Pilars vs Attentive.ai: two ways to buy a takeoff.
Both companies use AI to get quantities off a plan set. They sell it in opposite ways. Attentive.ai licenses Beam AI by the year and, on its main tier, does the takeoff for you. Pilars charges a flat monthly price per user and hands the estimator an editable result in minutes. The right choice depends on who you want doing the takeoff, not on whose demo looks better.
Pilars vs Attentive AI: the short answer
Attentive.ai sells Beam AI on annual licences: from $8,000 per trade per year for self-serve software (HVAC, plumbing and steel only) and from $25,000 per year for a done-for-you service that returns takeoffs in 24 to 72 hours. Pilars is self-serve software priced at $300 per user per month ($3,600 a year), billed monthly or annually. Each user covers one trade, chosen from 19, with unlimited takeoffs and results in minutes that the estimator can edit. Choose Attentive.ai to outsource takeoff labour; choose Pilars to keep control and get quantities the same day.
There is already a feature-level page on this site, Pilars vs Beam AI. This one is about the companies and the contracts: what you sign, what you pay before the first bid, who does the work, and who fixes it when a quantity is wrong.
Pricing reviewed 13 November 2026, based on public documentation as of Nov 2026. Attentive.ai and Beam AI are trademarks of their owner; this is an independent comparison published by Pilars, one of the two companies compared.
Buying model, side by side
| Attentive.ai (Beam AI) | Pilars | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Takeoff service with AI plus QA, a self-serve software tier for some trades, in-platform estimates and bid management | Automated takeoff software; the estimator reviews and edits |
| Who reads the drawings | Beam AI and its service team on the done-for-you tier | The software, then you |
| What you sign | An annual licence | A subscription per user, billed monthly or annually |
| Public price | Do It Yourself from $8,000 per trade per year; Done For You from $25,000 per year, based on trade and volume | $300 per user per month ($3,600 per year); one trade per user, unlimited takeoffs |
| Cost before the first takeoff | The annual licence | The first month, $300 for one user; a free demo on your own drawings comes before that |
| Turnaround | 24 to 72 hours on done-for-you | Minutes, plus your review |
| Concurrency | Up to two takeoffs in parallel on the standard done-for-you licence | No cap on takeoffs, projects, plan sets or sheets for each user |
| Self-serve trades | HVAC, plumbing, steel | 19 trades; one per user |
| Platform | Web | Browser, any operating system |
| Best for | Shops with steady volume that want takeoff handled by someone else | Shops that want speed, editability and a flat monthly cost without an annual commitment |
The annual licence versus the monthly user
An annual per-trade licence is a bet on your own pipeline. You are saying: we will bid enough work in this trade over the next twelve months that a year's fee is worth committing to up front. For a mechanical contractor with a full estimating department and a predictable flow of invitations, that bet is easy to make, and a fixed number is easier to budget than a variable one.
Pilars is a fixed fee too, but a smaller one with a shorter commitment. A user costs $300 a month and covers one trade with unlimited takeoffs, so the bill is the same whether that estimator runs three sets in a month or thirty. Billing can be monthly, which makes the commitment a month at a time. A new trade is a second user at another $300 a month, not a second annual licence, and you can add or change users at any time.
The other difference is what the price counts. Pilars counts users, and a user is one estimator on one trade. Five of them are $1,500 a month, or $18,000 a year. Beam AI's licence is priced per trade or by trade and volume, so headcount is not the main lever there. A large team working a single trade should ask Beam AI how many people a licence covers, because that is where a per-trade licence can come out ahead of a per-user price.
Who does the work, and who fixes it
This is the part of "Pilars vs Attentive" that matters most on a live bid.
With Beam AI's done-for-you tier, you upload the drawings and a combination of software and a QA team produces the takeoff. The appeal is plain: your estimator spends that time on pricing, scope letters and phone calls. The cost is that the takeoff is made outside your office. When you disagree with a quantity, or the scope shifts after you have submitted the set, the change is generally something you send back, and the clock on that is the vendor's, not yours.
With Pilars the first pass is automated and arrives in minutes, with every quantity sourced to its sheet and scored for confidence. Then it is yours. Nothing is locked. The estimator can open any detection and change it: reclassify a wall type, add or remove a device, adjust a boundary or a quantity. The totals update straight away. A correction is an edit, not a request.
Neither approach removes the need for a qualified person to stand behind the number. A service puts its QA team in front of yours. Software puts your estimator in the loop from the start. If you have ever been handed a quantity you could not trace, you will know which of the two you prefer.
Turnaround, accuracy and trade coverage
Turnaround. A 24 to 72 hour window works when bids are planned. It gets tight when an addendum reissues half the electrical sheets two days before the deadline, because the revised takeoff has to go through the same window. With Pilars a re-run is the same few minutes as the first run.
Accuracy. The only comparative number we will put in print is our published benchmark: on a duplex receptacle count on one real power plan, Pilars scored 97.5% and Attentive scored 65% (Togal scored 84%). The details are on the benchmark page. It is one test on one sheet and one device type. Beam AI's delivered work also passes through human QA, which a raw model test does not capture, so do not read that figure as a verdict on its service.
Trades. Pilars covers 19 trades, all self-serve, with each user working in one of them. Beam AI covers all trades on the done-for-you tier but limits self-serve to HVAC, plumbing and steel. Beam AI also sells aerial-imagery takeoff for landscaping, snow, paving and striping. Pilars does not do aerial measurement at all.
The cost at three team sizes
These rows compare software with software: one trade, Beam AI's Do It Yourself starting price against Pilars. Neither price changes with the number of plan sets you run, so the variable is the size of the team.
| Estimators on one trade | Beam AI Do It Yourself, one trade licence | Pilars, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | From $8,000 | $3,600 ($300 a month) |
| 3 | From $8,000 | $10,800 ($900 a month) |
| 5 | From $8,000 | $18,000 ($1,500 a month) |
For one estimator on one trade, Pilars costs less than half of Beam AI's starting price. By three users Pilars is the larger number, if a single Beam AI licence at the starting price covers the whole team and your trade is one of the three on the self-serve list. Beam AI's public documentation prices the licence per trade and does not say how many people it includes, so confirm that when you ask for a quote.
The done-for-you tier starts at $25,000 a year, roughly what seven Pilars users cost ($25,200). That is not a clean comparison, since Beam AI's price includes labour and Pilars leaves the review with your estimator. Price that review time honestly when you compare. Our Beam AI pricing page breaks the tiers down further.
Which company fits which shop
Attentive.ai is best for
- Teams that want takeoff off their desks entirely and can plan two or three days ahead
- Steady, high bid volume in one or two trades, where an annual fee is easy to justify
- Landscape, snow, paving and striping contractors who measure from aerial imagery
- Buyers who want estimates and bid management in the same platform
Pilars is best for
- Estimators who want to see, question and change every quantity themselves
- Bids and addenda that cannot wait on a service turnaround
- Uneven or growing volume, where an annual commitment is a risk
- Electrical, drywall, concrete and other trades outside HVAC, plumbing and steel, on a self-serve tool
If you are unsure, the cheap experiment is on the Pilars side: run one of your own sets through the live demo and see whether the first pass and the editing hold up on your drawings.
Questions estimators actually ask
What is the main difference between Pilars and Attentive.ai?
Attentive.ai sells Beam AI on annual licences and, on its main tier, delivers finished takeoffs as a service in 24 to 72 hours. Pilars is self-serve software that reads the plan set in minutes, lets the estimator edit the result, and charges $300 per user per month for one trade with unlimited takeoffs.
Which is cheaper for a shop with one estimator bidding in one trade, Pilars or Attentive.ai?
One Pilars user covering one trade costs $300 a month, or $3,600 a year, with unlimited takeoffs. Attentive.ai's Beam AI self-serve licence starts at $8,000 per trade per year, so Pilars costs less for a single estimator; three Pilars users cost $10,800 a year, so larger teams should compare against an actual Beam AI quote.
Does Attentive.ai offer a self-serve option like Pilars?
Attentive.ai's Beam AI has a Do It Yourself tier starting at $8,000 per trade per year, listed for HVAC, plumbing and steel only. Pilars is self-serve across 19 trades.
If a quantity is wrong, how do I fix it in Pilars versus Attentive.ai?
In Pilars the estimator opens the detection and changes it directly, and the totals update. On Attentive.ai's done-for-you tier the takeoff is produced by Beam AI's team, so corrections and scope changes generally go back through that service.
Is Pilars more accurate than Attentive.ai?
In one published benchmark, a duplex receptacle count on a real power plan, Pilars scored 97.5% and Attentive scored 65%. That is a single test on one sheet, not an overall accuracy rating, and Beam AI's delivered takeoffs also pass through human QA.
Do Pilars or Attentive.ai charge per user?
Pilars charges per user: $300 per user per month, with each user covering one trade and unlimited takeoffs. Attentive.ai prices Beam AI as an annual licence per trade or by trade and volume, based on public documentation as of November 2026.
When should I choose Attentive.ai over Pilars?
Choose Attentive.ai when you want takeoff labour fully outsourced, when your volume is steady enough to justify an annual licence, or when you need aerial-imagery measurement for landscaping or paving, which Pilars does not offer.