Autodesk Civil 3D vs. Vectorworks Spotlight

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
Vectorworks Spotlight
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Vectorworks Spotlight is a solution used to design, document, previsualize, and produce shows and events. With an extensive suite of drawing, modeling, database, documentation, and collaboration tools, Spotlight helps users go from concept to fully created model within a single workflow. Evolved to meet the needs of entertainment industry professionals, Vectorworks Spotlight 2025 opens a new world of visual understanding and communication, delivering features implemented to address the most-used…
$153
per month per user
Pricing
Autodesk Civil 3DVectorworks Spotlight
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Annual Subscription
$127.50
per month per user
Monthly Subscription
$153
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Civil 3DVectorworks Spotlight
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsCan be licensed monthly ($305), Annually ($2,430), or every 3 years ($6,560).Available free for one year on a student license.$153/M: Monthly, 2 GB of cloud storage, Basic tech support, Immediate access to new versions $128/M: $1530 billed annually | Saves $306 over monthly billing, 2 GB of cloud storage, Basic tech support, Immediate access to new versions
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk Civil 3DVectorworks Spotlight
Best Alternatives
Autodesk Civil 3DVectorworks Spotlight
Small Businesses
Revit
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 7.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Revit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Revit
Revit
Score 9.1 out of 10
Rhino
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Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Autodesk Civil 3DVectorworks Spotlight
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk Civil 3DVectorworks Spotlight
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
No answers on this topic
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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Vectorworks, Inc.
No answers on this topic
ScreenShots

Civil 3D Screenshots

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

Vectorworks Spotlight Screenshots

Screenshot of Vectorworks Spotlight 2025Screenshot of a real-time previsualization, available directly inside Vectorworks to bring live control of lighting fixtures and the ability to test run a show without leaving the model. Users can explore countless lighting and scenic possibilities and then experiment, edit, and adjust to based on any previsualization.Screenshot of GDTF Mapping, which gives users accurate fixture information to avoid errors. Map GDTF files to fixtures with direct access to GDTF-Share to download and import the files in one action from within Vectorworks. Automatically update all GDTF profiles with one command and store assigned GDTFs within their lighting devices