Countfire Alternative for Electrical Contractors

The main Countfire alternatives for electrical contractors are tools that pair AI symbol counting with electrical labor units and a finished proposal. Countfire is one of the strongest AI takeoff tools for building services: it counts symbols across a whole drawing set, runs in the cloud on PC or Mac, and reviewers rate its support highly. US electrical contractors usually look at alternatives for three reasons: they want a published price, they want labor units and a proposal rather than an Excel quote, or they want a tool built around US electrical work. Here's an honest comparison.

Facts about Countfire are from its own pages and review sites, checked October 16, 2026. Sources are listed at the end.

Countfire at a glance

Countfire pricing in 2026

Countfire doesn't publish a price list. Its pricing URL redirects to the contact page, and the US and UK sites show only a savings calculator and a "Start trial" button. Capterra lists the pricing model as per user with a free trial and says to contact Countfire for pricing; G2 shows "Contact Us" as the entry-level price.

Third-party estimates. ITQlick lists Countfire from $99 per user per month (about $1,188 per user per year) and a 10-user figure of $799 per month. Countfire doesn't confirm either number, so treat them as a starting point for the sales call, not a quote. At $99 per user per month, three estimators would be about $3,564 a year.

Trial. The trial gives 7 days' full access, including AI Smart Select, team collaboration and uncapped projects. Larger teams can go through an enterprise sign-up instead.

What to ask for in writing. Per-user monthly and annual prices, the minimum term, whether the estimating module and spec compare are in every plan, and what happens to your projects if you cancel. SparkQuote's plans start at $99/month and are published on the pricing page. To compare first-year costs across 14 tools, see electrical estimating software pricing.

What Countfire does well

• AI counting at project scale. It counts symbols across every drawing in a project at once, and Smart Select names and organizes items as it counts.
• Revisions. It auto-counts revised drawings, and spec compare shows what changed in the client's specification.
• Runs anywhere. Cloud-based, on PC or Mac, with nothing to install.
• Built for building services. Electrical, lighting, fire, security, data and AV, and mechanical, so one tool covers a mixed M&E team.
• Support. Capterra gives customer service 5.0/5, and reviewers mention live chat and free online training.

What reviewers praise: Capterra reviewers call it easy to use (4.7/5 for ease of use) and describe large time savings on takeoffs. One customer quoted on Countfire's site says four estimators now complete 40 drawings a week, where they managed up to 10 before.

Why electrical contractors look for alternatives

From Countfire's own pages and Capterra reviews, the recurring themes are:

• No published price. You need a trial or a sales conversation to learn what it costs.
• Drawing quality. The most frequent complaint on Capterra: results depend on how the PDFs were made, and inconsistent symbols produce fewer matches.
• Speed on large sets. Some reviewers report slow loading and processing, especially when switching drawings.
• Takeoff first, estimating second. The estimating module reuses prices from your previous estimates and applies margins; we found no labor units or supplier price integrations on its estimating page.
• Excel output. The estimate is an Excel file, so the proposal letter, inclusions and exclusions are built elsewhere.
• UK roots. Countfire is a UK company with US and Australian sites; its calculator examples use UK estimator rates.

Countfire vs. SparkQuote

Feature by feature

Takeoff. Counting is where Countfire is strongest. It searches every drawing in a project for a selected symbol, names the items as it counts, and has in-built accuracy checks so a person verifies the result. SparkQuote also starts from the drawing legend, counts every symbol type across the electrical sheets, and puts each count on the plan for your review. Both depend on the quality of the PDF; how SparkQuote handles poor drawings, and where it fails, is on our AI electrical estimating page.

Pricing and labor. Countfire's estimating module auto-populates prices from your previous estimates, lets you set margins across an estimate and mark up individual products, and stores setup costs you apply to every bid. In SparkQuote, labor units sit on each item in your library and carry into every estimate line, with labor conditions by area, overhead and profit by cost type, and a standard list of indirects; learning from actual job hours is planned.

Supplier pricing. We didn't find a supplier price-service integration on Countfire's pages. SparkQuote keeps your prices on each library item and imports supplier price lists by CSV; there is no price-service integration yet.

Revisions. Countfire auto-counts revised drawings and compares specifications. In SparkQuote you upload the revised set as a revision of the earlier one; sheets are matched by sheet number, the changes are overlaid on the old sheet, and the markers you already confirmed or rejected carry over. Specification comparison is not built.

Output. Countfire produces a client-ready Excel estimate with customizable columns, filtering and grouping. SparkQuote generates the proposal and also exports to Excel.

Teams. Countfire is built for estimating teams, with collaboration and standard processes across estimators. SparkQuote targets shops of 1 to 50 people where one or two people bid.

When Countfire is the better choice

• Your team estimates fire, security, lighting or mechanical as well as electrical and wants one counting tool for all of it.
• Counting speed is the bottleneck, and your prices and labor already live in a spreadsheet you trust.
• You work in the UK or Australia, where Countfire has local sites and customers.
• You have several estimators and want shared projects and standard processes.

If that's you, Countfire is a strong choice, and SparkQuote may not be.

When SparkQuote is the better choice

• You're a US electrical or low-voltage contractor and want estimating built around electrical assemblies and labor units.
• You want a published monthly price before you start a trial.
• You want the proposal, not just the quantities, to come out of the same tool.

Countfire vs. PlanSwift

ChatGPT and review sites often list both. PlanSwift is a Windows install with a published price ($2,000–$3,000 per seat per year) and added Auto Count in 2026; Countfire runs in the cloud on PC or Mac, was built around AI counting from the start, and isn't priced publicly. Both leave labor pricing to assemblies or spreadsheets. Our PlanSwift comparison covers PlanSwift in detail.

Other alternatives to consider

• STACK: browser-based, multi-trade takeoff from $299 per user per month, with a limited free version.
• TurboBid: Windows electrical estimating for residential and light commercial work, with published prices and a weekly material price update.

For what to look for in any of them, see our guides to electrical takeoff software and electrical estimating software.

Switching from Countfire

1. Export your recent estimates to Excel; that's Countfire's standard output.
2. Pull your item list and prices from those exports into a price list.
3. Import your price list and labor units into SparkQuote by CSV.
4. Re-run a recent job in SparkQuote and compare counts and totals with your Countfire estimate.
5. Keep Countfire until you've matched a few bids side by side, and check your renewal terms.

Questions to ask Countfire's sales team

• What does a seat cost per month and per year, and is there a minimum term?
• Are the estimating module and spec compare included in every plan?
• How does it handle scanned or poorly drawn PDFs?
• Does it support US electrical labor units or supplier price files?
• What happens to our projects and exports if we cancel?

Frequently asked questions

How much does Countfire cost?

Countfire doesn't publish its prices; pricing is per user and quoted after a trial or demo. Third-party site ITQlick lists it from $99 per user per month, which Countfire doesn't confirm (checked October 2026).

Is there a free trial of Countfire?

Yes. Countfire's sign-up page offers 7 days' full access, including AI Smart Select, team collaboration and uncapped projects.

Does Countfire work on a Mac?

Yes. Countfire is cloud-based and says it works on PC or Mac with no downloads.

Is there a free alternative to Countfire?

STACK has a limited free version, and SparkQuote is free during its beta. Free tools generally limit projects, exports or automation.

What do Countfire reviews say?

Countfire rates 4.8/5 on Capterra from 243 reviews, with 4.7 for ease of use and 5.0 for customer service. Reviewers praise speed and support; the most common complaint is that results depend on drawing quality.

Who owns Countfire?

Countfire Ltd is a UK company and part of TAG Software Group, an operating group of Valsoft Corporation, according to its website.

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Sources (checked 2026-10-16): Countfire home; Countfire US; Countfire estimating software; Countfire trial sign-up; Capterra Countfire reviews; G2 Countfire vs PlanSwift; ITQlick Countfire pricing. Countfire is a trademark of its owner; SparkQuote is not affiliated with Countfire Ltd or Valsoft. Last updated: October 6, 2026.