Autodesk Civil 3D vs. GrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Civil 3D
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk's Civil 3D is a computer aided design (CAD) application designed to support a variety of civil infrastructure projects including rail, roads and highways, land development, airports, drainage, storm and sanitary, and civil structures.
$335
per month
GrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
Score 5.7 out of 10
N/A
GrabCAD Workbench was a CAD collaboration solution that helps designers to manage files and engage partners in the design process. Since August 2022 it has been discontinued.N/A
Pricing
Autodesk Civil 3DGrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Civil 3DGrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsCan be licensed monthly ($305), Annually ($2,430), or every 3 years ($6,560).Available free for one year on a student license.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk Civil 3DGrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
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Autodesk Civil 3DGrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
Small Businesses
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 7.5 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 8.3 out of 10
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User Ratings
Autodesk Civil 3DGrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(8 ratings)
7.4
(4 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk Civil 3DGrabCAD Workbench (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
Autodesk
Civil 3D is best suited for medium to large-scale projects, as it may be overkill for small projects. It is very efficient in design and drafting work, as well as creating reports. It also helps in creating surfaces using external data and building assemblies, as well as providing drainage for infrastructure projects. It can also provide outputs as DWG files to be directly used in the AutoCAD application.
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Discontinued Products
GrabCad Workbench is well suited for group projects, where all my team members can view the designs at the same time, and by integrating it with CAD software like SolidWorks, all my team members can see the live changes in the projects based on the recommendations received. I can also do conversations with my team, which are project-specific, thus reducing time in email and video conferences. For assemblies, I can generate a Bill of materials with a single click. However, there are some drawbacks like every member needs to have an account in order to sync files with everyone, and the platform requires good internet connectivity otherwise file uploading will be time-consuming.
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Pros
Autodesk
  • We use this software for the optimal and advanced design of pipelines and complex structuring, or it can also be said that we use it mainly for a geotechnical model, due to its high definition of the large proportion of the works that are carried out through of this application, since the tasks that are used with Civil 3D require extreme patience, precision and a lot of time to develop a model in its entirety, but we managed to acquire all the necessary and strategic points, to establish and start the production of a prototype digitized in particular.
  • Easy to export to normal AutoCAD or collaborate with most Autodesk products.
  • Vehicle Turning Simulation and Stormwater analysis is great addition to the package. Ability to use the all familiar AutoCAD tools, as well as LISP and SCR to automate some processes is one of the greatest advantages of the software.
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Discontinued Products
  • GrabCAD is the source of truth for the files being used
  • GrabCAD is free
  • Easy to use and get started
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Cons
Autodesk
  • I think I need more experience in using Autodesk Civil 3D as it is a huge jump from the previous software that I had been using
  • Some functions could take less steps to complete
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Discontinued Products
  • The software is not intuitive.
  • You must have an account to share files.
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Usability
Autodesk
It is one of the most standard Designing and drafting tools for infrastructure projects and is the go-to for including it with the Autodesk ecosystem. Its strong collaboration with GIS and Other tools helps us to create a software workflow as a digital twin platform as well. The Drawings and plans generated can be easily imported into other applications, allowing for full control over the workflow.
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Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Autodesk
They have a vast open community, which has helped us understand Autodesk Civil 3D from the beginning. They have provided many templates and tutorials videos to our team due to that we can learn every new feature from them. Autodesk Civil 3D has also helped us to interconnect all its software in an internal bridge, which helps us switch between software as we need.
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Discontinued Products
Never needed.
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Alternatives Considered
Autodesk
As mentioned before, using Civil3D got its own pros such as creating different profiles that are interactive such if you change any level, the profile will be updated automatically while in AutoCAD you will suffer by updating them manually. In addition, creating models that also are interactive and help in clash detection for different utilities in a project.
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Discontinued Products
It’s the bottom of the barrel.
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Return on Investment
Autodesk
  • positive: saved us time on setting up sheets/sheet set manager
  • positive: saved time and effort on cutting profiles
  • positive: saved us money on printing, since it is easy to bind the dgns it creates
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Discontinued Products
  • GrabCad Workbench is the best in terms of integration with other CAD software like SolidWorks where live changes can be made to a product.
  • GrabCad Workbench has a common parts library, which allows us to use repetitive parts without redesigning them again and again. Hence saving a lot of time.
  • I can do all the conversations in the file itself, reducing time in email and other modes.
  • It automatically generates BOM for my assembly files.
  • It tracks versions, all the files are updated automatically for all members once a new version is created.
  • It would be good if it can be updated to read drawing and sketch files.
  • The team needs to improve the stability of the platform.
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ScreenShots

Civil 3D Screenshots

Screenshot of Civil 3D - Infrastructure Software from AutodeskScreenshot of Civil 3D - Rail Alignments