Construction takeoff software, built natively for Mac.
Not a port. Not Parallels. Purple Hammer ships as a universal Mac app — native on Apple silicon and Intel — with the full product: takeoff, live estimating spreadsheets, and ~2 second revision compare.
Free 30-day trial · no card required · the same app ships for Windows.
The Mac reality in takeoff software.
// verified belowEstimators on Macs have been running Windows software in a virtual machine for a decade. Here is where the market actually stands.
| App | On a Mac | On Apple silicon (M-series) |
|---|---|---|
| Purple Hammer | Native app — universal binary, full feature set | Native |
| Bluebeam Revu | Windows only — official guidance is Windows via Parallels (full comparison) | Via virtualisation only |
| PlanSwift | Cannot be installed on a Mac (full comparison) | No supported path |
The whole product. Not a Mac subset.
Mac and Windows ship the same app — every feature, no platform gaps.
- Markups & measurements
- Live spreadsheets & cost databases
- Estimating formulas (Power Syntax)
- Auto-align & blink compare (~2 s)
- Magic Measure & Magic Count
- Snap: geometry, grid & raster
- Document & revision control
- Excel (.xlsx) export that keeps calculating
- MCP — native AI access
- Metric & imperial
It prices as you measure.
// spreadsheetsDrop a measurement and the row fills in — quantity, rate, line total, and the job total, all live.
- Measure on the drawing — areas, lengths, counts.
- The row fills in — quantity in, rate from the database, line total out.
- The job total moves the instant you drop a measurement.
Switching from a Windows-only tool.
Nothing about your existing work is locked to Windows.
- Your drawings carry over. They’re standard PDFs — open the same sets, scanned or vector.
- Your estimates stay portable. Worksheets export to Excel (.xlsx) with formulas that keep calculating — including in Excel for Mac.
- Your Bluebeam markups come too. Bring existing markups across with BPX import.
Straight answers.
Does Purple Hammer run natively on Apple silicon?
Yes. It ships as a universal Mac app — native on Apple silicon (M-series) and Intel. No Parallels, no emulation, no Windows licence.
Is the Mac version missing features?
No. Mac and Windows ship the same product: takeoff and markup, live estimating worksheets with Power Syntax, ~2 second revision auto-align and compare, Magic Measure and Magic Count, and native MCP for AI.
How do I know Mac support won’t be dropped later?
Because there is nothing to drop: Purple Hammer is one codebase, built on Tauri 2, which produces the native Mac and Windows apps from the same source. There is no separate Mac port to fall behind — every feature ships to both platforms in the same release, and the performance figures on this site were measured in exactly this architecture.
Does Bluebeam Revu run on a Mac?
Not natively. Bluebeam’s own guidance for Mac users is to run the Windows version inside Parallels. There is no native Mac Revu.
Does PlanSwift run on a Mac?
No. PlanSwift’s documentation states it cannot be installed on a Mac, and there is no supported path at all on Apple-silicon (M-series) machines.
Can I move my existing work over?
Yes. Drawings are standard PDFs, estimates export to .xlsx files that keep calculating, and Bluebeam markups can be brought across via BPX import.
The competitor claims on this page come from the competitors’ own published materials: PlanSwift’s knowledge base states it installs only on Windows 10/11 Pro, cannot be installed on a Mac, and has no supported path on Apple-silicon machines (reviewed 13 July 2026); Bluebeam’s published Mac guidance is Revu on Windows via Parallels (verified 16 June 2026). Purple Hammer’s Mac build is a universal binary — one app, Apple silicon and Intel.
Full detail — sources and criteria
Sources
PlanSwift platform support: the ConstructConnect support knowledge base (system requirements; Mac installation guidance). Bluebeam Mac guidance and plan structure: bluebeam.com and Bluebeam’s support documentation. Both are dated in the summary above and re-verified whenever a comparison cell changes; the full criteria live in the technical details on the vs Bluebeam and vs PlanSwift pages.
The Purple Hammer column
Reflects the current shipped product. The Mac installer is a universal .dmg covering Apple silicon and Intel. The app is built on Tauri 2 — one codebase producing the native Mac and Windows builds from the same source — so Mac support is a property of the architecture, not a portfolio decision. Performance figures follow the envelope policy documented on the performance page: conservative headline numbers, typical results faster.
Take the takeoff to the Mac.
Free 30-day trial · no card required · every feature included.