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SolidWorks Premium vs SimScale: Which is a better fit?

Updated on February 2nd, 2025
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Summary
Key features rated by users
Features selected based on 2,494 reviews from Engineering CAD users.
% Fit
High performer
Feature ratings
CAD Tools
4.6
Document Generation
4.4
2D Drawing
4.5
Data Import/Export
4.3
Design Analysis
4.3
% Fit
Missing features
Not enough reviews
Feature ratings
CAD Tools
NA
Document Generation
NA
2D Drawing
NA
Data Import/Export
4.3
Design Analysis
4.3
User satisfaction
4.6
User reviews745
Ease of use
4.3
Functionality
4.6
Value for money
4.1
Customer support
4.2
4.5
User reviews142
Ease of use
4.3
Functionality
4.1
Value for money
4.5
Customer support
4.7
Price starts from
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One-time payment
Free version
Free trial
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Not provided by vendor
Free version
Free trial
Best for

On-premise and cloud-based manufacturing design platform that allows individuals and enterprises of all sizes to create and collaborate 2D drafts, 3D designs, CAD models, animations and more.

SimScale is an integral part of the product development and design validation process of thousands of successful companies across industries: AEC, HVAC, electronics, automotive, energy & more.

User reviews
pros & cons
1 / 4
View Reviews
1 / 4
View Reviews
Video reviews
Dev K
Design Engineer
4.0

Dev K.: Hi there. I'm Dev with a small company called Studiokumar and I would give SolidWorks Premium a rating of four out of five. I started using SolidWorks Premium to replace a previous product, which was Autodesk Inventor, and Autodesk Inventor is a fine mechanical CAD package, but I found that more and more when I was collaborating with other companies that SolidWorks is essentially the defective standard these days for 3D modeling and mechanical CAD, so it made it a lot easier working with other companies to be using the most mainstream product. I found SolidWorks to be a good choice for my business because it has a lot of the tools for both design modeling as well as analysis, and it also supports all the file formats and vendor specific extensions that I might run into in my work in mechanical design and product engineering. Getting started with SolidWorks was fairly straightforward. It had an installer package, if memory serves, so it was not too much different than installing other desktop software. The total setup time for installing, downloading and getting it going was probably not more than about 30 to 45 minutes, and once it was there, it was pretty easy to get going. There's tutorials and there's a lot of information about SolidWorks works if you're totally new to it in terms of how to use the modeling and mechanical CAD parts of it, but those are pretty standard compared to other types of CAD that you may be familiar with. So not too much that's going to be different or hard to get going with on SolidWorks. In terms of recommendations for other businesses regarding SolidWorks, I think SolidWorks would be a good choice for you if you are looking for a mechanical CAD package. I think it's particularly good if you're looking to work with other companies that might be using similar assets. It's a very common choice and it has a lot of powerful features that are considered standard in mechanical CAD these days. In terms of SolidWorks versus SolidWorks Premium, I think you have to look at the use within your business of whether you're going to need some of the more advanced modeling or analytics features that that includes. For my business and for my work, it made sense, so that's why I ended up using.

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Erika B
CEO
4.0

Erica: Hi, I'm Erica. I am a founder of a startup company, and I would give some scale, a rating of a 4 out of 5, for more reviews like this click below. We were just doing all of our fluid analysis analytically through equations, through looking at models that other people had done to get baseline estimates, but we hadn't actually run our own models. And so, SimScale was a really easy way to spin up on how to do that and provide a great training, and took us to the next level for what we needed. I think there were a few reasons that we chose SimScale at the phase that we were at when we were really just learning. One, is that it was easy to spin up on. Another, is that we were using Onshape for our 3D modeling and SimScale had a really tight integration with Onshape. The other thing that was really attractive was that we didn't have a lot of computing capacity, but SimScale let you run all of your simulations on the cloud, so you actually used their computing capacity, so we didn't have to buy expensive computers to run things affordably. So, it made a lot of sense when we were just spinning up and learning what we were doing. The provided training right off the bat, our subscription came with, I think about a week's worth of training in FEA, CFD and thermal analysis. And, so we went through that and then they also have a pretty great Support team. So they have a Chat feature, and if they can't help you through the Chat, then they'll even jump on a video call with you to help you if you're having issues with the software. And so, we got direct access at the time to PhDs in fluid dynamics to look at what we were doing, and make sure that we weren't running anything improperly and so that really helped us a lot. I think SimScale is a great product for people who are really getting started, want to learn from other people. Another thing I haven't mentioned is that a lot of the models that are made on SimScale are published publicly, especially if they're made on free accounts. And so you can look at what other people have done, and try to learn from that. And so that's really great, If you're looking for something to do some really serious customizable modeling with, which we moved to eventually, it's probably not the solution. You have to use their code as it is and it does change over time. And so, if you're really looking to have tight, fine control, then I would look at something else. But if you're looking for something with a lot of support where you don't have to use your own computing capacity, then it's a great solution.

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User interface
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Do these products fit your needs?

Prioritize real-user-identified key features according to your needs to find your best fit.

Logo Img
--%
Logo Img
--%
2D Drawing
207
Important
3D Imaging
388
Important

SolidWorks Premium

Top Features
32/33
  • Civil
  • 2D Drawing
  • 3D Imaging
  • Access Controls/Permissions
  • Bills of Material
  • CAD Tools
  • Change Management
  • 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
  • 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
Hide Engineering CAD Software Features -

SimScale

10/33
Show Engineering CAD Software Features +
SolidWorks Premium
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • 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
SimScale
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • 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
SolidWorks Premium
  • By SolidWorks
  • Located in United States
  • Founded in 1993
SimScale
  • By SimScale
  • Located in Germany
  • Founded in 2012
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