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Construction · head to head

On-Screen Takeoff vs Siteline

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
Siteline logo

Siteline

Construction

Pay application and billing workflow built only for speciality subcontractors

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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; Siteline it serves subcontractors only, so a general contractor evaluating it is looking at the wrong side of the transaction entirely.
  • They diverge on capability: On-Screen Takeoff covers Drawing takeoff, Siteline covers Pay application generation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where On-Screen Takeoff and Siteline differ
AttributeOn-Screen TakeoffSiteline
PlatformsWindowsWeb

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 On-Screen Takeoff

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

Only in Siteline

  • Pay application generation
  • Lien waiver management
  • Compliance document tracking
  • Billing status visibility
  • Accounting system integration
  • Accounts receivable reporting

What people use each for

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

On-Screen Takeoff

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

Siteline

  • A trade contractor whose billing team rebuilds the same pay application in four different general contractor formats each monthnot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A subcontractor losing a billing cycle to rejected applications over missing lien waiversnot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A finance director trying to forecast collections across dozens of general contractors and retention balancesnot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A growing subcontractor whose billing process depends entirely on one person and a spreadsheetnot On-Screen Takeoff

Where each one falls short

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

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

Siteline

  • It serves subcontractors only, so a general contractor evaluating it is looking at the wrong side of the transaction entirely.
  • It does not do job costing, project management or payroll, so it is an addition to your systems rather than a consolidation of them.
  • Value depends on a clean integration to your construction accounting system, and contractors with heavily customised or elderly installations should confirm the connection before signing.
  • General contractor portals and billing formats change without warning, and although the vendor absorbs that maintenance you still feel it as occasional friction in a month-end window with no slack.
  • The billing team has to adopt it fully in the first month-end or they revert to spreadsheets under deadline pressure, which makes the implementation timing more delicate than the software suggests.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Siteline

On request
  • Siteline$undefined/year
    • Pay application workflow
    • Lien waiver and compliance tracking
    • Accounting system integration

Which should you pick?

Choose On-Screen Takeoff if

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

Choose Siteline if

  • You need pay application generation.
  • You also want lien waiver management.
Siteline review

Questions people ask

Is On-Screen Takeoff or Siteline better?
Neither clearly leads. On-Screen Takeoff starts at On request and Siteline at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, On-Screen Takeoff or Siteline?
On-Screen Takeoff starts at On request and Siteline at On request.
Does On-Screen Takeoff or Siteline run on more platforms?
On-Screen Takeoff runs on Windows. Siteline runs on Web.
What is On-Screen Takeoff best used for?
On-Screen Takeoff is most often used for a drywall contractor measuring wall area and openings across a 300 sheet set where manual takeoff would take a week, an estimator who receives a late addendum and needs to know which rooms changed rather than re-measuring the whole floor, a flooring subcontractor maintaining reusable conditions with waste factors so quantities and material orders stay consistent between estimators, a trade contractor that wants takeoff quantities split by phase so progress billing matches the way work is actually released. Of those, a drywall contractor measuring wall area and openings across a 300 sheet set where manual takeoff would take a week and an estimator who receives a late addendum and needs to know which rooms changed rather than re-measuring the whole floor are not what Siteline is typically brought in for.
What can On-Screen Takeoff do that Siteline cannot?
On-Screen Takeoff covers Drawing takeoff, Revision overlay, Condition libraries, Automatic scaling. Siteline covers Pay application generation, Lien waiver management, Compliance document tracking, Billing status visibility.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Siteline: Does it replace our accounting system?

No. It reads from Sage 300 CRE, Vista, Foundation and similar systems and handles the billing workflow those systems handle poorly.

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.

Siteline: What should we measure in a trial?

Days sales outstanding and the number of rejected or delayed pay applications. The case is about cash timing, not headcount.

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.

Siteline: Is it useful for general contractors?

No. It is built for the party submitting pay applications, not the party receiving them.

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.

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