Fieldwire vs PlanRadar 2027: Which Fits a Small Contractor

Short answer: pick by the work you need to close

Pick Fieldwire if your crew mainly needs plans, task lists and punch lists on site, and you can accept a per-seat bill that grows with headcount. Pick PlanRadar if your daily work is logging defects against plans, routing issues to subcontractors and producing customizable reports, and your team fits within its user tiers. Field management software is the mobile tool crews use to view plans, log issues and assign tasks while they work on site.

Neither product is renamed, merged or discontinued on the pages this guide opened. Fieldwire has been part of the tool maker Hilti since a deal announced in 2021. Hilti's deal to buy Fieldwire was $300 million according to ENR (2021), and the announcement said existing Fieldwire clients would see no change. This guide found no parent company listed for PlanRadar on the pages it opened, so confirm PlanRadar's ownership during your own diligence.

TL;DR: For a small team that mostly needs plans and tasks, Fieldwire is usually the simpler first purchase. For a team whose work revolves around defect lists and reports, PlanRadar can justify its higher-tier per-seat prices, but only after you map those tiers to your headcount. If Procore is also on your list, see Fieldwire vs Procore for construction firms.

Key Takeaways

• Fieldwire is part of Hilti, a tool maker, and this guide found no parent company listed for PlanRadar on the pages it opened.

• Both products price per user on their paid tiers, so seat math can outweigh small feature differences as headcount grows.

• Check the tier before you buy: Fieldwire's API needs a managed account with API access, and PlanRadar's Open API sits on its Pro and Enterprise tiers.

• User sentiment is similar on SelectHub, but Fieldwire's sample is far larger than PlanRadar's.

• Choose Fieldwire for plans and tasks at a smaller seat count, and PlanRadar when defect tracking and reports drive the daily work.

• Any automation layer needs API or export access, a duplicate check and a human approval before money moves.

How we evaluated these tools

This guide weighs six criteria that a small firm decides on. The weights are this guide's judgment, not a published benchmark, and the table shows them so you can change them to fit your own shop. Seat cost carries the most weight because both products charge per user on their paid tiers.

Sources are the two vendors' own pricing pages, Fieldwire's API page, PlanRadar's help center, a SelectHub comparison and ENR's coverage of the 2021 Hilti deal. Capterra, G2, GetApp, Software Advice and TrustRadius returned access errors when this guide tried to open them, so their ratings are not used here. Where a vendor does not publish a price, this guide says Quote-based.

Feature matrix: what each tool covers

Table 2 asks the same question of both products. Its cells describe what the vendor pages or SelectHub show, not how well each feature works in the field. Fieldwire's pricing page places RFIs, submittals, change orders and budget only on its Business Plus tier, so a firm that needs those workflows should price that tier or ask for a quote before it commits. PlanRadar's pricing page lists unlimited subcontractors and watchers on every tier, which matters if most of your trade partners work outside your account.

Fieldwire's API is the gate for any custom connection. Its API page says a managed Fieldwire account with API access is required, according to Fieldwire (2026). The listed integrations are Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft SharePoint and Google Drive, and only the Power BI item for tasks and forms is marked as needing the API. PlanRadar's Connect and Open API are on its Pro and Enterprise tiers, so a team that wants API work from day one should budget for Pro.

Pricing and seat math for a small crew

Pricing checked October 19, 2026.

Fieldwire's Pro plan costs $39 per user per month according to Fieldwire (2026). The same page lists its Basic plan at $0 for up to five users, three projects and 100 sheets, and its Business and Business Plus plans at $64 and $89 per user per month, with paid tiers billed annually. Custom contracts are Quote-based. The page shows a dollar sign and a currency selector, but this guide could not confirm which currency is active, so check it before you budget.

PlanRadar's Starter plan costs $107 per user per month according to PlanRadar (2026). The same page lists Starter for up to 10 users, its Basic plan at $32 per user per month for one user, its Pro plan for up to 10 users, and its Enterprise plan as Quote-based with a minimum annual contract value. The page also mentions an innovation fee on annual plans from the second billing period, and it does not state which billing period its displayed figures reflect, so ask for the rate and billing terms before you sign.

Table 3 applies the list prices above to an illustrative eight-seat crew. The 8-user column is arithmetic on those prices, not a quote.

Take a hypothetical eight-person field crew, which is an illustration and not a customer. On Fieldwire's Pro tier, eight seats at $39 come to $312 a month, or $3,744 a year if billed annually. The same eight people on PlanRadar's Starter tier at $107 come to $856 a month, which is $544 more each month for the same headcount. If you later want project creation automated, PlanRadar's help center documents the call POST /api/v1/{customer_id}/projects according to PlanRadar, and that route sits on the Pro tier, which lists $159 per user per month, or $1,272 a month for eight users, so the bill rises before any integration work starts.

Ratings and what users report

Recommendation rate: 90% for Fieldwire, 86% for PlanRadar according to SelectHub (2026). That user-sentiment figure rests on 459 Fieldwire reviews and 93 PlanRadar reviews, so the two rates are close, but the PlanRadar sample is much smaller.

SelectHub's analyst score for Fieldwire is 67 out of 100 according to SelectHub (2026). The same page says 67.4% of typical requirements are fully supported out of the box by Fieldwire, and it says PlanRadar's requirement data is still being gathered.

Both products earn praise for ease of use and offline mobile work. SelectHub lists shared weaknesses: limited form and report customization, a mobile app that trails the web version, a learning curve for new users, and slow archiving of large record sets. It also notes that PlanRadar's smaller review base makes peer feedback thinner. Table 4 and the weaknesses above come from the SelectHub page cited in this section.

Who should pick which

Who this is for: Fieldwire. Fieldwire fits a field-first team that mainly needs plan viewing, task management and punch lists, wants a no-fee entry tier to get crews on the app, and expects to add RFIs, submittals or budget tracking later on its top tier or through a quote. Red flags: you need RFIs, submittals or budget tracking but will not pay for the Business Plus tier or a custom quote; you need custom integrations and no one can request and manage developer access; or your per-seat bill would grow faster than the features you actually use.

Who this is for: PlanRadar. PlanRadar fits a team whose daily work is defect and quality checks on plans, where subcontractors and watchers join on every tier and owners want reporting they can read. Red flags: your headcount would push you past the 10-user cap on Starter or Pro and into an Enterprise quote; you need the Open API but cannot fund the Pro tier; or you need fast support, since the Basic tier's email response runs up to 72 working hours.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: a simpler setup wins in three cases. If one or two people only view plans and close a few tasks a week, the vendor's own app is enough, and an automation layer adds a system you must maintain. If your only need is a record that goes straight into a client portal, the field tool's reporting may already cover it. If you cannot provide API or export access on the tier you can afford, and no one will own the automation, skip it and buy the field tool alone.

If neither product fits your shop, see Fieldwire alternatives for construction firms before you commit.

Where the handoff to billing and reporting breaks

The pain usually starts after the field tool closes an item, when someone has to move that result into billing, a subcontractor back-charge or an owner report. That handoff is where an orchestration layer such as US Tech Automations would sit, above Fieldwire or PlanRadar rather than inside either one.

A proposed US Tech Automations design would start when a punch item is marked closed in the field tool. The prerequisites are API access on the tier you buy and a shared project ID that matches each job to its accounting record. The flow would compare the closed items to the subcontractor's open line in your accounting system and write a draft back-charge note to a review queue. The output is a draft, not a sent invoice, and a project manager reviews each draft before anything reaches the subcontractor. This is a configurable design, not a description of a live customer setup.

A second proposed flow would run on a weekday schedule. It pulls open tickets or tasks for each active project through the API or a scheduled export, groups them by trade, and writes a one-page summary for the owner. This guide could not open Fieldwire's webhook documentation, so the design polls on a schedule instead of waiting for event pushes, and it should stay that way until you confirm webhook access on your plan. A person checks the counts against the field tool before the summary goes to a client.

The alternative many small firms reach for is stitching this together in Zapier, Make or n8n, or writing a script in-house. Those tools can keep run histories, retries, error branches and audit evidence once they are configured. The buyer still designs and owns observability, idempotency so a retry does not create a second back-charge draft, escalation paths, access controls and ongoing maintenance. A proposed US Tech Automations design would configure those pieces as named items: a run log for each flow, a duplicate check keyed on the item ID, an exception queue for projects with no match, and role-based approval for drafts. It still needs your accounting access, a named owner for the exception queue, and a review of the draft logic whenever a field template changes.

Common mistakes and a decision checklist

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Comparing headline rates and skipping the tier that includes the feature you need.

• Pricing today's seat count and forgetting the growth path, as the eight-seat example shows.

• Assuming API access comes with the base plan. Fieldwire needs a managed account with API access, and PlanRadar's Open API sits on Pro and Enterprise.

• Skipping currency and billing-period checks. Neither pricing page gave this guide a confirmed billing basis for every figure.

• Starting an automation before the field data is clean, since duplicate project names break matching.

• Planning a later move without an export plan. For a move toward Procore, see Fieldwire to Procore for construction firms.

Decision checklist:

• Count current users and the number you expect to add with your next hire.

• List the workflows you need first: plans, punch lists, RFIs, reports or integrations.

• Find the lowest tier that covers each one, and request a quote wherever the tier is Quote-based.

• Confirm currency and billing period in the quote before you commit.

• Name the person who will request API access and manage tokens, if you need any.

• Name the person who approves automation drafts before any money moves.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fieldwire cheaper than PlanRadar?

On list prices per seat, Fieldwire's paid tiers sit below PlanRadar's, so compare the tier that includes the features you need rather than the headline rate.

Does Fieldwire have a tier with no per-user fee?

Yes, Basic has no per-user fee, but it caps users, projects and sheets, so check those limits against your crew and job count before you rely on it.

Can PlanRadar connect to our accounting system?

Only through its Connect and Open API, which the pricing page places on the Pro and Enterprise tiers, and someone must map the customer and project IDs before any data moves.

Do we need API access to use Fieldwire with other tools?

Not for basic app use, but any custom connection needs API access, and Fieldwire's API page says it requires a managed account with API access.

Does an automation layer replace the field app?

No. A proposed design sits above the field tool, reads its data and drafts output that a person reviews, so the field app stays where crews work.

Bottom line

Fieldwire is the simpler buy for plans, tasks and a smaller seat count, while PlanRadar is the stronger buy when defect and report workflows drive the job and its per-seat cost fits the budget. Settle the seat math and the API tier first, then check the workflow your crew runs every day. If an automation layer belongs in the plan, see how US Tech Automations configures this handoff, with prerequisites and review points written out before anything is built.