Bluebeam vs. WorkflowMax

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
WorkflowMax
Score 9.2 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
WorkflowMax is a web-based project management solution.The platform offers end-to-end functionality standard to project management software, including time tracking, lead management, collaboration with external stakeholders, invoicing, integrations, and customizable reporting.
$20
per month
Pricing
BluebeamWorkflowMax
Editions & Modules
Revu Standard
$349
per seat
Revu CAD
$449
per seat
Revu eXtreme
$599
per seat
Standard
$20
per month
Standard
$35
per month
Premium
$70
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BluebeamWorkflowMax
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BluebeamWorkflowMax
Considered Both Products
Bluebeam
Chose Bluebeam
I believe Bluebeam is actually easier to learn and use versus Adobe Acrobat. With it’s how to videos and great customer support, there’s basically not a problem that cannot be figured out. As far as PDF modification, I believe Bluebeam’s tools and screen configuration is very …
Chose Bluebeam
It is just more advanced in terms of functionality. Bluebeam has far more features for collaboration, document sharing and marking up.
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam is targeted towards construction professional and offers features and built-in markups that I use everyday. Acrobat is a generic program that requires more training and set-up for use specific to construction and design. Bluebeam was more cost-effective than Acrobat, …
Chose Bluebeam
I haven’t spent enough time with Revit to give a full comparison. But three architects I’ve worked with have all said they enjoy both programs and Bluebeam was highly recommended for my needs in the company.
Chose Bluebeam
Years ago I used Adobe which was not well suited for CAD drawings. I soon found Bluebeam which at the time was a wonderful game changer. Sadly, my recent experience has caused me to begin searching elsewhere for new software.
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam I believe is much better then Smartsheets because there are way more features that just make sense and are construction minded. I am able to host and share these documents with other users who do not need to have a Bluebeam license to view or download them from the …
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam is a more advanced PDF editor and better suited for the engineering and construction industry. It has far more tools and better capabilities for collaborative viewing, marking up, and sharing of documents.
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 …
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam Revu has essentially replaced Adobe Acrobat as our default PDF viewer and editor, because its robust suite of architecturally-focused tools allow for better review of documents and creation of simple graphic diagrams. The scale and measurement tools are especially …
Chose Bluebeam
It is better than acrobat in my opinion. More features and more user-friendly.
Chose Bluebeam
PDF file sharing is really easy and simple, so users can markup and others can view them in real-time. Also, editing PDF files to crop, batch, remove, or replace pages is really efficient compared to Adobe Acrobat DC. Plus, the licensing fee is pretty small compared to Adobe …
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam Revu is a no-brainer in the AEC space. Stop wasting money on owning adobe and Revu. Revu can replace all of your Adobe usage. With a good change management process, Revu can meet the needs of your entire organization. The Bluebeam team will be with you every step …
Chose Bluebeam

Revu was much easier to use, more cost-effective, and is more generally used in the construction and design industry than Adobe. We found Adobe to be more of a resource hog, as well as being bloated with offers for other Adobe applications, which many times would slow down a …

Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam is a good in-between of Adobe and Photoshop. If you're not looking to do photo editing, but need more capabilities than just line work, Bluebeam is perfect.
Chose Bluebeam
I select Bluebeam Revu when I have to as directed by the client or the owner. Otherwise, when the user does not need such a specific or robust piece of software, I usually go to one of the less expensive competitor's PDF editors. They suite our needs just fine and cost half …
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam definitely blows Adobe out of the water in the basic to the basic comparison. You will have to do more research on how exactly to use all the tools if you have never used the program before such as myself.
Chose Bluebeam
Bluebeam Revu has a much more sophisticated interface that allows you to mark up documents in many different ways. It can store tools for standard markup use. It provides digital signatures which can be very useful for many document types. By creating a Revu studio, multiple …
Chose Bluebeam
We've used these other products in conjunction with Bluebeam mainly because Bluebeam lacks RFI/COR/PO/Mark-up/revision tracking, and doesn't handle punch lists or tasks.
Chose Bluebeam
Adobe is good for viewing PDFs, but as far as how PDFs are utilized in construction, Bluebeam is hands-down the best program I have used.
Chose Bluebeam
The newer Adobe interfaces are poor. Adobe does not do as well with drawing markup or takeoff tools. Adobe does seem to render some drawing files more quickly though. Adobe text document markup feels a bit more polished. Bluebeam was selected for better tools specific to …
Chose Bluebeam
This is by FAR the most powerful product that I have used. I have not turned back to Adobe for modifying documents since we purchased Bluebeam. I am not sure of the cost of the program, but sure it is worth it to the company. As to doing take-offs, this is a great tool as well …
Chose Bluebeam
Procore is excellent for tracking documents and links. Bluebeam is superior at editing, scaling, and marking up documents. You can track projects of any size at a very low price point with Bluebeam.
Chose Bluebeam
There is no comparison. The editing tools, batch tools drafting tools, personal environment profiles, settings, printing, calibrating, direct connecting apps that links Bluebeam to AutoCad and Revit. This is an extremely powerful program that is amazingly helpful and I probably …
WorkflowMax
Chose WorkflowMax
It was overwhelming to configure ConnectWise Manage and was pricey compared to WorkflowMax, which was well embraced by all our employees.
Chose WorkflowMax
I think workflowmax does a little more than Thomson Reuters workflow because they have the additional feature of employee tracking for payroll use. Thomson Reuters does a good job at getting a project from start to finish, but workflowmax gives better reports and allows more …
Chose WorkflowMax
Loan Assistant is a virtual business, entirely operated in the cloud. We do not have an office. Team members are located in diverse locations such as Munich, Canada and Sri Lanka as well as various locations in Australia. WorkflowMax is what ties us together. The fact that the …
Chose WorkflowMax
I'm not sure if it was by Ascentis or not, and it may have been an old version, but we used a program called Timekeeper. It was very outdated, difficult to use, and didn't provide easily producible reports. WorkflowMax is infinitely better to use for our business.
Chose WorkflowMax
I made comparisons with two Legal Practice Management systems, InfinityLaw and OneLaw. These systems were more expensive and had functionality/modules which we did not require. I am experienced with WorkflowMax so that was a key factor, along with pricing. I also felt it was …
Chose WorkflowMax
It's been so many years now I don't remember. I haven't needed to look anywhere else. I'm happy with WorkflowMax.
Chose WorkflowMax
Not as easily configured for the architecture and design field.
Chose WorkflowMax
I chose WorkflowMax because it seamlessly integrated with my accounting system Xero
Chose WorkflowMax
We tried a couple of solutions before settling on WorkflowMax, we chose WorkflowMax for as it did what we needed without being over complicated.

Chose WorkflowMax
WorkflowMax is much much easier than Streamtime, much more affordable and easier to try out and see if it meets your needs. Streamtime is a great comprehensive product but we lost a year's subscription in investment because we couldn't get answers to the support questions we …
Chose WorkflowMax
WorkflowMax was the first program I evaluated and it suited our business from the word go. There was no need to look elsewhere.
Chose WorkflowMax
Archioffice is clunky by comparison and quite regimented in what you can do or not. WorkflowMax offers quite a high degree of flexibility by comparison. Neither offers perfect graphics for invoice presentation (yet) whereas WorkflowMax's is quite acceptable or presentable. AO …
Chose WorkflowMax
I didn't get an option in the menu above for JobBag which was the previous system we used. My IT/production manager heard of WorkflowMax and invited the team to do a presentation. JobBag was not fulfilling our needs and we also wanted to move to a cloud-based system which could …
Chose WorkflowMax
I have only used Synergy and whilst this is good, the cost of Synergy was far too great for my practice.
Chose WorkflowMax
We trialed several time tracking options, WorkflowMax won as it was the most feature rich, allowed us to take up additional users as our business grew and plugs directly into Xero, allowing for a reduction in number of hours spent in the land of accounting.
Chose WorkflowMax
The previous programs I used are not listed. But having had to use two different programs to store client data and one for doing the quoting and invoicing was very time consuming. Client details and job details needed to be recorded in both programs, so multiple entries of data …
Chose WorkflowMax
In terms of CRM I always found Capsule to be clunky and difficult to use. WorkflowMax makes it easy for me to gather all the relevant info about our clients in one place with the document manager and also the custom fields that we can add in. I have been able to analyse where …
Chose WorkflowMax
More comprehensive than both of the above - better reporting, more flexible, better customisation.
Features
BluebeamWorkflowMax
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.7
Ratings
13% above category average
WorkflowMax
-
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
WorkflowMax
-
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
WorkflowMax
-
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
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
-
Ratings
WorkflowMax
9.3
Ratings
19% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Resource Management00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Team Collaboration00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Document Management00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Email integration00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Change request and Case Management00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
-
Ratings
WorkflowMax
9.5
Ratings
23% above category average
Quotes/estimates00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Project & financial reporting00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Integration with accounting software00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
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BluebeamWorkflowMax
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User Ratings
BluebeamWorkflowMax
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BluebeamWorkflowMax
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.
Read full review
WorkflowMax is a good solution for the architecture and design profession in that it allows for multiple ways to track a project, apply time to a project, and invoice against a project. The ability to do staffing forecasting and future planning fills a need that most firms in this profession require.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
  • Great for managing teams which are not in one spot. Awesome for small or growing businesses with employees who might work from home.
  • Really good for teams to keep up with where a project is at against the time left to achieve the goal
  • Great for keeping all the information for each project in one spot.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
  • Integration with inventory - there are a lot of companies out there which provide a service which includes selling items either purchased or held in stock or "kitted"
  • User permission levels need to be more flexible and ideally closely tied to Xero
  • Two way integration with Xero - ability to import invoices to specific jobs
  • Ability to save pdfs to purchase orders, invoices (like Xero)
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Because we can't imagine being without it!
Read full review
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.
Read full review
It's easy to use and provides me with instant online access to the management of my business whether I am at my desk or overseas
Read full review
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
Read full review
We have had very few issues with Max
Read full review
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Decide how to breakdown your ongoing jobs - are they monthly recurring or annual broken into chunks? What are you going to give clients i.e. how will your proposals and invoices look?
Read full review
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.
Read full review
I'm not sure if it was by Ascentis or not, and it may have been an old version, but we used a program called Timekeeper. It was very outdated, difficult to use, and didn't provide easily producible reports. WorkflowMax is infinitely better to use for our business.
Read full review
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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  • The time the company saves by using employees efficiently on each project makes the purchase of this software worthwhile. You can clearly verify how much time the staff spends on each project, with each client, and you can compare whether it is profitable or not the hours invested, thus increasing your profits.
Read full review
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

WorkflowMax Screenshots

Screenshot of WorkflowMax Quoting SoftwareScreenshot of WorkflowMax CRM SoftwareScreenshot of WorkflowMax Project Management SoftwareScreenshot of WorkflowMax Mobile SiteScreenshot of Job Costing | WorkflowMaxScreenshot of Powerful Custom Reporting | WorkflowMax