Clearstoryvs
Procore
Procore: Change management inside a broader platform when the general contractor already standardised on it
Clearstory
Digital change order and time and materials tag exchange between subcontractors and general contractors
As of 31 August 2026, Clearstory's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. Turns the paper time and materials tag into a tracked digital record that both parties see, so extra work is not argued about at closeout. Softwr lists it under Construction. Clearstory is available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Clearstory does
Clearstory handles the documentation of extra work in construction: the time and materials tag written in the field, its review and signature, and the change order log that should follow from it. Field staff capture labour, equipment and materials on a tag with photographs, the tag is routed for review, and both sides hold the same record with a status. The change order log gives project teams a running view of what has been submitted, what is approved and what is exposed. This is the one workflow in construction where the two audiences meet. A speciality subcontractor originates the tag because it performed work outside the contract; a general contractor receives, reviews and eventually pays for it. Clearstory sells to both, and the product is honest about serving the exchange rather than one side, but the buying dynamics differ sharply. A subcontractor buys it to stop losing money on undocumented extras. A general contractor buys it to stop being surprised by a stack of tags at closeout. The strongest deployments are where the general contractor mandates it across the trade base, because the network effect only pays off when the counterparty participates. That network dependence is the honest risk. A subcontractor using Clearstory while its general contractors still want emailed spreadsheets ends up maintaining two processes. Ask before purchase how many of your regular counterparties already use it. Field capture also has to survive site conditions: tags are written where the work happens, with photographs, often in a basement or a lift shaft, so offline capture and later synchronisation matter more than any reporting feature.
What people use it for
- A speciality subcontractor that regularly performs extra work and struggles to get tags signed
- A general contractor tired of receiving a stack of disputed tags at project closeout
- A project team that needs the value of pending extras visible during the job rather than after it
- A contractor standardising change documentation across trades on a large project
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Clearstory.
- Value depends on the counterparty using it, so a subcontractor whose general contractors have not adopted it ends up running the digital process and the emailed one at the same time.
- It documents extra work but does not settle it; a general contractor determined not to pay is not persuaded by better paperwork, only better positioned to be argued with.
- Field staff have to complete tags properly for the record to hold up, and the discipline required is the same discipline that was failing on paper.
- Poor connectivity in basements, plant rooms and lift shafts is exactly where extra work gets documented, so offline reliability needs testing before rollout rather than after.
- It overlaps with change management already present in Procore and similar platforms, so buyers must be clear about which system holds the authoritative log or they will maintain two.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Clearstory
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- ClearstoryvsRaken
Raken: Daily reporting with field documentation, without the two-sided change order exchange
- ClearstoryvseSUB
eSUB: Subcontractor project management including change order tracking as part of a wider toolset
Pricing
What Clearstory costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Clearstory
On request
- Digital time and materials tags
- Change order log
- Mobile field capture
- Integrations with project management systems
Capabilities
Features
Digital time and materials tags
Labour, equipment and material capture with photographs at the point of work
Review and signature routing
Tags routed to the counterparty for acknowledgement with status visible to both sides
Change order log
Running register of submitted, pending and approved extras by project
Cost exposure reporting
Value of unapproved and pending work visible before closeout
Field mobile capture
Tags created on site including in areas with poor connectivity
Document export
Records exported in formats accepted by project management and accounting systems
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Clearstory for subcontractors or general contractors?
Both, because the workflow crosses between them. The subcontractor originates the tag, the general contractor reviews it, and adoption works best when the general contractor mandates it.
Does it replace change management in Procore?
It can, for time and materials tags and the change order log, but you must decide which system is authoritative. Running both without that decision creates reconciliation work.
What happens on sites without signal?
Tags are captured on the device and synchronised later. Test that path with photographs attached before relying on it.
Keep looking
Where to go from Clearstory
- Clearstory alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Clearstory pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Clearstory badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Construction softwareThe full category
- Best Construction softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Construction software for
Compare Clearstory with
- Procore
- eSUB
- Raken
- Document Crunch
- Siteline
- Bridgit Bravo
- GCPay
- Kojo
- Assignar
- ConstructConnect
- Reconstruct
- Oracle Textura Payment Management
- Adaptive
- ALICE Technologies
- B2W Estimate
- Billd
- Bridgit Bravo
- Assignar
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Clearstory, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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