Updated: August 2026

About this site

An independent guide to the CAD packages people actually buy when AutoCAD’s price stops making sense.

Independence

• No affiliate links. Nothing here pays us if you buy.
• No sponsored placements and no paid reviews.
• No vendor sees a page before it is published, and no vendor has any say in the rankings.
• Scores are not adjusted for commercial relationships, because there are none.

How products are ranked

Scores weigh the things that decide whether a package survives contact with real work, not feature-list length:

• Licence model. Perpetual licences rank above subscriptions. Software you own does not stop opening your drawings when a card expires.
• DWG fidelity. Whether .dwg is the native format or an import path. This is the single biggest predictor of whether a consultant’s drawing comes back intact.
• Cost over five years, not one. A year of subscription always looks cheap. At ≈ $2,095 / year a year, AutoCAD is around $10,000 over five.
• Scope. Whether 2D, 3D, BIM and mechanical live in one licence family or need separate purchases.
• Platform support. Windows-only is a real constraint for a lot of studios.

Where a product is strong in one dimension and weak in another it is said plainly. SketchUp and Rhino score well and still will not replace a drafting package — that is stated on their pages rather than hidden behind a number.

Prices

Every product page links the vendor’s own pricing page. CAD pricing changes often and varies by region, tax and reseller, so confirm the current figure before you buy. Where a vendor restricts a licence type by territory — ZWCAD’s perpetual licences are not sold in the USA or Canada — that is called out on the product page, because it changes the answer entirely.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, it should be fixed. Corrections to pricing, licence terms or product capabilities are welcome and are made on the page itself rather than buried in a footnote.

Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. This site is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Autodesk or any vendor reviewed here.