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MagicPlan's pricing looks straightforward until the month you go over your project quota. Then the bill arrives and it's not what you expected. This is the most common complaint from MagicPlan users — and it's worth understanding exactly how the overage model works before you commit.
MagicPlan charges a monthly subscription that includes a set number of project exports. A "project" in MagicPlan's terms is one property or job site — all the floor plans, photos, and reports for that location count as one project.
The key number to understand: if you exceed your monthly project quota, each additional project costs $40.
That's not a small overage. If you're on a plan that includes 10 projects and you do 18 jobs in a busy month, you've just added $320 to your bill — on top of your subscription fee.
You can sketch rooms and view floor plans in the app without paying. But exporting a floor plan — getting a PDF, sharing with a client, or producing a usable deliverable — requires either credits or a paid plan. The free plan is genuinely limited for professional use.
Includes a set number of project exports per month. Good for contractors who do a predictable, moderate volume of jobs. The overage charge kicks in if you exceed your included quota.
Higher project quota, more team features. Still has overage charges above the included limit.
The per-project model creates a predictability problem. Your software cost isn't fixed — it varies with how busy you are. Busy months cost more. Quiet months cost the base rate. For contractors, that's the opposite of how costs should work: your busiest months are when you're generating revenue, but they're also when your software bill spikes.
Some real scenarios where the math gets painful:
The pattern is consistent: contractors sign up for MagicPlan at the base plan rate, have a busy month, and then get a bill that's significantly higher than expected. Then they search for alternatives.
If you're reading this after that experience — here's what the comparison looks like.
Manifold uses per-user, unlimited-project pricing. You pay per person on your team. You can run 5 jobs or 50 jobs in a month — the cost is the same.
For a solo contractor doing 20 jobs a month on MagicPlan's Pro plan — 10 included, 10 at $40 each — that's $42 + $400 = $442/month. On Manifold, that same contractor pays $24/month flat.
That's not a small difference. And it gets larger with volume.
Honest limitations: Manifold doesn't produce the structured 2D floor plan format that MagicPlan is known for. If you specifically need a floor plan drawing with labeled walls and dimensions — the kind architects and insurance software like Xactimate expects — MagicPlan has that and Manifold doesn't replicate it exactly.
Manifold's Orbit Measure produces a measurable 3D model from any phone — you can take measurements, share it with clients, and use it as a spatial record. It's not a structured floor plan drawing. For most field documentation use cases that's fine. For Xactimate-workflow restoration contractors, MagicPlan's Xactimate integration may still be relevant.
If you're hitting MagicPlan's project cap regularly, you're almost certainly paying more per month than the headline subscription price. The overage model rewards low-volume users and penalises busy contractors. If your job volume is variable or growing, the unpredictability adds real cost beyond what you're actually paying.
Try Manifold free — no credit card, unlimited projects from day one. Or see the full MagicPlan vs Manifold comparison.
Compare Manifold
Real pricing, honest comparisons. No spin.