Bluebeam vs. Foxit PDF SDK

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Bluebeam
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Bluebeam Revu is a PDF management, control, and editing tool. It enables collaboration and markup within shared documents across projects’ life cycles and has takeoff and bid creation capabilities.
$349
per seat
Foxit PDF SDK
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Foxit PDF SDK offers high performance pdf libraries to help developers build pdf technology. According to the vendor, key features include: Render PDFs: High performance PDF libraries to render PDF pages, page objects, annotations, and forms the way they were intended to be viewed: sharp, clear, accurate, and easy to read. Allows applications to view, zoom in, zoom out, and print PDF documents and forms. Reflow: PDF is a fixed-layout flat document format, it cannot…
$3,000
per platform/per year
Pricing
BluebeamFoxit PDF SDK
Editions & Modules
Revu Standard
$349
per seat
Revu CAD
$449
per seat
Revu eXtreme
$599
per seat
Licensing PDF SDK
$3,000.00
per platform/per year
Foxit.NET PDF SDK
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BluebeamFoxit PDF SDK
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BluebeamFoxit PDF SDK
Considered Both Products
Bluebeam
Chose Bluebeam
Much better. The features are greater, the layout is better and you can just do so much more. The features alone and what you can do with it makes it worth it. Also, it allows for you to edit and create in a much more user friendly way. All of our engineers love using it …
Foxit PDF SDK
Chose Foxit PDF SDK
I would say that Bluebeam has many more options and more capabilities versus Foxit PDF SDK. I would also say that Bluebeam is for users more advanced and comfortable with creating, editing, and combining PDF files. For the price comparison, I would say Foxit PDF SDK wins hands …
Features
BluebeamFoxit PDF SDK
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.7
Ratings
13% above category average
Foxit PDF SDK
-
Ratings
Standard reports9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Data exportability9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Construction Project & Field Management
Comparison of Construction Project & Field Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.9
Ratings
16% above category average
Foxit PDF SDK
-
Ratings
Plan distribution & viewing8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Plan markups & sharing9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Issue tracking & punchlists8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Photo documentation8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Jobsite reports9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Document sharing9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
RFI tools9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration & approvals9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
As-built drawings8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Submittal design and management8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Checklists9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Change orders9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Estimating
Comparison of Estimating features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
9.1
Ratings
13% above category average
Foxit PDF SDK
-
Ratings
Takeoff tools7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Job costing8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost databases10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost calculator10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Bid creation9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
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User Ratings
BluebeamFoxit PDF SDK
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BluebeamFoxit PDF SDK
Likelihood to Recommend
As stated before, the mobile application is a great companion to the desktop version. Either one works great in viewing, editing and saving documents. While the measurement tool is handy to have, we have found the precision to be lacking when measuring scaled drawings (construction design drawings). While it is a good rough place to start for measurements, we wouldn't recommend relying on the precision of the measurements taken on something with a very large scale.
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The issue with the application not re-opening previously opened files is a major one for me, therefore I docked a point for that . When editing documents, it usually works well, but there are a few idiosyncrasies, such as the ability to add an extra line when changing a block of text or the inability to define page margins on the left and right. These peculiarities do not bother me, although they might be improved.
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Pros
  • Overlaying pdf drawings to identify changes made by architects.
  • Scaling dimensions when the architect has not provided required dimensions to proceed with work in the field.
  • Hyperlinking construction documents with required information makes it much easier to look through multiple sheets in less time.
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  • It is a very cool development kit to integration different PDF functions.
  • It is user-friendly and convenient to work with.
  • It has great functionality for text. For example: adding quick markup, highlighting the text, underlining, and doing strikethrough, and adding signatures is pretty easy.
  • It offers to do encryption and add passwords for security.
  • Great search capability that helps finding the text without hassle.
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Cons
  • If you have several tabs open and you try to drag one out for a side by side view then you do not have all the modification options and you have to combine them back together.
  • There is a lag time when hitting the print option.
  • There is also a lag time when opening files, sometimes I think the window is frozen.
  • I wish the basic version also had basic file editing, as in editing a document as Adobe does.
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  • Combine multiple PDFs into one PDF
  • File explorer preview is not good
  • In the C# SDK, which is a wrapper of native C++ code. We need to be extra careful in coding and protecting the calls, because it can be very easy to crash the application in case of errors.
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Likelihood to Renew
Bluebeam is a powerful PDF viewer and mark-up tool. We are more familiar with it than Adobe Acrobat Pro or other viewers, and it has more features geared towards construction document managers than Acrobat Pro does.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
I'm constantly finding that Bluebeam Revu does more than I knew it could. And when I find something that it can't do, I've found that Bluebeam truly listens to its user base and will work to incorporate any good suggestion when feasible.
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Our whole takeoff department uses the Foxit PDF SDK. To read plan files, produce pdf files, and take notes, we utilize it in conjunction with other tools. We may utilize the Foxit PDF SDK to read, edit, markup, print, and produce PDF files for internal use or to distribute to clients. Some of our users adore the software, but others choose to use alternative programs because they believe Foxit PDF SDK is too restrictive.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
I rated this software very high on performance because it is really very quick on my Windows system. It can create any type of PDF files in seconds. It also gives good upload speed when I try to modify my documents for inserting digital signature space. It also gives very good encryption speed to secure my documents.
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Support Rating
Its hard for me to give a rating on this one as we rarely have to use the support feature for Bluebeam. However, when we have used it, they have been ultra supportive in helping us get exactly what we needed. I know another engineer was trying to figure out a feature and the rep gave a detailed tutorial on how to complete the task
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I would give it this rating because I personally have never had to contact support regarding Foxit PDF SDK or anything I am trying to do within the program. As I mentioned before, it is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. I think the program in itself lends support to the user because it is so user-friendly and has an easy to use interface.
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Alternatives Considered
Bluebeam is a diverse program with many functions and tools, whereas competitive programs only specialize in one or few tasks. Although there are many tools within the program, users can still quickly learn how to use the program to best fit their needs. There is always a help tab for any assistance needed.
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Foxit PDF was cheaper from a licensing perspective. It was easy on the budget and will not be getting more expensive for enterprise licenses. FoxIt also came with the same features when compared to Adobe and it was much easier to install in our environment. Being that it was lightweight we are able to install, remove and update the client very easily. Also, the support with Foxit was better suited for our needs than Adobe.
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Return on Investment
  • A major positive aspect is being able to take your computer home without taking the entire set of paper drawings. They have made it so easy to navigate a set of drawings that I can work at home using only the digital drawings.
  • Collaboration with owners and architects has been a great feature. Setting up a Bluebeam studio and having everyone get in and mark things up, then having the architect be able to go in and see what markups have been added, has made the constructability review process much much better.
  • Even when not working on drawings, Bluebeam is a very good tool for working with standard PDF documents. The markup tools are very easy to use.
  • The negative aspect is the takeoff function because some people would like estimators to use the Bluebeam takeoff because it would make their job easier down the road; however, the actual act of doing a full scale takeoff in Bluebeam would require much more time.
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  • No negative impact but only positive and fruitful I would say. It is a part of our daily work routine and enhances our products. Things are done quickly and delays are very less. Hence, it has added to the overall growth and development of our business.
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ScreenShots

Bluebeam Screenshots

Screenshot of Bluebeam Cloud with Markup ListScreenshot of Bluebeam Cloud with Tool ChestScreenshot of Bluebeam Revu MarkupScreenshot of Bluebeam Revu Studio Session

Foxit PDF SDK Screenshots

Screenshot of Foxit PDF SDK for AndroidScreenshot of Foxit PDF SDK for iOSScreenshot of Foxit PDF SDK for UWPScreenshot of Foxit PDF SDK for WindowsScreenshot of Foxit PDF SDK for Linux