Comparison
BuiltSum as a Werx alternative
Werx and BuiltSum solve overlapping problems for the same contractor, and they are not the same product. Werx is stronger on bookkeeping and the field; BuiltSum is stronger on pricing work and on not being capped. Here is the whole picture, including the parts where Werx wins.
| Werx | BuiltSum | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $49/mo (Essential) | $49/mo (Solo) |
| Active projects at $49 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Unlimited projects | $119/mo (Unlimited plan) | Every paid plan |
| AIA-style pay applications | Yes, on every plan from $49 | Yes, on every plan — including Free |
| Retainage tracking | Yes | Yes, per line, with a 50-state law reference |
| Trade assemblies with unit costs | No — you write the lines | 214 assemblies across 10 trades |
| Own-historicals price book | No | Built from every estimate you save |
| Plan takeoff | No | Yes — in the browser, plans never leave your machine |
| QuickBooks Online sync | Yes | Yes — pay app → QuickBooks invoice |
| Crew time tracking | Yes, with cost codes | Yes — free field users, hours vs. budgeted hours |
| Daily logs | No | Yes — filed by free field accounts |
| RFIs and submittals | Yes, from the $89 plan | Yes — in-app registers on every plan, plus free tools |
| Crew scheduling | No | Yes — task list with overdue flags, visible to field users |
| Client / GC portal | No | Yes — read-only billing status link |
| Online card payment on invoices | Yes (Stripe) | Yes — hosted checkout on the invoice link |
| Additional users | $6/mo each, $4 time-only | Free for field/time-only; 5 full users at $99 |
| Free tier | 30-day trial, no card | Free plan: 1 active project, full pay apps |
Werx figures taken from its published pricing and feature pages, August 2026. Vendors change plans — check theirs before deciding, and tell us if anything here is out of date.
Which one fits
Werx is the better buy if…
- • You want invoices, expenses and the whole ledger living in one bookkeeping-first tool.
- • You cost every labor hour to a cost code and need that depth in time tracking.
- • You run a handful of jobs at once and the 10-project cap never binds.
- • Your estimates are written by hand anyway and assemblies would go unused.
BuiltSum is the better buy if…
- • You carry more than ten open jobs and refuse to pay $119 for the privilege.
- • You want the estimate priced from assemblies, not typed from memory.
- • You want the company’s own historical rates to build themselves.
- • You want the estimate, the schedule of values and the pay application to be one chain.
Try the part that matters before you switch
You do not need an account to check whether the billing is right: build a schedule of values and run a real pay application through it, then price a job against your own rates in the estimate builder. If the numbers do not match what you bill today, do not switch.
Frequently asked questions
Is Werx a good product?
Yes — it is one of the few genuinely affordable tools that put AIA-style billing, job costing and time tracking on its entry plan instead of gating them behind a top tier, and its QuickBooks Online sync is real. If your bottleneck is bookkeeping and crew time rather than pricing work, Werx may well be the better fit, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
What is the main difference between BuiltSum and Werx?
Two things: project caps and where the estimate comes from. Werx's $49 plan allows 10 active projects and its $89 plan 20, with unlimited only at $119. Every paid BuiltSum plan has unlimited projects. And Werx's estimating produces proposals from lines you write yourself, while BuiltSum ships priced trade assemblies — 214 across ten trades — that turn quantities into a bid, then learn your own rates from the jobs you win.
Does BuiltSum sync with QuickBooks?
Yes. Connect your QuickBooks Online company once, and any pay application can be sent to QuickBooks as an invoice for that period's payment due — the customer and service item are created for you on first use. Werx syncs more of the ledger (it leans bookkeeping-first), but the flow contractors actually ask for — pay app becomes an invoice without retyping — is here.
What about time tracking and field users?
Werx charges per additional seat, at the time of writing $6/month, or $4 for time-only users. BuiltSum's field users are free on every plan — they sign in, clock hours against a project, and file daily logs, nothing else — and tracked hours show against the estimate's budgeted labor hours in job costing. Crew includes five full users at $99. Werx's time tracking is deeper (cost codes on every punch), so heavy time-and-attendance shops should still compare closely.
Unlimited projects, from the first paid plan
Every feature on every tier, field users free — $49/mo, or free for one active project.
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