WagglyFawn Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 I'm just curious because I've heard it go both ways. It's hard to do any research without these companies wanting all of your information, and I think I'd prefer some unbiased feedback. This is for work. If I can't come to a conclusion from the responses could I at least get a ballpark figure for a Solidworks price? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 They cost appoximately the same but Inventor includes AutoCAD for free. The two programs are nearly identical for the stuff most people do. I would give Inventor the edge for ease of use (the UI). I would give SolidWorks the edge for complex surfacing. Check the market cap here http://www.daratech.com second chart Autodesk=Inventor Dassualt=SolidWorks (and other products) The president of SolidWorks recently quit (although I'm not sure that makes any difference as the new guy seems to be on the ball. The original founder of SolidWorks quit a while ago and started another CAD software company. Not sure this is really relevant - I think the company has gone well beyond its original founders. Check out their respective user help forums. Get dog-and-pony demonstrations but they are like used car salesmen. I could come in and give you a demo of either and make the other look absolutly horrid. Thats what the sales pitch is all about. Thats why they will push very hard for an on-site demo. If one cannot make the other look bad then it is simply an inexperienced salesman (actually they will always send a salesman and an Application Engineer). Any question you ask of either company has been asked a thousand times before and they will be well prepaired to shoot down the competition. Resellers should be willing to send you a 30-day trial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Inventor is better than both ProEngineer/Desktop and Solidworks. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quamper Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 They cost appoximately the same but Inventor includes AutoCAD for free. Is that really true? I've heard that once or twice before but I've never seen anything that says that's the case. Aren't Vanilla Autocad and Inventor about the same price? Why would you buy Vanilla Autocad if you can get both together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WagglyFawn Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 Inventor is 8000 and Acad is 4000. That's why I was only asking for a SolidWorks price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quamper Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Inventor is 8000 and Acad is 4000. That's why I was only asking for a SolidWorks price. Ahh you were looking at Inventor Professional vs. Inventor Suite.. I didn't realize there were two different version with that big of a price spread. I was under the impression it was $4-5K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quamper Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 For SW pricing maybe this gets you a general idea http://www.tdt-tanduc.com/servlet/mainpage.soft_provider?id=23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Is that really true? I've heard that once or twice before but I've never seen anything that says that's the case. Aren't Vanilla Autocad and Inventor about the same price? Why would you buy Vanilla Autocad if you can get both together? We get both for the one price- effectively free for one - in Education licenses. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Is that really true? I've heard that once or twice before but I've never seen anything that says that's the case. http://store.autodesk.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=adsk&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=80215900 Inventor is $5295 USD and includes AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical and Mechanical Desktop. Inventor is a completely different product than vanilla AutoCAD and these two AutoCAD verticals. I think it was Feb 2001 when Autodesk announced that MDT would no longer be sold but instead come free with the Inventor Series. (Make that 2002 http://www.caddigest.com/subjects/adesk_mdt/select/cadreport_013102.htm been that way ever since. Inventor Professional is a bit more and includes FEA, Routed Systems and Dynamic Simulation. There are also a couple of different combinations of this, Inventor Routed Systems or Inventor Analysis with FEA and Dynamic Simulation. Inventor LT is currently free (limited availability) and is projected to be around $999 USD later this spring. http://labs.autodesk.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazer Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Thats why they will push very hard for an on-site demo. If one cannot make the other look bad then it is simply an inexperienced salesman (actually they will always send a salesman and an Application Engineer). Any question you ask of either company has been asked a thousand times before and they will be well prepaired to shoot down the competition. . 100% true, I have had salesmen from Inventor, Catia, Solid Edge and Solidworks, all shooting down the other company, I looked in what we wanted from the program and the ideal package for us was Inventor Simulation Suite. We paid around £6000 and this included Autocad 2008. As for your question 'is Inventor better than Solidworks', for me it is because I know how to use Inventor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 100% true, I have had salesmen from... Catia, ...and Solidworks, all shooting down the other company... Actually Catia and SolidWorks are owned by the same company (Dassualt). Makes it interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazer Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 I know, the Solidworks salesman said Solidworks was perfect for what we wanted, and 2 week later we had a Catia Demo and he said Catia was perfect for what we wanted, never really slated each other but did slate Inventor and Solid Edge, as did Inventor slate the other 3 and Solid Edge salesman slate all other parties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 This is interesting - you have to be on subscription to download and install SWX service packs. http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=206918&page=1 Not so with Autodesk service packs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazer Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 ...dame that's nasty, reading that I am glad I now stuck with Autodesk products:lol:, I have a few friends using Solidworks on that site, time to wind them up I think:twisted: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arusho Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 I'm just curious because I've heard it go both ways. It's hard to do any research without these companies wanting all of your information, and I think I'd prefer some unbiased feedback. This is for work. If I can't come to a conclusion from the responses could I at least get a ballpark figure for a Solidworks price? Thanks! No, I don't like Inventor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdkriek Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I have used both programs professionally and prefer Inventor, but essentially from my perspective they are the same program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobzy20 Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Hi I thought I would add this: Note: Prices are rough and will differ from resellers. SolidWorks 2010 = £4,250 SolidWorks Professional 2010 = £5,500 SolidWorks Premium 2010 = £6,750 Training Official SolidWorks Training = £300/day per person Support & Maintenance SolidWorks Annual Support = £1,000 SolidWorks Professional Annual Support = £1,250 SolidWorks Premium Annual Support = £1,500 Thanks Bobzy20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kencaz Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 I would say Inventor over Solidworks but I am biased because Inventor is better then Solidworks... KC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 If you already have AutoCAD or most any other CAD program you can get a competitive upgrade price for far less than a SW seat but the sub price will be about the same. Also remember that most SW users do not upgrade until about Service Pack 4 because of all the "bugs" that the subscription has to pay for. With Inventor you do not need to pay for your bug fixes and starting with SW2010 SP4 you cannot even install a Service Pack without the software itself being on subscription (software locked updates). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Product matrix for Inventor is on page 15 http://blogs.rand.com/files/inv11_techwhatsnew_us.pdf Most versions of Inventor also include AutoCAD and AutoCAD Mechanical for free. (all but LT version) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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