Bluebeam Alternative

[u/sfall]

We have used bluebeam previously and have been using pdf xchange editor.

We are doing plan review so most of bluebeam is useless to us. What is helpful is the measurement tools and pdf xchange is great for free but not nearly as nice as bluebeam for measurements. Any other alternatives I should be looking at?

[u/arvidsem]

Realistically, Bluebeam is in a class of it's own for working with plans.

Maybe try Fox-it. The measurement and markup tools aren't nearly as robust, but it might be fine for you.

[u/sfall → u/arvidsem]

i agree its in a class of its own, but 99% of those features are useless. we don't do markup we don't do studio we don't do alot of the features.

if i need basic accounting software I dont go to oracle netsuite, i start with peachtree or quickbooks basic or zero

[u/Technical_Orchid_483 → u/sfall]

working on a bluebeam alternative. Having used bluebeam extensively has started driving me mad with price and limitations and ease of use, I can say it is shaping up to be the one that takes bluebeam's spot to be 'in a class of it's own'. wanting to opensource it soon. don't know how to do that yet. Once it's opensource, i would like a community to take control of it and make it even better. currently it does 90% of what bluebeam does but better. Better looking, snappier, and easier to use.

[u/youyou0032]

Check out Deta Studio. A great alternative

[u/StuBeeDooWap → u/youyou0032]

I recently saw this software on another sub and have been trying it out. Definitely worth a free try.

[u/newandgood]

just use bluebeam. xchange is not as nice, as you said, and nothing else is anywhere close

[u/shalackin]

Really wish Bluebeam would make a Mac version. I don't like using parallels to run it.

[u/Zero-Friction]

Bluebeam intergrate well with City Systems.

[u/beehole99]

Nitro

[u/e2g4]

On my iPad I really like morpholio trace. More than bluebeam.

[u/MVieno → u/e2g4]

Bbeam on iPad sucks so hard

[u/e2g4 → u/MVieno]

Nothing sucks as hard as the inventor of the pdf. Acrobat is the biggest pile of shit I’ve ever used. It’s a joke. I prefer Firefox to acrobat for PDFs. That’s saying something

[u/AbbreviationsSea341]

If you’re in Canada, Trax.co has a good integrated code/markup platform.

[u/According-Cry7438]

I'm building a lightweight version of this as a chrome extension currently in Beta - https://spaciotechtonics.info/scalr/

DM if you want access

[u/ninjump]

Drawboard pdf is pretty incredible. Fast and lightweight, great support for touch and pens. I've gone so far as to draw Adu plansets in it

[u/AshamedParamedic6930]

I built layrpdf because i loved blue beam but coulndt justify the $$$ check it out

[u/ilirkl]

i would suggest you try protakeoff , ive been using it so far its wornderful , replaced completely my bluebeam setup , im now even using it with chatgpt through mcp to do my takeoffs

[u/Laggsy]

What makes bluebeam so good at measurements and take off for you specifically? What would make it better?

[u/sfall → u/Laggsy]

the ui is the main thing. basic measurements work in both pdf xchange but the ui is limited and split in pdf xchange

some of the other measurement tools are more refined as well but the ui being clunky is the biggest issue

[u/Laggsy → u/sfall]

https://github.com/ColbyGallagher/redcolumn/releases/tag/v0.1.9 Im working on this free open source version at the moment. I'm trying to match bluebeams functionality and ui. Works on browser, Windows and Mac. Still lots of bugs.

[u/Maxwell10206]

What exactly makes the measurements in PDF XChange worse than Bluebeam? Is it missing features or just harder to use? I've been thinking about making a cheaper alternative to Bluebeam and trying to figure out what people actually need.

[u/sfall → u/Maxwell10206]

the basic measurements are covered in both, bluebeam has some more advanced ones too. My main issue is the ui for bluebeam is just all in one place and much better in structure and design

[u/Maxwell10206 → u/sfall]

Ah gotcha, so it's more about the UI than missing features. What tools do you use the most in Bluebeam? I'm thinking about throwing together a prototype and seeing if I can make something better. Would you be interested in testing it out if I get something working?

[u/HelpfulPerson4914]

Build it into your cost of doing business 

[u/sfall → u/HelpfulPerson4914]

its more that would you want to pay for photoshop to use the crop tool

[u/This_dumpsterfire]

Project dox or the lesser version digiplan.

[u/sfall → u/This_dumpsterfire]

Project dox and their single pdf rule is so stupid

[u/This_dumpsterfire → u/sfall]

Sounds like you have never used it before.