Walkthru vs Buildertrend

Buildertrend runs your whole company. Walkthru runs the punch list. Here is when each one makes sense.

Updated October 2026, by the Walkthru team in Nashville

Short version: if you need estimating, scheduling, selections, change orders and a client portal in one system and you build enough volume to justify a five-figure annual software bill, Buildertrend is a reasonable choice. If what you actually need is a punch list your supers will use and your subs will respond to, Walkthru does that one job better, in minutes, for $0–39 a month.

What each product is

Buildertrend is an all-in-one construction management platform: sales/CRM, estimates and proposals, scheduling, daily logs, selections, change orders, purchase orders, a client portal, and a punch list module. It is built for production and semi-custom builders with office staff who will live in it all day.

Walkthru is a punch list app and nothing else. You walk the house, add items with photos, assign subs, text each sub a link to their items, and they mark things fixed. It has a REST API and an MCP server so Claude or ChatGPT can log a walkthrough for you.

Pricing

	Buildertrend	Walkthru
Published price	Custom quote, based on annual construction volume. Last published tiers (2024): $449, $719 and $989 per month billed annually.	Free: 1 active job. Pro: $39/month per company.
Per-user fees	None reported; unlimited users	None; unlimited users
Contract	Annual or quarterly	Month to month, cancel in-app
Free plan	No	Yes
Setup	Onboarding program, data migration, typically weeks	Paste your website URL; done in a minute

Buildertrend figures from Capterra and a 2026 third-party analysis (written by a competitor); confirm with Buildertrend.

Punch list, feature by feature

Need	Buildertrend	Walkthru
Add items with photos from the jobsite	Yes, inside the mobile app	Yes; camera → auto-resized, "Add & next" keeps room and sub
Sub sees their items	Sub needs a Buildertrend login (sub portal)	Text them a link. No account, no app
Sub reports it's fixed	Via sub portal	Tap "Mark fixed" on the link; you see "ready to check"
Group by room / by sub	Filters	One-tap toggle
AI assistant access (MCP / API)	No MCP server; API is partner-only	Yes, both, on every plan
Scheduling, estimating, selections, client portal	Yes	No, by design

Who should pick which

Pick Buildertrend if you build 15+ homes a year, have office staff to run it, and want one system of record for everything from lead to warranty.
Pick Walkthru if your supers run on their phones, and your current "punch list" is a notes app, a spreadsheet, or a group text. Also if you already pay for Buildertrend but your field team won't open it: Walkthru coexists fine.

Questions

Can I use Walkthru alongside Buildertrend?

Yes. Many builders keep estimating and scheduling in Buildertrend and run walkthroughs in Walkthru because the field team actually uses it. Walkthru's API makes it easy to pull items into other systems.

Does Buildertrend have a free plan?

No. Buildertrend is custom-quoted; its last published entry tier was $449 per month billed annually. Walkthru has a free plan with one active job.

Do subs need an account in Walkthru?

No. You text or email them a read-only link with their items and photos, and they tap Mark fixed on each one.

Start free on your next walk

14 days of Pro, then free for one job. No card.