Outbuild vs nPlan
Two AI scheduling tools with different jobs. Outbuild is a collaborative scheduling and field coordination platform for GCs and trades: master schedule, lookaheads, weekly work plans and roadblocks, with AI schedule agents and a published starting price. nPlan is a project controls tool for owners and contractors on large capital programs that forecasts activity-level schedule risk from a dataset it says holds 750,000 past schedules, plus Schedule Studio for generating and editing schedules with AI. Desk research from vendor pages read Oct 25, 2026; not tested, no winner.
DESK RESEARCH, NOT TESTED. Compiled from vendors' public websites (accessed Oct 25, 2026). Vendor claims are not verified by Means & Methods Lab. No scores or rankings.
In short: Outbuild (Collaborative scheduling & lookahead; vendor publishes prices) vs nPlan (Scheduling & risk; no public prices (quote / sales)). Facts last checked Oct 25, 2026. No winner declared; not tested.
Side by side
| Sheet row | Outbuild | nPlan |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Collaborative scheduling & lookahead | Scheduling & risk |
| AI role (our label) | AI-first | AI-first |
| What it does | AI-powered, collaborative scheduling and field coordination platform (vendor description) for master schedules, lookaheads and weekly work plans. Users can build master schedules (or import from MS Project or P6), create lookaheads from the master schedule with progress pushing back automatically, weekly work plans with trade commitments, and reporting such as Percent Planned Complete, Percent Roadblocks Removed, Reason for Variance, and S-curves. Procore integration is described by customers; the pricing FAQ (checked Oct 15, 2026) lists two-way Procore integration, Autodesk Construction Cloud integration, and export to PDF, XML, or XER. Vendor cites 450+ customers and $50B+ in active projects (vendor claims). Re-read Oct 17, 2026: the homepage now calls Outbuild a scheduling intelligence platform for construction, announces a Q3 launch called Field Forward, and lists turning RFIs into trackable roadblocks; its Procore section lists two-way schedule sync, submittals tied to schedule activities, RFIs pulled into the Roadblock Log and drawings attached to lookahead tasks. The pricing FAQ says every plan includes onboarding, live support, integrations and iPad access. Re-checked Oct 19, 2026: unchanged in substance. The base plan is now named Outbuild Core (master schedule, lookahead, project hub, weekly work plan, schedule impact management, roadblocks and Outbuild AI); the menu describes Outbuild AI as instant schedule answers and lists scheduling agents, a template library and Schedule Impact Requests; integrations listed are Autodesk, Procore and Trimble ProjectSight; and the pricing page lists iPad and iPhone apps with an offline mode. Re-checked Oct 21, 2026: unchanged in substance (scheduling intelligence platform, Field Forward Q3 launch banner); the pricing page's plan table lists Outbuild AI features as Executive Dashboard Assistant, Schedule Assistant, Schedule Health Agent, Schedule Co-Builder Agent and Schedule Generator Agent. The 450+ customers and $50B+ figures remain vendor claims. Re-checked Oct 22, 2026: unchanged in substance; the plan table still lists the Executive Dashboard Assistant, Schedule Assistant, Schedule Health Agent, Schedule Co-Builder Agent and Schedule Generator Agent, and a homepage banner promotes a Q3 release called Field Forward. The pricing FAQ says a phone version is coming soon while the plan table lists iPad and iPhone apps. Re-checked Oct 23, 2026: unchanged in substance; the banner now reads that the Q3 Field Forward launch is here, the menu lists AI agents for scheduling, and the plan table still lists the Executive Dashboard Assistant, Schedule Assistant, Schedule Health Agent, Schedule Co-Builder Agent and Schedule Generator Agent. The pricing FAQ still says the mobile version is coming soon while the plan table lists iPad and iPhone apps. Re-checked Oct 24, 2026: homepage and pricing page unchanged in substance (Field Forward Q3 launch banner; Outbuild AI described as instant schedule answers, with scheduling agents, a template library and Schedule Impact Requests in the menu). Re-checked Oct 25, 2026: homepage and pricing page unchanged in substance (Field Forward Q3 launch banner; Outbuild AI and scheduling agents in the menu; integrations Autodesk, Procore and Trimble ProjectSight). Customer counts, project-value figures and the ROI calculator are vendor content and not used. | AI for project controls trained on a dataset the vendor says contains 750,000+ historical schedules (over $2Tn of construction spend). Four use cases: Plan (generate schedules from scope documents, check schedule integrity), Assure (activity-level uncertainty forecasts), De-risk (flag risky activities and check them against your risk register), and Deliver (project and portfolio summaries). Products: Portfolio, Insights, Schedule Studio, and Schedule Integrity Checker; vendor says Schedule Studio connects to Claude and ChatGPT and exports XER. Works with existing schedules. Sectors listed include highways, rail, and heavy infrastructure. Re-read Oct 17, 2026: the homepage also points to a Model Performance 101 white paper that frames forecast accuracy as mean absolute error (MAE), which it says falls as more schedules become available, and offers user training courses with certifications. Re-checked Oct 19, 2026: the homepage now also lists Decision Intelligence (route options when a project reaches a crossroads) and Insights Risk Professional, cites $500bn of projects under active management (vendor claim), mentions a Driving Paths view in Schedule Studio, and offers nPlan Academy courses of about two hours with certifications. Its featured white paper is now AI-First Project Controls and Delivery; the Model Performance 101 paper we noted Oct 17 is no longer linked on the homepage. Re-checked Oct 20, 2026: homepage unchanged in substance (750,000+ schedules and over $2Tn of spend, the four use cases, $500bn under active management, nPlan Academy courses of about two hours); the product menu lists Insights Pro, Insights Core, Insights Contract Risk, Insights Risk Professional, Insights Project Management Professional, Portfolio, Schedule Integrity Checker, Schedule Studio and Decision Intelligence, and a featured blog post describes Schedule Studio's link to Claude and ChatGPT for questions, edits, health checks and XER export (vendor statements). Re-checked Oct 21, 2026: unchanged in substance (750,000+ historical schedules, the four use cases, Schedule Studio's link to Claude and ChatGPT with XER export, nPlan Academy courses of about two hours); the homepage now lists Project Controls Expo Australia 2026 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground among its events and a blog recap of its AI Day mentioning a Decision Intelligence demo and an orchestration engine it calls Khaleesi (vendor statements). Re-checked Oct 22, 2026: unchanged in substance; the site lists upcoming events at Wembley Stadium, London (Nov 2, 2026) and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (Nov 23, 2026). Re-checked Oct 23, 2026: homepage unchanged in substance (schedule risk forecasting trained on 750,000 past project schedules, Decision Intelligence, a schedule assistant that works with Claude and ChatGPT, nPlan Academy); events now list Project Controls Expo UK (Nov 2, 2026) and Australia (Nov 23, 2026). Spend and portfolio figures remain vendor claims not used here. Re-checked Oct 25, 2026: a blog item on the site says Schedule Studio now connects to Claude and ChatGPT, so you can ask questions about a schedule, edit it, run health checks and export XER from those assistants (vendor description). Events listed: Project Controls Expo UK (Nov 2, 2026) and Australia (Nov 23, 2026). Schedule-count and project-value figures on the homepage are vendor claims and not used here. |
| Who it's for | General contractors, owners, trade partners, and architects; superintendents and schedulers. | Project owners and contractors' project controls teams. |
| Pricing (as publicly stated) | Starts at $999/month, billed annually, scaled by the company's annual construction volume rather than by user or project; every plan includes unlimited users and projects. Outbuild Pro (portfolio dashboards, risk and variance analysis) is custom-priced. Free trial offered. (Pricing checked Oct 15, 2026; unchanged Oct 17 and Oct 19, 2026; the page's example works out to $100 per project or $50 per user a month at 10 projects and 20 users.) Re-checked Oct 21, 2026: unchanged (Outbuild Core starts at $999/month billed annually, based on annual construction volume, unlimited users and projects; Outbuild Pro shows Speak to an expert with no figure). The $20,000 on the pricing page is an ROI calculator output, not a price. Re-checked Oct 22, 2026: unchanged (Core from $999/mo billed annually, priced on annual construction volume, unlimited users and projects; Pro custom; free trial or demo). The ROI calculator is still not used. Re-checked Oct 23, 2026: unchanged (Core from $999/mo billed annually, priced on annual construction volume, unlimited users and projects, onboarding, live support, integrations and iPad access included; Pro custom). The ROI calculator is still not used. Re-checked Oct 24, 2026: unchanged (Core from $999/mo billed annually, unlimited users and projects, free trial; Pro via Speak to an expert with no figure). The ROI calculator is still not used. Re-checked Oct 25, 2026: unchanged (Core from $999/mo billed annually, priced on annual construction volume, unlimited users and projects; Pro custom; free trial or demo). The ROI calculator is still not used. | No public prices found (checked Oct 16, 2026; unchanged Oct 17, 2026 evening re-read): the vendor site has no pricing or plans link in its navigation or footer, and /pricing and /plans return a not-found page. The site's calls to action include "Get a demo" and "Talk to us". Confirm current pricing with the vendor. Re-checked Oct 19, 2026: unchanged. /pricing still returns not found. Re-checked Oct 20, 2026: unchanged; /pricing still returns not found; Talk to us. Re-checked Oct 21, 2026: unchanged; /pricing still returns not found; Talk to us. Re-checked Oct 22, 2026: unchanged; /pricing still returns not found; Talk to us. Re-checked Oct 23, 2026: unchanged (no public prices; /pricing still returns a 404 page; demo on request). Re-checked Oct 24, 2026: unchanged (no public prices; /pricing still returns a 404 page; demo on request). Re-checked Oct 25, 2026: unchanged (/pricing returns not found; Talk to us; no prices). |
| User reviews | No reviews yet. Read or write | No reviews yet. Read or write |
| Vendor links | ||
| Sources |
Facts last checked: Oct 25, 2026. Prices change; check the vendor page before relying on them.
Where the vendor descriptions differ
- Who runs it: Outbuild is built for project managers, schedulers, superintendents and trade partners on one shared schedule, with unlimited users so subs can update their own tasks and PMs review them. nPlan is aimed at portfolio directors, PMO managers, planners and risk managers, and lists data centers, commercial and public buildings, utilities, energy and transportation projects.
- Where the AI sits: Outbuild's plan table lists an Executive Dashboard Assistant, Schedule Assistant, Schedule Health Agent, Schedule Co-Builder Agent and Schedule Generator Agent, and describes Outbuild AI as instant schedule answers. nPlan describes four uses: generate and edit schedules from scope documents (Schedule Studio, which now includes the Schedule Integrity Checker), forecast the uncertainty of every activity, flag risky activities and check them against your risk register, and summarize project or portfolio risk; it says its AI works with your existing schedules and your AI assistant, and a blog item on its site (read Oct 25) says Schedule Studio connects to Claude and ChatGPT with XER export (vendor statements).
- Field side: Outbuild ties the three-week lookahead and weekly work plan to the master schedule, logs roadblocks with reason codes, tracks PPC (percent plan complete), handles schedule impact requests, and links submittals and RFIs to schedule tasks; its plan table lists iPad and iPhone apps with offline mode, though its FAQ still says the mobile version is coming soon. nPlan's pages describe no field coordination tools; it works from the schedule and risk data.
- Integrations: Outbuild's menu lists Autodesk, Procore and Trimble ProjectSight, and it publishes comparison pages against Primavera P6, MS Project, MS Planner, Smartsheet and Phoenix. nPlan reads existing schedules and exports XER (the Primavera P6 format) from Schedule Studio; its homepage names no construction-platform integrations.
- Pricing (checked Oct 25, 2026): Outbuild Core starts at $999/month billed annually, priced on annual construction volume, with unlimited users and projects, onboarding, live support, integrations and iPad access included; Outbuild Pro (executive dashboards, risk and variance analysis, project health insights) is custom-priced; free trial or demo. nPlan publishes no prices (/pricing returns not found) and routes to Talk to us.
- Not like-for-like: Outbuild runs the day-to-day schedule and lookahead with the field; nPlan forecasts and assures schedules, often for owners and large programs. A GC could run Outbuild for execution while an owner uses nPlan to assess the same project's delay risk.
- Not used here: Outbuild's customer and project-value figures, ROI calculator and testimonials, and nPlan's schedule-dataset spend figure, projects-under-management figure and customer quotes (vendor content).
Paraphrased from the sources listed above. Vendor claims are reported as claims.
What users say
The facts above come from vendor websites. Whether either tool is any good for your work is something only people who use them can say. These are member reviews, all ratings shown, never edited or removed for being negative.
Outbuild
No reviews yet. Used Outbuild? Yours would be the first.
nPlan
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Used either of these? Share your take
Good or bad, an honest review from an estimator, PM or super helps the next team more than another vendor demo. You post under a handle; your email is never shown.
Questions to ask in your review
- Whether Outbuild schedules can be fed to nPlan's forecasting directly; neither vendor names an integration with the other
- How nPlan's activity-level forecasts compare with a conventional schedule risk analysis on your projects; we have not tested it
- What Outbuild costs at your annual construction volume above the $999/month starting price, and what nPlan costs at all
- What did you use it for, on what kind of work and project size?
- How long did setup and training take, and who on your team did it?
- What does it cost you in practice, compared with what the sales call said?
How reviews work: review guidelines and methodology. All reviews: reviews hub.
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