Pay application software compared

2026-09-048 min read

Every subcontractor starts billing in a spreadsheet, and most should. The question is what breaks first — the continuation sheet, the waiver chain, or the A/R visibility — because that is what decides which platform is worth paying for. Before that, check which side of the application a tool is built for. Some are for the sub sending the pay app; others are the GC's portal you get invited into.

The pay app workflow, vendor by vendor

Our pick: the tool that fixes the specific thing that broke, on your side of the bill

“Not stated” means the vendor's own page does not say. Ask in the demo; do not assume.

Siteline: built for the sub sending the bill

You update the schedule of values in Siteline and it produces the G702, the G703 or the GC's own form, carrying amounts over from previous months and handling single or multiple tax rates. It covers lump sum, unit price, time and materials and one-off invoices. The required waivers are generated with the application, and the package goes out by email or through the GC's portal; its FAQ names Textura, GCPay and Procore Pay.

Retention is the detail to ask every vendor about. Siteline says you can set it for the whole pay app, for each line item, or for certain periods. One catch sits in its footer: Siteline does not supply the AIA forms, so you must have or secure them yourself.

Trimble Pay and Procore: the GC's side

Trimble Pay, formerly Flashtract, is what a GC uses to collect pay apps from its subs. It takes in AIA pay apps, checks them for accuracy and calculates the billed amounts once the sub enters labor and materials. Pay apps and waivers sit together for one-click approval, and unconditional waivers are exchanged through escrow. Trimble says it is free for subcontractors to submit documents when a primary contractor invites them.

Procore runs the same idea inside its project platform. Its payments page lists a checklist of what each sub must provide before payment, a library of pay requirements and waiver templates, and unconditional waivers staged and released only once payment is made. Its invoice management side tracks percent complete and prefills the owner invoice from approved subcontractor invoices.

If most of your GCs invite you into one of these, you bill in their system whatever you use internally. That is the case for a sub-side tool that submits into portals for you, and the case against paying for one if you only ever work for one GC.

Levelset: pay apps on the side of a lien tool

Levelset lets either party send or request a pay app with the lien waivers attached, on its own template styled like AIA, ConsensusDocs and Excel pay apps. It is a document exchange, not a billing engine: its pages do not describe schedule of values roll-forward or retainage handling in the tool. It has been part of Procore since November 2021, and its centre of gravity is still notices and lien rights.

What is and is not priced

Siteline offers custom pricing by quote, set on product usage, billing volume and integrations, with unlimited users. Procore quotes too: an annual fee per product, based on your annual construction volume, with unlimited users. Trimble Pay routes pricing questions to a contact form. Levelset lists $59 per recipient for a notice or a payment demand, but no pay app price.

So on 2026-10-18 nobody published a subscription price for pay app software. Your price is a negotiation, and your leverage is your project count, your counterparty count and your monthly volume. Do that arithmetic before the demo, not during it.

What actually breaks first

For most subcontractors the first failure is the continuation sheet — the schedule of values stops reconciling once change orders accumulate, and applications start coming back. That is fixable with discipline and the schedule of values builder, not with software.

The second failure is the waiver chain, and it fails at tiers rather than at volume. The third is visibility: nobody can say, on a Tuesday, how much is outstanding and how much of it is retainage. That third one is where reporting features earn their money.

Whatever you use, the federal clock is the same: a progress payment is due 14 days after the designated billing office receives a proper payment request, and an improper invoice must be returned within 7 days with reasons.