Bluebeam Revu
Overview
As an award winning leader in innovative, collaborative, Cloud-based software technologies that streamline construction planning and building projects, Bluebeam's set of solutions have set the standard for excellence since 2002. Architecture, engineering, and construction teams from over 130 countries with 2+ million users have relied on Bluebeam to deliver the technical tools they need to advance projects, fine-tune budgets, and collaborate in r...

Pricing
Price starts from $240.00 per yearBasics: Essential tools for marking up and managing your AECO office and project documents - $240 per user, billed annually. Complete: Ever... read more
Free trial: available
Free version: unavailable
Features
Top Bluebeam Revu features and user ratings based on users' reviews:
4.7
(32)
4.4
(13)
4.5
(29)
4.6
(25)
4.6
(9)
4.5
(20)
4.3
(13)
4.5
(30)
4.4
(28)
4.8
(5)
4.8
(8)
4.5
(64)
4.4
(12)
4.1
(53)
Deployment and Devices
Bluebeam Revu is available for:
Most Helpful Reviews for Bluebeam Revu
1 - 5 of 933 Reviews
Ryan
11 - 50 employees
Used more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
Reviewed May 2021
Excellent quantity survey tool
Clarissa
Verified reviewer
Construction, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2018
Very comprehensive pdf editing software - I'll never go back to Adobe!!!
I spend a lot less time posting changes and as-builts, but with much more professional results. I also love the time it's cut down on creating our punch lists and tracking the completion of those items.
PROSI love that it can "read" my plans, and help me with my takeoffs. The search function can look for either words or symbols, and is incredibly useful when I'm looking for something specific. The different user type profiles are tailored to show the tools and functions that someone in that role would be more likely to use the most. It's easy to switch between these profiles, even when viewing the same file, so no matter what or how many hats I'm wearing that day, it's easy to find the tools that I need for the job I'm doing. The customizable tool box is great - I can use the existing tools, or create my own! These are handy for posting as-builts, as well as for doing take offs and estimates. I love all the short cut keys!! Instead of using my mouse to select tool options, I can simply use the "G" key to take a "photo" of a certain part of my open file, or "C" to cloud an area. I use these frequently and it really cuts down the time I spend posting changes to our drawings. There are so many tools, functions, and options, that you're sure to find everything you need for seamless and efficient construction drawing management!
CONSAt first, it was a bit overwhelming to use. There are so many tools and menus that it definitely took a little time to learn; however, Bluebeam offers hundreds of short "how-to" videos on many different topics. After watching these, and using the software for a few weeks, it got much easier.
Alexis
Construction, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed April 2023
BlueBeam Revu Review
I would highly recommend Bluebeam Revu over almost any other PDF reader/modifier. Its simplicity is refreshing. I think that if more people knew about the product they would switch from Adobe.
PROSBluebeam is simple to learn and use. There are so many handy tools, and I don't even use a lot of them in my line of work but I know others who do. I particularly like the cloud tool to bring attention to revisions, but also like the text editor and the ability to scale from a set of drawings by picking two points with a known dimension.
CONSI think most of the tools are really great, but I would like to see a few more options for shapes that can be drawn. I use some of them to create easy to read legends for a particular set of drawings.
Reasons for switching to Bluebeam Revu
My company felt that it would be a better fit for the work I do, and they were absolutely right. SinceI learned the basics, I feel like I can accomplish almost anything I need to do with a pdf.
Christina
Construction, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2023
Great for takeoffs
It has been a joy.
PROSI have used this for years and it the easiest program to learn.
CONSSometimes it is wants freeze up. You have to restart.
JEFFREY
Construction, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed December 2019
Great software-Terrible customer service
The customer service-technical help is just horrendous. Their 'technicians' are just phone operators, many with very bad attitudes (if I worked for a company with these policies I'd be grumpy too!) but read on... Anything beyond the very basics like opening the program or setting up menus are completely beyond their abilities. To make matters MUCH worse they have no escalation policy at all. Read that again; a SOFTWARE company has zero escalation policy. Who you get, regardless of whether they can actually answer your question, is who you get (I was TOLD this -it's recorded too- by an operator! If they don't know something (most of the time) they put you on hold for 5-10 minutes while they go ask someone who supposedly does. Invariably there is a follow up question (or more likely, they just have the wrong answer) and so they put you on hold for ANOTHER 10 minutes. When you ask to be transferred to the person they obviously keep putting you on hold to ask, you are rebuffed. Ask harder, in fact DEMAND to be connected to a qualified tech often enough and they will revoke your service contract. Read that again, if you complain too much they will FIRE YOU instead of fix their internal problems! Eventually I was able to work out an 'email only' connection to a senior tech who actually HAS the answers, but by revoking my service, they also robbed me of my updates so I can't even benefit from all the work I've put into helping them improve their product.
PROSIt is hands down the most powerful PDF editor available today. As of v. 2018.6 they have fixed MOST of the issues that made it crash (but not quite all) and I can operate this software for an average of 9 hours a day without too much cursing at the screen. Takeoff is WYSIWYG and once you learn the product, very adaptable to whatever way you like to work. Another terrific feature is the 'slipped plans' feature where you can slipp addendum plans together with existing plans and transfer all of your current takeoff without loss. No other takeoff software allows this kind of functionality. The ability to automatically generate 'links' within the drawings (from flags to the correct page indicated by the flag) is also very valuable. Other programs DO provide this, but Bluebeam is much more accurate and faster.
CONSThe exporting function. Only allows limited functionality (.csv .xml .pdf and print) and Nemetschek refuses to work with us to provide access to the API so we can truly integrate the takeoff with our ERP system. It functions but it could be SO much more. The tech help was TERRIBLE! First, they refuse to help unless you grant them remote access to your machine ( I won't). Then they cant actually do their job. See below for a full description;
Reason for choosing Bluebeam Revu
Much more powerful, built specifically for the kind of work I do
Reasons for switching to Bluebeam Revu
The company I went to work for did not use OST and asked me to research other options that may be better. The service problem I did not discover until too late.