Pilars vs Kreo.

Pilars or Kreo: the direct answer

So this is not a contest Pilars wins on the invoice. Kreo Pro, the tier with AI, is $2,100 per user per year against $3,600 for a Pilars user. The question worth asking is what the estimator still has to do after paying, and that is where the two products part ways.

Pricing reviewed 13 November 2026, based on public documentation as of Nov 2026. Kreo is a trademark of its owner; this is an independent comparison written by Pilars. Check both vendors for current terms.

Side by side

What you get at each Kreo tier

Kreo deserves credit for publishing its prices in full, in dollars and in pounds. Because the tiers differ in more than seat count, it is worth reading them the way you would read a bid form.

Essential: $100 per user per month ($1,200 a year)

Manual 2D takeoff and estimating. There is no AI in this tier. If "Kreo from $100" is what brought you here, this is the plan that price refers to.

Pro: $175 per user per month ($2,100 a year)

This is where the AI lives: AI takeoff for rooms, walls, doors and windows, automatic symbol counting, AI scale detection, batch AI takeoff and the Caddie AI assistant. Pro is sold for one to four users.

Business: $250 per user per month, five seats included ($15,000 a year)

For teams of five to twenty. Enterprise sits above that on a custom quote.

So the fair Kreo figure to hold against Pilars is Pro at $2,100 per estimator per year. A Pilars user is $300 a month, or $3,600 over a year, which is $1,500 more. Both include unlimited use, so volume does not change that gap. Two things do: Pilars can be billed monthly where every Kreo plan is a twelve-month commitment, and a Pilars user covers one trade, so an estimator who takes off two trades needs two users.

A worked example: two very different buyers

A two-person plumbing contractor bids about 18 commercial jobs a year. Both partners look at takeoffs, and the bids come in clumps around spring. On Kreo Pro that is two seats, $4,200 a year, committed for twelve months. On Pilars it is two users at $600 a month, or $7,200 over a full year, with unlimited plumbing takeoffs. Kreo is cheaper for this shop by $3,000 a year. What the extra money buys is the plumbing-specific work: the fixture schedules are read and the pipe runs traced before either partner opens the file, so their hours go into checking the takeoff and pricing it. Whether that is worth $3,000 depends on what 18 takeoffs cost them in evenings now.

A cost consultancy with three surveyors measures drawings every working day, produces elemental estimates for clients, and works in pounds. Three Kreo Pro seats are $6,300 a year for unlimited use, with the estimate linked to the measurement so a change on the drawing updates the cost plan. On Pilars three users would be $10,800 a year, each tied to one trade when the surveyors measure across many, and they would still need somewhere to build the estimate. For this practice Kreo is the right tool.

Most real firms sit somewhere between those two. Kreo is the cheaper product, so the useful question is how many hours each of your estimators spends producing a first pass, and what those hours are worth next to $1,500 a year.

Where Kreo is the better choice

• You want the estimate in the same tool. Kreo's estimates stay linked to the takeoff and sit on a cost database. Pilars stops at quantities.
• You are a quantity surveyor or cost manager. Kreo is built by a UK company, prices in GBP and EUR as well as dollars, and fits that way of working.
• Seat price matters most. Kreo Pro with AI is $175 per user per month against $300 for a Pilars user, and Essential is $100 if you can do without the AI.
• One person measures several trades. Kreo's public plans are priced per user, not per trade. A Pilars user covers one trade.
• You need to connect it to other systems. Kreo offers an API and an Excel add-in.
• You want a no-commitment look first. Kreo has a 7-day free trial and a 7-day money-back guarantee.

Be aware of the trade-offs Kreo's own structure creates. AI is not in the cheapest tier, and every plan is an annual commitment. Third-party listings report that some Capterra reviewers find the Auto Measure output messy enough that organising it can take as long as measuring by hand, and that results are best on vector drawings and modern floor plans. Use the trial on one of your own awkward sets before you sign for the year.

Where Pilars is the better choice

Pilars is built for the estimator who would rather check a takeoff than produce one. You upload the PDF set and in minutes the software reads every sheet with the spec book, resolves cross-sheet references and schedules, counts devices, fixtures and equipment, measures lengths, areas and volumes, and traces runs. Quantities come back confidence-scored and sourced to the sheet, with code-compliance flags against IBC, NEC, IPC, IMC, ADA and NFPA.

Automatic does not mean sealed. If a fixture count looks light or a wall has been put in the wrong type, you open that detection and fix it: reclassify, add, remove, move a boundary or type over the quantity, and the totals follow. The first pass belongs to the software and the final number belongs to you.

• Trade subcontractors. Pilars covers 19 trades, including electrical, plumbing, HVAC and fire protection, where the takeoff is counts and runs more than room areas.
• Shops that will not sign for a year. Pilars can be billed monthly; Kreo's public plans are annual only.
• Heavy bid volume in one trade. Takeoffs are unlimited, so a user costs the same at five sets a month or fifty.
• Spec-driven scopes. The specifications are read alongside the drawings instead of afterwards.

On device counting, Pilars published a test on a real power plan in which its fine-tuned model counted duplex receptacles at 97.5% and Kreo scored 82%. It is a single sheet and a single device type, and Pilars ran the test, so read the method on the benchmark page and repeat it on your own drawings.

You can run the Pilars demo on your own set during a Kreo trial week and compare the two outputs against a takeoff you already trust. If you are moving off Kreo, the Kreo alternative page covers that path.

Questions estimators actually ask