Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AutoCAD
Score 8.0 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
PTC Mathcad
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
PTC Mathcad Prime is a digital engineering notebook enabling engineers, mathematicians, and scientists to solve, analyze, document, and share their calculations. It helps users to solve problems accurately the first time numerically and/or symbolically, and then reuse important intellectual property with templates to save time on the next project.
$735
per year per seat
Mathematica
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Wolfram's flagship product Mathematica is a modern technical computing application featuring a flexible symbolic coding language and a wide array of graphing and data visualization capabilities.
$1,520
per year
Pricing
AutoCADPTC MathcadWolfram Mathematica
Editions & Modules
Monthly Subscription
$245
per month per user
Yearly Subscription
$1975
per year per user
3-Year Subscription
$5925
3 years per user
Mathcad Prime 10 License
$735
per year
Standard Cloud
$1,520
per year
Standard Desktop
$3,040
one-time fee
Standard Desktop & Cloud
$3,344
one-time fee
Mathematica Enterprise Edition
$8,150.00
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AutoCADPTC MathcadMathematica
Free Trial
YesYesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts available for students and educational institutions. The Network Edition reduce per-user license costs through shared deployment across any number of machines on a local-area network.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AutoCADPTC MathcadWolfram Mathematica
Features
AutoCADPTC MathcadWolfram Mathematica
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
AutoCAD
6.5
6 Ratings
13% below category average
PTC Mathcad
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
-
Ratings
3D Modeling5.06 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
2D Drafting9.06 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization5.56 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Parametric Design7.16 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing7.66 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats8.16 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Assembly Design6.06 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis4.25 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation7.56 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization and Extensions5.46 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
AutoCAD
-
Ratings
PTC Mathcad
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
6 Ratings
20% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings00 Ratings9.84 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings00 Ratings9.94 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings00 Ratings9.96 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
AutoCAD
-
Ratings
PTC Mathcad
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
9 Ratings
24% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings00 Ratings9.97 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
AutoCAD
-
Ratings
PTC Mathcad
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.3
8 Ratings
13% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings00 Ratings9.97 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings00 Ratings9.97 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
AutoCAD
-
Ratings
PTC Mathcad
-
Ratings
Wolfram Mathematica
9.9
9 Ratings
24% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings00 Ratings9.98 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AutoCADPTC MathcadWolfram Mathematica
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.3 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.3 out of 10
Supermetrics
Supermetrics
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.3 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.3 out of 10
Supermetrics
Supermetrics
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.3 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.3 out of 10
IBM Analytics Engine
IBM Analytics Engine
Score 7.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AutoCADPTC MathcadWolfram Mathematica
Likelihood to Recommend
7.6
(87 ratings)
9.1
(5 ratings)
9.9
(9 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(8 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.9
(13 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AutoCADPTC MathcadWolfram Mathematica
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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PTC
It is great for any manual calculation. You can lay it out as you would on paper, but the math is calculated instantly, similar to how it is in excel. It is superior to either method for most engineering calculations. Being able to copy-and-paste is very helpful for considering multiple scenarios. In some situations where you need to do the same calculation on an array of numbers, Excel is still faster.
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Wolfram
We are the judgement that Wolfram Mathematica is despite many critics based on the paradigms selected a mark in the fields of the markets for computations of all kind. Wolfram Mathematica is even a choice in fields where other bolide systems reign most of the market. Wolfram Mathematica offers rich flexibility and internally standardizes the right methodologies for his user community. Wolfram Mathematica is not cheap and in need of a hard an long learner journey. That makes it weak in comparison with of-the-shelf-solution packages or even other programming languages. But for systematization of methods Wolfram Mathematica is far in front of almost all the other. Scientist and interested people are able to develop themself further and Wolfram Matheamatica users are a human variant for themself. The reach out for modern mathematics based science is deep and a unique unified framework makes the whole field of mathematics accessable comparable to the brain of Albert Einstein. The paradigms incorporated are the most efficients and consist in assembly on the market. The mathematics is covering and fullfills not just education requirements but the demands and needs of experts.
Mathematica is incompatible with other systems for mCAx and therefore the borders between the systems are hard to overcome. Wolfram Mathematica should be consider one of the more open systems because other code can be imported and run but on the export side it is rathe incompatible by design purposes. A better standard for all that might solve the crisis but there is none in sight. Selection of knowledge of what works will be in the future even more focussed and general system might be one the lossy side. Knowledge of esthetics of what will be in the highest demand in necessary and Wolfram is not a leader in this field of science. Mathematics leves from gathering problems from application fields and less from the glory of itself and the formalization of this.
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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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PTC
  • Conversion of measurement units (Imperial and Metric)
  • Easy to use for writing detailed engineering worksheets
  • Formulas can be written in the expanded form which facilitates verification
  • Spell Checker feature is life saver.
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Wolfram
  • It allows straightforward integration of analytic analysis of algebraic expressions and their numerical implemented.
  • Supports varying programmatic paradigms, so one can choose what best fits the problem or task: pure functions, procedural programming, list processing, and even (with a bit of setup) object-oriented programming.
  • The extensive and rich tools for graphical rendering make it very easy to not just get 2D and 3D renderings of final output, but also to do quick-and-dirty 2D and 3D rendering of intermediate results and/or debugging results.
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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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PTC
  • Some of the math and text formatting aspects are a little cumbersome.
  • Converting from older Matchcad versions to the newer Mathcad Prime platform could be made easier. It should be a direct import function.
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Wolfram
  • Should include more libraries and functions.
  • Should include more functions that can be used in Machine Learning.
  • Should include more functions that can be used in Data Science.
Read full review
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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PTC
No answers on this topic
Wolfram
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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PTC
Higher-order math, despite symbolics, become tedious and variable nomenclature isn't as forgiving as other programs. Due to it's sheet-like nature, the greater the complexity the more bothersome the screen usage becomes. But it's a trade-off between a sketchpad-like interface or lines and lines of code. Pick your poison but MathCad was our choice.
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Wolfram
No answers on this topic
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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PTC
No answers on this topic
Wolfram
Wolfram Mathematica is a nice software package. It has very nice features and easy to install and use in your machine. Besides this, there is a nice support from Wolfram. They come to the university frequently to give seminars in Mathematica. I think this is the best thing they are doing. That is very helpful for graduate and undergraduate students who are using Mathematica in their research.
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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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PTC
No answers on this topic
Wolfram
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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PTC
MathCAD is easier to learn and faster to start with. It has more user-friendly interface and conventional style toolbox and GUI. It is really good for the beginners and those who are afraid of complex math.
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Wolfram
We have evaluated and are using in some cases the Python language in concert with the Jupyter notebook interface. For UI, we using libraries like React to create visually stunning visualizations of such models. Mathematica compares favorably to this alternative in terms of speed of development. Mathematica compares unfavorably to this alternative in terms of license costs.
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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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PTC
  • Speeds up calculations (especially when corrections need to be made near the beginning).
  • Ability to re-use old calculations as a template can save significant time.
  • You can use consistent formatting for all calculations, allowing for more organized, clear calculations.
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Wolfram
  • Easy to solve huge mathematical equations, so it saved time there
  • Doing analysis and plotting graphs is also another plus point
  • Learning is very slow, and it took lot of time to learn its scripting language
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