Unless you have been living under a rock for the better part of a decade, SOLIDWORKS (and Dassault Systemes) have been offering an amazing 2D CAD product, FOR FREE. DraftSight has been around since February 2011. The idea was to allow customers to free up monies that were typically allocated to maintaining legacy AutoCAD, so they could reinvest in other technologies that can provide a greater impact on their business. It’s difficult to say if that worked, but there have been over 2 million downloads of DraftSight to date, so you be the judge.
DraftSight Options ($0-$500/seat)
- DraftSight Standard
- 2D capabilities with access to the forums for support.
- DraftSight Professional
- Standard + the ability to write and use macros (API) as well as a plethora of additional productivity tools like batch printing and G-Code generation.
- DraftSight Premium
- Professional + parametric 2D tools and rudimentary 3D modeling tools.
- DraftSight Enterprise
- Premium + network licensing options, deployment wizard, and reseller technical support.
Starting in January 2019, DraftSight Standard will no longer be free for new users. New pricing starts at a modest $99/year. If you are currently running DraftSight 2018 or earlier, you will be able to work on the free version until December 31, 2019.
Now before you rage-close your browser, hear me out. No one likes being charged for something that used to be free. Everyone gets it. So here’s the deal: there is a huge demand for more, advanced features to be added to DraftSight. This can only be accomplished by growing the development team. This is a good thing!
With this new pricing model, you can be sure that 3DS will continue to prove a valuable and robust solution to maintain legacy data. And moving forward, you can be assured that the solution will grow and continually be enhanced.
Have questions about which is the right DraftSight for your needs? Contact CADimensions and let us help you understand your options.