# Compare FreeCAD vs Altium Develop 2026 | Capterra > Unsure of what to choose? Check Capterra to compare Altium Develop and FreeCAD based on pricing, features, product details, and verified reviews. Source: https://www.capterra.com/compare/167527-175058/FreeCAD-vs-Altium-Designer --- # Altium Develop vs FreeCAD Features and Cost Comparison Last updated May 4th, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team.[Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) Your comparison: Altium DevelopFreeCAD2/4 selected [Altium Develop](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/)[4.6 (181)](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/) [FreeCAD](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/)[4.3 (142)](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/reviews/) [## Altium Develop](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/)[4.6 (181)](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/) Starting Price Contact vendor Value-for-Money 4.2 Functionality 4.6 Ease of Use 4.3 Customer Service 4.2 Reviews Sentiment Based on [181 reviews](#user-reviews) Positive 171 Neutral 7 Negative 3 [## FreeCAD](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/)[4.3 (142)](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/reviews/) Starting Price Contact vendor Value-for-Money 4.7 Functionality 4.1 Ease of Use 3.9 Customer Service 3.8 Reviews Sentiment Based on [142 reviews](#user-reviews) Positive 123 Neutral 14 Negative 5 ## Send this comparison chart to my inbox ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. ## Summary * * * Key features rated by users Features selected based on 2,499 reviews from engineering cad software users. about the Fit Score methodology. Fit Score methodology Our Fit Score reflects how reviewers rate a product’s performance against a set of features reviewers rate as most important. A higher score indicates the product is rated better in delivering what reviewers most care about. If the Fit Score is not shown for a specific product, that only means there are currently not enough relevant data points to develop a meaningful score. It does not indicate that the product should be excluded from further evaluation. Best for Methodology 81%Fit High performer Feature ratings CAD Tools 4.4 Document Generation 4.5 2D Drawing 4.3 Bills of Material 4.6 Data Import/Export 4.4 60%Fit Missing features Feature ratings CAD Tools 4.4 Document Generation NA 2D Drawing 4.0 Bills of Material NA Data Import/Export 4.0 User satisfaction User satisfaction 4.6 User reviews[181](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/) Ease of use 4.3 Functionality 4.6 Value for money 4.2 Customer support 4.2 User satisfaction 4.3 User reviews[142](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/reviews/) Ease of use 3.9 Functionality 4.1 Value for money 4.7 Customer support 3.8 Price starts from Price starts from \-- - Free version - Free trial Price starts from \-- - Free version - Free trial Best for Best for Altium Develop is built for developers, IT teams, and enterprises needing to integrate, customize, and extend product design and collaboration workflows. Best for On-premise 3D parametric modeler platform that enables architects, programmers, and teachers to make machine tools and architectural designs in 2D and 3D thereby creating production-ready drawings. ## User reviews Pros & cons DM Derese M. Electronics Design Engineer > "What I like the most is its interactive cloud based design showing feature, which avoids opening Altium Designer every time I want to..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6809628) KA Karl A. PCB Designer, Embedded Hardware Engineer > "The fact that some readily available extensions, like PDN and SI Analyzer by Keysight, are NOT available to standard (perpetual..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6628640) SI Stefano I. Electronics engineer > "It allows projects and component management, mechanical CAD integration and has useful sharing features, so that all designers in my..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6331967) PM Petros M. Junior Technical Engineer > "What I liked the least about Altium 365 is the learning curve, which is a little difficult for beginner designers" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6842337) AA Ashenafi A. Technical Supervisor and Hardware Engineer > "It allows me to access my designs anytime through web based interactive interface." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6828361) KA Kamal A. Sales and Technical coordinator > "The BOM files aren't updated according to the schematic, for instance by updating the BOM doc, you will face some troubles." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6628952) BH Binyam H. Electromechanical Engineer > "It allowed me to collaborate with my team in a single workspace while doing projects." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6814770) Abel A. Electrical and Computer Engineer > "Its subscription pricing is somehow unaffordable, so beginner designers and academicians might not be able to use this incredible..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6401764) JD Jon D. Configuration Systems Engineer > "Altium Designer is an intelligent and user-friendly PCB design platform that has enhanced my company's design capabilities..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6618911) MB Maya B. Design and Engineering > "Lack of generic symbol libraries and having to build up your own libraries before you actually can get down to your design." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6618520) Abdi M. Hardware Designer > "I like its cloud based collaboration and its support for import and export of documents in various formats." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6401745) BD Bethlehem D. Electronic Engineer > "The thing I don't like about Altium 365 is that the pricing for subscription is a little expensive." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6822374) GH Gebregziabher H. Electrical and Electronics divisions Head > "Over Altium 365 is a very helpful tool for professional in the field of electronics design." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6818299) BH Binyam H. Electromechanical Engineer > "Some of the features are hard to learn at first glance since there aren't plenty of free resourses to learn about it." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6814770) AC Abera C. Maintenance Engineer > "I liked the feature that allows my supervisors could see what I am doing and they give me a real time feedbacks and assistances." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6402715) DF Derese F. Electronics Engineer > "The thing I don't like is it hasn't many resources online to learn its full features." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6824237) SC Stephan C. Student > "I am somewhat new to PCB design so I don’t need all this power yet but it definitely gives you control over any part you want and is..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6369268) AC Abera C. Maintenance Engineer > "It requires a lot of money to use this great tool, and this is not affordable by beginner designers like me and my coworkers." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6402715) FN Fatih N. Embedded hardware engineer > "It brought true cloud-based hardware design to our workflow." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6827772) OS Owen S. Electrical Engineer > "Cost and sometimes performance issues with very large assemblies and models." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6362119) NA Nick A. Founder > "As a small tech startup we don't have the resources and man power that a large company may have, yet Altium Designer has enabled us..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6628261) AD Abrham D. Electrical and computer Engineer > "Additionally, the subscription price might be viewed as relatively expensive compared to other PCB design software." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6421005) MS Matiwos S. Electronics Engineeer > "I could do projects in collaboration with my colleagues and then my professor could provide me feedbacks. And that makes my learning..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6379526) DM Derese M. Electronics Design Engineer > "The subscription price is somehow unaffordable for some beginner designers like me" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6809628) BB Bobby B. Systems Engineer > "Love being able to effortlessly save and manage components to 365 that can be later used on any device or project instead of having..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6111602) MS Matiwos S. Electronics Engineeer > "Some of its features may not be beginner friendly and I found it a little complex to learn at first." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6379526) AA Abdulhahim A. Hardware Engineer > "As an electrical engineering professional I liked its user friendly and cloud based real time collaboration feature for designers..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6420954) IM Ivan M. Electronics Manufacturing and Qualification Manager > "This was a single case for us when a user began making random changes on components without notification to the team, causing layout..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6094731) Sven S. Hardware Developer > "It's a good tool to develop electronics and create reliable and complete manufacturing data." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6328569) DF Derese F. Electronics Engineer > "So first I wasn't able to use all the features efficiently." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6824237) M Mahmut Ç. Senior electronic hardware design engineer > "Overall Altium 365 is a greate cloud based collaborative design platform and it helped me throughout my career." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6834663) AO Andre O. PCB Layout Engineer > "One of the few things that still leaves something to be desired is the fact that Active BOM shows stocks of components from American..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5047505) JL Jonatan L. R and D Engineer Antennas > "The shared workspace with my colleagues all around the world and the possibility to share designs with folks that do not have Altium..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6213722) HM Hossein M. Electronics Engineer > "So it’s hard to get started and be familiar with its features." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6831596) JR Jeff R. Electrical Engineer > "The integration of mechanical and electrical design, in conjunction with the streamlining of efforts between members of teams greatly..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5046404) NE Natnael E. Electrical and Electronics Engineer > "Its price of subscription, as it may not be affordable for some users" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6359747) Abdi M. Hardware Designer > "Its automatic generation of Bill of Material is also a great feature of Altium 365." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6401745) PH Peter H. EE Manager > "The features are not intuitive enough for users to quickly adopt and use it." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6618979) ES Ed S. Electrical Engineer > "The ability to view show others the assembled PCB in 3D is also quite nice, as well as easily being able to create unique instances..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6095961) AT Andrew T. Staff Design Engineer > "Takes a long time to load the program from startup" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6619451) ML Mickael L. Emmbedded hardware engineer > "Altium also have a big community and lots of online resources to solve all issues that you could have." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6321914) RK Riku K. Senior RF Engineer > "There is lot of bugs especially in component importing from file based libarires to A365 cloud." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6206184) AA Ashenafi A. Technical Supervisor and Hardware Engineer > "Overall Altium 365 is a great tool and it helped my organizations design team a lot." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6828361) KN Kenneth N. Hardware Engineer > "I think something very difficult is trying to import footprints and libraries from online sources such as snapeda or ultra librarian." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5084367) PO Pelin O. Hardware Design Engineer > "It makes design procedures more easier and fast" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6846026) GG Greg G. Sr. EE > "The paid training is a ripoff. " [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6623269) JD Jon D. Configuration Systems Engineer > "It was somewhat daunting to adopt it as a replacement for our outdated design software, but the payoff is ultimately worth the effort!" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6618911) ML Mahesh L. Sr. Electrical Engg > "Sometimes little complicated to use." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6358972) BD Bethlehem D. Electronic Engineer > "I like its seamless cloud-based collaboration." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6822374) SS Saulius S. Electronics engineer > "Also, the relation between the workspace vs local vs project component libraries seems convoluted." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5085341) AH Alazar H. Electronics Design Engineer > "It helped me a lot with both academic projects and projects from clients." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6736578) DM Doug M. Director of Engineering > "All good except tech support is slower than I've ever experienced." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6618901) KA Kamal A. Sales and Technical coordinator > "Easy to implement, it is possible to check all connections and get notes for being an expert designer." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6628952) Matheus Augusto V. Hardware Developter Vonluteer > "Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the amount of options the software shows and it is not always clear what they mean." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5087493) SI Stefano I. Electronics engineer > "Free of charge, at least in the basic version included with Altium Designer." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6331967) TW Tyler W. Electronics Engineer II > "Sometimes the setup and some of the release documentation can be a little cumbersome to use" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5058988) NB Nathan B. Electrical Engineer > "Data can be shared with internal and external parties who wouldn't normally have access to the design software but then can view and..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5073832) CP Cesar P. Senior Power systems Engineer > "Sometimes slow to load, specially if there are many task assigned for review and feedback" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5004506) LG Lou G. Senior Electronics Engineer > "We recently solved high voltage clearance issues, differential signal routing issues, and 22 layers. " [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5082553) MW Michael W. Production Manager > "Accessing Company based File Libraries can be difficult. " [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5046196) DM Derese M. Electronics Design Engineer > "Till now I am very happy using it, so it's worth having it and using it in my academic and professional projects" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6809628) KG Kris G. Hardware Design Engineer > "They have to be redone in these tools and it is very time consuming." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6094291) SM Saravanakumar M. ENGINEERING MANAGER > "Simple tool easy to learn and use ,we are using for PCB design its helping a lot" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6632043) KB Kenneth B. R&D engineer > "It is a tad confusing and I still have difficulty figuring out how to solve my problems" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5004631) AJ Atefeh J. Hardware developer > "I am satisfied with but, it takes time and slower than the last versions, I like the possibilities which all can work and save on..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___5047057) RI Riley I. EE R&D Co-op > "I don't know the software well enough to have specific cons, but sometimes the BOM exporting process can be a bit weird and/or..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4543830) AE Abel E. Electrical and computer engineer > "It made my career more interesting and it helped me in many ways." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6402700) H S Younes B. engineer > "Finally, some users may experience technical issues or compatibility problems with certain hardware or software platforms." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4542282) YK Yusuf K. Embedded Systems Engineer > "Overall Altium 365 is a great tool, it makes most things easier." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6838812) PP Pruthav P. High Voltage Team Lead > "It is difficult to navigate to the actual page the circuit I am working on is." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4357520) BD Beer D. Electrical Engineering Student > "Inspecting the designs is also really well made." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6552667) KA Khairul A. student > "There is no option available for Microcontroller simulation." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___3891452) AG Anand G. Assistant Manager > "The availability of the latest footprints along with its lifecycle data is very useful while designing a product and the 3D cad, the..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___3878534) JT Jonathan T. Student > "Some of the features that I use most often (cross probe) does not have easy to use keyboard shortcuts." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4660951) H S Younes B. engineer > "It offers a range of advanced features and capabilities, including:User-friendly interface and intuitive design flowAdvanced..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4542282) SC Stephen C. Electrical Engineer > "It used to be that Protel/AD was not very well established, so recruitment of experienced people wasn't easy." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4748292) AE Abel E. Electrical and computer engineer > "I recommend anyone in the field of electronics design or other related fields to use this awesome tool." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6402700) DP Divyani P. RFIC ENGINEER > "so far the library is little bit not that friendly or may be I am not that accustom to it much.." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___4762150) AD Abraham D. Electronics Engineer > "Overall I am happy using Altium 365, it helped me a lot in my career." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___6402910) VR Verified Reviewer Development Engineering Manager > "the suite of products that you can buy beyond the standard schematic capture, layout, and routing, creates ala carte options that..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#Capterra___2409469) [View Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/) JG James G. Library Tech > "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..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___5081898) FF Francesco F. Engineer > "The interface may not be as intuitive for beginners; some users have reported stability issues, such as occasional crashes; some specific workbenches in..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___6048821) Rubén E. Hardware Engineer > "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." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4073956) VR Verified Reviewer R&D engineer > "One thing I dislike about FreeCAD is that it can be a bit slow at times. When working with large models or assemblies, it can take a while for the software..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4330805) Rubén E. Hardware Engineer > "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..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4073956) JG James G. Library Tech > "Freecad has one major bug that needs to be fixed before I can generally recommend it. " [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___5081898) SB Stuart B. RF & Antenna Specialist > "The active community has done a lot of great work in creating a fully-functional CAD program, with many industry-standard drafting tools and a plethora of..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___3685301) VR Verified Reviewer R&D engineer > "I also find that the rendering can be slow, which can make it difficult to visualize my designs in real-time." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4330805) Rubén E. Hardware Engineer > "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..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4073956) JG James G. Library Tech > "That is the infamous "topological naming problem"." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___5081898) Adedayo F. CAD technician > "I do design 2D and 3D drawings with this software which makes it my favourite,cause I make use of it everyday." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___3667115) LS Luca S. Mechanical engineer > "I have experienced some bugs with elementary features as well, making modeling even simple parts very tiring" [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4536000) FV Fabian V. Civil Engineer > "The easy, efficient and cross-platform tool such as Linux, Windows and Mac, with modules for the most complex 2 and 3D design representations, with import..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___3379370) FM Felipe M. Research Associate > "It is clear that this software is inferior compared to other more fancy paid options but it gets the job done." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4751719) LS Luca S. Mechanical engineer > "FreeCAD, as the name suggests, is free and considering alternatives on the market available for free right now, this is the only CAD with so many..." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4536000) FV Fabian V. Civil Engineer > "The Interface can generate brief difficulty when navigating without representing major inconveniences." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___3379370) LS Luca S. Mechanical engineer > "The possibility of having a parametric CAD together with FEM analysis are great." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4536000) Robson G. Architect and 3D modeler > "There are too many tutorials in their website to know how to use it, but still was hard to me to work with this CAD." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2959680) VR Verified Reviewer Freecad, 3D drawing for beginners. > "Which thanks to known shapes allow to realize new shapes." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4014159) JR Jim R. Director > "Tutorials are written for cyborgs not architects." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#SoftwareAdvice___3255057) MK Marius K. Hobbyist > "Can create any part you can imagine, exports to 3d printing friendly formats, sketching and part design workbenches are relatively easy to learn." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2977569) MV Matthew V. Project Engineer > "This software was much more difficult for me to work with than Inventor or SolidWorks." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2874065) VR Verified Reviewer R&D engineer > "I love that it's open-source, which means that it's constantly being updated and improved by a dedicated community of users." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4330805) VR Verified Reviewer Project Engineer / Program Facilitator > "Most of the limited in-software help info is Windows specific, making it difficult because tools can be in different places." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2192344) VK Vikash K. Architect > "First it is free and you can do almost everything in it that you can do in Autocad." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4520194) Sooraj N. Graduate Research Assistant > "So, the software might be limited in handling complex CAD files." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2216347) TM Thomas M. engineer > "Great simulation tools, similar workflow to other CAD." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4427884) SP Supun P. Undergraduate > "Rendering speed is very low." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2405490) AL Alessandro L. Technician > "You can create professional documentation and edit problem files imported from other formats saves your life." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___3301484) RP Rahul P. QC Technician > "For me, it was a hard learning curve because of no previous CAD experience." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2698211) AL Alessandro L. Technician > "Thanks to freecad I was able to modify the file, export it and send it to the cnc machine." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___3301484) RP Rahul P. QC Technician > "Not so friendly user interface. Except the learning cure nothing bad in this software." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2698211) VR Verified Reviewer Freecad, 3D drawing for beginners. > "I like the simplicity of his workshop Parts ." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___4014159) AA Andrew A. Administrative > "It is not the best, but not the worst." [See full review](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#Capterra___2185486) [View Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/reviews/) ## User interface 4.56 (181) [FreeCAD](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/) 4.27 (142) ## Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs. ### Features Do these products fit your needs? Prioritize real-user-identified key features according to your needs to find your best fit. \--% Fit vs \--% Fit 2D Drawing 207 Important 3D Imaging 150 Important Access Controls/Permissions 120 Important Altium Develop Top features 27/35 - 2D Drawing - 3D Imaging - Access Controls/Permissions - AI Copilot - Bills of Material - CAD Tools - Change Management - Civil - Collaboration Tools - Compliance Management - Configurable Workflow - Configuration Management - Content Library - Customizable Fields - Data Capture and Transfer - Data Import/Export - Data Visualization - Design Analysis - Design Management - Document Generation - Document Management - Electrical - File Management - Generative AI - Manufacturing Design Data - Mechanical - Mechatronics - Presentation Tools - Process Control - Product Data Management - Project Management - Project Templates - Reporting/Analytics - Version Control - Visual Analytics [See all features](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/#features) FreeCAD 10/35 - 2D Drawing - 3D Imaging - Access Controls/Permissions - AI Copilot - Bills of Material - CAD Tools - Change Management - Civil - Collaboration Tools - Compliance Management - Configurable Workflow - Configuration Management - Content Library - Customizable Fields - Data Capture and Transfer - Data Import/Export - Data Visualization - Design Analysis - Design Management - Document Generation - Document Management - Electrical - File Management - Generative AI - Manufacturing Design Data - Mechanical - Mechatronics - Presentation Tools - Process Control - Product Data Management - Project Management - Project Templates - Reporting/Analytics - Version Control - Visual Analytics [See all features](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/#features) ### Recognition Altium Develop is recognized as a top-rated tool in 1 Capterra Shortlist reports FreeCAD is recognized as a top-rated tool in 2 Capterra Shortlist reports Best Value 3D CADSoftware (2022)  ### Deployment & support Altium Develop Deployment - Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based - Desktop Mac - Desktop Windows - Desktop Linux - On-Premise Windows - On-Premise Linux - Desktop Chromebook - Mobile Android - Mobile iPhone - Mobile iPad Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos FreeCAD Deployment - Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based - Desktop Mac - Desktop Windows - Desktop Linux - On-Premise Windows - On-Premise Linux - Desktop Chromebook - Mobile Android - Mobile iPhone - Mobile iPad Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos ### Company Details Altium Develop - By Altium - Located in United States - Founded in 1985 FreeCAD - By FreeCAD - Located in United States - Founded in ## Popular Comparisons [Altium Develop](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/)[4.56 (181)](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/) vs [AutoCAD](https://www.capterra.com/p/265024/AutoCAD/)[4.65 (3,207)](https://www.capterra.com/p/265024/AutoCAD/reviews/) Contact vendor for pricing Price $250/month 4.6 Features 4.6 4.3 Ease of Use 4.1 [View full comparison](https://www.capterra.com/compare/175058-265024/Altium-Designer-vs-AutoCAD) [FreeCAD](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/)[4.27 (142)](https://www.capterra.com/p/167527/FreeCAD/reviews/) vs [AutoCAD](https://www.capterra.com/p/265024/AutoCAD/)[4.65 (3,207)](https://www.capterra.com/p/265024/AutoCAD/reviews/) Contact vendor for pricing Price $250/month 4.1 Features 4.6 3.9 Ease of Use 4.1 [View full comparison](https://www.capterra.com/compare/167527-265024/FreeCAD-vs-AutoCAD) [Altium Develop](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/)[4.56 (181)](https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/) vs 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