Comparison

Trimble Connect vs Xenmark for drawing review.

Trimble Connect is a cloud common data environment. Models and files from across a project sit in one place — it advertises more than forty-five formats — with versions, comments, tasks, saved views and ToDos, BCF topics for issues, and 2D and 3D viewing on web, desktop and mobile. It connects outward into Tekla, SketchUp and ProjectSight, which is much of the reason people use it.

Xenmark runs one job end to end: a drawing set goes out for review, comments come back against the revision they were raised on, and the review finishes as two documents — a plan showing where each comment sits, and a spreadsheet saying what each one means, numbered to match.

Trimble Connect is bought to hold a project’s models and files. Its free Personal licence creates one project of its own and lets its holder join up to five other people’s business projects, rather than running a review of your own. Its 2D markup, as documented, is cloud, arrow, line and text, with measurements it does not save to the drawing. Choose Xenmark when the job is a drawing review with an output — measured, numbered, and handed back as a plan and a register. A free Xenmark project takes a real drawing set from start to finish.

Start a free review

01

A free plan that runs your review

Trimble’s Personal licence creates one project and lets its holder join up to five business projects belonging to other people, read-only after that — it is built for limited hosting — one project — alongside joining up to five Business projects. The Xenmark Free plan runs one active review of your own, start to finish, with the exports included.

02

Measurements that stay with the review

Trimble Connect’s browser 2D viewer measures distance, area and perimeter, with scale and precision settings — and states that measurements are not saved to the drawing or document; keeping one means creating a View or a ToDo for it. Xenmark puts those values on their own sheet in the same Excel file as the comments, so the numbers leave with the review.

03

The plan and the register come out together

A Xenmark review ends in a drawing with each comment numbered where it applies, and an Excel register numbered to match, produced from the same comments in one step. Trimble Connect holds views, ToDos and BCF topics.

Trimble Connect vs Xenmark, row by row

Every Trimble Connect claim below is taken from Trimble Connect's own published material and was last checked on 29 August 2026. Software changes; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Trimble Connect is a much larger product than Xenmark, and it is priced sensibly for what it is. Models and drawings from across a project in one place, more than forty-five formats, versions, comments, tasks, saved views and ToDos, BCF topics for issues, 2D and 3D viewing on web, desktop and mobile, and connections into Tekla, SketchUp and ProjectSight. On the direct store that is $149 per user per year for Pro or $349 for Innovate, with a thirty-day trial. Xenmark holds no models, reads no BCF and connects to nothing.

One thing about the pricing has to be said carefully, because an older Trimble page still carries superseded figures. Trimble’s migration notice states that Pro and Innovate replaced Business and Business Premium for online purchase in May 2025. An older geospatial page still advertises Business at $12.99 and Business Premium at $23.95 per user per month; those are not current online-purchase prices, though the legacy names can still appear on reseller and direct-sales licences. Every figure on this page comes from Trimble’s corporate Connect plans page, checked on the date stamped below.

Two differences run the other way. Trimble Connect measures a drawing — distance, area and perimeter in the browser 2D viewer — but does not save those measurements to the drawing; keeping one means creating a View or a ToDo. And the free Personal licence creates one project and otherwise lets its holder join five business projects belonging to other people, read-only after that.

  Xenmark Trimble Connect
Starting a review
Can the person running the review start free? Yes — the Free plan runs one active review at a time, start to finish Only just. Trimble still documents a free Personal licence, though it is not an orderable card on the direct store. It creates one project, and separately lets its holder join up to five business projects belonging to other people with full access, read-only beyond that. A thirty-day trial covers the paid plans.
Do external reviewers need a paid subscription? No — the people you invite read, reply and download the exports without paying Separately, a free Personal user can join up to five Business projects with full access, read-only beyond that.
Available platforms Any modern browser — nothing to install, and the people you invite join from a link Web, desktop and mobile, with more than forty-five file formats advertised. Xenmark is browser only, and takes PDFs.
How the review is structured
What the review is built from A numbered comment. Anything drawn on the page belongs to that comment rather than standing on its own. A file or model in a cloud project, with comments, tasks, saved views and ToDos against it, and BCF topics for issues that travel between BIM tools.
Replies Threaded under the comment, each attributed and dated, with image attachments, and carried into the register Yes — comments, tasks and ToDos carry the discussion, with BCF topics alongside them.
Status workflow Open, In progress and Closed — three fixed states, and the status travels into the Excel register Yes — ToDo and BCF issue workflows, with the exact status labels depending on how the project is set up.
Comment numbering Numbers are stable — delete comment 5 and the gap stays, so item 12 still means item 12 in every email and every export ToDos and BCF topics carry their own identifiers.
One issue, several drawing locations One comment can own several markers while keeping one number and one reply thread Yes, through Views. A 2D View can hold several markups, and one ToDo can carry one or more 2D or 3D Views.
Activity history Every action timestamped and attributed to the person who made it Version control and project files are core.
Revision handling Comments stay tied to the revision they were raised against, in one workflow Versioned files in a cloud project, with 2D and 3D context around them.
Measuring and markup
Measuring on the drawing Length, polylength, perimeter and area, calibrated to the page scale Yes. The browser 2D viewer measures distance, area and perimeter. Trimble Connect states that measurements are not saved to the drawing or document — to keep one, you create a View or a ToDo.
Setting the drawing scale Pick a standard scale, type your own, name the sheet size, or calibrate from a distance you already know Yes — the 2D viewer carries measurement scale and precision settings.
Building your own reusable symbols Check, cross, attention, arrow and cloud — five fixed review symbols, not a custom library The 2D tools are clouds, shapes, lines, arrows, text and freehand.
Measuring quantities for pricing a job Not included — measurements are there to explain a comment, not to cost work Trimble Connect is a common data environment. Neither product is intended for quantity takeoff.
What comes out of the review
What you send back The two documents come out ready to send — there is nothing to set up first, because the review was structured that way from the start Saved views, ToDos, BCF topics and the project files themselves.
Comment plan PDF The drawing with each comment numbered and shown where it applies The browser 2D viewer downloads a PDF with the annotations visible, or without them.
Spreadsheet output An Excel file listing every comment, numbered to match the PDF BCF is the portable issue format here, which is built for moving issues between BIM tools rather than for handing a register to someone.
Measurements in the export Drawn on the comment plan PDF where they were placed, and listed on their own sheet in the Excel file, kept separate from the comments Measurements are not saved to the drawing itself, so anything kept travels as a View or a ToDo rather than as a column of values.
What you keep when the project ends A single zip file — every revision's exports, the attachments and the full activity log, downloaded and stored on your side The cloud project holds its files and their versions for as long as the licence does. Storage is 10 GB on Pro and 20 GB on Innovate; the Personal licence’s 10 GB is a maximum uploaded file size rather than an allowance.
Branded reports Your company logo and text on both deliverables, inherited from Company Settings — Plus and Pro Trimble Connect hands back the annotated PDF and the project files themselves.
What else each one does
Batch operations across many PDFs Not included — a review works on one drawing set at a time Yes — bulk download, adding selected files to ToDos or Releases, and exporting selected file details to Excel.
Comparing two drawings against each other Not included — differences get raised as comments by the people reviewing Versions are held and 2D and 3D content sits together.
Working offline Browser only, so you need a connection Connect for Windows works offline and synchronises when a connection returns. The 2D viewer sits in the browser and mobile clients.
Storing documents long term Not what it is for. You download the exports and keep them wherever your project records already live. Yes — it is a common data environment. Cloud project storage, file versioning and more than forty-five formats. Xenmark holds none of that.
CAD integrations and creating PDFs from CAD None — a review starts from a PDF that has already been produced Yes, and it is much of the point. Trimble Connect sits inside a wider ecosystem with Tekla, SketchUp and ProjectSight. Xenmark connects to nothing.
Connecting to a document management system No integrations yet — the closing archive is a single zip you file wherever your records already live It is one, with integrations across the Trimble estate and third parties rather than connectors into somebody else’s store.

What each one costs

Trimble’s corporate Connect plans page is the current source, and this page uses it. Pro is $149 per user per year, or $19 per user per month; Innovate is $349 per year or $44 per month, with the annual cards showing 33% savings and a thirty-day trial at no cost. Trimble’s migration notice states that Pro and Innovate replaced Business and Business Premium for online purchase in May 2025, so the $12.99 and $23.95 figures still shown on an older geospatial page are not current online-purchase prices.

Xenmark is €14.99 – €59.99 / month, for the project rather than for each person. The tax treatment is the clearest difference here and it is worth stating plainly: the Trimble direct store says “Excludes tax and VAT” in its own words, while Xenmark’s prices include VAT. What you pay for Connect is therefore higher than the figure on the card, by however much your local rate is.

  Xenmark Trimble Connect
Billing unit Per project capacity, monthly Per user per year or per month on the direct store, depending on the plan
Entry point Free — one active review, start to finish, no card A free Personal licence is still documented, though not orderable on the direct store — one project of your own. A thirty-day trial covers the paid plans
To run a review yourself Free $149 per user per year for Pro on the direct store, or $19 per user per month
Paid range €14.99 – €59.99 / month $149 – $349 per user per year on Trimble’s corporate plans page, the current online-purchase source
Invited reviewers Free — no per-user charge; 5–30 project members depending on plan, and the person running the review is one of them Free and unlimited — a Business licence holder invites unlimited external collaborators at no extra cost, who can view, mark up and interact. Coming the other way, a free Personal licence holder can join up to five business projects with full access, read-only beyond that
Tax basis Including VAT USD · direct store · excludes tax and VAT

Xenmark — current as of 29 August 2026. Trimble Connect — checked 29 August 2026 on the direct e-commerce store, which is named beside every figure above because Trimble runs a second storefront with different plan names and different prices, and its own licensing help describes the channels the opposite way round from how the stores present them. Anyone quoting a Trimble Connect price should say which store it came from and when. The direct store states “Excludes tax and VAT”; Xenmark prices include VAT. Nothing here is converted or adjusted.

  • Personal Free — Still documented in Trimble’s licensing help, though not an orderable card on the direct store. One project of your own, and joining up to five business projects with full access, read-only beyond that.
  • Pro $149 per user, yearly — Per user per year on the direct store, or $19 per user per month. The annual card shows 33% savings. 10 GB.
  • Innovate $349 per user, yearly — Per user per year on the direct store, or $44 per user per month. 20 GB.
  • Superseded names $12.99 – $23.95 per user, monthly — Business and Business Premium, still shown on an older geospatial page. Trimble states Pro and Innovate replaced them for online purchase in May 2025; the legacy names can persist on reseller and direct-sales licences

When Xenmark makes sense

  • You are hosting the review, not joining someone else’s. The Xenmark Free plan runs one active review of your own from start to finish, where the Personal licence creates one project of its own and is otherwise built around joining up to five other people’s business projects. The difference is the review deliverables, not the count of hosted projects.
  • The measurements have to leave with the review. Length, polylength, perimeter and area against the page scale, with the values on their own sheet in the same Excel file.
  • The numbers have to hold. Comment 12 stays comment 12 after others are deleted, in every email and every export, and the same number is on the plan and in the register.
  • The output has to be readable by someone outside the platform. An Excel register and a numbered plan, rather than saved views and BCF topics that need the right software to open.
  • You want the price you see to be the price you pay. Xenmark’s figures include VAT; the Trimble direct store states that its own exclude tax and VAT.

When Trimble Connect is the better choice

  • Models are the work, not just the drawings. More than forty-five formats, 2D and 3D viewing, and BCF topics that carry issues between BIM tools. Xenmark takes PDFs and produces nothing in BCF.
  • You are inside the Trimble ecosystem. Tekla, SketchUp and ProjectSight connect into Connect. Xenmark connects to nothing.
  • The project files need somewhere to live. A cloud common data environment with versioning, on web, desktop and mobile. Xenmark hands you an archive and expects you to keep it.
  • You need desktop and mobile applications. Both are part of the product. Xenmark runs in a browser only.
  • A cheap per-seat licence suits you better than a project plan. $149 per user per year on the direct store is modest for what it covers — before tax, which the store excludes.

Questions people actually ask

Is Trimble Connect free?

There is still a documented free Personal licence, but it is worth reading carefully and it is not an orderable card on the direct storefront. Personal creates one project of its own. Separately, Trimble’s licensing help says “Personal license users can join up to 5 business projects with full business access” — that is the licence holder joining projects belonging to other people, read-only beyond five, with Enterprise projects excluded from the count.

Two other details are commonly misread. The 10 GB associated with Personal is a maximum uploaded file size, not a storage allowance. And Personal is read-only for Status Sharing, Property Sharing, Organizer and Workflow Extensions. The paid plans come with a thirty-day trial.

What does Trimble Connect cost?

That depends which Trimble storefront you look at, and the answer should always name one. On the direct e-commerce store, Pro is $149 per user per year or $19 per user per month, and Innovate is $349 per year or $44 per month, with the annual cards showing 33% savings.

An older Trimble geospatial page still lists Business at $12.99 and Business Premium at $23.95 per user per month. Trimble’s migration notice states that Pro and Innovate replaced those plans for online purchase in May 2025, so treat the older figures as superseded rather than as a cheaper route — though the legacy names can still appear on reseller and direct-sales licences. Every figure here is labelled with its source and the date it was checked.

Does Trimble Connect charge tax on top?

On the direct store, yes, and it says so: “Excludes tax and VAT.” Whatever your local rate is, that sits on top of the figure on the card. The separate sales page is likewise MSRP plus applicable taxes.

Xenmark’s prices include VAT — €14.99 – €59.99 / month is what you pay. Both companies state their tax basis rather than leaving it unsaid, which is where most comparisons come apart. The figures still need converting between dollars and euro, and Trimble is charged per user where Xenmark is charged per project, so the seat count decides the rest.

Does Trimble Connect support PDF markups?

Yes, in 2D. The mobile markup set is cloud, arrow, line and text. Measuring sits in the browser 2D viewer, which does distance, area and perimeter with scale and precision settings — though Trimble Connect states those measurements are not saved to the drawing or document, so keeping one means creating a View or a ToDo.

Xenmark’s markup is check, cross, attention, arrow and cloud, plus measured length, polylength, perimeter and area against the page scale — and the measured values go into the Excel export on their own sheet.

Does Trimble Connect export comments to Excel?

The portable format here is BCF, which is designed to move issues between BIM tools rather than to hand a readable register to a client or a contractor.

That is a real difference in purpose rather than a shortcoming. If your issues need to travel to a modelling tool, BCF is what you want and Xenmark produces none. If they need to travel to a person, an Excel register numbered to a marked-up plan is what Xenmark produces.

Can Trimble Connect track drawing revisions?

Files are versioned in the cloud project, which is core to what a common data environment does.

In Xenmark a comment stays tied to the revision it was raised against, and all of the revisions sit inside the same review rather than one superseding the last.

Is Xenmark a replacement for Trimble Connect?

No. Connect is a cloud common data environment — models and files across a project in more than forty-five formats, 2D and 3D viewing, BCF issues, versioning, and connections into Tekla, SketchUp and ProjectSight. Xenmark has none of that.

Xenmark covers the part where a drawing set goes out to several people for comment and something structured has to come back.

When should I choose Trimble Connect instead?

When models matter as much as the drawings, and BCF is how issues have to travel. When the project files need a home with versioning rather than a handover at the end. When desktop and mobile applications are needed. And when you are already using Tekla, SketchUp or ProjectSight and want the whole set in one place.

About this comparison

We sell Xenmark, so this is not an independent review. We have tried to describe Trimble Connect accurately, and every Trimble Connect claim on this page rests on Trimble’s own help articles and storefronts. The documents are named below. Capabilities and pricing change. Trimble Connect feature information was last checked on 29 August 2026, and the pricing on 29 August 2026.

Sources used for this comparison

Trimble’s help articles are linked, so the claims here can be checked against the source each one rests on. Both storefronts are named rather than linked: they are named rather than linked. This page carries an unusual amount of labelling about where each price came from, and the reason is worth stating: Trimble sells Connect through two storefronts with different plan names and different prices, and its own licensing help assigns the channels the opposite way round from how the stores present them. That is Trimble’s inconsistency rather than a criticism of the product, and the only honest way to quote a figure from it is to say which page and which day.

  • Trimble Connect licensing (Trimble help) — that “Personal license users can join up to 5 business projects with full business access”, that Personal creates one project, that its 10 GB is a maximum uploaded file size, that it is read-only for Status Sharing, Property Sharing, Organizer and Workflow Extensions, and that Enterprise projects are excluded from the five-project rule. Also the split between the eCommerce and reseller channels
  • 2D markups, Trimble Connect for Mobile (Trimble help) — the cloud, arrow, line and text markup tools. This is the mobile documentation, and the markup list on this page is scoped to it
  • Measurement tools, browser 2D viewer (Trimble help) — distance, area and perimeter measurement, scale and precision settings, and the statement that “Measurements are not saved to the drawing or document. To save measurements, create a View or ToDo.”
  • Trimble corporate Trimble Connect plans page — checked 29 August 2026 with the currency set to USD: Pro at $149 per user per year or $19 per month with 10 GB, Innovate at $349 per year or $44 per month with 20 GB, annual cards showing 33% savings, a thirty-day trial at $0, and the statement “Excludes tax and VAT”. Named rather than linked
  • Pro and Innovate plans FAQ (Trimble Community) — that Pro and Innovate replaced Business and Business Premium for online purchase in May 2025, with legacy plan names persisting on reseller and direct-sales licences.

Start a free drawing review

The Free plan takes a real drawing set end to end. No card, no time limit.

Start free