Conest vs Accubid: which one fits a contractor with more than one office?

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V2 Cloud partner products: Conest. Ratings and prices as published on 24 September 2026.

Estimating depth and the database

Both are assembly-based commercial estimators with decades of refinement behind them, and an estimator who learned one can work in the other within weeks. The databases are not the same size. Conest publishes more than 140,000 items and over 500,000 pre-built assembly kits, with manufacturer catalogues from Hubbell, Leviton, Panduit, Schneider Electric and Siemens built in. Trimble publishes 42,000+ items and 13,000+ assemblies for Classic and leans on Trade Service data for pricing. Size is not everything, but on a heavy commercial bid the assembly you need is more likely to already exist in IntelliBid. Moving a customised library between the two is a project, not an import, in either direction.

Takeoff and ecosystem

Accubid is part of Trimble, which means LiveCount takeoff, Trimble Connect, Supplier Xchange quotes and the wider Trimble construction stack, and if you already run Trimble for anything else that weighs heavily. Conest is independent, pairs IntelliBid with its own SureCount takeoff through a built-in link, pulls pricing from NetPricer, EPIC or TRA-SER, and compares prices across up to ten local suppliers. One Capterra reviewer of Accubid Anywhere put the learning-curve difference bluntly, calling IntelliBid with SureCount more intuitive and “mastered in half the time”. Treat that as one estimator’s experience, but it matches the support scores: IntelliBid users rate support 4.6 and describe it as second to none, while Anywhere users rate the product 3.6 overall.

Pricing model and who owns the data

Neither vendor publishes list prices. Accubid Anywhere is a per-user subscription for as long as you use it, and reviewers describe it as expensive and rising each year. IntelliBid is licensed per user by edition, with the database living on a server you control, whether that server is in your office or in a hosted environment. Over five years for a team of eight, the totals can land either way depending on edition, hosting cost and how Trimble prices your renewal, so run your own numbers. What does not change is that with IntelliBid the assemblies and estimate history are yours to move, back up and keep.

This is the section neither vendor’s website gives you.

Accubid Anywhere is hosted by Trimble. There is nothing to deploy, and every estimator can reach the same projects from every branch. The cost of that convenience is that everything about it, from performance to pricing to how your data is stored, is Trimble’s decision, and the reviews suggest performance is the sore point: “10 times slower” than earlier versions in one estimator’s words. Classic users also report they could not carry their databases into Anywhere and had to rebuild.

IntelliBid is a client/server desktop application, which on its own belongs to one workstation and one server. Hosted, it behaves differently from most desktop estimators, and Conest says so in its own requirements document: the product is supported on Windows Terminal Services and Citrix, and while connecting IntelliBid to its SQL database over a VPN is not recommended, remote desktop into a machine that runs IntelliBid works. Put the application and the database on one hosted desktop environment and every estimator in every office works from the same assemblies and the same bid files, from Windows PCs, Macs or thin clients, with no per-workstation installs.

We do not have to argue that this works. Conest runs its own cloud edition, CE Cloud, on our platform, and setting up a new customer environment dropped from about an hour to minutes when they did (our Conest customer story has the details). The same environment is available to any contractor with IntelliBid licences. Sizing past ten licences, where Conest’s bundled SQL Server Express hits its limit, is covered in the FAQ of our full guide, and our guide to running estimating software remotely covers the delivery side.

Accubid Classic also hosts well, on our platform or on Trimble’s own hosted edition, but hosting reduces hardware cost without reducing licence cost, and Trimble’s direction of travel is toward Anywhere.

For a single-office contractor

IntelliBid if you are choosing fresh and bid commercial work: the database is deeper, the reviews are stronger, and the data stays yours. Accubid Anywhere if you already run Trimble for takeoff, BIM or project management and want one vendor. If you already own either product, stay put; the switching cost is not worth it for one office.

For a distributed team

IntelliBid on a hosted desktop. It is the deployment model the vendor itself sells, it gives every office one database, and it brings Mac users in without a second product. Accubid Anywhere if you are starting from nothing, are happy inside the Trimble ecosystem, and have tested its speed on a real bid before signing. Classic hosted as a bridge if you are on it today and have not decided whether to rebuild for Anywhere.

Written by Jason Aiginitis, Director of Demand Generation, V2 Cloud. Product facts checked 24 September 2026. Last updated 24 September 2026.

Sources

• Conest: IntelliBid product page, accessed 24 September 2026
• Conest: Hardware and OS requirements (PDF, Feb 2026)
• Conest: CE Cloud platform
• Capterra: IntelliBid reviews (4.6/5, 24 reviews)
• V2 Cloud: Conest customer story
• Trimble: Accubid Anywhere product page
• Trimble announces Accubid Anywhere (7 Aug 2019)
• Capterra: Trimble Accubid Anywhere reviews (3.6/5, 71 reviews)
• Software Connect: Trimble Accubid Anywhere review
• Trimble: Accubid Classic product page