AutoCAD vs. BricsCAD

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AutoCAD
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
AutoCAD is a CAD product from Autodesk. It allows designers to work in 2D and 3D, and is available on Windows and Mac, but with extensive online collaboration tools.
$245
per month
BricsCAD
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
BricsCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) toolkit, supporting 2D drawing, 3D modeling and visualizations, and is customizable as well as compatible with many 3rd party applications, developed by Belgian company Bricsys, a Hexagon company since late 2018.
$314
per year
Pricing
AutoCADBricsCAD
Editions & Modules
Monthly Subscription
$245
per month per user
Yearly Subscription
$1975
per year per user
3-Year Subscription
$5925
3 years per user
BricsCAD Lite
$590
one-time fee
BricsCAD Pro
$1,265
one-time fee
BricsCAD Mechanical
$1,780
one-time fee
BricsCAD BIM
$1,890
one-time fee
BricsCAD Ultimate
$2,100
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AutoCADBricsCAD
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AutoCADBricsCAD
Considered Both Products
AutoCAD
Chose AutoCAD
AutoCAD has been around for over 30 years. AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs that ran on a PC.
Intergraph ran off a mainframe until MicroStation came in a PC version at a later date. By this time, AutoCAD had a market on smaller companies because of the cost and colleges …
Chose AutoCAD
AutoCAD has a more user-friendly approach to drawing, and the interface is easy to use and is understandable. BricsCAD is an exact replica of AutoCAD in terms of user commands, however, it is cheaper to license. The industry that we work in, though, expects a certain file type …
Chose AutoCAD
AutoCAD is the industry best and is well integrated with regular updates and fixes if required. Being very developer friendly and having a huge community of enthusiasts behind takes it miles ahead of the competition. Some might get an edge over price but due to this being an …
BricsCAD
Chose BricsCAD
Very cost-effective solution, it even supports pointclouds natively and is something we will investigate further as time goes on and may in fact utilise it to replace AutoCAD with 3rd party add-ins at some point in the future, and we hope it can further reduce costs in the …
Features
AutoCADBricsCAD
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
AutoCAD
6.4
6 Ratings
12% below category average
BricsCAD
8.4
1 Ratings
15% above category average
3D Modeling5.36 Ratings9.01 Ratings
2D Drafting9.06 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization5.56 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Parametric Design6.46 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing7.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats8.06 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Assembly Design5.86 Ratings00 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis3.55 Ratings00 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation7.56 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Customization and Extensions6.36 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AutoCADBricsCAD
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.5 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AutoCADBricsCAD
Likelihood to Recommend
7.6
(87 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(8 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
6.9
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AutoCADBricsCAD
Likelihood to Recommend
Autodesk
AutoCAD is the Industry best and standardized software used industry wide. This comes with support of some free to use plugins which can be downloaded form AutoDesk Store. AutoDesk has already nurtured a strong community of Developers, Students and Architects this helps any one new with Forms which help them get integrated with the commiunity very quickly.
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Hexagon AB
SMBs who do want to minimse their involvement with expensinve, inconvenient and bloated Autodesk products will find lots to love. The only hinderence is the market share of Autodesk means some 3rd party developers will not support it unfortunately, but it has it's own solutions to many things users of the AutoCAD ecosystem currenrtly rely on.
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Pros
Autodesk
  • The tools are easy to use and the learning curve is fairly minimal to be able to create blueprints.
  • The 3D application is very fun to use and it is nice to be able to see your product instead of having to imagine what it will look like.
  • The speed and accuracy in which students can create plans is a huge bonus. Students can plan their industrial art projects out and use their own set of plans to build them.
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Hexagon AB
  • 3D Modeling
  • Machine learning / A.I.-assisted feature named PROPAGATE.
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Cons
Autodesk
  • User Interface Customisation: AutoCAD's user interface could benefit from more robust customisation options. Allowing users to rearrange toolbars, menus, and panels according to their specific workflows and preferences would enhance productivity.
  • Enhanced 3D Modeling Tools: While AutoCAD is capable of 3D modeling, it's not as intuitive or feature-rich as dedicated 3D modeling software. Streamlining the process and adding more advanced modeling tools would be a welcome improvement.
  • Enhanced Collaboration and Version Control: AutoCAD could improve its collaboration tools, such as real-time editing and version tracking, to facilitate smoother teamwork, especially in multi-disciplinary projects.
  • Intelligent Object Libraries: AutoCAD could benefit from an expanded and more intelligent library of standard objects and components. This would save time for designers who often have to create custom components from scratch.
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Hexagon AB
  • there is not full compatibility with dynamic blocks but it isn't so bad -we can create them in AutoCAD and use them to some extent anyway
  • it doesn't look as "sexy" and the interface looks kinda orimitive in some screens but the functionality is all there and the some
  • there is the hurdle of users thinking they are getting a lesser product so more marketing pozazz is needed to get the message over it is a very capable product
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Likelihood to Renew
Autodesk
Because rarely we [would] rather wait for a whole year to update, sometimes the new updates don't bring many new features and we are still ok with the current version. Also the change of interface is always something that takes time for every partner in the company to get comfortable with. So those are the main reasons we may want to keep the same version.
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Hexagon AB
No answers on this topic
Usability
Autodesk
It is very usable once you understand the program. I believe there is room for improvement in the 2D to 3D modeling capability. We have to use other apps to 3D model and that can be time consuming and sometimes AutoCAD doesn't transfer work that well between apps. They can improve there.
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Hexagon AB
it's exteremly useable. AutoCAD users will carry over many eisting skills and learn some new ones on the cross over. It's fast adn lightweight meaning ot can be run on just about any PC. The help and support are realy good and problems are usually responded to within a day by experts.
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Support Rating
Autodesk
AutoCAD has the issue of crashing or slowing down the design procedure once a heavy design that includes several disciplines or multiple families/blocks is involved. Customer services gets the feedback from the crash reports but this issue seems like it has never been addressed in the software updates past several years.
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Hexagon AB
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Autodesk
the implementation was realy easy , to set up our workstation we pay for the licenses we are about to use , there was a little bit of delay to get the payment processed to receive the serial but after that the install runs without any problem , so you can fell secure there will be not issue with the implementation.
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Hexagon AB
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Autodesk
I use Revit far more than I use AutoCAD. AutoCAD is great for simple linework, but even then I will often create the lines in Revit and then export to AutoCAD for final touches and printing. AutoCAD is a bit easier for large-format prints, which is why I almost always end up using it after starting in Revit.
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Hexagon AB
Very cost-effective solution, it even supports pointclouds natively and is something we will investigate further as time goes on and may in fact utilise it to replace AutoCAD with 3rd party add-ins at some point in the future, and we hope it can further reduce costs in the long-run as it continues to develop and mature.
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Return on Investment
Autodesk
  • AutoCAD has helped our smaller firm produce lots of finished products matching that of a much larger size firm. With its many features, we have been able to do so much more and meet deadlines that much faster.
  • Since we do use AutoCAD, we're able to work with many other engineering firms to collaborate together to complete various building projects.
  • We have many clients now who expect us to provide for them at the end of a project not just printed construction drawings but also the digital AutoCAD drawing so they can in turn use it for future modifications themselves.
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Hexagon AB
  • Evaluation and budget management
  • Better monitoring of projects
  • Respect of execution deadlines
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ScreenShots