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Construction · head to head

GCPay vs Togal.AI

GCPay logo

GCPay

Construction

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

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: 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.; 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: GCPay covers Pay application workflow, 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 GCPay and Togal.AI actually diverge.

Attributes where GCPay and Togal.AI differ
AttributeGCPayTogal.AI
Starting priceOn request$299/month
Pricing modelquotePer user per month

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), 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 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.

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 Togal.AI
  • A contractor whose accounts payable team spends the first week of every month rekeying pay applications from PDF emails into Sage or Viewpointnot Togal.AI
  • An owner-facing GC that must produce a clean audit trail of who was paid what and when, with insurance compliance evidence attachednot Togal.AI
  • A construction group standardising on Autodesk Construction Cloud that wants payment application data in the same estate as the project recordnot Togal.AI

Togal.AI

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

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

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

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 GCPay if

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

Choose Togal.AI if

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

Questions people ask

Is GCPay or Togal.AI better?
Neither clearly leads. GCPay 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, GCPay or Togal.AI?
GCPay starts at On request and Togal.AI at $299/month.
Does GCPay or Togal.AI run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
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 Togal.AI is typically brought in for.
What can GCPay do that Togal.AI cannot?
GCPay covers Pay application workflow, Lien waiver exchange, Compliance tracking, Change order management. Togal.AI covers Automatic space detection, Drawing comparison, Natural language search, Automated counts.

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.

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.

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.

Togal.AI: Can I pay monthly?

No. The published Growth plan requires annual billing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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