# Page 3 | Countfire Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 3 - Is Countfire the right Electrical Estimating solution for you? Explore 239 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/144811/Countfire/reviews --- Countfire 4.8 (239) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Page 3 - Reviews of Countfire ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 51-75 of 239 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use GM George M. Electrical Estimator Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Positive Review" October 23, 2024 5.0 Excellent, easy to use, helpful when requesting help. Pros Easy to use, speeds up take offs and pricing Cons I dont have any cons for this section... Review Source Response from Countfire November 1, 2024 What a fantastic review – thanks George! If you do ever have questions or feedback, feel free to send us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app. Glad to hear you've found us helpful – from our in-app live chat to online training sessions, we're on hand to make sure you get the most out of Countfire. IW Ian W. Tendering Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Software that helps" October 25, 2024 5.0 This software has made the job of tendering a lot easier Pros being able to import drawings with out any fuss. Cons I don't see any negative points, as this saves time. Review Source Response from Countfire November 8, 2024 Thanks for the great review Ian! Great to hear Countfire has made tendering a lot easier. DM Daniel M. Estimator Construction Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Good job, keep it up!" September 2, 2024 5.0 the support team have been provided is brilliant, so a very good experience Pros the ease with which the software identifies the icons once the parameters are set. Cons where the same icon is slightly different the software can't yet differentiate Review Source Response from Countfire September 13, 2024 Thanks for the great review Daniel! Awesome to hear you're finding it easy to count your symbols with Countfire. Glad to hear you had a very good experience with our support team! We're super proud of our support – we have a live chat to answer any questions you have and offer free online training to make sure you're getting the most out of the software. Sometimes symbols are drawn inconsistently when the drawings are created which can mean that you won't find many matches for your selections. I'd recommend sending us a message on the orange button in the bottom right hand corner and we can take a look at your drawings to see if there's anything we can do to improve your matches. JL Jamie L. Estimator Telecommunications Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Countfire review" June 26, 2024 5.0 Enjoy using countfire, it is a very handy tool to have for work. Pros Helps produce accurate take offs and minimizes mistakes. Cons Drawings can be very slow to load and can be waiting a while. Review Source Response from Countfire July 9, 2024 Great review – thanks Jamie! Awesome to hear you're minimising mistakes and improving accuracy with Countfire. Sometimes drawings are very complex and the layout is actually made up of lots of small parts – these drawings can be a little slow to load. If you run into this on any future projects, I'd recommend sending us a message on the orange button at the bottom right hand corner of Countfire. Our technical team can take a look and see if they can improve the drawing quality, speeding up the load time in-app. MS Merv S. Senior Electrical Estimator Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Users Review of Countfire " May 13, 2024 5.0 I have been using Countfire for 8 years and is the best counting and measuring software on the market by far. Ease of use. Pros Countfire has been developed specifically for take off from PDF drawings. The ease of take from PDF drawings and the export in Excel. The ability to create zones that match the tender breakdown/CSA. The exceptional level and speed of support is second to none. Cons The estimating package need a lot of work to be used by major M&E companies. The left hand margin and contents are fixed. This needs to be flexible to move and change fonts etc. Can be slow for take with the background on. (Sometimes the background need to stay) Reason for choosing Countfire None. As there was not really a product specifically for take off. Review Source Response from Countfire May 24, 2024 Best counting and measuring software on the market by far – love it! Thanks Merv. You're spot on – Countfire has been designed by Estimators for Estimators with loads of features to help improve the speed and accuracy of your takeoffs. Our support is something we're really proud of. From online training sessions to our in-app live chat, we do our best to make sure all of our users get the most out of the software. Thanks for the feedback on the Estimating side of the software. We've recently added the ability to add prelims to your estimates and produce custom reports to suit your requirements. If you'd like to take a look, just let us know and we can set up a quick video call. NL Nick L. Project Manager Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Easy, powerful tool " June 28, 2024 5.0 Great, would definitely recommend. Saved time on pricing jobs. Pros It's very easy to use and guidance is available very quickly. Cons Unable to move plans between disciplines Review Source Response from Countfire July 9, 2024 Thanks for the great review Nick! Being able to move your drawings between disciplines would definitely be useful – we have a feature request for it. You can add your vote by searching 'Move drawings / pages between disciplines' at the 'Give feedback' section on our orange support button in-app. LB Lee B. Business Development Manager Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Fantastic bit of Software" May 16, 2024 5.0 Pros I found Countfire very easy to use and the speed of takeoffs for various systems saved valuable time. The online chat and support is fantastic too. Cons there are a few quirks but that wouldn't stop us from using. Review Source Response from Countfire May 24, 2024 Awesome review – thanks Lee! We'd love to hear more about the quirks you experienced. You can send your feedback on the orange button at the bottom right hand corner of Countfire – either send us a message on our live chat or leave us a feature request at the "Give feedback' button. Olivia B. Junior project manager Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "I love this software" April 30, 2024 5.0 This program saves so much time and the exports are easily readable. Pros I love the customer support and the time it saves me. Cons There are some features that are unavailable right now, but they are constantly making improvements. I actually just had something I voted for added to the functionality of the program. Switched from [Bluebeam Revu](https://www.capterra.com/p/121586/Bluebeam-PDF-Revu/) The technology is vastly more advanced than bluebeam. Review Source Response from Countfire May 8, 2024 Awesome review – thanks Olivia! We're super proud of our support – we have a live chat to answer any questions you have and offer free online training to make sure you're getting the most out of the software. Great to hear you're able to save time and produce easily-readable outputs. You're spot on – our technical team are constantly working to release hundreds of platform enhancements every year to make Countfire even better. We encourage our users to 'Give feedback' on the orange button at the bottom right hand corner of Countfire. SS Shaun S. Estimating Construction Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Countfire 2 Year Review" November 29, 2021 4.0 Pros Central storage of all takeoff documents. No more boxes of rolled-up plans cluttering my office. I would typically fill 1-2 boxes every month, so it really has reduced clutter and the overall appearance of my office. It definitely saves money when you consider that you no longer have to plot jobs that you don't win. That is a lot of paper, toner, and wear on your plotter. The software is very easy to use and you can be fully trained on all of the keyboard shortcuts and navigation in less than a week. After about 5 jobs, you will very confident that you aren't missing any devices during takeoff and will have your own workflow for getting a takeoff done. The developers are constantly making improvements, adding features, bug fixes, and you get pretty routine feedback when one of your feature requests are considered or implemented. Customer and Tech support is top-notch and very responsive, and everyone seems to be very well trained on the product. It is also a very small team, so you will typically be speaking (texting) with someone you're familiar with. Cons The software is 100% cloud-based, and from my early conversations with the sales team, is the heart of their mission and will never change. That alone is not a negative, however, I feel that some of the processing could (and should) be done on your local machine and then pushed to the cloud to create the "output package". Moving between pages of a PDF is not as fast as scrolling in your preferred PDF reader. It's not slow, but there is definitely a pause before you're ready to work on the next sheet. It seems they could have better control of the user interface if there was a PC-based client option. If you need support, the time difference from Eastern US to the UK can sometimes be a challenge, but the support team is absolutely great and will respond back to you outside of their normal working hours, assuming they aren't sleeping. All support is initially done through an in-app chat bot that will recommend that you go read articles based on your questions. I will admit that most of the time, the recommended articles DO contain your answers, but I personally just like to call and talk to someone. I realize this would put a strain on their resources though, so I rate this as a very small negative. I would rather support maintain their current level of quality than be burdened with phone calls over minor issues. If you do have a major issue or prefer to speak to someone, you can ask for a call and they will call you. Review Source FB Fredericksun B. Estimator Construction Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Best Estimating Takeoff Software" June 22, 2021 5.0 I've only been using it for a month or so but it has been very nice. The support team is phenomenal. They are very good at fixing any problems you might face. There is also a feature request page that you can request new features and everyone can vote on them and then the Countfire team will work on implementing that feature. The Countfire team is very active and always looking for new ways to make the experience better. Pros Features that I like the best: The Support: User Interface: I really like the clean simple user interface. It looks very nice and up to date unlike a lot of the competition. Autocount: In comparison to other software such as Livecount, Planswift, Bluebeam, eTakeoff, etc. Countfire is by far faster. I've used Livecount & Planswift the most. Countfire can do in 2 seconds what Livecount & Planswift takes 3 minutes to do. I can select a fixture type to autocount and it will find every fixture with extreme accuracy on every plan page in 2 seconds or less (Tested with a plan set of 120+ pages) Background Hide: Countfire has the ability to hide the background on a drawing. This is very useful when you have a messy plan set or when all the furniture and details are on the same page as the electrical. You can toggle it on and off. You can also define what is a part of the background and it will hide it. This makes it so much easier to see only the electrical stuff. Hide Counted Symbols. (Only works for symbols counted with autocount). This is a feature that most of the estimating takeoff software has but this does it in a much different way. It will actually hide the symbols that have been counted not just the digitizer count itself. This allows you to toggle off everything that has been counted and now you can see what hasn't been. This only works on the symbols that are counted with autocount. You can still hide the manual digitizer counts but it won't hide the symbol. Cons The estimating side isn't as advanced as some of the other competitors but they are currently working on a big update that will fix most of that. Reason for choosing Countfire Way faster and better support team. Review Source AA Andrew A. Estimator Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "An estimators dream" June 23, 2023 5.0 A company that provides a fully supported free trial of their software has confidence in its product. Safe to say that its not miss-placed confidence. Pros Intuitive, accurate, superb customer support, simple to use, fully formatted downloadable reports. Cons Hard to say what I like the least.............. That it wasn't available 30 years ago. :-) Review Source Response from Countfire November 15, 2023 Thanks for your great review Andrew! It's great to hear that you find Countfire intuitive and simple to use. It would have been great to be around 30 years ago so we could have been helping estimators increase their speed and accuracy for longer – if only we had a time machine 😄 You're right – we are confident that Countfire will help estimators speed up their takeoff and estimating process. We also want our users to get the most out of the software, so we offer free full online training and live support to all of our users – from free trial through to our legacy customers, as we are consistently releasing new features. Kelly D. Commercial Manager Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Amazing Software - Would definitely recommend!!" February 21, 2023 5.0 Great, efficient, time saver!! Pros Easy & straightforward to use. Great user interface. Reliable automated counting (if drawings are half decent!) Cons Copying symbol selection over to new drawings & also reviewing later revisions of drawings does not always work as it should with no real explanation as to why apart from it being something related to the drawing Switched from [Bluebeam Revu](https://www.capterra.com/p/121586/Bluebeam-PDF-Revu/) Automated counting Review Source Response from Countfire June 8, 2023 Thanks Kelly - appreciate you leaving this review! Really glad to hear you're getting on with Countfire so well. You're correct, copying symbols doesn't always work. Occasionally the revised drawings have been created slightly differently - there are usually 2 reasons why Countfire will not automatically find matches: 1 - The drawings have been converted to an image, removing the drawing layers - which means the symbols are not selectable 2 - When the original drawing was revised the symbols have been drawn differently or changed (i.e. the make-up of the symbols has different - for example the shape of a light fitting has changed). CD Caelan D. Estimator Construction Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "One year review of the Countfire software" January 15, 2024 4.0 Pros The takeoff software allows the user to quickly takeoff any project. The symbol counting tool is impressive and in the future when the project is in a later build most estimators will use this software. Cons The technology, while impressive hasn't reached perfection yet. I believe in years to come this will no longer be a problem. An example of this is the symbol counting software which doesn't accurately take off every symbol. To counteract this Countfire allows you to take as many snippets of the symbol as you want. Hopefully in the near future this will no longer be an issue. Review Source Response from Countfire January 19, 2024 Thanks for the review Caelan, glad you have been impressed with Countfire! Absolutely – it's great you have been able to complete your takeoffs quicker. We acknowledge there's always room for improvement – our product team work in two week cycles to release hundreds of platform enhancements a year. Countfire finds matches based on your selections. Occasionally, depending how the drawing has been created, symbols can be drawn differently so they don't automatically match with your first selection. To count these different symbols, just make additional selections under the same symbol heading. Really welcome feedback from our users. To submit a feature request click on the orange button in the bottom right-hand corner of the app and choose "Give Feedback". KC Katherine C. Electrical Estimator Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Countfire Review - Freelance Electrical Estmator" February 8, 2023 5.0 Had a really good experience with the package and the customer service and help I have received has been excellent Pros Take off software is definitely the stand out area of the software compared to others on the market which require you to manually take off items. This allows you to instantly highlight which then follows through to other pages in the same discipline. Cutting the time to do take offs dramatically Cons The kits can take some time to build up when you first start using the software which can be a bit tedious especially if you are used to working on spreadsheets etc. but if you bear with it it does get much easier and quicker to use. Review Source Response from Countfire July 3, 2023 Great review Katherine - thanks! It's great you've been able to cut the time to complete your takeoffs! You're spot on, when you make a selection Countfire will automatically look for matches across all drawings in your discipline, which significantly speeds up the takeoff process. Also, glad to hear you've had a really good experience with the software and the customer service you've received. I understand where you're coming from, it can take a little time to create your kits while you're building your estimate – but when you create your next estimate, because our powerful auto linking function, Countfire will automatically remember the kits you've previously used and link them to your takeoff items. This also speeds up your estimating process – the more estimates you create, the less work you have to do! AT Adam T. Junior Estimator Design Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Countfire Review" April 18, 2024 5.0 Pros Productivity, lets me get a quote together so much quicker! Cons Not many cons at all, the only thing i can think of is the tab down the side possibly could be extended to see more counts/measure when scrolling up and down. Review Source Response from Countfire May 8, 2024 What a great review – thanks Adam! Being able to extend the sidebar to see more count / measure headings would definitely be helpful – we have a feature request for the "ability to customise the sidebar". You can view our feature requests and add your vote on the orange button at the bottom right hand corner of Countfire. VR Verified Reviewer Managing Director Facilities Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "What did we do before this software?" February 8, 2023 5.0 Pros We use solely for the count of off drawings for tendering projects, this has saved immense time for even some of the largest projects, we are able to add additional points and measure accurately to check the designs were supplied. We are then able to provide the spreadsheet produced with our tender with a comprehensive list of where the information came from. Cons If the drawings are not made correctly then the software does struggle to read all symbols this though probably is more down to the original document than Countfire problem, Review Source Response from Countfire June 8, 2023 Thank you for the great review! Pleased to hear using the software is saving you loads of time. In terms of the software struggling to read all the symbols, that's usually down the way the original drawing was created, yes. We tend to find it's a fairly unusual thing to run into, however, we've also got a number of ways we can step in and help. If you run into it again, please fire us a quick message in-app and one of the Support team will take a look at your project and likely have you sorted in no time. KC Kalvin C. Design Consultant Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "FMS Review" November 30, 2023 5.0 I've had a great experience overall. I use it daily. Pros it speeds up my take offs on a daily basis. Cons sometimes it doesn't pick up some symbols Review Source Response from Countfire January 5, 2024 Thanks for the great review Kalvin! Awesome to hear Countfire is speeding up your takeoffs on a daily basis. Sometimes, symbols may look the same but they've been drawn differently when the drawings were created. All you need to do to count these symbols, is make an additional selection under the same heading. BF Ben F. Senior Electrical Estimator Construction Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Impressive Software." May 30, 2023 5.0 Pros Ability to quickly turn around project quantities and transfer onto Excel for all to use and review. Cons difficulties using the product is when the drawing images are uploaded but each symbol has minor alterations. To the naked eye can't be picked up but the software will, therefore some symbols need multiple take offs done for same image. Review Source Response from Countfire October 27, 2023 Wow, what a great review - thanks Ben! It's great to hear that you're able to quickly turn around your projects. You're spot on – sometimes symbols can look the same on your drawings but, when the drawings have been created, they have been drawn slightly differently. All you need to do to count all these symbols is make an additional selection. Countfire will then look for your selections across all of your drawings in the discipline. If you do run into this, it's always worth popping our support team a message, they'll usually have some tips to help you get more matches from fewer selections. JC Jake C. Pre Construction Manager Construction Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Taking off made easy!" February 8, 2023 5.0 Pros Automatically counting multiple drawings at the same timeAbility to identify any issues/errorsConstantly adding new features Cons So far we have had no issues wit the software. The only very minor issue was not receiving a notification of duplicate symbols on a set of drawings but still not really an issue Switched from [Bluebeam Revu](https://www.capterra.com/p/121586/Bluebeam-PDF-Revu/) Countfire advertising and successful trial period Review Source Response from Countfire July 11, 2023 Thanks Jake - really appreciate you leaving this review! Countfire's auto-counting feature is built on our own proprietary image recognition algorithm, this allows the software to automatically recognise selected symbols/text across all the drawings within that discipline. That's spot on - finding errors is easy! You can hide your counted symbols allowing you to visually check your work in the software. Once your takeoff is processed, we also provide a check sheet and pdf drawings so you can be confident your takeoff is 100% accurate. You're right, we are constantly updating and adding new features. To keep up to date with what we're doing you can read our changelogs here https://feedback.countfire.com/changelog Duplicates are a tricky one as it's essentially due to how the drawing has been created - there can be two separate symbols on top of each other and therefore counts as two in the final quantities. Although it rarely happens, when a project is processed we have safety measures in place that notify us if the software suspects any duplicates in your project. As soon as the duplicates get flagged we send out a message detailing where the duplicates have been found and how to fix them. AB Alex B. Apprentice Estimator Construction Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Countfire Review - 11/08/2023" August 11, 2023 5.0 Pros I really enjoy the fact that it can save so much time! Once you highlight a symbol on one drawing, that symbol will automatically be highlighted on the next, it is such a time saver! It is also very easy to use! After a 1 hour training session, I was confident to get started! Cons As we specialise in fire alarms, it is often that we need to design fire alarm systems for buildings, and we also amend predesigned designs as they're not compliant. It would be great if you can add a feature that can remove a symbol, and replace it with something else. That way, we as a business could do the whole takeoff process for every system on countfire! Review Source Response from Countfire November 15, 2023 Awesome review – thanks Alex! It's great to hear you're saving so much time. You're spot on – Countfire automatically looks for matches for your selections across all drawings in your discipline reducing the repetitive work involved with completing your takeoff manually. Our support is something we're super proud of. As well as training sessions, which are always available not just when you first sign up, you can also access our live chat and help centre via the orange button in the bottom right hand corner of the app. It would definitely be helpful to be able to make amendments to your drawings to make sure the design is compliant – I've added your vote to our feature request for the ability to "add your own custom count symbols" and created a new feature request for the "ability to remove symbols". MC Mark C. Mechanical Estimator Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Mechanical take Offs" February 9, 2023 5.0 I have found using Countfire really helpful as it is more accurate than printing and marking drawings and also i believe faster Pros I have found that even though it is mainly for the electrical trade i have adapted it with the help of the Countfire Team to mechanical use Cons Nothing. It has suited all my needs and assists in my day to day works Review Source Response from Countfire July 11, 2023 Thanks so much for your kind review Mark. Yes, although it's not specifically designed for the mechanical trade, Countfire is flexible and you can adapt it to your way of working. It's great you've found using Countfire really helpful and more accurate than printing and marking drawings. I agree, it's definitely faster too as you don't have to worry about adding up your measurements or losing your place if you're interrupted - Countfire keeps a track of all that for you. Once you've finished your takeoff you also get a set of marked up drawings and a spreadsheet splitting out your quantities. KM Kevin M. Senior Estimator Construction Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Kevin McCormack, FES" February 8, 2023 5.0 Pros Countfire is easy to use and the customer service team ensure this is always the way. I like how the information is collated and keep things organised. Cons I dont like how you cannot quickly check quantities without processing the take off then downloading. If there was a quick check function then that would be a lot easier for things like sending my luminaire enquiries before i complete my take offs. I understand the risk with not having the checking function doing this but i would be happy to take the risk. Matching overlaid drawings with the zone function is a tedious task and i got excited when i saw the overlay function appear but this function isnt great so zoning remains my least favourite task. Review Source Response from Countfire July 6, 2023 Really appreciate the review Kevin. It's great you find Countfire easy to use and our support team are always happy to help 😊 I see what you mean, it would be helpful to quickly check quantities in-app. There is a feature request for this, I have added your vote towards it and you will receive progress updates - so it's definitely on our radar! The overlay function allows you to see different drawings on top of each other, which is helpful when you need to see how different services / disciplines interact - for example overlaying a containment drawing onto your power drawing to help you visualise containment routes. To help you create zones across different drawings I'd recommend using our floorplan feature - this allows you to 'stitch' multiple drawings together to view the floor as a whole rather than as individual drawings. I'll reach out directly to arrange a quick training session to run through our overlay, compare and floorplan features. LH Luke H. Project Assistant Construction Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Countfire Review" May 23, 2023 5.0 It has been a great use so far, saves time greatly and eliminates the needs for printing and doing takeoffs manually Pros It saves an incredible amount of time when doing takeoffs and the other features make it much easier to complete many time consuming tasks. Also the countfire team shows you all of the ins and outs so you always know what you are doing. Cons No negatives at this time. Review Source Response from Countfire September 19, 2023 Thanks for the review Luke! Awesome to hear Countfire is saving you an incredible amount of time and making it easier to complete tasks. You're spot on – our support team are on hand to provide training and live support to make sure you're confident using Countfire and getting the most out of the software. No negatives at this time – brilliant! If you do come across anything, we always like to receive feedback from our customers. You can submit feedback using the orange support button in-app. It's great that you're benefitting from not having to print and store your drawings too. All of your projects are stored in your account so they're ready for you to dive back in as and when you need to. JC James C. Sales Director Facilities Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Security Take Off and Estimating" December 9, 2021 5.0 I am very happy with the overall experience of Countfire and would recommend to anyone within the estimating field. Pros Countfire makes the process of estimating so much easier. Take off and drawing review can now take minutes rather than hours allowing myself and the other staff more time to build our relationships with clients. The drawings output is easy to read and check for any areas missed by designers. The software is modern and easy to use. When I have had to speak to support on the rare occasion it was easy and any issues solved within minutes. Cons I would like to be able to group the takeoffs into a "folder" whereby a certain client or consultant information can be together to make it easier to find once you have alot of live or pending projects. Otherwise I cant fault it. Review Source RC Richard C. Electrical Estimating Manager Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Gloster MEP & Countfire" May 4, 2023 5.0 We have massively reduced printing output with Countfire, as well as increased speed with take offs over various disciplines. Pros As a Team, we find this tool very useful collectively as we can help each other, assist in various ways and find the output of the take off/marked up drawings symbol checks very useful. Cons In some areas, perhaps an ability to 'copy & paste' information, words etc could be useful. Review Source Talk to a Capterra advisor for free and get results within 15 minutes.