Autodesk Inventor vs. SAP PLM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Autodesk Inventor
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk Inventor 3D CAD software offers professional-grade 3D mechanical design, documentation, and product simulation tools. These blend parametric, direct, freeform, and rules-based design capabilities. Inventor includes integrated tools for sheet metal, frame design, tube and pipe, cable & harness, presentations, rendering, simulation, and machine design. It also features TrustedDWG® compatibility and Model-Based Definition capabilities for embedding manufacturing information directly in…
$300
12 days over 1 year via Flex pricing 100 tokens
SAP PLM
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
SAP PLM is one component of the SAP Business Suite which also includes ERP, CRM, SCM, etc.N/A
Pricing
Autodesk InventorSAP PLM
Editions & Modules
Subscription - Monthly
$305
per month per user
Subscription - Yearly
$2440
per year per user
Subscription - 3 Years
$7320
3 years per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autodesk InventorSAP PLM
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAlso available for limited use through tokens on a Flex plan.
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Autodesk InventorSAP PLM
Small Businesses
Rhino
Rhino
Score 9.1 out of 10
PTC Creo
PTC Creo
Score 7.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Rhino
Rhino
Score 9.1 out of 10
Teamcenter
Teamcenter
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 9.1 out of 10
Digital.ai TeamForge
Digital.ai TeamForge
Score 7.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Autodesk InventorSAP PLM
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(25 ratings)
9.9
(4 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(12 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk InventorSAP PLM
Likelihood to Recommend
Autodesk
Autodesk Inventor is a great tool for students and faculty for engineering areas that don't require great precision or development of more thorough scientific results. Is you are conducting research, or deal with very intricate and complex systems I would recommend a more robust platform that complies more to industry standards.
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SAP
SAP PLM is well suited for any industry that needs to track the creation of a product from the raw material stage all the way to the shipped product. I do not think it would be well suited for very small companies which do not have any materials, products, and inventory to track.
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Pros
Autodesk
  • The program is very good at simplicity. Each of the buttons, menus, and options has an explanation of exactly what the feature does, and even a more advanced description if you desire to learn more about what each one does.
  • Autodesk Inventor is a very fast program. Everything renders extremely quickly and there are no delays when examining a 3D model, part, or assembly. This is especially useful when giving a presentation about a product or design, and you need to be able to show a concept to an audience in real time.
  • The software has an extremely accurate simulation feature that lets users do stress analysis on a 3D model. It can calculate precisely where the stress concentrations are going to be in a particular model and even give you an accurate depiction of where the part could likely fracture and/or fracture during loading.
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SAP
  • Provides lower-cost calculation
  • This makes processes related to the product consistent, efficient, and simpler.
  • It manages product development, support, and recycling projects effectively.
  • It allows us to control the whole process.
  • It allows us to see the future status of the products.
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Cons
Autodesk
  • Inventor demonstrates a lack of fluidity in the process of transferring data between programs.
  • Inventor shows some lack of sophistication that certain features that are readily available in other design software packages are limited in use in Inventor.
  • Inventor can often have difficulty in creating models that show true color, as in blacks can come out as dark grays in certain renders, even when the material and appearance settings are the same from part to part.
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SAP
  • Implementation Challenges.
  • Not a one product fits all — each organization to customize a lot to accommodate their own processes.
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Likelihood to Renew
Autodesk
Inventor continues to meet our enterprise needs. I don't see a need to change unless we change our business model significantly.
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Usability
Autodesk
It’s easy and very good for mechanical design
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SAP
SAP PLM is very difficult to use for beginners.
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Support Rating
Autodesk
I'm giving the overall support rating a 5 only because I rarely have to use it. Trying to find the answer on the help pages hardly ever helps me because any problem I have is usually too deep for what the help offers. Given the popularity of Autodesk, I have always been able to find an answer online after doing enough looking!
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SAP
Once implemented, it provides seamless integration between PLM and ERP systems.
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In-Person Training
Autodesk
I got the training during college, so mostly i learned on my own
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SAP
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Autodesk
When it comes to solid modeling, the bad choices died out years ago. So we looked at the total ecosystem and chose Autodesk Inventor because of the integration with Nastran, HSM (machining), Autodesk CFD, MoldFlow, and AutoCAD. This means our legacy data (2D) is still a valid part of our design methodologies going forward, and we have the full breadth of engineering tools at our disposal. Other solutions in this space have similar offerings but not nearly as potent of a portfolio in total. It's worth saying that we do not consider Inventor in the same space as CATIA or NX, but that the entire Autodesk portfolio (e.g. Alias, PowerMill, etc) includes a total toolset that exceeds these industry giants.
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SAP
SAP PLM encompasses SAP BW and SAP PRD. We tend to focus more on the SAP PRD portion as it directly involves more closely to production. We selected SAP PLM because it gives us a great visibility in the life cycle of materials, products and overall costs. SAP PLM compliments the other packages very well
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Return on Investment
Autodesk
  • Working on a project designed with Inventor provides a modular design platform that can quickly be configured or changed as required. This allows for the quick turn around time for the design and revision of drawings.
  • We've used Inventor over the years (since 2013) and the updates and newly released versions of Inventor do not require re-training or restrict use.
  • Autodesk follows an intuitive approach and users or designers who have worked on other design platforms like SolidWorks can transition easily to Inventor.
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SAP
  • Accurately able to order raw materials which are necessary for the current production run, thus reducing overhead.
  • The negative impact would be the initial cost of the software and how long it would take to ROI that cost.
  • It has allowed us to control batches of product creation much more closer and have the ability to cut some erroneous costs which were found in large batches.
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ScreenShots