Bid-leveling software is a focused preconstruction category: tools built to line up subcontractor proposals side by side, normalize scope apples-to-apples, catch missing coverage and exclusions, add plug numbers, and help a general contractor decide which bid is truly the best value before award. Products in this space — see each vendor's own site for its current feature set and pricing — tend to specialize deeply in that comparison-and-scope-analysis step of the estimate.
Corten is a full construction management platform for small and mid-size general contractors and subcontractors (1–20 people; Enterprise for 21+), built around an AI that removes manual data entry. Its AI reads the documents you already have — subcontractor proposals and quotes, vendor quotes, receipts, invoices, timesheets — and auto-loads the data into the right place: each sub's numbers flow into trade worksheets and roll up to the bid sheet, and the proposal drafts itself from the winning numbers with scope written from the subs' quotes. Everything is queued for your review, not retyped. And it doesn't stop at the bid: enter once and the data flows bid → proposal → budget → schedule → invoice, with approved change orders rolling into the budget automatically. (Corten is not a drawing or quantity-takeoff tool — takeoff quantities are an upstream input it works with, not something it measures off plans.)
Corten's pricing is published and flat by team size: Solo $99/month (1 user), Crew $229/month (2–8 users), General Contractor $449/month (9–20 users), and Enterprise (21+) custom — AI is included in every plan at no extra cost, never an add-on. Crew can be billed monthly or annually; General Contractor and Enterprise are billed annually. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with full AI included, and the current beta adds 2 months free. Pricing for bid-leveling tools varies by product — check each vendor's site for its current plans.
| CORTEN | BID-LEVELING TOOLS | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Small and mid-size GCs and subs (1–20 people; Enterprise 21+) who want the data entry to disappear across the whole workflow | Contractors and precon teams who want a dedicated apples-to-apples bid-comparison workspace |
| Pricing | Published and flat: $99–$449/mo — AI included, no add-on | Varies by product — see the vendor's site for current pricing |
| AI data entry | Reads sub proposals, vendor quotes, receipts, and invoices and auto-loads them into trade worksheets, the bid sheet, and the proposal — you review instead of retype | See the vendor's site for its current AI and import capabilities |
| Bid leveling / sub bids | Pulls each sub's numbers and scope into trade worksheets that roll up to the bid sheet; the proposal drafts from the winning numbers with scope written from the subs' quotes | Specializes in side-by-side scope normalization, gap analysis, and plug numbers — see the vendor's site for specifics |
| Connected workflow | One system end to end: bid → proposal → budget → schedule → invoice, with approved change orders rolling into the budget automatically; plus field tasks, punch lists with photos, daily logs, RFIs, and submittals | Focused on the preconstruction bid stage — see the vendor's site for how it hands off to estimating or project management |
| Free trial | 14 days with full AI included (beta adds 2 months free) — cancel anytime before it ends | Demo or trial on request — see the vendor's site |
If your team's core need is deep, dedicated apples-to-apples bid leveling — heavy scope-gap analysis and comparison matrices at the preconstruction stage — a specialized bid-leveling tool is a solid pick, and you can check each vendor's site for its current features and pricing. If you want the automation-first option that reads your sub bids for you and carries the numbers all the way from bid sheet to proposal to budget to invoice — at flat, published pricing with AI included — start a Corten trial and load your first bid in minutes.