# Bluebeam vs PlanForm

The clearest difference is review sentiment: PlanForm at 100% against Bluebeam's 3%. PlanForm also leads on rating (5.0 vs 1.5) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Bluebeam's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (392 vs 2). On price, update cadence, ads and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. PlanForm sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Bluebeam asks for nothing beyond the download.

PlanForm holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bluebeam has 392 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 3% of Bluebeam's written reviews are positive against 100% of PlanForm's.

Bluebeam ships an update monthly, PlanForm every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bluebeam | PlanForm |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [1.5 (392 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bluebeam/id1479484276/reviews) | **[5.0 (2 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/planform/id6748180587/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **392** | 2 |
| Positive reviews | 3.0% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 288 MB | 22 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | **15.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Bluebeam, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/489696449) | [Beijing Honghu Yuntu Technology Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1480505512) |

## What reviewers say

### Bluebeam

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bluebeam/id1479484276)

Access and collaborate on PDF documents directly from your mobile device. Communicate project updates with markups and work offline by syncing files. Seamlessly join live collaboration sessions and manage document revisions from the field.

**Highlights:** Real-time PDF collaboration, Markup and annotation tools, Offline file access, Document syncing, Studio Project management, Live session joining

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- ✅ Automatic saving functionality works well
- 📱 Useful for viewing PDFs on the go
- 🔄 Good for accessing Studio sessions
- 📊 Desktop version is powerful and feature-rich
- 🎯 Cleaner, more modern interface design

**What reviewers complain about**

- ❌ Massive feature loss compared to Revu for iPad
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing issues
- 📉 Severely limited markup tools and capabilities
- 🖊️ Apple Pencil input is unresponsive and laggy
- 💾 Data loss and corruption issues

**Reported bugs**

- Markups fail to load or display correctly
- App deletes markups instead of saving them
- Documents wipe clean when reopened
- Files uploaded disappear from app
- Corrupted file errors when opening PDFs

**Requested features**

- Restore measurement and scaling tools
- Add custom toolsets and tool libraries
- Implement bookmarks for document navigation
- Enable image embedding in callouts
- Add undo/redo functionality


### PlanForm

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/planform/id6748180587)

This professional-grade PDF reader is built for AEC professionals to view, measure, and annotate technical drawings and PDFs with precision. It offers advanced tools for measurement, markup, OCR, and document management across various devices.

**Highlights:** Seamless PDF viewing and browsing, Precise measurement tools with scale setting, Extensive annotation options, OCR for text and table extraction, Document management and conversion tools, Revision drawing comparison

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 Month Plan | $15.00 | one-time |
| 6 Month Plan | $80.00 | one-time |
| 1 Year Plan | $100.00 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bluebeam free?

Bluebeam is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is PlanForm free?

PlanForm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Bluebeam or PlanForm?

PlanForm is rated higher. Bluebeam averages 1.5 out of 5 from 392 ratings, while PlanForm averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.

### Do Bluebeam or PlanForm have ads?

Neither Bluebeam nor PlanForm shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Bluebeam or PlanForm?

Bluebeam ships an update monthly, and PlanForm every 3 weeks. Most recently, Bluebeam was updated on October 15, 2026 and PlanForm on October 7, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*