Autodesk Forma Takeoff vs OpenTakeoff
Autodesk Forma Takeoff
autodesk.comOpenTakeoff
opentakeoff.kentucky-ai.comSide by side
| Figure | Autodesk Forma Takeoff | OpenTakeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $108/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 3 |
| Spec score · Construction Takeoff Software | 9.2 (#1) | 8.6 (#11) |
| Company headquarters | Autodesk's listed headquarters are in San Francisco, California. | LinkedIn lists Shelbyville, Kentucky as Kentucky AI's headquarters. |
| Company size | LinkedIn lists Autodesk as having more than 10,001 employees worldwide. | LinkedIn lists Kentucky AI as having 2–10 employees. |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California | Shelbyville, Kentucky, United States |
| Self-hosting | Forma Takeoff is delivered as Autodesk-hosted cloud software, and the official requirements page provides no self-hosted deployment option. | The llms.txt page describes the application as a static build that can be self-hosted with npm run build on any static file host. |
| Support | Autodesk provides product help, on-demand learning, community forums, Autodesk Assistant and contact support for Forma Takeoff. | Users can contact Michael Edlin by email or open a support issue; the policy notes that GitHub issues are public. |
| What it does | Forma Takeoff is a cloud quantification service for producing 2D takeoffs and automated quantities from 3D building models. | OpenTakeoff measures construction-plan quantities for human estimators in a browser canvas and for AI agents through MCP. |
Plans
Autodesk Forma Takeoff
- Per User — AnnualPriced on request
- Per User — MonthlyPriced on request
- Unlimited UsersPriced on request
- Forma Takeoff$108 a month
In their own words
Autodesk Forma Takeoff
Autodesk Forma Takeoff has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
OpenTakeoff
OpenTakeoff measures quantities from building plans through a browser canvas for people and an MCP server for AI agents. Its browser app opens PDF, PNG, JPEG and ZIP plan files, processing them locally without an account or plan upload. Measurements include square feet, square yards, linear feet and each, with waste-adjusted order quantities, supporting-material lists and roll-goods cuts. Exports include CSV, Excel, JSON, PDF and DXF. Drawing OCR is supported. The MCP server runs through `npx -y opentakeoff-mcp` and works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and other stdio MCP clients; agent measurements need a person’s approval in the browser canvas. The default workspace keeps plans, measurements, annotations, materials and project settings in browser storage on the device. Optional connections include Google Drive, Microsoft 365, configured AI providers and a scanned-schedule service that can send a selected image to Google Gemini. OpenTakeoff is free, with no account required, and Apache-2.0 licensed. It runs on web, Linux, macOS and Windows, with an API and self-hosting options. One-Click Area is temporarily gated, and the default MCP build does not register room-detection verbs.