Kubla Cubed alternatives for cut and fill takeoff (2026)

Kubla Cubed is a good tool and a very good free one, so "alternatives to Kubla Cubed" is usually a question about one of four things: you are not on Windows, you want the estimate in the same place as the takeoff, you need something it doesn't do (drone data, trench networks, AI extraction), or you want to buy rather than install. This page takes those four reasons in turn.

We make SitesAI Estimate, which is one of the alternatives, so read this as a vendor's list. What we can promise is that every price and feature below comes from the vendor's own public page, checked on 16 September 2026, with links at the bottom. If something has changed, tell us and we will fix it.

The short version

Reason 1: you are not on Windows

This is the most common reason, and the simplest. Kubla Cubed's system requirements list Windows 7, 10 and 11. There is no macOS version and nothing for a tablet.

SitesAI Estimate runs in a browser. The estimator's Mac, the site supervisor's iPad and a Windows laptop all open the same job, and there is no install when someone new starts. You add a PDF, DWG or DXF plan, calibrate the scale from a known dimension, trace the existing ground from contours and spot levels, add a design platform with batters, and the cut and fill updates as you draw. See the cut and fill from a PDF plan guide for the real workflow, recorded in the app.

Civils.ai is also web-based. Its angle is AI extraction rather than drawing: it reads PDF drawings and geotechnical reports and returns areas, lengths, volumes and counts. Its own FAQ says it aims to return results within 24 hours, so parts of it are a submit-and-wait service rather than something you drive live.

Reason 2: you want the estimate in the same place as the takeoff

Kubla gives you quantities. Turning them into a priced job happens somewhere else, usually a spreadsheet, and that spreadsheet is where the afternoon goes.

In SitesAI Estimate the volumes become lines in an estimate in the same file, with rate build-ups for labour, plant and materials, stages you can hand to different contractors, and Excel and PDF export on Pro. Multi-sheet jobs are calculated against the cumulative surface of the sheets before them, so phases roll up instead of double-counting. If you already price in Excel, the earthworks estimate in Excel guide shows how the two fit together.

None of the other tools on this page prices the job. MudShark and AGTEK are quantity engines with reporting; Civils.ai returns extracted quantities.

Reason 3: you need something Kubla doesn't do

Trench and pipe networks. MudShark's Trench module models pipe networks with clash detection, and Buildsoft publishes the price: A$250 +GST per user a month with Trench, against A$230 without. MudShark also takes drone survey data.

Mass haul and machine control at scale. AGTEK is the heavy-civil standard: Gradework for earthwork volumes from PDF, CAD and drone imagery, Underground for storm, sewer and water trench volumes, Highway for mass diagrams and haul. Nothing is priced publicly; every product is contact-for-quote, and for a three-estimator business it is usually more tool than the work needs.

AI that does the first pass. SitesAI Estimate's AI plan has an auto-takeoff that proposes the markup and you review it before anything is applied (read AI auto-takeoff and how to check it before you trust any vendor's accuracy claim, ours included). It also has an AI connector, so Claude or ChatGPT can open a project and drive the takeoff through the app's own tools. As far as we can find, no other earthworks tool offers that.

Geotechnical reports. Civils.ai pulls structured data out of borehole logs and geotechnical reports, which nothing else here does.

Reason 4: you want to buy, not rent — or the reverse

Kubla sells a perpetual licence for Professional, and some businesses would much rather buy software once. If that is you, Kubla is the only tool on this page that offers it; everyone else is a subscription.

If you prefer a monthly bill you can stop, SitesAI Estimate is US$39 per user a month with no contract and a 30-day money-back guarantee; MudShark is billed annually at A$230 +GST a month, or A$275 billed monthly.

When to stay on Kubla Cubed

Be honest with yourself about this one. If your requirement is "tell me the cut and fill on this job and charge me nothing", Kubla Cubed Lite is a better answer than our free plan, because Lite includes the volume figure and ours does not. And if your model has to end up in a GPS box on a dozer, Kubla Professional exports machine-control formats and SitesAI Estimate does not, by design.

The full side-by-side is in Kubla Cubed vs SitesAI Estimate.

How to choose in ten minutes

1. Open the same plan in two of them. Every tool here has a free edition or a trial except AGTEK.
2. Calibrate the scale from a written dimension and check a second one. A scale error is the mistake that survives every tool; see calibrate a PDF site plan.
3. Trace the same boundary and levels, and compare the volumes. On the same levels they should land close together; the differences will be in your inputs, not the engine.
4. Then ask the question that actually decides it: where does the number go next? If the answer is "into a quote", pick the tool that makes the quote.

Sources, checked 16 September 2026

• Kubla Cubed prices, Lite vs Professional comparison and system requirements
• MudShark pricing and MudShark product page
• AGTEK products
• Civils.ai
• SitesAI pricing

Prices and features change. Check each vendor's current page before you decide, and if we have something wrong here, email admin@sitesai.net and we will correct it.