Comparison
Wave vs DocuSketch: Workflow vs the Estimate Itself
DocuSketch captures, scopes, and hands off to Xactimate. Wave writes the estimate itself. A fair breakdown of pricing, workflow, and AI.
DocuSketch is a workflow. Wave is the estimate.
DocuSketch is a documentation, scoping, and sketching platform that prepares you to write an estimate somewhere else. They even acquired a team of human estimators to close the loop. Wave removes the workflow entirely. You describe the job, Wave writes the estimate. That's the product.
DocuSketch's own marketing spells out their workflow: "01. Capture. 02. Scope. 03. Estimate." Three steps, three tools, often three different people. Wave collapses all three into one chat.
The core difference
DocuSketch has a 360 field documentation platform used by thousands of restoration professionals. Their new 360AI engine, launched in March 2026, turns captured tours into floor plans and preliminary estimates. They partnered with Verisk at launch to align with carrier-compliant workflows.
All of that is real. It is also a platform built to feed into Xactimate and Cotality, not to replace them.
Wave is the estimate. You talk to Wave on site. The estimate exists by the time you walk out. No sketch required. No camera hardware. No office estimator. No outsourced Estimating service. No partnership with Verisk to make the estimate carrier-compliant, because Wave outputs a professional PDF that adjusters accept.
Different products, different mental models. DocuSketch makes the old workflow faster. Wave replaces it.
At a glance
| Wave | DocuSketch | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary product | Estimating tool | Documentation and sketching platform |
| On-site time per job | 10 to 20 minutes | 45 to 60+ minutes scanning, plus waiting |
| Hardware required | Any phone | Optimized for DocuSketch's devices and workflow |
| Workflow steps | Estimate | Capture, scope, estimate |
| Estimate turnaround | Instant when you walk out | Moments to hours after scan upload; next business day via Estimating service |
| Estimate producer | Field technician with Wave AI | Office estimator, outsourced DocuSketch team, or 360AI feeding into Xactimate |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly, unlimited users | Base subscription + sketching credits + Estimating service tiers |
| Starting price | $199/month | $500 to $5,000+/month depending on tier and services |
| AI approach | Native estimate generation from natural language | 360 capture feeds floor plans, scopes, and preliminary estimates into Verisk-compliant workflows |
| Ideal user | Any operator, any loss type | Large franchises with spatial documentation needs |
How Wave actually works
Open Wave. No menus, no code trees, no camera to charge. There is one chat box and a short greeting.
You type or speak what you see on site. Customer name, address, loss category, cause of loss, which rooms are affected. Wave pulls the scope out of natural language and asks short follow-up questions to fill in what's missing. Most follow-ups are multiple choice. Tap A, B, C, or D and keep moving.
When Wave has enough information, it generates the complete estimate. Line items grouped by room, with subtotals. Equipment sized from the room dimensions you provided, using IICRC drying science. PPE kit auto-added and scaled to the loss category. Every line item a senior estimator would know to add.
Every line item self-documents. Edit inline. Talk to Wave to revise. Export when ready. Total time: 10 to 20 minutes on the job site, from any phone.
Your technician wrote the estimate. No office handoff. No outsourced team. No sketch. No camera.
How DocuSketch works
The technician arrives on site with a 360 camera. DocuSketch optimizes for their own devices and workflow, so most users carry the DS1 or a compatible capture device.
The technician scans the property room by room, capturing 360 tours. This typically takes 45 to 60 minutes on a standard residential water loss, longer on larger or more complex jobs. More rooms, more capture time. Exterior documentation adds more.
Once capture is complete, the technician uploads the tour to the DocuSketch app and requests a sketch. Sketching is credit-based: one credit per 2,500 square feet, so a larger home consumes multiple credits. The sketch generates after upload. Turnaround runs anywhere from moments to hours, depending on tier and plan.
Once the sketch is ready, scope information is added manually on top of it. Rooms, materials, damage types, line items.
Then comes the actual estimate. The technician has several paths:
- Hand the DocuSketch output to an internal estimator, who writes the estimate in Xactimate or Cotality
- Subscribe to DocuSketch's Estimating as a Service, which employs Xactimate and Cotality specialists to write the estimate for you, typically returned within one business day
- Use the new 360AI engine, launched March 2026, to generate a preliminary estimate from the captured 360 data that still flows into Verisk-aligned workflows
In every path, the technician on site has captured documentation. The estimate itself comes from somewhere else, whether that's another person, an outsourced team, or an AI that still requires the capture layer to function.
The workflow thesis
This is the heart of the comparison.
DocuSketch is not an estimating tool. It is a documentation, scoping, and sketching workflow that feeds into an estimating tool. That distinction matters because it tells you where your time and money go.
With DocuSketch, you spend 45 to 60 minutes scanning before the estimate even begins. You wait for the sketch to generate. You add scope information manually. You pay for the camera or device. You pay for credits by square footage. You either hire an in-house estimator to write in Xactimate, pay DocuSketch's Estimating service to write it for you, or wait for 360AI to produce a preliminary version that still needs review. Total costs reportedly range from $500 per month on entry plans to over $5,000 per month for high-volume customers running the full stack.
By the time the estimate reaches the adjuster's inbox, you have paid multiple parties and waited through a multi-step pipeline.
Wave is the estimate. You spend 10 to 20 minutes on site in a chat. The estimate exists when you walk out. You export. You send. Your technician wrote it. No handoff. No scanning. No subscription tiers for different pieces of the workflow. No outsourced estimators.
One tool. One flat price. One person. One 20-minute conversation. One estimate.
Why Wave wins
The field technician is the estimator
DocuSketch's entire model assumes your field technician captures documentation and someone else writes the estimate. That someone else is an internal Xactimate specialist, an outsourced DocuSketch estimator, or an AI that still depends on captured 360 data. Wave puts the estimator role in the field technician's hands. The person walking the loss is the person writing the estimate. Every technician on your team becomes an estimator the moment they can describe what they see.
Minutes, not hours on site
Scanning a typical residential job with DocuSketch takes 45 to 60 minutes of capture time, and at the end of it, you still don't have an estimate. Wave is 10 to 20 minutes from arrival to finished estimate, on any phone. Your team gets off the job site faster, starts billing sooner, and runs more jobs per day.
No hardware dependency
DocuSketch optimizes for their own devices and workflow. That's another piece of equipment to buy, train on, maintain, and keep charged. Wave runs on the phone already in your pocket. A technician on their first day can use Wave without training. No camera. No capture technique. No charging cable.
One flat price, no credit math
DocuSketch pricing is a stack: base subscription, plus sketching credits that scale by square footage, plus Estimating service tiers that scale by claim volume. Publicly reported total costs range from around $500 per month at entry tier to over $5,000 per month for high-volume customers running the full stack. Wave is $199 per month on Pro. $299 on Growth. $495 on Ultra for unlimited estimates. Save two months when you pay annually. Same price whether you write 5 estimates or 500.
AI that writes the estimate, not AI that feeds it forward
DocuSketch's 360AI is a real product and a useful step for their customer base. But the AI output is designed to flow into Verisk-compliant workflows. DocuSketch partnered with Verisk at the 360AI launch, which tells you the direction. Their AI accelerates the path to Xactimate. Wave's AI produces the complete estimate directly. Your technician wrote it, your adjuster receives it, nothing else required.
No outsourced team in the middle
When DocuSketch customers need an estimate fast, the answer is often their Estimating as a Service tier, where human Xactimate and Cotality specialists write the estimate on a next-business-day SLA. That service exists because their software alone doesn't close the loop for most operators. Wave doesn't need a human team behind the scenes. The AI writes the estimate on site, and the technician reviews and exports. No middleman.
Where DocuSketch wins
Three honest scenarios.
You're a large restoration franchise with formal spatial documentation requirements for claim defensibility. 360 imagery is part of your standard claim submission, and the franchise workflow is built around that.
Your carrier relationships or TPA contracts explicitly require 360 capture as part of the evidence package.
You already own the hardware, trained your team on the capture workflow, and have integrated DocuSketch into your claim handling over years. The switching cost is real and the workflow works.
One practical note: nothing stops you from using both. DocuSketch for the sketch, Wave for the estimate. Some teams will find that combination useful, especially when 360 spatial documentation is required by a carrier but the field technician still wants to produce the estimate on site instead of waiting for the next business day.
Who should switch
Restoration contractors who looked at their DocuSketch invoice and wondered why their estimating stack costs more than a vehicle payment.
Small and mid-size operators who don't have a dedicated office estimator and don't want to outsource the estimate writing.
Teams that like DocuSketch's spatial documentation but are tired of waiting next-business-day for an estimate to come back.
Any technician who has thought "why am I spending an hour scanning a house when the adjuster just needs the scope."
Growing operations where buying 360 cameras for every field technician is a real line item.
Anyone who has received a DocuSketch Estimating service invoice and realized the outsourced estimating fees scale with your volume forever.
Try Wave free. 3 estimates included. No credit card required. →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DocuSketch an estimating tool?
Not primarily. DocuSketch is a documentation and sketching platform built around 360 field capture. They offer Estimating as a Service, where their team of Xactimate and Cotality specialists writes your estimates for you based on the documentation you upload. They also launched 360AI in March 2026, which generates preliminary estimates from captured tours. In every case, the estimate output is designed to align with Xactimate or Cotality workflows rather than replace them.
Does Wave replace the DocuSketch 360 camera?
For the estimate itself, yes. Wave doesn't require any camera or 360 capture to produce a complete estimate. If you need 360 spatial documentation for claim defensibility or a carrier requirement, Wave does not capture that today. That's a specific use case DocuSketch serves, and some teams use both tools together.
Can I use both DocuSketch and Wave together?
Yes. DocuSketch for the sketch and spatial documentation, Wave for the estimate. Some teams find this combination useful when carriers require 360 capture but the field technician still wants to produce the estimate on site without waiting for it to come back from an outsourced team.
Is DocuSketch's new 360AI better than Wave?
360AI is a product update for DocuSketch customers. It uses captured 360 tours to generate floor plans, scopes, and preliminary estimates faster than the traditional workflow. The key word is preliminary. 360AI feeds into Verisk-compliant workflows, which means the estimate still flows through Xactimate or Cotality logic. Wave's AI produces the complete estimate directly. Different approach, different output.
What does DocuSketch actually cost?
Pricing depends on your plan and services. Publicly available listings show entry tier subscriptions around $429 to $590 per month. The Estimating as a Service tier starts around $500 per month and scales based on your claim volume, with reported rates around 0.6% of your annual estimating volume. Combined costs for customers running the full stack reportedly range from around $500 per month at entry tier to over $5,000 per month for high-volume operations. Hardware, sketching credits by square footage, and service tiers add up. Wave is $199 per month on Pro, $299 on Growth, or $495 on Ultra for unlimited estimates. Flat subscription, no usage-based fees.
Why does DocuSketch offer Estimating as a Service if they have 360AI?
Because most customers need an actual, completed, insurance-compliant estimate, and 360AI produces a preliminary version that still requires review. The Estimating service exists because the software alone doesn't close the loop for most operators. Customers subscribe to have actual human estimators finish the job on a next-business-day SLA. Wave's AI closes the loop on site in 10 to 20 minutes.
Ready to skip the workflow?
Wave was built by a restoration operator for restoration operators. If you've ever spent 45 minutes scanning a house and then paid someone else to write the estimate it produced, you already know why Wave exists.
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