About 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. 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.


FreeCAD Software - 3D modeler
FreeCAD Software - Labels and attributes
FreeCAD Software - Models
FreeCAD Software - 3D modeler - thumbnail
FreeCAD Software - Labels and attributes - thumbnail
FreeCAD Software - Models - thumbnail

FreeCAD pricing

FreeCAD has a free version and does not offer a free trial.

Starting Price:
Not provided by vendor
Free Version:
Yes
Free trial:
No

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FreeCAD Reviews

Overall rating

4.3
Write a Review!

Feature rating

Value for Money
4.7
Functionality
4.1
Ease of Use
3.9
Customer Support
3.8
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All FreeCAD Reviews

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142 reviews
Rubén
Rubén
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 24/10/2022

Good free tool, but not at the level of the bests. Ideal for small companies and simple project

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.

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.

Gregory
  • Industry: Consumer Electronics
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
3

5.0
Reviewed on 19/07/2024

Great open source program

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

Alternatives Considered

Fusion 360 and SolidWorks Premium

Reasons for Switching to FreeCAD

It was hard to license, and expensive. FreeCAD is, well, free. Solidworks is better for sheet metal though.
Steven
  • Industry: Automotive
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Features
3
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 24/01/2025

Review FreeCAD

Pros

Claerly It's a simply and easy Viewer software, and you can read a lot of different cad file type.

Cons

The possibility of creation are really like a CAD software are pretty bad.

James
  • Industry: Libraries
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

3.0
Reviewed on 18/10/2023

FreeCad - Great hobbiest cad with a caveat

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.

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.

Michael
  • Industry: Health, Wellness & Fitness
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 2/04/2020

Excellent product for free

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.

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.

Marius
  • Industry: Information Services
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
2

5.0
Reviewed on 27/07/2021

The only viable solution if you want free and offline cad package

It's a powerfull CAD tool, and the best part it's totally free.

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.

Alternatives Considered

Fusion 360

Reasons for Choosing FreeCAD

They have changed how they treat the hobbyist license, also every year one needs to renew the license, while it's free, it's limited on how one can use their models as per their copyright.

Switched From

Fusion 360

Reasons for Switching to FreeCAD

You can not beat Open source price offering which is 0 bucks.
Marcelo
  • Industry: Textiles
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
2

3.0
Reviewed on 13/09/2022

FreeCAD professional level tool

Pros

Excellent tool for designing structures in detail, elaborating analysis parameters for deformation and strength calculations. And it's still possible to do it on less powerful machines, so to speak.

Cons

Transferring the drawing to paper with a level of detail is already a little more difficult, it has a lot of loss, also if you need to make a large and detailed structure, only with FreeCAD it is very complicated, for that you would need some other tools, making a more complex job.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Monthly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
3
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
3

4.0
Reviewed on 29/06/2022

FreeCAD

It is an excellent tool and with a great community supporting it. Whether it's providing tutorials or substantial improvements to the software

Pros

For new users in 3d parts for mechanical design it is a good tool. It is an open source project and has a large community that helps fix bugs, implement cool new features, or work on the documentation.

Cons

At the moment I find it limited compared to other software of the same type. But this should improve in no time.

Jan
  • Industry: Consumer Goods
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
1
Ease of Use
1
Customer Support
0

3.0
Reviewed on 26/01/2024

Cumbersome

I have spent three days making a simple profile that would take two minutes in an ordinary cad software. There are no snap functions and for example putting in a simple dimension could take 20 attempts. I have wasted enough time with Freecad.

Pros

That it is free. In theory it is easy to use.

Cons

Snap function work very bad, dimensioning won't work and things go into error what ever you try to do.

Francesco
  • Industry: Information Technology & Services
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
2

4.0
Reviewed on 28/11/2023

Too

Pros

I think some Pros could be: supports the creation of 3D parametric components, which is essential for designing complex objects and assemblies; is available on multiple platforms; is designed to be modular and extensible

Cons

Some Cons: has a learning curve, especially for users new to parametric 3D modeling. The interface may not be as intuitive for beginners; some users have reported stability issues, such as occasional crashes; some specific workbenches in FreeCAD may not be as actively developed or as feature-rich as others

Felipe
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 20/04/2023

Very convenient open source CAD

Pros

The software interface is simple and easy to use. Very convenient for quick CAD design with a very quick learning curve. Free and powerful tool.

Cons

It is clear that this software is inferior compared to other more fancy paid options but it gets the job done. The graphs are simple and not that high quality. It may not be the best option for more complex projects.

Vikash
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Features
3
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 25/01/2023

Is freecad an alternative to AutoCad

I tried it for a time as an alternative but I had go back to Autocad as it was more widely used in architectural industry.

Pros

First it is free and you can do almost everything in it that you can do in Autocad. Its a got a nice supportive community to clear doubts and there are plethora of tutorials.

Cons

As its not an industry standard you will have to adapt to other software over time and if you are going to work professionally then also you will have to switch to an other software.

Daniel
  • Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
3

4.0
Reviewed on 14/01/2022

Ever improving, and capable of many things

Pros

Free, parametric design. Valuable mesh to solid features. Scripting and programmatic interfaces are useful

Cons

Feature references regularly break (fixed in 0.19)

Verified Reviewer
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5.0
Reviewed on 10/07/2018

If you want a free CAD program this is by far the best option. Free and simple it just works.

This software has been used to create hundreds of drawings for mocking up ideas.

Pros

This free software does not skimp on features. Everything you could even need it there for you. This software can be used by professionals, hobbiests, and students. With on going development new features are always being added and it easily runs on any system no matter old or new the system.

Cons

The interface can have a bit of a challenging learning curve. This is not the fault of this software but of all CAD software. Often times people take classes to learn CAD. This software can be easily learned but be prepared to invest some time.

Alessandro
  • Industry: Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Monthly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 13/01/2022

the cad that helps you in moments of despair

I have solved a strong problem of artifact in a file imported from other suite software in my principal software for 3d modeling. Thanks to freecad I was able to modify the file, export it and send it to the cnc machine.

Pros

the best solution if you have to manage a project from A to Z and you don't want to spend a 5 zeros figure !! Sheet metal features and mechanical stress simulation tools are a great and wonderful thing! You can create professional documentation and edit problem files imported from other formats saves your life. Works great!

Cons

I would like it to have automatic annotation management such as higher level cads. I wish you had a cfd simulation module and the ability to simulate assemblies of multiple assembled parts. ( A dream!)

Marco
  • Industry: Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Features
5
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

3.0
Reviewed on 5/05/2022

Nice free CAD and FEM software

Pros

This software is free and can be used by anyone. There are a lot of tutorials online.

Cons

A lot of bugs could occur during FEM simulations and software often crashes.

Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5.0
Reviewed on 14/03/2018

Project Management in a CAD, just awesome

Pros

The module of Assembly Project is perfect for me, because I can make a project from the beggining with all my coworkers and later modelling to know where are the failures and main limitations of our design, I can do many things with this software but this module is just awesome.

Cons

This kind of work requiere a very high level of compromise, you need a team who will be together and focus through out all the project, if the things are not like that you project will not be work well.

Mariel Virginia
Mariel Virginia
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
4

5.0
Reviewed on 14/03/2018

A lot of options for me to desing in 3D

Pros

FreeCAD offers and enormous amount of options to modelling, you can do geometry, architecture, robot simulation, rendering, sketch and path modelling, all this in only one software and for free, it is just awesome because another software for pay offer less more than FreeCAD.

Cons

It is a very specialized software so you have to have previous experience working with CAD and modelling in 3D becuase all the tools are for professionals of this areas.

dave
  • Industry: Design
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
3

5.0
Reviewed on 27/02/2020

Best Free 3D Tool Available

I use this software to review 3D data created by mechanical designers on commercial platforms.

Pros

Very good 3D tool and perfect for anyone who needs to review 3D models and does not own a commercially available solution. Backed by a dedicated group of skilled knowledgeable developers.

Cons

The tool has capabilities far beyond what I am currently using it for. It is somewhat difficult to learn how to perform new tasks as more focus is placed on functionality improvements at the expense of how-to documentation.

Joe
  • Industry: Aviation & Aerospace
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
3
Features
2
Ease of Use
2
Customer Support
1

2.0
Reviewed on 22/07/2020

Open Source Mess for Many Functions

Extremely time consuming and frustrating for the amount of work produced.

Pros

It was free, one of very few 3dD modeling packages with no cost.

Cons

Developing a model in this is somewhat straightforward once you have the logic understood (which is an odd form in itself). However, don't try to modify an existing model, it will begin shifting pieces in random fashion. I had extrusions change sketch planes and a change in a base sketch for an extrusion will cause all attached sketches to lose their associated planes. Within a sketch, form can also move randomly in illogical fashions. If I make a line from another line end and then change the length, it moves the first line, there is no prioritization built in so I need additional lines and constraints to fix design locations. A real pain.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
3
Features
2
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
3

1.0
Reviewed on 3/12/2018

You get what you pay for

Fun for messing around.

Pros

It is free and great for messing around.

Cons

It has very limited functionality and is weak on 3D CAD.

Andres
Andres
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
5

4.0
Reviewed on 7/06/2018

The learning curve is much faster with the Polygonal system.

easy and intuitive handling

Pros

The learning curve is much faster with the Polygonal system, since it is to draw in plane and to extrude. This is the main advantage of SketchUp. The use of the mouse to place and modify the polygons and to be able to give the exact measurements by means of a keyboard makes designing with this application incredibly intuitive.

Cons

The problem comes when the pieces are complex and must also be exact. We all know that to place the centers of the circles in SketchUp we must make guides that we will later erase. This begins to diminish us quickly but when we want to place the polygons in different planes and with different inclinations the issue becomes impossible.

Kasey
Kasey
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5.0
Reviewed on 1/05/2018

Its great software and its free!!!

It's Freeware, and community supported, if that's something you enjoy, then this is the product for you!

Pros

...Its free??? Most CAD software costs an arm and a leg. I've played around with this software, and its really outstanding, obviously not as great as the high end software on the market, but who cares. Free beats spending hundreds of dollars and its a user supported community. You should really give this a shot, I had a blast trying to make thing to print on our school's 3D printer, and this gets you started.

Cons

Obviously, you are not going to be able to have the support and training compared to high end products, but if you are willing to put some effort into teaching yourself how this work, then you are golden.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Computer Software
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Features
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4.0
Reviewed on 27/09/2019

It's not Inventor, but its also free.

Great value for money (its free) I don't know if I'd use it professionally if my daily work depended on it, but as a hobbyist I love it. Don't bother looking for something else, its the best of the free ones.

Pros

This is a pretty darn intuitive parametric CAD program. I love that its open source and is maintained by a great community. The feature set is pretty robust. Sketching in 3D hasn't let me down on anything so far. The interface takes a bit to get used to, but its not a huge curve by any means. Geometric constraints work great.

Cons

Its a bit unrefined and buggy. I save often because on MacOS at least, it crashes occasionally. I've not had a problem restoring my work though.

Piotr
Piotr
  • Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Features
3
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
4

4.0
Reviewed on 19/09/2018

Free cad is really free

This software help me to create cover for my product.

Pros

Multiple views allow to create complicated shapes and elements.

Cons

It's really free, also for commercial projects.

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