Adobe PhotoShop vs. SOLIDWORKS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Dassault Systemes offers SOLIDWORKS, a computer-aided design (CAD) system for education and manufacturing supporting 2D or 3D design, electrical design, simulations, and product development with collaboration tools.
$1,295
per year
Pricing
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Editions & Modules
Single App
$20.00
per month
Solidworks Annual Subscription
1,295
per year
Solidworks Standard
3,996
per standalone license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Considered Both Products
Adobe PhotoShop
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
PhotoShop is by far the superior photo editor. There is really nothing else that even comes close to comparing. The amount of features and the ease of use make it ahead of every other program of its kind. The subscription service now is great too because it allows you to have …
SOLIDWORKS
Chose SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS is a bit more user-friendly than AutoCAD. Since it was designed from the start for 3D, it is a lot more intuitive than AutoCAD. Pricing is comparable to SOLIDWORKS, but SOLIDWORKS is a better value.

SketchUp is a nice tool for quickly sketching something to help …
Chose SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS is better in terms of design speed of 3D parts. It is also better for pieces of high technical detail. Other CAD programs do not have a simulation of forces, SOLIDWORKS does. The user interfaces are, in my opinion, friendlier and easier to use than other programs. In …
Chose SOLIDWORKS
There are a lot of similar software titles out there, but I've found that SOLIDOWORKS contains such a full package solution that it is constantly growing at a great price, and easy to learn for those coming into new areas. The support system has also been wonderful in pushing …
Features
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
Adobe PhotoShop
-
Ratings
SOLIDWORKS
8.6
3 Ratings
15% above category average
3D Modeling00 Ratings9.73 Ratings
2D Drafting00 Ratings9.13 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization00 Ratings7.83 Ratings
Parametric Design00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing00 Ratings9.32 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats00 Ratings9.73 Ratings
Assembly Design00 Ratings8.73 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis00 Ratings6.42 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation00 Ratings8.92 Ratings
Customization and Extensions00 Ratings9.13 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.6 out of 10
Enterprises
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.1 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(194 ratings)
9.6
(58 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(31 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
7.7
(19 ratings)
8.8
(5 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(54 ratings)
5.2
(16 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
4.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe PhotoShopSOLIDWORKS
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Photoshop is a useful tool for everything from creating social media graphics to editing and sizing photos. There is a bit of a learning curve, so you need to have a bit of experience to master it and use it for a variety of tasks. You also need to have a good sense of file organization so you can find files quickly without losing track of them.
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Dassault Systemes
As a mechanical engineer, it is one of the best tools to just start modeling and engineering with. The UI tools are intuitive and engineering analysis such Mold Analysis, FEA, are great! Other 3D CAD modeling tools have a longer learning curve to master. All in all, if you're not planning to design an entire airplane with large assembly files, then Solidworks is your tool!
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Pros
Adobe
  • The fact is that you may quickly pick things up on your own by spending time without using any other resources.
  • It is the program that brings the phrase "to make PhotoShop" to almost all languages. It's not just a photo editing program.
  • Practical and beautiful results are filtered by filtering the desired work without drowning in details.
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Dassault Systemes
  • The collaborative work environment is a cool and useful feature where groups of people can work on the same model at the same time, and SOLIDWORKS ensures that you don't overwrite each other's work.
  • The ease and amount of customization options are very useful for creating a personalized and intuitive user interface, whether SOLIDWORKS is your native CAD package or not.
  • It is very easy to quickly edit a model you have already created. The software allows sketch and feature editing without having to take the time to actually enter the sketch/feature environment.
  • The use of configurations and configurations-specific dimensions in the same sketch is very useful for creating different forms of the same part
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Cons
Adobe
  • The effect applying time could be faster.
  • There could be a smarter way to make mockups using smart objects, maybe by directly selecting an area, and generative AI can automate a few steps.
  • If Photoshop can suggest the right stock imagery in case the generative AI doesn't get the right answer.
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Dassault Systemes
  • Save DWG 2D files in inches or metric easily, defaults to metric and has to be manually converted to inches
  • When using the sketch feature, the ability to disable ALL references. If I don't know the exact shape and I want to draw/adapt my design, it harshly interprets the references which have no value to me. The easiest exact is to think about when you have a Microsoft Word document that has a lot of formatting, photos, tabs, etc. If you accidentally hit the "enter" key, you can explode the formatting and everything goes crazy. SW does this to me, I just want to "doodle" my sketches, edit/delete/etc and not be bound by arbitrary references.
  • For the sketch feature, ability to use a DraftSight plugin of some sort. I'm super fast in DS, if I could draw using the commands in SW then I would probably never open DS again and convert to SW full time. Currently, I only use SW as a way to convert 3D files so I can build everything in DraftSight.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
We get a lot of use out of this software. It's vital for work with production in our industry and has a lot of cross-functionality - creating social media images, retouching photos, editing photos, creating gradients, and more. It's pretty fuss-free in that we haven't had to reach out to support and the program hasn't crashed on us. We are trained on the software (so again, this isn't for beginners), but for detail-oriented designers and creatives like ourselves - it's a no-brainer.
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Dassault Systemes
We have absolutely no reasons to not keep with SolidWorks for the foreseeable future.
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Usability
Adobe
Adobe PhotoShop is a professional-grade tool that requires months/years to get a grasp of how to use it well. Even then, after over a decade of using Adobe PhotoShop both casually and professionally, I feel like I'm still unfamiliar with a large percentage of the available tools. Without a dedicated training program, it can be extremely overwhelming and/or you may not get good use out of it. That being said, once you do get comfortable with it, the layout and workspace are excellent with myriad shortcuts that speed up your workflow exponentially. Put in the time to learn it, and you'll love it.
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Dassault Systemes
I have been using SOLIDWORKS for around 12 years as of writing this review, so have learned where most things are and how they work. When first starting out it was quite daunting, but the interface is well laid out with like functions near each other which made finding new functions relatively easy.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
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Dassault Systemes
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
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Dassault Systemes
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
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Dassault Systemes
We have an unusual arrangement. We don’t pay for support, but we’re partnered with a VAR for second-tier support.
I work with other users if I have questions but when we’ve had to ask the VAR, they always have answers. It appears that all of the VARs have access to a support platform from DS SOLIDWORKS that helps them answer most questions.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
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Dassault Systemes
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
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Dassault Systemes
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
[Adobe] Photoshop offers the best photo editing as well as content creation. The layer-by-layer approach of [Adobe] Photoshop helps to work between two apps or even two PCs of entirely different Creative Cloud apps seamlessly. The stability and the speed of the tools in photoshop make it even better to make a canvas of creativity.
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Dassault Systemes
Onshape is a direct competitor. It has great entry level pricing and it is easy to access with no installation required. Being a web based app there is sometime some lag being based in NZ. Management also have concerns over where the data is stored on the cloud. With SW we can control where it is stored
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Scalability
Adobe
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
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Dassault Systemes
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Adobe PhotoShop in general is a great time saver.
  • It does take a long time for the program to start up, however
  • The most difficult task is onboarding new employees into Adobe PhotoShop who don't have experience with it. It's an investment for their future so we see value in it.
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Dassault Systemes
  • Creation of small 3D pieces to generate cash flow.
  • Not being able to create 3D sculptures with this tool, and not being able to fulfill the client's requirements.
  • To be able to sell high visual quality simulations for companies that hire the service.
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ScreenShots