Softwr

Construction · head to head

Foundation Software vs Togal.AI

Foundation Software logo

Foundation Software

Construction

Job cost accounting and construction payroll for contractors running certified and union jobs

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Togal.AI logo

Togal.AI

Construction

Automated drawing takeoff that measures and labels spaces without manual tracing

From
$299/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Foundation Software no pricing is published anywhere, so shortlisting requires sitting through a sales process before you know whether the product is within budget at all.; Togal.AI annual billing is mandatory at $299 per user per month, so an estimating team that ramps up and down for bid seasons pays a full year for seats it uses intermittently.
  • They diverge on capability: Foundation Software covers Job costing, Togal.AI covers Automatic space detection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Foundation Software and Togal.AI actually diverge.

Attributes where Foundation Software and Togal.AI differ
AttributeFoundation SoftwareTogal.AI
Starting priceOn request$299/month
Pricing modelquotePer user per month
PlatformsWindows, Web, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: 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 Foundation Software

  • Job costing
  • Certified payroll
  • Union payroll
  • AIA billing
  • Equipment costing
  • Service dispatch
  • Mobile time entry
  • Executive dashboards

Only in Togal.AI

  • Automatic space detection
  • Drawing comparison
  • Natural language search
  • Automated counts
  • Excel export
  • Plan set management
  • Team sharing

What people use each for

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

Foundation Software

  • A union electrical or mechanical contractor whose payroll spans several trades and fringe schedules in the same weeknot Togal.AI
  • A general contractor bidding federally funded work that requires weekly certified payroll filingsnot Togal.AI
  • A contractor whose QuickBooks file has outgrown job costing and who is reconciling work in progress in spreadsheetsnot Togal.AI
  • A firm with owned plant that needs equipment hours costed back to jobs to see true contract marginnot Togal.AI

Togal.AI

  • A commercial general contractor bidding repetitive multifamily or hospitality floor plates where room-by-room area takeoff dominates the effortnot Foundation Software
  • An estimating team that needs to requantify quickly when an architect issues a revised set two days before a bidnot Foundation Software
  • A finishes subcontractor pricing flooring, paint and ceiling areas across hundreds of roomsnot Foundation Software
  • A preconstruction group producing early order-of-magnitude budgets from schematic plans before a full estimate is justifiednot Foundation Software

Where each one falls short

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

Foundation Software

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so shortlisting requires sitting through a sales process before you know whether the product is within budget at all.
  • Implementation, data conversion and training are billed separately from the licence and routinely run into five figures, which buyers comparing monthly software subscriptions do not budget for.
  • The payroll compliance engine is built for United States federal and state law, so the product has essentially no value to contractors outside the US.
  • The interface is a long-lived Windows-style application, and staff hired from cloud-native tools find it slow to learn compared with Buildertrend or Procore.
  • Project management, document control and field collaboration are weaker than the dedicated construction platforms, so most sites end up running Foundation for money and something else for the job, and paying twice.

Togal.AI

  • Annual billing is mandatory at $299 per user per month, so an estimating team that ramps up and down for bid seasons pays a full year for seats it uses intermittently.
  • Detection is tuned to architectural floor plans and space-based quantities; civil, structural detail and MEP riser takeoff still need a conventional tool, so most firms end up paying for two.
  • Automatically generated quantities still require estimator review before they enter a bid, so the saving is in tracing time rather than in checking time, and firms that skip the check are exposed on a hard-money bid.
  • The company spun out of a single general contractor, and drawing conventions that differ from that firm's typical project types produce weaker detection until the set is cleaned up.
  • It is a takeoff tool, not an estimating system, so pricing, rate build-up and bid assembly still happen elsewhere and the Excel handoff is the seam where errors get introduced.

Pricing, plan by plan

Foundation Software

On request
  • FOUNDATION$undefined/year
    • Modular licensing, priced by modules and user count
    • Cloud hosted or installed on your own server
    • Separate one-off implementation, data conversion and training fee

Togal.AI

$299/month
  • Growth$299/month
    • One or two licences
    • Unlimited AI takeoffs
    • Drawing comparison and search
  • Business$undefined/year
    • Three or more licences
    • Quoted by the vendor
    • Team administration and shared takeoffs

Which should you pick?

Choose Foundation Software if

  • You need job costing.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want certified payroll.
Foundation Software review

Choose Togal.AI if

  • You need automatic space detection.
  • You also want drawing comparison.
Togal.AI review

Questions people ask

Is Foundation Software or Togal.AI better?
Neither clearly leads. Foundation Software starts at On request and Togal.AI at $299/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Foundation Software or Togal.AI?
Foundation Software starts at On request and Togal.AI at $299/month.
Does Foundation Software or Togal.AI run on more platforms?
Foundation Software runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Togal.AI runs on Web.
What is Foundation Software best used for?
Foundation Software is most often used for a union electrical or mechanical contractor whose payroll spans several trades and fringe schedules in the same week, a general contractor bidding federally funded work that requires weekly certified payroll filings, a contractor whose quickbooks file has outgrown job costing and who is reconciling work in progress in spreadsheets, a firm with owned plant that needs equipment hours costed back to jobs to see true contract margin. Of those, a union electrical or mechanical contractor whose payroll spans several trades and fringe schedules in the same week and a general contractor bidding federally funded work that requires weekly certified payroll filings are not what Togal.AI is typically brought in for.
What can Foundation Software do that Togal.AI cannot?
Foundation Software covers Job costing, Certified payroll, Union payroll, AIA billing. Togal.AI covers Automatic space detection, Drawing comparison, Natural language search, Automated counts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Foundation Software: How much does Foundation Software cost?

The vendor publishes no rates. Pricing is assembled per contractor from module selection and user count, with a separate implementation fee, and is only given after a discovery call.

Togal.AI: What does Togal.AI cost?

$299 per user per month billed annually for one or two licences. Three or more users are quoted individually.

Foundation Software: Does it replace Procore?

No. Foundation is the accounting and payroll system; Procore is project management. They integrate, and many contractors run both.

Togal.AI: Can I pay monthly?

No. The published Growth plan requires annual billing.

Foundation Software: Can it handle certified payroll for multiple states?

Yes, it produces state-specific certified payroll formats as well as the federal WH-347, which is the main reason multi-state contractors buy it.

Togal.AI: Does it replace an estimating system?

No. It produces quantities. Rates, markup and bid assembly still happen in your estimating software or a spreadsheet.

Foundation Software: Is there a cloud version?

Yes, it is offered hosted as well as on-premise, but the hosted version is the same application delivered remotely rather than a rebuilt browser product.

Togal.AI: Who owns the drawings and takeoffs I upload?

You do, and quantities export to Excel, but check the contract for how uploaded drawing sets are retained and whether they inform model training.

Share

Related pages

More on Foundation Software

More on Togal.AI

Keep looking

Other head to heads