They organize the paperwork.POD reads it.
eSUB is subcontractor project and document management: RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily reports, and time cards in one field-to-office workflow. It is good at organizing the paperwork. What it does not do is read the paperwork and tell you what it means. POD reads every RFI, change order, pay app, schedule, and photo and turns them into live dashboards, earned value, and AI insight.
eSUB organizes the subcontractor’s paperwork: RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily reports, and time cards, filed and tracked. POD reads the paperwork and tells you what it means: what your open RFIs are costing in limbo, how much change-order exposure is still unresolved, whether earned value is tracking, which safety indicators are moving. Keep the tool that files the documents. Add the one that reads them. No sales call. Public pricing.
Transparent vs. Hidden Pricing
Drag the slider to see POD’s cost for your team size. No sales call needed.
The paperwork, filed. Then read.
A document system records what was filed. This is what happens next, when the documents are read.
The left column is a good day in a document system. The right column is the same day, read by POD. Every number on the right also appears in the two live KPIs below.
Which one earns its place with you?
No spin. If the left describes you, eSUB earns its quote. If the right does, you need the read. Many subs run both.
eSUB fits when…
A subcontractor document-control system earns its cost here
- You are a commercial subcontractor and document control is the daily job
- RFIs, submittals, change orders, and correspondence need one filing system
- Time cards and job costing must flow into your accounting integration
- Organizing the paperwork is the problem you are solving
POD fits when…
You need to know what the documents are telling you, not only that they were filed
- You need to know what the documents mean, not only that they were filed
- RFI aging cost, PCO exposure, earned value, and CPI/SPI matter to you
- You want leading safety indicators before the incident, not counts after
- Your foremen would rather talk for 60 seconds than tap through a form
A Real POD Read — From the RFI Log and the Change Log
Auto-generated from the RFIs, change orders, and pay apps your office already files. No document system required, no report builder to configure.
Illustrative subcontractor data: 21 open RFIs with $54.9K in limbo, and 16 PCOs with $326K still unresolved.
What each has. You decide.
On everything you both do, POD does more or better. eSUB’s document control for subs is credited where it is due. The one third-party figure links to its source.
| Capability | eSUBSubcontractor project & document management | Plan of DayConstruction project-controls platform |
|---|---|---|
What you both do — POD does it better | ||
| Document control | RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily reports & correspondence, purpose-built for subs an eSUB strength | ▲ MORE Files & organizes the same documents, then AI reads each one: RFI aging cost, PCO exposure & change-order reconciliation against budget |
| Daily reports | Mobile daily reports from the field | ▲ BETTER 60-second voice reports, offline, AI-structured, and every attached photo is read for safety findings & progress |
| Labor hours & job costing | Time cards, timesheets & job-cost tracking against budget an eSUB strength | ▲ MORE Crew hours captured from voice reports; budgets & pay apps read into earned value, CPI/SPI & burn rate. Keep your timesheet system; POD reads its output |
| Mobile field app | iOS & Android app with drawing & accounting integrations | ▲ BETTER Any phone browser, offline, voice-first. Nothing to install, and subs upload through free links with no seat to license |
| Ease of use & support | Well-rated by reviewers per reviews(source) | ▲ BETTER Nothing to learn: speak a report or upload a file. First dashboard in minutes, no training project |
| Project intelligence | Records & reports what was filed | ▲ MORE RFI aging cost & PCO pipeline exposure (the two KPIs above), computed from your own documents |
Where POD Goes Further eSUB organizes the subcontractor’s paperwork. It does not read it and tell you what it means. This is the layer POD adds, on top of the documents you keep. | ||
| AI read of every file | — | ▲ BETTER Scanned PDFs, P6 (XER) & MS Project (XML) schedules, pay-app spreadsheets & photos are read by AI and mapped to metrics, not just stored |
| Auto-computed dashboards | — | ▲ MORE Hundreds of animated KPIs & executive dashboards generated from your files, plus a morning brief. No report builder |
| Predictive intelligence | — | ▲ MORE Anomaly detection & forecasting: which RFIs, PCOs and trades are trending toward trouble before the month closes |
| Earned value & pay-app intelligence | — | ▲ MORE CPI/SPI, earned value & pay-app reconciliation computed from your own files |
| Predictive safety analytics | — | ▲ MORE Leading indicators (fatigue, new-worker risk, schedule pressure) before the incident, not counts after |
| Voice-first field reporting | — | ▲ BETTER 60-second voice reports, offline, AI-structured in ten languages |
| Ask POD & Tell POD | — | ▲ BETTER Ask POD any question about your project; Tell POD an update by voice |
| Timeline playback | — | ▲ MORE A project DVR: scrub to any day and replay how the job got here |
The facts | ||
| Pricing model | Quote-only, priced by tools & team size | Public, tiered by team — $299 → $2,499/mo, self-serve |
| Speed to value | Demo & quote first | Minutes — upload a file or speak a report POD files & organizes every document, then reads each one to build your budget, schedule, EVM, reports, QA/QC and safety automatically. Then Ask POD anything, or Tell POD an update by voice. No configuration, no data entry. |
| Deployment | Cloud, with an iOS & Android field app | SaaS, self-serve, offline field reporting |
| User rating | 4.4 / 5 Capterra (256 reviews)(source) | — |
eSUB does not publish list pricing; every deal is quoted by tools and team size, and this page does not estimate it. The user rating is from the linked third-party review site (Capterra) at the time of writing and may change. Comparison based on publicly available information. eSUB is a trademark of its respective owner; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by eSUB.
What POD Adds On Top
The intelligence layer over the RFIs, change orders, and reports your office already files
Minutes, Not an Onboarding
Upload a file or speak a report and see a dashboard today. No configuration project, no vendor onboarding, no sales call.
Reads the Documents You Already Control
RFIs, submittals, change orders, pay-app spreadsheets, scanned PDFs, P6 (XER) and MS Project (XML) schedules. POD reads them and maps the data to KPIs automatically.
Hundreds of KPIs, Auto-Generated
RFI aging cost, PCO exposure, earned value, safety leading indicators. Animated dashboards with no report builder to configure.
Runs Alongside Your Document System
Keep eSUB for document control and time cards if it works for your office. POD reads what comes out of it and adds the intelligence layer on top.
Voice-First Field Reporting
60-second voice reports the field will actually file, structured by AI in ten languages. No forms to tap through with gloves on.
Public, Self-Serve Pricing
Every price is published and tiered by team, not by seat. Start with a free trial, upgrade when you are ready, cancel anytime. No quote to request.
The Honest Take
If your problem is document control for a commercial sub, RFIs, submittals, change orders, and time cards in one field-to-office workflow, eSUB is a good tool for it, and this page will not pretend otherwise. POD is for the next question: what do all those filed RFIs and priced change orders mean for the schedule, the margin, and the crew’s safety? Plenty of subs run both. Some find the read is the part they were missing.
Is POD your best match?
A short, honest self-check that scores your fit and tells you straight if a different kind of tool would serve you better. No sales pitch, no names, just an honest answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Either. eSUB is a subcontractor project and document management system. POD is a project intelligence layer that reads the RFIs, change orders, daily reports, pay apps, and schedules your office already produces and turns them into dashboards, earned value, and AI insight. Many subs keep eSUB for document control and time cards and add POD for the read. If daily reporting and project health are the whole problem, POD alone covers it.
POD captures crew hours from voice daily reports and reads your budgets and pay apps to compute earned value, CPI/SPI, and burn rate. It is not a timesheet or payroll system, on purpose. If time cards need to flow into your accounting integration, keep that where it lives. POD reads its output.
The read. A document system tells you what was filed. POD tells you what it means: how much your open RFIs are costing in limbo, how much change-order exposure is still unresolved, whether earned value is tracking, and which leading safety indicators are moving. It also adds voice-first field reporting, timeline playback, and Ask POD, so anyone can ask a question about the project and get an answer.
POD publishes every price and tiers by team rather than by seat, from $299 to $2,499 per month, with a free trial to start and no sales call. Subcontractors upload through free links. eSUB prices by tools and team size on a quote; this page does not estimate it.
File the paperwork. Then read it.
Keep the document system if it earns its place. Start a free trial and see what your own RFI log and change log have been trying to tell you.
Why Teams Switch to POD
What You Get With POD
Feature and cost comparisons are based on publicly available information and each vendor’s own published materials, and may change over time. Product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. POD pricing is published at planofday.com/pricing.