InVision vs. SOLIDWORKS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
InVision
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
InVision is a collaborative design and prototyping platform with features such as freehand drafting mode and interactive mockups, collaboration, idea management, user testing, and integration with Slack and other collaboration tools. According to the vendor, 1 million designers are using the free version.
$0
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.5 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
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
Pro
$7.75
per user/per month
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Solidworks Annual Subscription
1,295
per year
Solidworks Standard
3,996
per standalone license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Features
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Computer-Aided Design Software
Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Product A and Product B
InVision
-
Ratings
SOLIDWORKS
8.5
3 Ratings
14% above category average
3D Modeling00 Ratings9.73 Ratings
2D Drafting00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization00 Ratings7.83 Ratings
Parametric Design00 Ratings7.22 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing00 Ratings9.22 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats00 Ratings9.73 Ratings
Assembly Design00 Ratings8.63 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis00 Ratings6.42 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation00 Ratings8.72 Ratings
Customization and Extensions00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Best Alternatives
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Small Businesses
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.6 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.6 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.2 out of 10
Enterprises
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.6 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(49 ratings)
9.6
(58 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
6.0
(2 ratings)
8.8
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(4 ratings)
5.1
(16 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
InVisionSOLIDWORKS
Likelihood to Recommend
InVisionApp Inc.
InVision is well suited for design reviews and immersing yourself in the experience of an app-to-be. As a Product Manager, it's difficult to take abstract concepts, user pain points, and business needs, and produce a vision for an app without a visual aid to communicate a vision. InVIsion offers PMs, designers, and developers the opportunity to sketch a vision, communicate about it with inline commenting, and shareable with other stakeholders.
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Dassault Systemes
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!
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Pros
InVisionApp Inc.
  • Very easy to export Sketch files (where prototypes are actually created) into Invision and preserve the interactivity.
  • Additional interactivity can be added in InVision. Like scrolling with locked footer.
  • Clients, designer and developers can collaborate - leave notes and respond to notes made by others.
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Dassault Systemes
  • 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
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Cons
InVisionApp Inc.
  • would be nice to have commands for quick access to shapes from the keyboard
  • Quicker integrations with Notion and lucid chart to have a slick experience
  • The auto organize option should have multiple frame selection, sometimes is not the arranged expected for the wireframe
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Dassault Systemes
  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
InVisionApp Inc.
it does what we bought it for, so would buy again :)
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Dassault Systemes
We have absolutely no reasons to not keep with SolidWorks for the foreseeable future.
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Usability
InVisionApp Inc.
Easy for prototyping, sharing for comments and review changes with version. lags a bit when the design is heavy and large design models learning curve is shorter so saves time with new stakeholders responsiveness could be better and auto modeling can be introduced Not much advance features that can be used
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Dassault Systemes
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.
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Support Rating
InVisionApp Inc.
I didn't need to contact InVision support, as I've never needed it. They have an intuitive UI, and most of the questions are answered in their help portal or in tutorials online. Since many people use it, there a great resources available on for example YouTube. No problems so far with InVision.
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Dassault Systemes
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.
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Alternatives Considered
InVisionApp Inc.
We only tested out using Adobe XD for similar uses and found it to be more challenging to fit within our processes. It didn't have as robust a set of capabilities as InVision and wasn't as easy to use enterprise wide. I recall also having issues with working with Sketch.
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Dassault Systemes
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
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Return on Investment
InVisionApp Inc.
  • InVision helps our team better and more professionally portray the value and the work we do as designers, leading to more company buy-in in supporting and funding our work. In the past, we would create PowerPoints with screenshots to portray a user workflow that we would share out to stakeholders. Once we began to use this app, where stakeholders could click through and comment as though they were “real” users, stakeholders began to better understand our work, designs, and workflows. This has led to more productive conversations that, in turn, lead to more effective end products that have more consistently served our business goals in tangible ways.
  • InVision helps us save production time, effort, and cost, as we are able to solve design issues early in the process by having clickable prototypes to show to internal stakeholders and external users. It’s, understandably, difficult for people to provide effective feedback on screenshots. Using the clickable prototypes we created in InVision, we are able to get more effective feedback to solve user workflow issues before we spend time and money developing problematic designs (and later having to redesign them).
  • It’s easier to market designs to potential buyers with clickable prototypes than with screenshots. With these prototypes, we’ve been able to sell more digital products before product release dates, which has helped to secure many contracts and new business relationships that continue to this day.
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Dassault Systemes
  • Creation of small 3D pieces to generate cash flow.
  • Not being able to create 3D sculptures with this tool, and not being able to fulfill the client's requirements.
  • To be able to sell high visual quality simulations for companies that hire the service.
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ScreenShots

InVision Screenshots

Screenshot of Take designs from ideas to development in one unified platformScreenshot of Collaborate in real time on an endless digital whiteboard. Start fast with a blank canvas or pre-built templates.Screenshot of Create rich, interactive prototypes. Import from Sketch, then gather feedback from any device.Screenshot of Involve your developers early and often. Collect input and provide detailed specs to keep builds on track.