The AEC Collection provides a set of BIM and CAD tools supported by a cloud-based common data environment that facilitates project delivery from early-stage design through to construction. The bundle includes popular Autodesk tools such as Revit, AutoCAD, FormIT, and Navisworks Manage, with access to 12 integrated CAD and BIM tools.
$435
per month
BricsCAD
Score 10.0 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
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
Autodesk AEC Collection
BricsCAD
SOLIDWORKS
Editions & Modules
AEC Collection - Monthly Subscription
$435
per month per user
AEC Collection - Yearly Subscription
$3,465
per year per user
AEC Collection - 3-Year Subscription
$10,395
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
Solidworks Annual Subscription
1,295
per year
Solidworks Standard
3,996
per standalone license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autodesk AEC Collection
BricsCAD
SOLIDWORKS
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk AEC Collection
BricsCAD
SOLIDWORKS
Features
Autodesk AEC Collection
BricsCAD
SOLIDWORKS
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
If you are a commercial contractor or subcontractor, Autodesk AEC Collection, along with other Autodesk software is a must. There is no other way to design estimate and plan large construction. For residential construction, It may not be as necessary but it could still be useful if your primary construction projects are new builds rather than renovations.
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.
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!
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
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
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.
I gave a rating of 10 because, thus far, Autodesk AEC Collection Seems to be on the leading edge for what is required for the construction planning, implementation, and continued of real-world assets. Autodesk has been a great benefit for our organization and has allowed us to continue to improve not only ourselves but the people we work with. We have been using Autodesk AEC Collection for a number of years and hope to continue for a long time coming.
The software has a significant learning curve. You also must know and understand construction standards and codes. Each member of our BIM team has spent 10+ years in construction and has had years of software training. The software also requires powerful computers to render the models. Without a BIM focused gpu and processor, the software will seem less usable when in reality, the computer is not capable of running the software properly
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.
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.
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.
Other products that have been used include Civil Designer and Model Maker for civil services. Other products for structural designs include aq product called "SEDA" These products are not included in the listings.
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.
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
