Adobe Illustrator CC vs. DraftSight

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Illustrator CC is a vector-based graphic design software.
$20.99
per month
DraftSight
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
DraftSight is a 2D and 3D CAD solution for architects, engineers and construction service providers, as well as professional CAD users, designers, educators and hobbyists. DraftSight lets users create, edit, view, and markup any kind of 2D and 3D DWG file with greater ease, speed, and efficiency. Its familiar user interface helps to facilitate a quick transition from other CAD applications. DraftSight Offerings: DraftSight Professional: the advanced 2D CAD drafting…
$249
per year
Pricing
Adobe Illustrator CCDraftSight
Editions & Modules
Yearly - Billed Monthly
$20.99
per month
Monthly
$31.49
per month
Yearly - Billed Upfront
$239.88
per year
DraftSight Professional
$249
per year
DraftSight Premium (3D)
$549
per year
DraftSight Enterprise
Contact sales team
DraftSight Enterprise Plus
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe IllustratorDraftSight
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDraftSight Professional, and Premium are available to purchase online directly. DraftSight Enterprise and Enterprise Plus are available to purchase through local resellers.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Illustrator CCDraftSight
Considered Both Products
Adobe Illustrator
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Comparing with Affinity, Adobe Illustrator CC has a powerful core and very high compatibility with other Adobe products which is a huge advantage. The ease of use of various tools are also very familiar among different graphic designers within the corporation, making training …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe Illustrator is way more stable than CorelDraw and it can handle large files without issues. I was always scared of crashing the program whenever I was working with a large file on CorelDRAW.
It also manages multiple pages in a better way, having them all in a single space, …
DraftSight
Chose DraftSight
I have looked at others but most are either viewer programs or full versions that are paid without free trials and I am not willing to to subscribe without trying it first.
Chose DraftSight
DraftSight attracted me for being the best free alternative when I've started using. More robust tools like AutoCAD, Vectorworks, SOLIDWORKS have more features, but since I'm not a hardcore user anymore, DraftSight definitely fulfills my needs. Now that it is paid, it is still …
Chose DraftSight
DraftSight is easy to use, and less expensive. The familiarity of office personnel with the software. Easy to learn. Familiarity among customers or in other words, the product is well known in the industry and considered as one of the standard software products for a 2D …
Chose DraftSight
Not in the same league. AutoCAD seems to just work. Draftsight doesnt.
Chose DraftSight
We have used AutoCAD in the past, and have concluded that DraftSight provides a comparable product for a much better value.
Features
Adobe Illustrator CCDraftSight
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Illustrator CC
-
Ratings
DraftSight
7.1
6 Ratings
4% below category average
3D Modeling00 Ratings7.62 Ratings
2D Drafting00 Ratings8.56 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization00 Ratings6.33 Ratings
Parametric Design00 Ratings7.31 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing00 Ratings7.45 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats00 Ratings8.46 Ratings
Assembly Design00 Ratings7.63 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis00 Ratings4.01 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation00 Ratings6.86 Ratings
Customization and Extensions00 Ratings6.85 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe Illustrator CCDraftSight
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.4 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.2 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.1 out of 10
Enterprises
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.4 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Illustrator CCDraftSight
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(109 ratings)
9.2
(416 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(3 ratings)
9.1
(23 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(6 ratings)
8.2
(23 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(7 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(25 ratings)
4.7
(15 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(16 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(6 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(4 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(7 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(5 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Illustrator CCDraftSight
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
It is the only tool that I use to create logos. It gives me the flexibility to create sharp text and marks and they can then be resized at will, color changes in a second and perfect way to export. I know that some people use Illustrator for document layout, it is not ideal. While I can easily create documents here, it really is InDesign that is the perfect tool.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
2D design work
3D design work
Large area (500m²+) analysis and assessment
From product design, including production drawings to lay out of large (10m x 1m footprint) layouts DraftSight is a cost effective solution providing all appropriate interfaces for BIM.
The level of detail during rendering (while it can be slow) is good for visualization and for use in installation and training materials
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • Vector graphics for scaling to large sizes
  • Filling an object with a texture
  • Easily adjusting and expanding an artboard to fit the size of the content (especially for infographics)
  • Compatibility with other Adobe CC programs, but also exporting for PPT graphics
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
  • You can easily bring in a dwg format drawing into the programme and it will display the information just as well as AutoCAD.
  • The programme supports shortcut features or one-click buttons for the most commonly used operations.
  • Script files can be used which is a bonus.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • It's tough to master. If you haven't used Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator before, there is a lot to take in.
  • It would be great to have some better options to preview the final product if you're creating a multiple page document.
  • Better integration and pricing points with Adobe Stock for the useful stock images to complete your projects.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
  • The text search and replace is very crude and barely works. Needs a major revamping.
  • The layout tabs are very clunky and hard to use. Needs to be fixed.
  • DraftSight will fix a problem in one version, mess it up in another version, then fix it again later on. And so forth, and so forth, and so forth. Very poor software update control.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
While Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the only true design software out there, it really stands heads above the other products. It's clean UI and menu structure is easy to navigate.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
It has given us, a small startup, the ability to compete effectively with far larger competitors by evening the playing field at a low cost.
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
There's a bit of a learning curve to this software vs other similar tools that can take some time to learn and get familiar with but the amount of functionality that Adobe Illustrator CC offers is quite large compared to simpler tools.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
Easy if you know how to use CAD software. But is not very difficult to learn using DraftSight if this is your first CAD software. As soon as you get in to it the work flow will save you a lot of time and its simple interface is very nice.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Dassault Systemes
Other than a bug created by a VAR tech support that didn't get resolved until I installed the next version, DraftSight has worked fine.
Read full review
Performance
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Dassault Systemes
In general it's very quick to load drawings...now it depends a lot on the file we're opening or working on.
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
I normally already know how to do whatever I'm trying out, but the documentation (as well as a simple Google search) makes any question quick to resolve. The Adobe boards themselves are a fantastic resource, especially for resolving questions between new programs and iterative releases.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
Technical support seems to be overseas with broken English and difficulty to read English. I asked for a trial license to try the fix but it was declined. Ask pratiksha.dahotre and gayatri.keskar for details. In summary, they released a broken version, I helped to fix by providing feedback and error logs. They claimed it is fixed but I can't test it.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Dassault Systemes
Based on some knowledge of AutoCad, using Draftsight took a short time before I felt comfortable using it.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Adobe
It was very easy to purchase and download.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
Take time to get used to where commands are and how the interface can be customized to suit your needs and work style. The keyboard commands are very helpful and can make work more efficient if time is taken to learn them.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I chose Rhinoceros 3D because it is accurate to make drawings in it and it is better to make drawings in Rhinoceros 3D and then put them in Adobe Illustrator. But while printing or scaling it is much easier to put it in Adobe Illustrator. This makes the whole printing aspect of it much easier.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
While SketchUp is free, DraftSights cost is minimal and its abilities are much greater. It is so much easier to layout and modifies a system design. Since DraftSight is compatible with all versions of CAD, it makes it easy to collaborate with customers on their specific system design. We spend less time and see greater sales on our projects.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Dassault Systemes
It's a typical contract for cad software. It was inexpensive at the time I started. But now the more useful features are on the more premium (priced) version.
Read full review
Scalability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Dassault Systemes
As a startup, we really appreciate scalable software or tools, and because we use it for diverse types of projects, flexibility is key.
Read full review
Professional Services
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Dassault Systemes
Quite responsive when I have an issue, and with little to no delay in responding. They are professional and know the software so have been able to solve all of the issues that I have had with both using the software and also with making revisions as required. Non-technical issues like invoices have also been resolved quickly.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Helps us quickly and easily create and manage numerous logos
  • Cloud libraries allow us to access commonly used colors, fonts, logos and other design elements quickly
  • We are able to provide high-quality, scalable college logos for print and digital which give us a more professional, credible look.
Read full review
Dassault Systemes
  • Draftsight has been very cost effective, it was free a few years ago then £79 a year, which it still is if you have the standard version. Now the minium level is Profession edition at £159+ VAT per year. Which is still very good value for money, just more that what we currently pay with the standard licences we have.
Read full review
ScreenShots

DraftSight Screenshots

Screenshot of Plate InsertScreenshot of Image TraceScreenshot of 2D and 3D DWG filesScreenshot of HomeByMe Integration