This page compares Procore Project Financials with Planyard for UK and Ireland contractors. We focus on cumulative valuations, automated payment notices, CIS, and VAT for Quantity Surveyors and FDs.
Short answer: Planyard is the ‘plug-and-play’ alternative for UK SMBs who need a simpler, audited workflow that doesn’t charge for projects during the tendering stage.
Do not run Procore Financials and Planyard side by side. Use Planyard for financials and Procore’s non-financial modules for site/project management.
Public summaries from major review sites.
| Product | Rating | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Procore (overall) | ~4.5 / 5.0 |  Full platform.  For SMBs: steeper learning curve, higher total cost, accounting connectors needed; teams often export to Excel for financials. |
| Planyard | 4.6 / 5.0 | Praised for ease of use, visibility and clean Xero/QuickBooks/Sage sync. Reviewers cite reduced manual entry and a full audit trail. |
Quotes: “Planyard integrates seamlessly with accounting.” · “We finally stopped updating endless cost spreadsheets.”
Procore Financials expects cost codes and general ledger accounts to mirror your accounting system. In practice this causes:
Planyard avoids this. It uses your accounting chart as the source of truth, enforces coding at approval, and only then posts approved items to Xero/QuickBooks/Sage. No mirroring, no drift, no duplicate entry.
| Aspect | Planyard | Procore (Financials) |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation Basis | Cumulative valuations; the UK industry standard. |
Net in the month; creates difficult percentage math. |
| UK Legislation | Built for Construction Act & Building Safety Act. |
Reported as ‘behind the pack’ on UK safety/payment laws. |
| CIS Handling | Native sync; triggers your Xero/Sage CIS scheme. |
Integrations often misclassify gross/net amounts. |
| User Access | No login required for subs; they use a secure link. |
Complex logins lead to teams ‘bending rules’. |
| Project Billing | Manage tenders/bids without counting toward live project costs. |
Often bills for tendering sites as ‘Live’. |
How approvals, valuations, retentions, CIS and forecasting work — UK SME insights
Planyard prevents surveyors from raising large subcontracts without checks. Unlike Procore, where users may ‘bend rules’ to bypass workflows, Planyard provides a month-over-month budget timeline. This creates an audit trail showing exactly when and why budgets were revised.
Planyard tracks cumulative valuations rather than just net monthly payments. Subcontractors submit progress via a secure link—no login required. This automatically generates Payment Notices, protecting your firm from ‘smash and grab’ claims under the Construction Act.
No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.
Planyard updates CVR/EAC automatically as orders, invoices and variations are approved, so QSs and FDs can spot issues without rebuilding Excel models.
Procore Financials has strong reporting, but many UK teams still export to Excel for cost-to-complete.
Planyard ‘piggybacks’ on your Xero or Sage contact records. If a subcontractor is set for a CIS scheme in your accounting software, Planyard pushes the data so the correct deduction is applied automatically. This avoids the £100k+ reconciliation errors found in Smoothlink-style integrations.
Planyard usually pilots a live job in days; Procore Financials often requires deeper template/cost-code setup and training.
| Product | Typical duration | Typical steps |
|---|---|---|
| Planyard | A few days to a week |
|
| Procore (Financials) | Weeks to months |
|
Planyard has transparent per user plans and a free trial. Procore pricing is custom-quoted as part of the wider platform. The Xero/QuickBooks/Sage integrations are included in all Planyard plans.
Cost Estimating
Estimating and Budget Control
Estimating, Cost Control and Purchase Orders Management
Full Functionality
They are not a like-for-like swap, but you should not use both for financials. Run Planyard as your commercial control (budgets, approvals, 3-way match, valuations/retentions, forecasting) and use Procore’s non-financial modules for field/docs. Only approved, fully coded costs leave Planyard and hit Xero/QuickBooks/Sage — no duplicates, no re-typing.
Sources and last updated. Public Procore and Planyard reviews, customer interviews and product documentation. Last reviewed 3 December 2025.
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Planyard uses granular role-based permissions and an audit timeline. You can see every movement in the budget over the life of the project, with increases highlighted in red.
No. Subcontractors receive a secure link to submit valuations. This removes the technical barrier that often causes site teams to bypass software workflows.
By automating the Payment Notice process. Planyard ensures your commercial team issues notices on time based on the Valuation period, meeting UK Construction Act requirements.
Users ask this — Planyard uses role-based permissions and approval-based posting to accounting so subcontracts and orders can be held for manager approval before they post; all approvals and changes are recorded in the audit trail.
Teams often ask this — Planyard is intentionally simple but includes granular permissions, immutable audit history and month-over-month visibility of budget/valuation changes so numbers cannot be silently altered.
Yes — use Planyard for financials and Procore’s non-financial modules (drawings, RFIs, daily diaries). There is no direct sync between them; accounting is the bridge.
Yes, for budgets, commitments/POs, approvals, valuations/retentions and forecasting. Planyard does not replace Procore’s field/project modules.
Yes. Planyard supports subcontractor/client valuations, retention schedules and CIS workflows together with Xero, QuickBooks and Sage.
Planyard usually pilots in days. Procore Financials typically requires a longer setup with templates, cost codes and training.
Yes. Planyard replaces budget, PO and pay-app spreadsheets with live approvals and forecasting that post to your ledger.
Yes. Most teams connect accounting, import a live budget and trial Planyard on one project before rolling out.
No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.