An Attentive.ai alternative you run yourself.
Attentive.ai sells construction takeoff under the Beam AI name, mostly as a done-for-you service on an annual licence. If you want the quantities today, want to change them yourself, and do not want a five-figure commitment before the first bid, here is how the alternatives line up.
Attentive AI alternative: the short answer
Attentive.ai's construction takeoff product is Beam AI. Beam AI is sold on annual licences: from $8,000 per trade per year for the self-serve tier (HVAC, plumbing and steel only) and from $25,000 per year for done-for-you takeoffs delivered in 24 to 72 hours. Pilars is the self-serve alternative: $300 per user per month, which is $3,600 a year, for one trade of your choice from 19, with unlimited takeoffs, results in minutes, and every detection open to editing by the estimator.
A quick word on names, because the search results are muddled. Attentive.ai is the company. Beam AI, at ibeam.ai, is its takeoff brand for construction plans and for aerial-imagery measurement used by landscape, snow and paving contractors. People searching for "Attentive.ai alternatives" and "Beam AI alternatives" are almost always asking about the same product. Neither has anything to do with beam.ai, an unrelated company that builds AI agents.
Beam AI is a serious product with a clear point of view: takeoff is labour, so hand the labour to someone else. That suits some shops very well. This page is for the ones it does not suit.
Pricing reviewed 13 November 2026, based on public documentation as of Nov 2026. Beam AI and Attentive.ai are trademarks of their owner; this is an independent comparison published by Pilars.
Attentive.ai (Beam AI) vs Pilars at a glance
| Attentive.ai (Beam AI) | Pilars | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Done-for-you takeoff service (AI plus a QA team), with a self-serve tier for some trades, in-platform estimates and bid management | Self-serve automated takeoff software with estimator review and editing |
| Who reads the drawings | Beam AI's software and service team; you receive the finished takeoff | The software reads the plan set and spec book; you review and change what you disagree with |
| Time to quantities | 24 to 72 hours on the done-for-you tier | Minutes, then your review |
| Platform | Web | Browser, any operating system |
| Pricing model | Annual licence, per trade or by trade and volume | Flat monthly price per user; each user covers one trade with unlimited takeoffs; monthly or annual billing |
| Public price | Do It Yourself from $8,000 per trade per year; Done For You from $25,000 per year; aerial imagery from $10,000 per trade per year | $300 per user per month ($3,600 per year); a second trade is a second user |
| Trades | All trades on done-for-you; HVAC, plumbing and steel on self-serve | 19 trades, all self-serve; one trade per user |
| Best for | Teams that want to outsource takeoff labour, and landscape or paving contractors measuring from aerial imagery | Estimators who want a fast first pass they control, without an annual contract |
Why estimators look for an alternative to Attentive AI Beam
Reading the public pricing page, four things tend to send people looking.
- The commitment comes first. Every published Beam AI tier is an annual licence with a five-figure starting price. That is reasonable for a shop with steady volume and hard to justify for one that bids in bursts or is still deciding whether AI takeoff works on its drawings.
- The done-for-you turnaround is 24 to 72 hours. For a bid due next week that is fine. For an addendum that lands at 3 pm the day before, or an invitation you only decided to chase this morning, it is the whole window.
- The self-serve tier covers three trades. Do It Yourself is listed for HVAC, plumbing and steel. An electrical, drywall or concrete estimator who wants to run the tool personally has to buy the service tier.
- Parallel work is capped. The standard done-for-you licence allows up to two takeoffs at a time. In a busy week, the third set waits.
None of these are defects. They follow from the service model. But they are the usual reasons the phrase "Attentive AI takeoff alternative" gets typed into a search box.
Where Beam AI is the better pick
If the real problem in your office is that nobody has hours to spend on takeoff at all, a service is the direct answer and software is not. Beam AI's done-for-you tier puts no estimator time into the takeoff itself, runs a QA step before delivery, and covers all trades. Third-party listings report ratings of about 4.9 out of 5 on G2 and Capterra from roughly 30 reviews, which is a small sample but a consistent one.
Beam AI is also the stronger choice for landscape, snow, paving and striping contractors. Its aerial-imagery tier measures sites from above, which is a different job from reading a plan set and one Pilars does not do. And if you want estimates and bid management in the same platform as the takeoff, Beam AI includes them. Pilars' output is the takeoff itself: quantities, a summary and an Excel export.
What you get with Pilars instead
Pilars takes the opposite position on who should hold the pencil. The software does the reading, and the estimator keeps the decisions.
Control when you want it
You upload the plan set and the spec book. Pilars reads them together and returns quantities sourced to the sheet, each with a confidence score. Nothing in that result is locked. Open any detection and change it: reclassify a wall type, add or remove a device, adjust a boundary or a quantity. The totals update. The first pass is automated and the estimator has the final say. The academy walkthroughs on reviewing wall classification and verifying quantities show the order experienced reviewers work in.
Faster
The set is read in minutes. Nobody draws or clicks the first pass, and nobody waits on a service queue.
Accuracy you can check
We publish one head-to-head test. On a duplex receptacle count on a real power plan, Pilars scored 97.5%, Togal 84% and Attentive 65%. The sheet, the prompt and the method are on the benchmark page. That is one device type on one sheet, so treat it as a single data point and run your own set before you believe anyone, us included.
All trades, one flat price
Pilars covers 19 trades, all of them self-serve. A user costs $300 a month and covers one trade of your choice, with unlimited takeoffs: there is no cap on projects, plan sets or sheets, and the price does not move with volume. A second trade is a second user, so electrical plus HVAC is $600 a month. You can pay monthly or annually and add or change users at any time. There is no free tier, but you can see a takeoff run on your own drawings in the live demo before you buy.
Other Attentive.ai alternatives worth a look
Pilars is not the only other option, and depending on your trade it may not be the first one to try.
- Togal.ai is AI-assisted takeoff you operate yourself, strongest on architectural and interior scopes. It costs $299 per user per month billed annually, with unlimited automated takeoffs on the seat. That is effectively the same seat price as Pilars, and a Togal seat is not tied to one trade. See Togal alternative and Togal vs Beam AI.
- TaksoAi is AI-assisted takeoff for HVAC, plumbing, piping and mechanical insulation, the same trades as Beam AI's self-serve tier. Pricing is not public; you get a quote.
- Drawer AI is electrical-only AI takeoff and also offers a concierge service if you still want someone else to do the work. Pricing is not public; you get a quote.
- Bobyard began in landscaping and now lists six trades. Pricing is not public; you get a quote.
- MeltPlan offers AI takeoff reviewed by its own estimators, priced on the square footage of the projects you run, with no published list.
What the switch costs
The arithmetic is short. Beam AI's self-serve licence starts at $8,000 per trade per year. One Pilars user on one trade is $300 a month, or $3,600 a year, with unlimited takeoffs. A mechanical sub with one estimator therefore pays less than half the Beam AI starting price, whether it bids 30 sets a year or 120, and with monthly billing it is not putting down a year's fee before the first bid.
The gap narrows with headcount, because Pilars is priced per user. Three estimators on the same trade are $900 a month, or $10,800 a year, and five are $18,000. Beam AI prices its licence per trade, so if one licence covers your whole team it can come out cheaper for a larger department. Ask how many people a licence includes before you compare.
Against the done-for-you tier the comparison is less like for like, because part of what $25,000 buys is somebody else's time. With Pilars your estimator still spends time reviewing every takeoff. If that review time is what you are short of, stay with a service. If the constraint is the calendar or the size of the commitment, self-serve software at a flat monthly price usually wins. The full terms are on the Pilars pricing page, and there is a company-level comparison at Pilars vs Attentive.ai.
Questions estimators actually ask
What is the best Attentive.ai alternative for a contractor who wants to run takeoffs in-house?
Pilars is the closest self-serve alternative to Attentive.ai's Beam AI: the software reads the plan set and spec book in minutes, the estimator reviews and edits the result, and the price is $300 per user per month for one trade with unlimited takeoffs, with monthly billing available in place of an annual licence. Togal.ai is another self-serve option at $299 per user per month billed annually, strongest on architectural scopes.
Is Attentive.ai the same thing as Beam AI?
Attentive.ai is the company and Beam AI is its construction takeoff brand, found at ibeam.ai. Beam AI is not related to beam.ai, a separate company that builds AI agents.
How much does Attentive.ai Beam AI cost compared with Pilars?
Beam AI lists annual licences starting at $8,000 per trade per year for the self-serve tier and $25,000 per year for done-for-you takeoffs, based on public documentation as of November 2026. Pilars charges $300 per user per month, or $3,600 a year, with each user covering one trade and unlimited takeoffs.
Is there an alternative to Attentive AI Beam for electrical takeoff that I can run myself?
Beam AI's self-serve tier is listed for HVAC, plumbing and steel only, so electrical work goes through its done-for-you service. Pilars covers electrical among its 19 trades as self-serve software, and Drawer AI is an electrical-only tool with quote-based pricing.
Which is faster for a bid due tomorrow, Beam AI or Pilars?
Pilars returns quantities in minutes and the estimator reviews them the same day. Beam AI's done-for-you tier quotes a 24 to 72 hour turnaround, which suits planned bids better than last-minute ones.
Can I change the quantities myself in Pilars, or do corrections go back to a service team?
In Pilars the estimator opens any detection and changes it directly, for example reclassifying a wall type, adding or removing a device, or adjusting a boundary or quantity, and the totals update. There is no service queue between the estimator and the takeoff.
When is Beam AI a better choice than its alternatives?
Beam AI is the better choice when the goal is to outsource takeoff labour entirely, when volume is steady enough to justify an annual licence, or when the work is landscape, snow or paving measurement from aerial imagery.