Top 5 Free Alternatives to AutoCAD In 2020
AutoCAD is one of the most important and useful applications for different engineering and professions such as architecture. Meet the 5 free alternatives to the platform.
For many engineering professionals, there is no better application that day by day improves and facilitates their work than AutoCAD. This platform developed by Autodesk has become for many years the favorite of civil engineers, mechanical, industrial and construction engineers and more, as well as of course the favorite of architects and designers, given the quality of the tool, it represents for drawing on two and three dimensions, among many other things.
Such an application, which is so useful and can be commercially profited ( and of course it is ) on such a scale, is logically very expensive. AutoCAD’s license for one computer reaches $ 1,000, and for about $ 4,000 they offer business “combos” for licenses for up to 5 computers. For the engineering or architecture student who wants to begin to become familiar with the tool that will accompany them in their day-to-day work, these prices are almost unattainable, in most cases.
Therefore, thanks to free software, several tools that we can consider, free of charge, that we consider viable alternatives to AutoCAD, have been born, not only to familiarize ourselves but to work with CAD models using them. Meet 5 great alternatives to AutoCAD, totally free.
1. BRL-CAD
One of the best free AutoCAD alternatives available. BRL-CAD offers cross-platform support (Windows, Mac, Linux), a wealth of image editing, and modeling tools.
It has an interactive geometric editor, image and signal processing, as well as a great rendering capacity. It is a fairly comprehensive computerized design (or CAD) tool and a favorite of many.
Get it here: https://brlcad.org/
2. LibreCAD
Another of the most popular free alternatives to AutoCAD. Of course, this time, LibreCAD only offers 2D design. Created using the source code of another free design tool called QCad Community Edition (also part of this list), its main advantages are being quite light, having an interface similar to that of AutoCAD, and again, being cross-platform.
Get it here: https://librecad.org/
3. FreeCAD
My personal favorite. FreeCAD offers experience and interfaces incredibly similar to that of AutoCAD, making it ideal for those who have the Autodesk program in the office, and at home want to keep the experience as similar as possible.
Of course, the great advantage for those who specialize in mechanical and industrial engineering is that FreeCAD focuses a lot in this area. It offers a wide variety of tools to assist in the design of mechanical elements. It is also cross-platform.
Get it here: https://www.freecadweb.org/
4. gCAD3D
This application has several very useful tools and features, including integrated 3D-OpenGL visualization, plus all the “basics” in a computerized design program. Available for Windows and Linux through its official website, which is in German and may seem a bit confusing, but the application is worth testing.
Get it here: http://www.gcad3d.org/
5. QCad
QCad only offers support for two-dimensional (2D) designs, however, it is one of the most popular and recognized since having released its source code, many other free CAD applications have been born based on it, such as LibreCAD.
It is easy to use thanks to its fairly clean and understandable interface, which even today we could consider easier to understand than that of AutoCAD itself, which seems to be more complicated every year, especially for inexperienced users. With over 10 years of tradition, QCad is perhaps the best known AutoCAD alternative in the world and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Get it here: https://www.qcad.org/en/
These are great totally free and legal alternatives software, that will help the professional or student to satisfy the need for a great design application such as AutoCAD. As a “bonus”, PythonCAD is another great alternative to the commercial CAD platform, but this time being exclusive to Linux users, which is definitely worth trying.
