--- description: Review of FreeCAD Software: system overview, features, price and cost information. Get free demos and compare to similar programs. image: https://gdm-localsites-assets-gfprod.imgix.net/images/software_advice/og_logo-55146305bbe7b450bea05c18e9be9c9a.png title: FreeCAD | Reviews, Pricing & Demos - SoftwareAdvice AU --- Breadcrumb: [Home](/) > [Engineering CAD Software](/directory/4321/engineering-cad/software) > [FreeCAD](/software/77907/freecad) # FreeCAD Canonical: https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/77907/freecad Page: 1 / 7\ Next: [Next page](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/77907/freecad?page=2) > FreeCAD is an open-source, customizable 3D modeler that helps users in mechanical engineering and product design. Designed as a scriptable CAD solution, the software allows users to manage architectural and electrical design functions. Primary features of FreeCAD include geometry kernels, rendering, a sketcher, modular architecture, a robot simulation, standard formats and path mode. Additionally, the solution has an integrated Python interpreter and API to handle geometry representation, interface and applications. The software provides GUI based on the Qt framework along with the inventor 3D viewer enabling users to manage rendering and scene graph representation. FreeCAD also portrays native support of STEP and IGES formats, Boolean operations, fillets and geometric entities. The software extends support through documentation and tutorials. What is FreeCAD? FreeCAD is an open-source, customizable 3D modeler that helps users in mechanical engineering and product design. Designed as a scriptable CAD solution, the software allows users to manage architectural and electrical design functions. How do you use FreeCAD? After downloading, users operate the software within the 'Main Area View', which enables the design of 2D or 3D geometrical objects in a variety of different views. FreeCAD is based on a 'workbench' concept which separates a collection of tools needed for a specific task, such as 2D drawings, meshes, or constrained sketching. How much does FreeCAD cost? FreeCAD is open-source software available free for download. Who uses FreeCAD? FreeCAD is used by a diverse community of users from developers, product designers, and mechanical engineers. Does FreeCAD have an app? FreeCAD does not have a standalone app. Its open-source software must be downloaded to a local machine for direct access. > > Verdict: Rated **4.3/5** by 142 users. Top-rated for **Likelihood to recommend**. ----- ## Quick Stats & Ratings | Metric | Rating | Detail | | **Overall** | **4.3/5** | 142 Reviews | | Ease of Use | 3.9/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Customer Support | 3.8/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Value for Money | 4.7/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Features | 4.1/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Recommendation percentage | 80% | (8/10 Likelihood to recommend) | ## About the vendor - **Company**: FreeCAD ## Commercial Context - **Pricing model**: Other (Free version available) - **Pricing Details**: Contact FreeCAD for pricing details. - **Target Audience**: Self Employed, 2–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 501–1,000, 1,001–5,000, 5,001–10,000, 10,000+ - **Deployment & Platforms**: Mac (Desktop), Windows (On-Premise), Linux (On-Premise) - **Supported Languages**: English - **Available Countries**: United States ## Features - 2D Drawing - 3D Design & Modeling - 3D Imaging - API - Annotations - CAD Tools - Collaboration Tools - Data Import/Export - Document Management - Electrical - For 3D Printing - For Architects - For Manufacturers - Mechanical - Modeling & Simulation - Project Management - Reporting/Analytics ## Support Options - Chat ## Category - [Engineering CAD Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/directory/4321/engineering-cad/software) ## Related Categories - [Engineering CAD Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/directory/4321/engineering-cad/software) - [3D CAD Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/directory/4384/3d-cad/software) ## Alternatives 1. [Altium Develop](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/310581/altium-designer) — 4.6/5 (181 reviews) 2. [AutoCAD](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/390127/autocad) — 4.7/5 (3205 reviews) 3. [SolidWorks Premium](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/206302/solidworks-premium) — 4.6/5 (756 reviews) 4. [Alibre Design](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/309859/alibre-design) — 4.7/5 (182 reviews) 5. [MATLAB](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/264043/matlab) — 4.6/5 (2090 reviews) ## Reviews ### "Good free tool, but not at the level of the bests. Ideal for small companies and simple project" — 4.0/5 > **Rubén** | *24 October 2022* | Design | Recommendation rating: 7.0/10 > > **Pros**: This is a good software for 3D design. It is for free and there is a great community that can give support to you, with a lot of tutorials in Youtube. Since I am a contributor of other free and open software like KiCad, it's great to have a 3D design tool like FreeCAD. Also it has many integrated tools to work with 3D and 2D designs, you can review models, import many file formats and convert some meshes like STL to a solid. > > **Cons**: FreeCAD has some bugs and some of the functionality is not very intuitive. From my point of view, the bugs are its worst disadvantage and some of them are the next ones: the third-party components are sometimes not imported properly, that could be because the design is broken, but I experimented it several times, so I suppose there is some bug or incompatibility; the mesh-to-solid conversion sometimes fails; when you are designing a 3D part that has some features like chamfers or edge roundings, if you changes the previous steps and it makes the number of faces varies, the part will break down, so its important to keep this bug in mind and do those conflictive features in the last steps of the part design. > > I usually work with non-very complicated designs and I am used to created them from the typical 2D sketches, but I can highlight some features I like and the ones that helped me more: it is possible to import an STL file (a mesh) and convert it to a solid, which you can work with later (very useful if you want to modify any design found on the Internet); there are many plugins that help to improve FreeCAD, i.e. I use KiCadStepUp tool to import a KiCad PCB easily and be able to see the entire design with it's electronic part, which includes every electronic component. ----- ### "Great open source program" — 5.0/5 > **Gregory** | *19 July 2024* | Consumer Electronics | Recommendation rating: 10.0/10 > > **Pros**: -Open source -Easy to use -Many different workbenches -Many file formats supported -Preferred to Solidworks > > **Cons**: -Near no customer service and sometimes sub-par tutorials -Getting the right install location can be difficult -Some operations fail unexpectedly -Hard to use with sheet metal fabricated parts ----- ### "FreeCad - Great hobbiest cad with a caveat" — 3.0/5 > **James** | *18 October 2023* | Libraries | Recommendation rating: 7.0/10 > > **Pros**: I use freecad to design high power rockets. I also teach it to our STEAM club students at our local library. It is a great exposure for them to using a parametric 3D modeler and with addons provides a simple way to develop rocket components (e.g., nosecone, fin-can, etc.) > > **Cons**: Freecad has one major bug that needs to be fixed before I can generally recommend it. That is the infamous "topological naming problem". This issue is not unique to Freecad. Most parametric modelers have to deal with this issue in some way. In a nutshell, when you add, remove or slice sections of a model that has other sketches extruded from it, then all the surfaces get renamed. This causes the point of attachment of new sketches to be changed, so an extrusion may suddenly come out from the side instead of the top of the model. The Freecad development team is working on this issue, but as an open-source project developed primarily by volunteers progress is slow. Development work on this problem has recently picked up though. Once this is solved, I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone need a parametric 3d modeler. > > Freecad provides an easy method to develop rocket components. This allows students the opportunity to use a parametric 3d modeler to model 3d components that they can then print on a 3d printer and finally actually see their rockets "Blast Off\!' It works well for our use at the library and could be useful for many hobbiest projects. It is probably not quite ready for most production work, but that could change soon one the topological naming issue is resolved. ----- ### "Excellent product for free" — 4.0/5 > **Michael** | *2 April 2020* | Health, Wellness & Fitness | Recommendation rating: 8.0/10 > > **Pros**: Price (free), functionality: solid modeling (not just a collection of lines, arc and circles) , features, (eventual) ease of use, ability to create .stl files for 3D printer. The software is parametric meaning you can adjust dimensions and update the model, ability to create assemblies. > > **Cons**: Steep learning curve but thankfully with YouTube... I haven't looked for awhile but the documentation was lacking when I first got into it. I haven't had to use the forum for help so I can't speak to that but in searching the forum it seems to be very active with volunteers answering questions. > > Love it. I used Pro/ENGINEER in the early 90's and it was such a wonderful leap over AutoCAD but hugely expensive. I used my outdated copy of AutoCAD for years until I discovered FreeCAD 5 or 6 years ago. Initially it was a steep learning curve but with the abundance of videos on YouTube and perseverance I am now quite adept at using it. I have designed/built a semi-automatic machine for my production and have several 3D printed tools used in that machine. FreeCAD has been a Godsend for developing and evaluating my ideas and I would definitely recommend it if you are a small business with minimal or no budget for expensive CAD software. ----- ### "The only viable solution if you want free and offline cad package" — 5.0/5 > **Marius** | *27 July 2021* | Information Services | Recommendation rating: 10.0/10 > > **Pros**: Can create any part you can imagine, exports to 3d printing friendly formats, sketching and part design workbenches are relatively easy to learn. > > **Cons**: There are some software quirks on of them is you can not attach sketch to surface and modify the body that the sketch is attached it will mess up the part, while there are ways around that I wish they would fix it in the next iteration of the software. Also if downloading official release the UI is outdated. > > It's a powerfull CAD tool, and the best part it's totally free. ----- Page: 1 / 7\ Next: [Next page](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/77907/freecad?page=2) ## Links - [View on SoftwareAdvice](https://www.softwareadvice.com.au/software/77907/freecad) ## This page is available in the following languages | Locale | URL | | de | | | en | | | en-AU | | | en-GB | | | en-IE | | | en-NZ | | | fr | | ----- ## Structured Data