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Construction · head to head

On-Screen Takeoff vs Trunk Tools

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
Trunk Tools logo

Trunk Tools

Construction

Answers questions from a project document set with citations, so field staff stop hunting drawings

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; Trunk Tools nothing about pricing is published, and because it is quoted by project rather than by seat, the cost of standardising it across a portfolio of jobs is hard to model before a sales process
  • They diverge on capability: On-Screen Takeoff covers Drawing takeoff, Trunk Tools covers Question answering with citations.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where On-Screen Takeoff and Trunk Tools differ
AttributeOn-Screen TakeoffTrunk Tools
PlatformsWindowsWeb, 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 On-Screen Takeoff

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

Only in Trunk Tools

  • Question answering with citations
  • Text message interface
  • Submittal review
  • RFI drafting
  • Schedule agent
  • Drawing and specification ingestion
  • Change awareness

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 Trunk Tools
  • An estimator who receives a late addendum and needs to know which rooms changed rather than re-measuring the whole floornot Trunk Tools
  • A flooring subcontractor maintaining reusable conditions with waste factors so quantities and material orders stay consistent between estimatorsnot Trunk Tools
  • A trade contractor that wants takeoff quantities split by phase so progress billing matches the way work is actually releasednot Trunk Tools

Trunk Tools

  • A superintendent on a data centre project who needs to know the required fire rating of a specific partition type without leaving the decknot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A project engineer reviewing 300 submittals who wants conflicts against the specification flagged before the architect sees themnot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A contractor whose RFIs are being rejected as already answered in the specification and wants the document checked firstnot On-Screen Takeoff
  • A team that has just received a revised drawing set and needs to know which in-progress work is now affectednot 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

Trunk Tools

  • Nothing about pricing is published, and because it is quoted by project rather than by seat, the cost of standardising it across a portfolio of jobs is hard to model before a sales process
  • Answer quality is bounded entirely by the discipline of the underlying document control, and on a project with stale drawing revisions it will cite superseded sheets with the same confidence as current ones
  • It is an overlay on Procore or Autodesk rather than a system of record, so a contractor is now paying two vendors for the same document set and depends on the integration continuing to be maintained
  • The company is young and the product category is new, so there is little independent long-run evidence on accuracy, and a contractor putting field decisions on it should build its own verification sampling rather than trust vendor claims
  • Answers with citations do not carry contractual weight; an RFI response or a specification still governs, so the tool reduces search time without reducing the contractual review burden

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

Trunk Tools

On request
  • Trunk Tools$undefined/year
    • Quoted by project, user count and modules taken
    • Pilot projects commonly priced separately from an enterprise agreement
    • Document ingestion and integration setup scoped per customer

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 Trunk Tools if

  • You need question answering with citations.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want text message interface.
Trunk Tools review

Questions people ask

Is On-Screen Takeoff or Trunk Tools better?
Neither clearly leads. On-Screen Takeoff starts at On request and Trunk Tools 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 Trunk Tools?
On-Screen Takeoff starts at On request and Trunk Tools at On request.
Does On-Screen Takeoff or Trunk Tools run on more platforms?
On-Screen Takeoff runs on Windows. Trunk Tools runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Trunk Tools is typically brought in for.
What can On-Screen Takeoff do that Trunk Tools cannot?
On-Screen Takeoff covers Drawing takeoff, Revision overlay, Condition libraries, Automatic scaling. Trunk Tools covers Question answering with citations, Text message interface, Submittal review, RFI drafting.

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.

Trunk Tools: Does it replace Procore?

No. It reads from Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud and adds retrieval and review on top. You still pay for the document platform.

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.

Trunk Tools: What does it cost?

Trunk Tools does not publish pricing. Expect a quote scoped by project, users and which modules you take.

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.

Trunk Tools: Can it be wrong?

Yes. It cites its source, which lets you check, but if the document set contains superseded drawings it will answer from them. Document control discipline is a prerequisite, not an optional extra.

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.

Trunk Tools: Can field staff use it without the app?

Yes. TrunkText answers questions by text message, which is the main reason foremen adopt it.

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