What Should a 20–100 Person Subcontractor Pay for Construction Software?#

There's no single right number, because vendors price in four different ways: per user, per worker tracked, by your annual construction volume, or by custom quote. Using published list prices, a 60-person sub would pay about US$7,300–9,100 a year for time tracking alone (QuickBooks Time, ClockShark), about US$16,000–46,000 a year to put all 60 people on a per-user field app (Raken, Fieldwire), and an unpublished amount for Procore, Jonas, BuildOps and Appello, which quote. The fair comparison is the total over three years for the work it replaces, counting implementation, the people who actually log in, and what happens when you grow.

How do construction software vendors price?#

Software	What it covers (per its pricing page)	How it's priced	Published price	60 people at list, per year
QuickBooks Time (Intuit)	Time tracking	Base fee + per user	Premium US$20/month + US$10/user; Elite US$40/month + US$12/user	About US$7,400 (Premium) to US$9,100 (Elite)
ClockShark	Time tracking, scheduling, GPS	Base fee + per user; three-year contract term	Standard US$42/month + US$9.50/user; Pro US$63/month + US$11.50/user	About US$7,300 (Standard) to US$9,000 (Pro)
Knowify	Bidding, project management, job costing, invoicing	Plan + extra users	Core from US$99/month (1 user); Advanced from US$329/month (10 users); extra users US$29/month; Enterprise (unlimited users) by quote	About US$21,300 on Advanced; Enterprise by quote
Raken	Daily reports, time, production, safety	Per user, billed annually, 3-user minimum	Basic US$23, Performance US$59 per user/month	US$16,560 (Basic) to US$42,480 (Performance)
Fieldwire (Hilti)	Plans, tasks, forms, punch lists	Per user, billed annually	Free for 5 users; Pro US$39, Business US$64, Business Plus US$89 per user/month	US$28,080 (Pro) to US$46,080 (Business)
Procore	Project management and financials	Annual fee per product, based on annual construction volume; unlimited users	Not published; Field Productivity priced per FTE	Depends on your volume, not your headcount
BuildOps	Service and construction operations	Field and office users; plan and features	Not published	Quote
Jonas	Construction ERP: accounting, payroll, job cost	Modules, hosting and add-ons; required core user, server and SQL licences	Not published	Quote
Appello	Field to office for ICI trade contractors: timesheets, scheduling, safety, job cost, billing	No user limit; price scales with users, the modules you use and a standard server fee; not based on revenue or construction volume	Quoted in the demo	Quote

Prices are from each vendor's own pricing page, checked October 14, 2026, in US dollars, before tax, before introductory offers and before volume discounts (Raken's page shows 5% off at 5 users and 10% off at 10; its calculator will show less than our 60-user figure). The yearly figures are our arithmetic for 60 users at list price.

Why do two quotes for the same company look so different?#

Because they're counting different things.

• Per user (Raken, Fieldwire, Knowify): you pay for everyone who logs in. Knowify says it plainly: "A user is anyone who logs into Knowify."
• Base plus per worker (QuickBooks Time, ClockShark): a small monthly fee, then a few dollars per person tracked.
• Volume (Procore): Procore charges "an upfront annual fee by product and based upon your Annual Construction Volume," and never charges for adding users. A $25 million year costs more than a $15 million year, even with the same crew.
• Quote (Jonas, BuildOps, Appello): the price depends on modules, users and setup, and you see it in a proposal.

None of these is wrong. Each one rewards a different kind of company. Per-user pricing suits a sub where only foremen and the office log in. Volume pricing suits a GC with many outside users. A sub with 50 field workers on every timesheet wants pricing that grows predictably with the crew and doesn't jump because a big job landed.

How many of your people actually need a login?#

This is the biggest lever on a per-user quote, and the first thing to settle.

Take a 60-person mechanical insulation sub: 8 in the office, 6 foremen, 46 in the field.

• If every worker clocks in on their own phone, you need 60 logins. Raken Performance is US$42,480 a year at list.
• If the foreman enters hours for the crew, you might need 14. The same Raken plan is US$9,912 a year.

Neither is automatically better. Workers clocking themselves in, inside a geofence, means fewer missed hours and fewer Monday-morning phone calls. Foreman entry is cheaper per seat but loads the foreman. Decide which you want before you compare quotes, and make every vendor price the same model.

What costs aren't on the price page?#

The subscription is often not the biggest number in year one. Ask every vendor, in writing:

1. Implementation and onboarding. Is setup a separate fee? Who builds your cost codes, union rates and forms?
2. Data migration. Will they load your open jobs, employees, certifications and cost codes, or does your office?
3. Accounting and payroll connection. Is the QuickBooks or Sage connection included, or an add-on? Is it a live sync or an export file someone loads every week?
4. Required extras. Jonas, for example, lists a core user licence, a server Microsoft Office licence and SQL Server user CALs as required for any implementation, with field mobile tools as add-ons.
5. Minimums and terms. Raken has a 3-user minimum and bills annually. ClockShark's pricing page says a three-year contract term applies to all its plans. Ask about contract length and what happens at renewal.
6. Growth. What does the price do if you add 20 field workers, or win a job twice your normal size?
7. Exchange rate. These prices are published in US dollars. A Canadian sub pays the exchange on top unless the vendor bills in Canadian dollars.

And count the cost you already pay. Add up the time apps, form apps and spreadsheets you'd retire, plus the hours your office spends re-typing timesheets and rebuilding job cost reports every month. That's the number the new software has to beat.

How should you compare quotes fairly?#

Build one page with the same company on it for every vendor:

• Your real headcount split: office, foremen, field.
• The modules you'd actually use in year one, and the ones you'd add in year two.
• Three-year total, including setup, training and the accounting connection.
• Price per field worker per month, so a volume quote and a per-user quote sit side by side.
• What it replaces, and what you stop paying for.

Then ask each vendor to walk through one real week: a crew of eight across three jobs, union rates with travel, a T&M ticket, and the progress claim due on the 25th. The cheapest quote that can't do that week isn't cheap.

Where is Appello not the right fit?#

Appello is built for ICI trade contractors, often union, with about 20 to 400 field staff.

• Residential builders and remodellers. Appello is built around commercial and institutional work, GCs and progress claims.
• General contractors who need whole-building document control across every trade on a project.
• One-person shops. Appello is built for crews spread across several jobs.

Where does Appello fit?#

Appello is for a 20–100 person ICI sub who wants field and office in one system, with a price that doesn't jump because a big job landed.

• No user limit, and both ways of entering time. Put every worker on their own phone, clocking in inside a geofence, or have the foreman enter the crew's hours in bulk. The price scales with the users you choose, so you can price both models in the demo.
• A formula, not a percentage of your revenue. The price scales with the number of users, the modules you use and a standard server fee. It isn't based on your revenue or construction volume. You get the full quote in the demo.
• Pick the modules you need. Start with timesheets, scheduling and safety forms; add job cost, progress billing or estimating when you're ready.
• It replaces work, not just apps. Timesheets are priced from the union agreement (overtime, travel, board), approved at two levels, and sent to QuickBooks Online or out as a payroll file for Sage 50, QuickBooks Desktop and others. Budget vs actual by cost code updates from those timesheets and from bills.

Bring your headcount split and your current app list to the demo, and we'll price the same company you priced everyone else on. See Appello pricing.

FAQ#

How much does construction software cost per user?
Published per-user prices for field apps run from about US$23 to US$89 per user per month (Raken and Fieldwire's plans). Time-tracking tools charge less per person, around US$10–12 plus a base fee. Full platforms often quote instead.

Is per-user or volume-based pricing better for a subcontractor?
Per user is better when few people log in. Volume pricing is better when many outside users log in and your volume is steady. A sub with a big field crew should check how the price grows per added worker and per big job; Appello has no user limit and isn't priced on volume.

Why don't Procore and Jonas publish prices?
Procore prices each product on your annual construction volume, and Jonas builds a package from modules, hosting and add-ons, so both quote.

What should a 50-person sub budget for software?
Price your own company: count logins, pick year-one modules, and get three-year totals with setup included. Published list prices for 50 users run from about US$6,000 a year for time tracking to over US$38,000 a year for a per-user field platform, before setup.

Is Procore worth it for a 50-person sub?
Procore prices on your annual construction volume, not your headcount, so the price tracks the size of the jobs you win. If your GC already runs the job in Procore you can usually work in its project without buying your own licence, so the question is what runs your own company: timesheets, union rates, job cost and billing. See what Procore's construction-volume pricing costs a subcontractor.

Do I still need QuickBooks?
Usually, yes. Field software runs next to your accounting system. Ask whether the connection is a live sync or an export, and whether it costs extra.

Sources#

All accessed October 14, 2026.

• Intuit, QuickBooks Time pricing
• ClockShark, pricing
• Knowify, pricing
• Raken, pricing
• Fieldwire, pricing
• Procore, pricing
• BuildOps, pricing
• Jonas Construction Software, pricing

Related reading#

• What Does Procore's Construction-Volume Pricing Cost a Subcontractor?
• What Are the Best Procore Alternatives for Subcontractors?
• Questions to Ask Before Switching Construction Software
• What to Look for in Construction Software as an ICI Subcontractor
• Appello pricing