailed one at the same time.
  • It documents extra work but does not settle it; a general contractor determined not to pay is not persuaded by better paperwork, only better positioned to be argued with.
  • Field staff have to complete tags properly for the record to hold up, and the discipline required is the same discipline that was failing on paper.
  • Poor connectivity in basements, plant rooms and lift shafts is exactly where extra work gets documented, so offline reliability needs testing before rollout rather than after.
  • It overlaps with change management already present in Procore and similar platforms, so buyers must be clear about which system holds the authoritative log or they will maintain two.

Pricing, plan by plan

Briq

On request
  • Briq$undefined/year
    • Annual platform subscription
    • Scoped by modules, entities and transaction volume
    • Implementation and data mapping quoted separately

Clearstory

On request
  • Clearstory$undefined/year
    • Digital time and materials tags
    • Change order log
    • Mobile field capture

Which should you pick?

Choose Briq if

  • You need invoice capture and coding.
  • You also want wip schedules.
Briq review

Choose Clearstory if

  • You need digital time and materials tags.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want review and signature routing.
Clearstory review

Questions people ask

Is Briq or Clearstory better?
Neither clearly leads. Briq starts at On request and Clearstory at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Briq or Clearstory?
Briq starts at On request and Clearstory at On request.
Does Briq or Clearstory run on more platforms?
Briq runs on Web. Clearstory runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Briq best used for?
Briq is most often used for a contractor whose month-end close runs three weeks because wip is rebuilt by hand in excel every period, a group with four operating companies on different chart-of-accounts structures that needs one consolidated margin view, a specialty contractor processing thousands of supplier invoices a month that wants coding and approval automated rather than keyed, a finance director who needs a defensible cost-at-completion forecast for a surety or lender rather than a project manager's estimate. Of those, a contractor whose month-end close runs three weeks because wip is rebuilt by hand in excel every period and a group with four operating companies on different chart-of-accounts structures that needs one consolidated margin view are not what Clearstory is typically brought in for.
What can Briq do that Clearstory cannot?
Briq covers Invoice capture and coding, WIP schedules, Cash flow forecasting, Cost at completion forecasting. Clearstory covers Digital time and materials tags, Review and signature routing, Change order log, Cost exposure reporting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Briq: Does Briq replace my construction accounting system?

No. It reads from Vista, Sage or similar and automates the reporting and forecasting layer above them. You keep the ERP.

Clearstory: Is Clearstory for subcontractors or general contractors?

Both, because the workflow crosses between them. The subcontractor originates the tag, the general contractor reviews it, and adoption works best when the general contractor mandates it.

Briq: What does it cost?

Briq does not publish pricing. Contracts are scoped by module, entity count and transaction volume and quoted annually.

Clearstory: Does it replace change management in Procore?

It can, for time and materials tags and the change order log, but you must decide which system is authoritative. Running both without that decision creates reconciliation work.

Briq: How long does implementation take?

Expect months rather than weeks, because most of the work is mapping and cleaning job cost data from the existing ledger.

Clearstory: What happens on sites without signal?

Tags are captured on the device and synchronised later. Test that path with photographs attached before relying on it.

Briq: Is it useful for a single-entity contractor?

Less so. The strongest case is multi-entity consolidation and high invoice volume; a small contractor gets thinner returns.

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