Dicksham Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 hi, cad lovers, do you know any cheaper solidworks alternative available in the market? forget the piracy copies. as i know, there is a cheap autocad alternative, like "CMS intellicad", which costs only 1/10 of autocad listed price (CMS intellicad just less than US$250). it is built from an open source, legal to buy and use. nearly 100% same quality and function. How about solidworks alternatives? let's share if you know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkristia Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Alibre has a free version called Express (I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicksham Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 personally, i have tried CMS intellicad and found its functions are nearly the same as Autocad. up to now, i cannot find problem to read/write autocad native files. i will download alibre to evaluate. it seems that alibre is not bad, although it lacks of surfacing commands. But for simple mechanical design, it may be enough. Alibre has 3d modeling, assembly & drafting. Also, paying more can have rendering, sheetmetal, cae.... alibre express is the limited version only, many important commands are blocked to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkristia Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 I know the express is the limited version, but at least it is free. Alibre has an offer going right now whre for $300 you can get the full v12 (I think you pay 99$ for the existing version and $200 for the upgrade). I have played with the trial version just for fun, but as long as my student edition of SW 2009 works I will stick to SW. (all just a hobby). If you are looking for a free 2D cad then there is DoubleCAD XT (which is pretty much TurboCAD with only 2D) and it is free, so you cant beat that price . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicksham Posted September 21, 2009 Author Share Posted September 21, 2009 thanks, jkristia. So surprised to learn there is a Free autocad alterative, DoubleCAD XT! i must download it and try. Do anyone know if it is ok to replace autocad? any read/write problem? maybe i post another thread to discuss this... Back to this thread, Alibre is quite good for simple mechanical designs; however, it is very weak in surfacing that we cannot use it to create stylish models. Someone in other forum suggests VX. Did you try it before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZacDGibson Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Draftsight is a very capably fully featured 2d alternative to Autocad, that works with all major Operating Systems. i also hear that Bricscad is also a good alternative offering 2d and 3d capabilities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdharvey Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Creo (previously pro e) do a personal free package as do autodesk. Autodesks is called 123design creo personnel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 You have not given any explaination of what you need (other than surfacing)? 3D single part models (I assume). Assemblies with basic kinematics? 2D drawings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.