Bluebeam vs. Smallpdf

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Bluebeam
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Bluebeam Revu is a PDF management, control, and editing tool. It enables collaboration and markup within shared documents across projects’ life cycles and has takeoff and bid creation capabilities.
$349
per seat
Smallpdf
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Made in Switzerland, Smallpdf is a company that offers a suite of document management tools for everyone-for work, for home, for life. Founded in Switzerland in 2013, Smallpdf provides what they describe as a simple, secure, and reliable answer to the world's PDF challenges. Smallpdf boasts serving over a billion users in 24 different languages since 2013, and in every country in the world.
$0
Pricing
BluebeamSmallpdf
Editions & Modules
Revu Standard
$349
per seat
Revu CAD
$449
per seat
Revu eXtreme
$599
per seat
Smallpdf Basic
$0.00
Smallpdf Pro
$12.00
per month
Smallpdf Pro
$108.00
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BluebeamSmallpdf
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts are available for bulk purchases
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BluebeamSmallpdf
Features
BluebeamSmallpdf
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.7
Ratings
13% above category average
Smallpdf
-
Ratings
Standard reports9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Data exportability9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Construction Project & Field Management
Comparison of Construction Project & Field Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.9
Ratings
16% above category average
Smallpdf
-
Ratings
Plan distribution & viewing8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Plan markups & sharing9.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Issue tracking & punchlists8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Photo documentation8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Jobsite reports9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Document sharing9.30 Ratings00 Ratings
RFI tools9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration & approvals9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
As-built drawings8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Submittal design and management8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Checklists9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Change orders9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Estimating
Comparison of Estimating features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
9.1
Ratings
13% above category average
Smallpdf
-
Ratings
Takeoff tools7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Job costing8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost databases10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost calculator10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Bid creation9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BluebeamSmallpdf
Small Businesses
FollowUp CRM
FollowUp CRM
Score 10.0 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
InEight
Score 8.3 out of 10
M‑Files
M‑Files
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BluebeamSmallpdf
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
6.8
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BluebeamSmallpdf
Likelihood to Recommend
As stated before, the mobile application is a great companion to the desktop version. Either one works great in viewing, editing and saving documents. While the measurement tool is handy to have, we have found the precision to be lacking when measuring scaled drawings (construction design drawings). While it is a good rough place to start for measurements, we wouldn't recommend relying on the precision of the measurements taken on something with a very large scale.
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I would suggest Smallpdf for simple needs in terms of PDFs management that can be [easily] resolved such as: size compression, deleting of pages and file conversions. This tool is very user-friendly and easy to use, it is available online so the user doesn't need to download any software. In case of heavy files compression, the tool isn't appropriate since it doesn't support heavy documents.
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Pros
  • Overlaying pdf drawings to identify changes made by architects.
  • Scaling dimensions when the architect has not provided required dimensions to proceed with work in the field.
  • Hyperlinking construction documents with required information makes it much easier to look through multiple sheets in less time.
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  • One of the best things that Smallpdf does is pdf conversion both to and from pdf. It is especially great to transform pdf tables into Excel documents.
  • PDF splitting is really great since allows for cropping large files and just keep the information necessary; something that comes really handy when presenting information to your supervisors.
  • PDF merging also works wonders, it allows for mixing several different pdf documents into just one of them. It is extremely easy to set up.
  • This a really fast pdf reader, it feels really fast compared to other options that tend to feel clunky. Its workspace is super comfortable and well organized so finding a tool you need is always a simple task.
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Cons
  • If you have several tabs open and you try to drag one out for a side by side view then you do not have all the modification options and you have to combine them back together.
  • There is a lag time when hitting the print option.
  • There is also a lag time when opening files, sometimes I think the window is frozen.
  • I wish the basic version also had basic file editing, as in editing a document as Adobe does.
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  • It has everything I'm not sure what I will say. E-sign, Share, convert. You can give an option in upload priorities features which I can see later.
  • Background remover thing also you can add in it. So I can remove the unnecessary thing from an image.
  • You can add a chatbot for help.
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Likelihood to Renew
Bluebeam is a powerful PDF viewer and mark-up tool. We are more familiar with it than Adobe Acrobat Pro or other viewers, and it has more features geared towards construction document managers than Acrobat Pro does.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
I'm constantly finding that Bluebeam Revu does more than I knew it could. And when I find something that it can't do, I've found that Bluebeam truly listens to its user base and will work to incorporate any good suggestion when feasible.
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Its usability in my work is very important. I have to share various documents with my clients very frequently and most of the documents I send them are in PDF format only. So I use this software very much to convert my Word and Excel files into PDF. And whenever I need to send large file to my clients, I convert them into PDFs and compress them with this tool and then I send those files to my clients.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
1.- Because it is easy to use and each function is duly indicated so you can not go wrong. 2.- Its service is fast, it takes only a few seconds to transform the files and in less than a minute it is downloaded and you can occupy it without problem. 4.-This IS online so you do not install anything, which is very useful because you can also use it from a tablet or your mobile
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Support Rating
Its hard for me to give a rating on this one as we rarely have to use the support feature for Bluebeam. However, when we have used it, they have been ultra supportive in helping us get exactly what we needed. I know another engineer was trying to figure out a feature and the rep gave a detailed tutorial on how to complete the task
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Everything is so simple and works so well, you shouldn't need support, but on the one occasion in several years that I needed it, support was quick and courteous.
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Alternatives Considered
Bluebeam is a diverse program with many functions and tools, whereas competitive programs only specialize in one or few tasks. Although there are many tools within the program, users can still quickly learn how to use the program to best fit their needs. There is always a help tab for any assistance needed.
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As per my understanding, Smallpdf stacks up against the above tool because it is easy to use, the targeted goal only for pdf, handy, and one more thing is that small pdf has created the application for android and iOS. I really found Smallpdf helpful when using it on the fly. Small pdf not only provides for the PDF it also provides the different functions for the other files like excel, HTML, doc, ppt, and many more.
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Return on Investment
  • A major positive aspect is being able to take your computer home without taking the entire set of paper drawings. They have made it so easy to navigate a set of drawings that I can work at home using only the digital drawings.
  • Collaboration with owners and architects has been a great feature. Setting up a Bluebeam studio and having everyone get in and mark things up, then having the architect be able to go in and see what markups have been added, has made the constructability review process much much better.
  • Even when not working on drawings, Bluebeam is a very good tool for working with standard PDF documents. The markup tools are very easy to use.
  • The negative aspect is the takeoff function because some people would like estimators to use the Bluebeam takeoff because it would make their job easier down the road; however, the actual act of doing a full scale takeoff in Bluebeam would require much more time.
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  • From an initial cost perspective, we've gone from a collection of free and freemium software products that we used in combination to do what we wanted, to paying Smallpdf's per-user license fee.
  • We estimate that creating the same final product with our old method took about 30 minutes per 1-100 page file. We are now down to approximately 10 minutes, if the input material does not require much manipulation.
  • Around 50% of tasks used to require advice from a highly-technical user to fix unexpected errors. With Smallpdf we estimate we are now down to less than 20%.
  • For things that Smallpdf cannot do we find ourselves falling back to old methods which can sometimes create wasted time when we only realize that Smallpdf is not up to the task in the middle of the job.
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ScreenShots

Bluebeam Screenshots

Screenshot of Bluebeam Cloud with Markup ListScreenshot of Bluebeam Cloud with Tool ChestScreenshot of Bluebeam Revu MarkupScreenshot of Bluebeam Revu Studio Session

Smallpdf Screenshots

Screenshot of Desktop AppScreenshot of Homepage