Updated 14 September 2026
Fieldwire alternatives
for the small end it is leaving
Fieldwire by Hilti
Fieldwire is one of the few products on this site we would hesitate to argue against. It has a real free tier and documented offline support. The honest reason to look elsewhere is a direction of travel, not a defect.
Why people are looking
Every recent release aims at larger contractors
Through 2025 and 2026 the roadmap has pointed at ERP-connected, multi-project general contractors. No price rise, no sunset, no forced migration — just a product steadily optimising for someone bigger than a five-person subcontractor.
The tell is in the reviews. All three recent negative reviews we found come from firms of fifty people or fewer. That is a pattern worth naming.
Speed and support, from small-business reviewers
A project coordinator at a small business describes numerous errors and a support team slow to respond. A construction reviewer, also small-business, describes the system as ridiculously slow for something that is online.
Both sit outside the freshest part of our window — June 2025 and January 2025 — and we are dating them rather than presenting them as current.
Three conditions on the offline support
The offline implementation is real and vendor-documented, which is more than most of this category manages. Three things constrain it: it is mobile-only and not supported in the Windows app, you have to log in at least once while online, and offline has to be enabled per project rather than globally.
None of those are unreasonable. All three are things to set up before you need them, not during.
The free tier has edges
Basic covers five users and three projects. For a small sub running two jobs at a time that is genuinely free forever. The fourth concurrent project is what moves you to $39 a user a month.
The other side of it
Tread carefully — this one is good
A free tier that is actually usable, and offline support that the vendor documents rather than markets. That combination is rare enough that we will say plainly: if Fieldwire works for you, the burden of proof is on anything replacing it.
What it does that nothing here matches is coordinate several trades against versioned drawings — plan overlays, RFIs, submittals, punch items tied to a location on a sheet.
If your work revolves around drawings, this page is the wrong place to be.
What users actually wrote
Verbatim, with reviewer, source and date
“TONS of errors, and the support team is extremely unhelpful, slow to respond”
“The system is ridiculously slow. It's online and yet it takes so long to do anything.”
Dated at the edge of our window. Included because the pattern — every complainant is a small firm — is the point, not the individual review.
The alternatives
Every price below is the published list price for a single user at the time of writing. Where offline behaviour is undocumented by the vendor, it says so rather than guessing.
Procore
Offline, with limitsContact sales
priced on annual construction volume, not per seat
- Best for
- Commercial general contractors who need a true system of record for a whole project — budgets, RFIs, submittals, subcontractors.
- Offline
- Cache-only. The vendor states you can view items "cached or recently viewed… in online mode", and offline actions do not push until you reconnect.
- Watch out for
- Priced for companies, not people. A 2026 TrustRadius reviewer rates the mobile experience 3 out of 10.
- Platforms
- iOS · Android · web
Mitti (formerly SafetyCulture)
Works offlineFree for 10 seats
Premium $24/seat/mo billed annually
- Best for
- A safety or facilities team at more than one site that needs forms, actions and assets in one place.
- Offline
- Broad. Inspections, actions, assets and reports all work offline; analytics, the template editor and the public library do not.
- Watch out for
- AI features are now metered per seat, and April 2026 reviewers report changes landing without migration tools.
- Platforms
- iOS · Android · web
GoCanvas
Works offline$1,044/yr
$29/user × a 3-user minimum, annual only
- Best for
- One admin designing a form once and pushing it to a whole crew, with dispatch and integrations attached.
- Offline
- Genuine — a rich client that fills forms with no coverage at all. Credentials revalidate on a 24-hour default timeout, extendable to 30 days.
- Watch out for
- The 3-user minimum makes it $1,044 a year even if only one person ever opens it. Owned by Nemetschek since June 2024.
- Platforms
- iOS · Android · web
CompanyCam
Offline, with limits$63/mo
Core, 1 user, billed annually · +$29/user
- Best for
- A crew's photos as a shared system of record — auto timestamp, geotag, visible in the office the moment they're taken.
- Offline
- Bounded. Photos, video, captions and new projects work offline — but only 60 projects are cached, and a checklist has to be opened before you lose signal.
- Watch out for
- It is a photo system, not a report writer. The Marketing Suite was unbundled at $79–99/mo on top.
- Platforms
- iOS · Android · web
ReportWalk
Works offlineFree to start
monthly plans for higher volumes
- Best for
- One person who needs the report finished before they leave the site.
- Offline
- Photos, voice notes and answers are written to the phone first and sync when signal returns. A whole inspection can run in a basement with no bars.
- Watch out for
- iPhone only, and it is deliberately not a business platform — no scheduling, no invoicing, no CRM.
- Platforms
- iPhone · web forms in any browser
Disclosure — this is our site
Where ReportWalk fits
Only if your deliverable is a report rather than a coordinated project. Snagging and punch lists, handover documentation, progress records, condition reports — the document somebody signs off.
It is written to the phone first with no per-project offline toggle and no login-while-online prerequisite, and it produces a branded PDF and a shareable link on site.
Where we lose
No drawings, no plan overlays, no RFIs, no submittals, no multi-trade coordination. If Fieldwire is holding your drawing set, nothing here replaces it and we would not pretend otherwise.
The bit that actually stops people
Already built your template in Fieldwire?
Send it to us and we will rebuild it in ReportWalk by hand — same sections, same wording, usually within two or three working days. It costs nothing, you do not need an account to ask, and it stays private to you.
Send my templateOr fill in one of 248 free inspection templates in your browser — no account needed.
Questions
Is Fieldwire really free?
The Basic plan is genuinely free for five users and three projects, with no time limit. Pro is $39 per user per month billed annually. The third-to-fourth concurrent project is usually what triggers the upgrade.
Does Fieldwire work offline?
Yes, on mobile, and it is vendor-documented. Three conditions: it is not supported in the Windows app, you must log in once while online, and offline has to be enabled per project.
Who owns Fieldwire?
Hilti. The product is branded Fieldwire by Hilti.
Is Fieldwire good for a small contractor?
Today, yes — the free tier is real. The thing to watch is direction: recent releases target larger ERP-connected contractors, and the small-business share of negative reviews reflects that. Nothing has been taken away, but the product is not being optimised for you.
Also worth reading
Procore alternatives
Updated 14 September 2026
GoCanvas alternatives
Updated 14 September 2026
SafetyCulture alternatives
Updated 14 September 2026
How this page was made
Prices come from vendor pricing pages, offline behaviour from vendor help documentation, and quotes from G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, GetApp and the App Store, each carrying its reviewer, source and date. Where a claim comes from a customer rather than the vendor, the page says so. Where something is undocumented, it says that too. Software pricing changes — check the vendor before you decide, and tell us if you find something here that has gone stale.