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Construction · head to head

GCPay vs On-Screen Takeoff

GCPay logo

GCPay

Construction

Subcontractor pay application and lien waiver exchange for general contractors in North America

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
On-Screen Takeoff logo

On-Screen Takeoff

Construction

Digital quantity takeoff from drawings, now subscription only and bundled rather than sold alone

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: GCPay the subcontractor is a compelled user who did not choose the tool, so adoption friction and support load fall on the general contractor, and small trades with one bookkeeper resent every extra portal.; On-Screen Takeoff perpetual licensing is no longer offered on current releases, so long-standing users who paid once now face a recurring annual cost they never budgeted, and staying on an old version means no support for newer PDF formats
  • They diverge on capability: GCPay covers Pay application workflow, On-Screen Takeoff covers Drawing takeoff.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GCPay and On-Screen Takeoff actually diverge.

Attributes where GCPay and On-Screen Takeoff differ
AttributeGCPayOn-Screen Takeoff
PlatformsWebWindows

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 GCPay

  • Pay application workflow
  • Lien waiver exchange
  • Compliance tracking
  • Change order management
  • ePayments
  • Retainage handling
  • ERP integration
  • Subcontractor portal

Only in On-Screen Takeoff

  • Drawing takeoff
  • Revision overlay
  • Condition libraries
  • Automatic scaling
  • Bid zones and phases
  • Quick Bid handoff
  • Excel export

What people use each for

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

GCPay

  • A general contractor in a strict lien state that has been burned by a missing unconditional waiver and needs waiver status tied to each payment rather than filed in a shared drivenot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A contractor whose accounts payable team spends the first week of every month rekeying pay applications from PDF emails into Sage or Viewpointnot On-Screen Takeoff
  • An owner-facing GC that must produce a clean audit trail of who was paid what and when, with insurance compliance evidence attachednot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A construction group standardising on Autodesk Construction Cloud that wants payment application data in the same estate as the project recordnot On-Screen Takeoff

On-Screen Takeoff

  • A drywall contractor measuring wall area and openings across a 300 sheet set where manual takeoff would take a weeknot GCPay
  • An estimator who receives a late addendum and needs to know which rooms changed rather than re-measuring the whole floornot GCPay
  • A flooring subcontractor maintaining reusable conditions with waste factors so quantities and material orders stay consistent between estimatorsnot GCPay
  • A trade contractor that wants takeoff quantities split by phase so progress billing matches the way work is actually releasednot GCPay

Where each one falls short

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

GCPay

  • The subcontractor is a compelled user who did not choose the tool, so adoption friction and support load fall on the general contractor, and small trades with one bookkeeper resent every extra portal.
  • Pricing is entirely quoted and keyed to annual subcontracted construction value, which means a contractor with a few very large subcontracts can pay far more than one with many small ones for identical functionality.
  • The ePayment fee structure is decided per general contractor, so a subcontractor cannot predict its cost of getting paid across clients and may be charged on one job and not another for the same work.
  • It is a payment and compliance system, not job costing; commitments still have to reconcile against the ERP, and integration gaps mean many contractors run a manual check anyway.
  • Autodesk acquired parent Payapps in 2024, and the strategic direction is convergence with Autodesk Construction Cloud, so buyers on Procore or a non-Autodesk stack should ask directly what the roadmap commitment to their platform is.

On-Screen Takeoff

  • Perpetual licensing is no longer offered on current releases, so long-standing users who paid once now face a recurring annual cost they never budgeted, and staying on an old version means no support for newer PDF formats
  • ConstructConnect does not publish a price, and the product is increasingly sold inside a bundle with lead data and estimating, so buyers who want takeoff alone often find the quote priced around a package they do not need
  • It is Windows desktop only, with no macOS version and no meaningful browser or tablet workflow, which rules it out for firms standardised on Apple hardware
  • The interface has changed little in years and estimators coming from browser-based tools find the condition setup and layer management slow to learn, so onboarding a new estimator takes longer than the software cost would suggest
  • ConstructConnect sells lead data, takeoff and estimating as a portfolio and has consolidated several acquired products, so a buyer committing to On-Screen Takeoff should ask directly where it sits against the newer cloud takeoff products in the same portfolio

Pricing, plan by plan

GCPay

On request
  • GCPay for General Contractors$undefined/year
    • Priced on project count, subcontractor count and annual subcontracted volume
    • Unlimited free subcontractor accounts
    • Lien waiver and compliance tracking
  • ePayments and Waiver Exchange$undefined/month
    • Per-transaction fee disclosed at submission
    • General contractor may absorb the fee or pass it to the subcontractor
    • Subcontractor must acknowledge the fee before submitting

On-Screen Takeoff

On request
  • On-Screen Takeoff$undefined/year
    • Annual subscription per seat on version 4 and later
    • Sold increasingly as part of a ConstructConnect takeoff and estimating bundle
    • Perpetual licensing not offered on current releases

Which should you pick?

Choose GCPay if

  • You need pay application workflow.
  • You also want lien waiver exchange.
GCPay review

Choose On-Screen Takeoff if

  • You need drawing takeoff.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want revision overlay.
On-Screen Takeoff review

Questions people ask

Is GCPay or On-Screen Takeoff better?
Neither clearly leads. GCPay starts at On request and On-Screen Takeoff at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GCPay or On-Screen Takeoff?
GCPay starts at On request and On-Screen Takeoff at On request.
Does GCPay or On-Screen Takeoff run on more platforms?
GCPay runs on Web. On-Screen Takeoff runs on Windows.
What is GCPay best used for?
GCPay is most often used for a general contractor in a strict lien state that has been burned by a missing unconditional waiver and needs waiver status tied to each payment rather than filed in a shared drive, a contractor whose accounts payable team spends the first week of every month rekeying pay applications from pdf emails into sage or viewpoint, an owner-facing gc that must produce a clean audit trail of who was paid what and when, with insurance compliance evidence attached, a construction group standardising on autodesk construction cloud that wants payment application data in the same estate as the project record. Of those, a general contractor in a strict lien state that has been burned by a missing unconditional waiver and needs waiver status tied to each payment rather than filed in a shared drive and a contractor whose accounts payable team spends the first week of every month rekeying pay applications from pdf emails into sage or viewpoint are not what On-Screen Takeoff is typically brought in for.
What can GCPay do that On-Screen Takeoff cannot?
GCPay covers Pay application workflow, Lien waiver exchange, Compliance tracking, Change order management. On-Screen Takeoff covers Drawing takeoff, Revision overlay, Condition libraries, Automatic scaling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GCPay: Who pays for GCPay, the GC or the sub?

The general contractor pays the subscription. Subcontractor accounts are free. Only the optional ePayment and waiver exchange transaction fee can be passed to the subcontractor, and only with their acknowledgement.

On-Screen Takeoff: Can I still buy a perpetual licence?

No. Current releases are annual subscription. Older perpetual licences continue to run but do not receive updates.

GCPay: How much is the ePayment fee?

It is a flat per-transaction fee, disclosed at the point the pay application is submitted. GCPay has published a $15 figure for the ePayments and waiver exchange service, and the GC decides who bears it.

On-Screen Takeoff: Is it sold separately from Quick Bid?

It can be, but ConstructConnect increasingly quotes it as part of a takeoff and estimating package. Ask explicitly for standalone pricing if that is what you want.

GCPay: Is GCPay owned by Autodesk?

Yes. Autodesk agreed to acquire Payapps, which trades as GCPay in North America and Payapps elsewhere, in January 2024.

On-Screen Takeoff: Does it run on a Mac?

Not natively. It is a Windows application and Mac users run it under virtualisation, which is unsupported in practice for large drawing sets.

GCPay: Does it replace our construction accounting system?

No. It handles the application, approval and compliance workflow and then pushes approved payments into your ERP.

On-Screen Takeoff: Will it read a scanned drawing?

Yes, but measurement accuracy on a scanned raster set depends entirely on the scan quality and on setting scale from a verified dimension.

GCPay: Can subcontractors export their own records?

Subcontractors can download their submitted applications and waivers, but the project record belongs to the general contractor's account, so a sub should keep its own copies rather than rely on continued portal access.

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