AutoCAD is targeted by many workalike software vendors precisely because it is the most successful general 2D/3D CAD program of all time. With four, six, eight, twelve million users (no one really knows) of the 35-year-old software, entrepreneurs figure that there has to be a certain percentage of users who want something that costs less, even if it does less. AutoCAD is, after all, priced about 3x more to license annually than it is to buy a typical workalike outright.
AutoCAD became a target after Autodesk made the wrong people angry, ones who could afford the price tag it would cost to channel their fury getting back at Autodesk. The strands of history involving these stories are long, but, thanks to them, the likes of IntelliCAD, Open Design Alliance, and Graebert Gmbh are today well-established organizations providing excellent alternatives to the market.
The original AutoCAD workalike is likely long forgotten. In 1996, VDraft from Softsource became the very first CAD program to natively read and write DWG files, along with a selection of AutoCAD-like commands. It offered functions now considered standard, but were novel back then: copy and paste, an at-cursor menu, and opening more than just one drawing at a time. Even though it was priced as low as AutoCAD LT, it failed because at the time if you wanted a low-cost DWG editor you'd just get LT. softsource.com/vdraft/vdraft.html
The second workalike was also a failure, IntelliCAD 98 from Visio. When in 1999 it became clear to the popular diagramming software company that their CAD program was not selling in sufficient numbers, it set up a non-profit group it called the IntelliCAD Technical Consortium and donated the code to them. This offspring succeeded: members of the consortium subsequently launched dozens of workalikes, selling millions of copies.
(There were a couple of workalikes made of MicroStation that read DGN files, but they failed. The only MicroStation-workalike to succeed was in fact MicroStation itself: in 1984, it was a cheaper version of Integraph's mini-computer-based IGDS CAD system, and its original name was PseudoStation.)
Other than those ones, I can't think any other CAD program that's faced a challenge from workalikes. You could argue that more CAD systems copy each other's style of working, such as Inventor copying Solidworks copying Pro/Engineer, but a workalike has to at least use the same file format and offer a similar user interface, by my definition. With the current effort by the Open Design Alliance to reverse-engineer Revit's APIs (application programming interfaces) and file formats, there is bound to be a Revit workalike some day, by some one.
When Workalikes Make Sense
There are three dozen or so AutoCAD workalikes for you to choose from. I call these programs "workalikes" because they work like AutoCAD. They offer
- A near-identical user interface
- Commands that operate similarly
- Reading and saving of drawing files in the DWG file format
What they don't offer is all commands and user interface enhancements found in the latest releases of AutoCAD, nor necessarily all the same options inside of commands. The #1 feature missing form nearly all of them is the creation and editing of dynamic blocks (patented by Autodesk), although many workalikes can use these unique blocks once they are created in AutoCAD. ZwSoft, GStarsoft, and Graebert offer workalikes of dynamic blocks.
On the other hand, workalikes distinguish themselves by offering extra functions not found in AutoCAD, such as additional methods of entity selection, more ways to draw objects, and enhancements to the user interface, such as the interactive (and customizable) Quad cursor provided by BricsCAD.
The #1 reason for choosing a workalike, however, is that it costs at least half as much as AutoCAD, and nearly all of them offer buy-once, use-forever permanent licenses. This means you can have twice as many workstations at the same cost. Speaking of workstations, most workalikes have lower hardware requirements than AutoCAD does, and several of them run on the free Linux operating system.
An approach taken by some design firms is to retain a few seats of AutoCAD for guaranteed compatibility (such as with dynamic blocks), but then go big on workalikes. Thanks to the effort of the Open Design Alliance, reading and writing DWG files is no longer an issue. The ODA is ably assisted by Autodesk's reduced interest in keeping up AutoCAD, with the number of new features and changes to the DWG format declining with recent releases.
2019 Workalike Market
With three dozen workalikes available, which one to buy? Fortunately, they can be segregated into three distinct groupings, which makes it easier to compare them, and so toss out ones that might be unsuitable for you. The groupings are as follows:
• Group I -- based on IntelliCAD from IntelliCAD Technical Consortium
• Group A -- based on ARES from Graebert GmbH
• Group X -- written independently
As for numbers of users, those are hard to come by. Vendors boast of it only when the number is useful for marketing purposes. Draftsight is the numbers king, at one time boasting ten million downloads, mostly of its free version. All others are under a million, and I suspect most are in the range of 10,000 to 100,000 active licenses.
Group I: IntelliCAD-based Workalikes
Of AutoCAD workalikes, the largest group is based on IntelliCAD code provided by the IntelliCAD Technical Consortium. Programmers hired by ITC add features and fix bugs. Members contribute code enhancements and report bugs. The ITC is run by members, from whom a board is elected annually. The ITC has 20 members visible on its Web site, plus a number of invisible members who use IntelliCAD as a CAD engine for internal projects.
To distinguish themselves, members rebrand IntelliCAD with their colors and logos, and add vertical add-ons specific to their geographic region. You cannot purchase IntelliCAD from the ITC, only through its members. ITC members sometimes engage in price wars with each other, and so you may find some packages on sale for 50% off, as I did.
4M (e125 and up; Greece) - 4M runs add-ons for architecture, MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) and energy analysis on top of IntelliCAD.
www.4msa.com
ACCA Software (e349/year and up; Italy) - ACCA adapts IntelliCAD for architectural. landscape, structural analysis, construction costing, thermal calcuations, and many more; says it has the largest number of IFC-certified BIM software in the world; sold by subscription only.
www.accasoftware.com
ActCAD ($499 and up; India) - ActCAD sells IntelliCAD along with add-ons for railroad track design.
www.actcad.com
ADeko Technologies ($200 and up; Turkey) - ADeko specializes in software for interior design and panel furniture.
www.adeko.com
ArCADiasoft (e480 and up; Poland) - ArCADiasoft sells into the building design market, with add-ons for architecture, electrical, gas supply, heating, telecommunications, water, construction, and 3D modeling.
www.arcadiasoft.eu
BlueLinx ($?; USA) - BlueLinx sells building products, but it is not clear how they use IntelliCAD.
www.bluelinxco.com
CAD Projekt ($?; Poland) - CAD Projekt specializes in interior design and kitchen design, including rendering and cutting add-ons; offers an online designer; contact the vendor for pricing.
www.en.cadprojekt.com.pl
CADian ($?; Korea) - CADian sells rebranded IntelliCAD with add-ons for architecture, mechanical design, electrical, plant design, surveying, and nesting (sheet metal cutting); contact the vendor for pricing.
www.cadian.com
Carslon Software ($595 and up; USA) - Carslon targets its IntelliCAD-based software at surveyors, civil engineering, hydrology, accident investigation, and mining.
www.carlsonsw.com
CAD-Manufacturing Solutions ($149 and up; USA) - CMS sells straight-up IntelliCAD, along with quoting software.
intellicadms.com
FrameCAD ($?; New Zealand) - FrameCAD specializes in steel frame structure design adapted to the most number of standards in the world.
www.framecad.com
GZ Yuan Fang Computer Software Engineering ($?; China) - GZYFCSE bases its YFCAD interior design software on IntelliCAD; contact the company for pricing.
www.yfcad.com
Keymark Enterprises ($?; USA) - Keymark specializes in steel framing design; contact the firm for pricing.
www.keymark.com
MicroSurvey Software (CAD$1,145 and up; Canada) - MicroSurvey specializes in software for surveying using IntelliCAD; also sells hardware for surveying. Microsurvey was acquired by Hexagon of Sweden.
www.microsurvey.com
MULTIPLUS ($?; Brazil) - CADMultiplus is targeted at the Brazilian Portuguese market, with additional software for architecture, BIM; concrete design, steel structures, sanitation, and so on. Uses a hardware lock; contact the vendor for pricing.
www.multiplus.com/Software/cadmultiplus
progeSOFT ($?; Switzerland) - ProgeSoft sells ProgeCAD with an architectural add-on; pricing available only from the local distributor, of which they have many in the world.
www.progesoft.com
Stabiplan International (e300/year; Netherlands) - Stabiplan specializes in BIM software and add-ons; unclear how they use IntelliCAD. Pricing ranges from free to annual subscriptions. The company was recently purchased by Trimble.
www.stabiplan.com
Wrightsoft ($219 per year and up; USA) - Wrightsoft specializes in HVAC design and uses IntelliCAD as the drawing engine. Software licensed by subscription only.
www.wrightsoft.com
ZwCAD Software ($?; China) - ZwCAD was based on IntelliCAD, then went independent, but following a lawsuit from Autodesk, is back under the IntelliCAD umbrella. It offers architectural and mechanical add-ons, and a separate ZW3D 3D solid modeler that the company purchased from VX. Claims 900,000 users. Contact the vendor for pricing.
www.zwcad.com
Not listed at the ITC site is Graitec, a BIM developer and Autodesk dealer headquartered in France. Last year, they released an AutoCAD workalike program based on IntelliCAD, named AdvanceCAD, but then pulled it from distribution some months later. www.graitec.com
Group A: ARES-based
A next group of AutoCAD workalikes is based on ARES code from Graebert of Germany. Graebert's own programmers add features and fix bugs, while licensees can add their own code enhancements and report bugs. Graebert is a private firm run by family. Graebert differs from ITC in that it offers licenses for all platforms upon which CAD is run today:
- ARES Commander - runs on the desktop using Linux, MacOS, and Windows
- ARES Kudo - runs in Web browsers
- ARES Touch - runs on phones and tablets using Android or iOS
(While a number of workalikes offer mobile viewing, only few offer editing on phones, tablets, and Web browsers. Even then, it is only 2D editing, with 3D viewing.)
Graebert has five public licensees and an unknown number of additional private ones; it is also used by Graebert for its SiteMaster line of architectural software. To distinguish versions of ARES, licensees rebrand it with their colors and logos and extend functions with APIs.
CADopia ($545; USA) - CADopia uses stock ARES; offers courseware and quantity surveying add-on.
www.cadopia.com
Corel (CAD$900; Canada) - CorelCAD also uses stock ARES, except for a translator for its Corel Designer and Draw software. Versions available for desktop and mobile.
www.coreldraw.com/en/product/corel-cad
Dassault Systemes ($299 and up; France) - Dassault Systemes sees DraftSight strategic as a flanker brand. Dassault works with Graebert to greatly extend DraftSight's MCAD capabilities to the point that it ties in with Dassault's 3dExperience platform. Graebert stated in 2017 that ten million copies had been downloaded, although most would have been of the free version; there no longer is a free version as of v2019.
www.draftsight.com
Graebert ($795 and up; Germany) - Graebert began working on an AutoCAD workalike after Autodesk cut it off as the exclusive distributor for Germany, first with FelixCAD and now with ARES. The company has also been porting CAD to small devices and survey instruments, first with Windows CE and now with Android and iOS.
www.graebert.com
OnShape ($1,500 annual subscription and up; USA) - OnShape uses ARES Kudo code in the 2D drawing tab of its online MCAD software. Pricing by annual subscription only.
www.onshape.com
ProgeSoft ($?; Italy) - ProgeCAD is unusual in that it licenses IntelliCAD for its Windows ProgeCAD package, but ARES for its MacOS ICADMAC add-on; pricing available only from the local distributor.
www.progesoft.com
Group X: Independently Developed
Our last group of vendors develop their workalike software independently. They tend to have a larger collection of advanced functions than packages that depend upon IntelliCAD or ARES. All of them provide APIs for creating add-on applications.
Bricsys ($635 and up; Belgium) - BricsCAD was originally based on IntelliCAD, but then Bricsys a decade ago broke away from the ITC to rebuild BricsCAD from the ground up. The company targets BIM, sheet metal, and direct modeling through its own add-ons, and has by far the largest third-party add-on collection of any workalike. The software runs on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. It offers a free 3D version called Shape, and has the most aggressive upgrade schedule of any CAD package. It was recently purchased by Hexagon. It has stated in the past that it has 250,000 users.
www.bricsys.com
CAXA ($?; China) - As company specializing in software for Chinese manufacturing companies, CAXA offers CAD, CAM, EDM, PLM, and manufacturing management software. The 2D drafting package is called CAXA Draft, while the 3D one is IronCAD from North America, which it owns. Contact the vendor for pricing.
www.caxa.com
GStar Software ($399 and up; China) - GStar CAD was originally based on IntelliCAD, but then it went independent a few years ago, and boasts about that on its Web site. In addition to the base CAD package, it offers architectural and mechanical add-ons. Claims 500,000 users.
www.gstarcad.net
IMSI/Design ($49 and up; USA) - TurboCAD is almost as old as AutoCAD, and for many decades was not compatible with it. This changed, however, with the DoubleCAD initiative, and so now it is. IMSI/Software offers many levels of TurboCAD, as well as vertical add-ons for symbols, landscape design, civil, architectural, and mechanical. Versions available for desktop and mobile.
www.imsidesign.com
NanoSoft ($540 and up; Russia) - nanoCAD began as a free AutoCAD workalike, the plan being to make money from add-ons. But companies pivot, and while the free version is still available, it is several releases old. Today nanoCAD offers some of the most advanced functions in a basic CAD system, second only to BricsCAD and DraftSight. Examples include an extremely advanced Table function, IFC support, and point cloud processing. While it has lots of add-ons, most are in Russian only.
nanocad.com
What Ralph Grabowski Thinks
Here's some more reasons as to why you might want to buy a workalike:
- You are using pirated software and want to go legal.
- You find AutoCAD too expensive and want to save on licensing fees.
- You don't care for Autodesk's mandatory subscription requirement, and prefer to pay a single fee for a permanent license.
- You can't afford to have Autodesk shut off AutoCAD should you be unable to pay the subscription renewal fee due to a slowdown in work, or any other reason.
- You find the AutoCAD feature set overkill for the kind of work you do.
- You want to use design software that is more actively developed than AutoCAD is.
- You might be irked by changes made to AutoCAD, such as the status bar displaying only icons.
All kinds of alternatives exist for producing and editing drawings in the de factostandard DWG format. To determine for yourself which works best for you, download the 30-day demo versions; all vendors provide at least one. Narrow your choices with the following criteria:
- Vertical add-on software that applies to your region
- Cost vs capability
You may find that a mix of lower and higher priced versions is ideal for your design firm. Of the programs surveyed here, the three with the most advanced functions are BricsCAD, DraftSight, and nanoCAD, in alphabetical order.
[This research was originally collated for Jon Peddie Research.]
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