Autodesk Inventor vs. Revit

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
Revit
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk’s Revit is a Building Information Modelling (BIM) tool. It enables architectural, MEP, structural, and engineering design, and provides analysis to support iterative workflows
$350
per month
Pricing
Autodesk InventorRevit
Editions & Modules
Subscription - Monthly
$305
per month per user
Subscription - Yearly
$2440
per year per user
Subscription - 3 Years
$7320
3 years per user
Monthly
$350
per month
1-Year
$2805
per year
3-Year
$8415
per 3 years
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Autodesk InventorRevit
Free Trial
YesYes
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.Pricing available for monthly, annual, or 3-year subscriptions. Longer subscriptions offer greater discounts.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Autodesk InventorRevit
Considered Both Products
Autodesk Inventor
Chose Autodesk Inventor
Inventor is a more detailed modeling software then Revit or Fabrication. AutoCAD of course has been around for many years and will continue to have a place because it seems to be the base for all of the modeling software using .dwg file types. Inventor has the ability using the …
Chose Autodesk Inventor
Inventor is more intuitive and directional when it comes to the creation of parts and assemblies. The commands are also simpler and easier to understand than SOLIDWORKS. Inventor also has the support and presence in the market that allows for it to be utilized for different …
Chose Autodesk Inventor
I believe Autodesk Inventor is the easiest 3D modeling software to use, but it might not be the most cost effective though. The best thing about Inventor is the learning curve. It makes bringing new people up to speed much easier.

I do believe that SOLIDWORKS has better …
Revit
Chose Revit
Revit is purely an architectural design and drafting tool. It is best used at this current time of its development for visualization purposes. It does have features for documentation purposes for building construction however extracting building data and information is not yet …
Chose Revit
The choice fell on Revit because as an artist, it was important for me to make a 3D design, without delving into the project documentation.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Autodesk InventorRevit
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
-
Ratings
Revit
6.7
5 Ratings
14% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings6.64 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings6.74 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings6.34 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.44 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings6.54 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings6.95 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings6.13 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
-
Ratings
Revit
7.2
4 Ratings
5% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings7.44 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings6.64 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings7.14 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings7.14 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings7.63 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
-
Ratings
Revit
6.6
4 Ratings
14% below category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings6.64 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
-
Ratings
Revit
5.4
7 Ratings
41% below category average
Dashboards00 Ratings4.66 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings5.56 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings5.66 Ratings
Data exportability00 Ratings6.07 Ratings
Construction Project & Field Management
Comparison of Construction Project & Field Management features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
-
Ratings
Revit
6.9
44 Ratings
7% below category average
Plan distribution & viewing00 Ratings8.442 Ratings
Plan markups & sharing00 Ratings5.837 Ratings
Issue tracking & punchlists00 Ratings7.027 Ratings
Photo documentation00 Ratings4.518 Ratings
Jobsite reports00 Ratings6.414 Ratings
Document sharing00 Ratings8.639 Ratings
RFI tools00 Ratings8.120 Ratings
Collaboration & approvals00 Ratings7.738 Ratings
As-built drawings00 Ratings7.642 Ratings
Mobile app00 Ratings3.816 Ratings
Submittal design and management00 Ratings7.519 Ratings
Checklists00 Ratings7.26 Ratings
Meeting Minutes00 Ratings6.75 Ratings
Specifications00 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Change orders00 Ratings7.47 Ratings
Estimating
Comparison of Estimating features of Product A and Product B
Autodesk Inventor
-
Ratings
Revit
7.6
31 Ratings
7% below category average
Takeoff tools00 Ratings8.431 Ratings
Job costing00 Ratings7.725 Ratings
Cost databases00 Ratings8.319 Ratings
Cost calculator00 Ratings6.420 Ratings
Bid creation00 Ratings7.514 Ratings
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Autodesk InventorRevit
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User Ratings
Autodesk InventorRevit
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(25 ratings)
8.5
(46 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
6.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(12 ratings)
7.0
(8 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Autodesk InventorRevit
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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Autodesk
Revit is well suited for creating collaborative projects that are fully integrated into the design and construction document process. We work a lot with engineering firms who also use Revit and the program allows us to fully integrate and coordinate our models together to make sure that everything is correct. I can see where my electrical engineer has placed lighting into the model and same with my mechanical engineer and their HVAC equipment
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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.
Read full review
Autodesk
  • 3D Models - It's kind of a no brainer, but the key benefit of Revit is its ability to model in 3D. It's a somewhat complex modeling environment, however, it's not impossible to learn and I have seen users from a range of abilities to effectively model content in Revit.
  • Schedules - 3D is great, but the ability to quantify your geometry is contains valuable data if modeled correctly. If you model how you will build it, Revit has the ability to give very accurate schedules which includes quantities, and any data you would like to incorporate into your model.
  • Industry Standard - Revit is the industry standard. With that being said, it really help to use software that is compatible with other agencies for collaborative model review.
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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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Autodesk
  • There are often several ways to draw certain things, but the object will have different capabilities based on the way it is drawn. This can be confusing when trying to use the object.
  • The way objects are drawn is not always user-friendly. This program would be difficult for someone to figure out on their own without having any Autodesk background.
  • There should be a better way to track changes in the model. Often times the architect will not share a model during construction to avoid sending changes that aren't finalized or complete.
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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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Autodesk
We will almost certainly be renewing all of our current seats of Revit and will likely be adding seats as we look to get more and more of our staff trained and using Revit. The software is starting to become the standard for our projects as we move forward as more and more of our clients are requesting or accepting use of it
Read full review
Usability
Autodesk
It’s easy and very good for mechanical design
Read full review
Autodesk
It is a professional environment, but far from easy and overly complex in many places. The system is often too deep in settings and overrides (see Visibility/Graphics in combination with linked files, filters, color overrides and view templates). I don't really like the dialog-in-dialog interface and its spartan looks. But it works well overall if you know what you are doing.
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Reliability and Availability
Autodesk
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
Revit seems to always be available when I need it. I have not experiences an outage. There are occasions where we need our internal IT department to trouble shoot a file on our Revit dedicated server and that sometimes causes a delay however that is not a software access issue
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Performance
Autodesk
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
Revit is a fairly graphics heavy piece of software. It is powerful in its capabilities but as a result it takes a lot of the graphics card, the memory, etc. For all that it can do and the specs of my computer I find it pretty good from a performance standpoint
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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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Autodesk
Autodesk has always had a good support system in place. There is a massive user base for Revit, and there are thousands of forum threads and other discussions online about any and every problem that you could ever run into. For being such a large program with so many different options, there aren't many roadblocks or pitfalls that users can fall into.
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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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Autodesk
The training was Revit Essentials and it was very beneficial. I would say that it is best to get the training right before you know you will be using Revit as learning the basis then applying what you learned immediately is the most effective and best value for your money.
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Online Training
Autodesk
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
The online training is hit or miss. I feel that its better to be live to be able to pace and ask questions to a live person as you are learning hwo to do things. Its not natural to learn Revit especially if you know AutoCAD so my suggestion is the live training
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Implementation Rating
Autodesk
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
Implementing Revit as your main drafting software (i.e. moving to BIM from CAD) may be a tough decision if you have learned drafting. It is a different way to approach and think about developing a project. However, if you are able to adapt to a new way of thinking and get used to it by working through a few projects than it is as efficient as CAD in most areas in general and will also be both better/worse in some areas
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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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Autodesk
Revit like AutoCAD can produce both a 3d model & 2 dimensional drawings such as plans, elevations & sections which are required for any design project to be communicated on paper for construction. But unlike AutoCAD, Revit's focus is to build a 3d model that contain smart information for construction. So for Revit the 2 dimensional drawings becomes a byproduct. In addition to the required drawings needed on paper to communicate the design, Revit offers so much more information in the model for all engineering disciplines.
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Scalability
Autodesk
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
While I am not directly involved with the deployment of Revit, it seems that our internal IT department has appreciated the ability to increase or decrease the number of seats. I have never had an issue with the deployment if and when needed, especially regarding the availability of a set
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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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Autodesk
  • It's positive. It saves quite a bit of field time when used correctly, and lets us make sure we have proper room for all equipment and ductwork.
  • Helping minimize field 'thinking' time is an immediate add to the bottom line. 1 guy designing on the front side saves down time of 5-10 guys waiting in the field. Cost savings on labor is apparent.
  • Coordination time is also cut down, saving on office time. It's easy to spell out what your plan of attack is. All these savings directly add to bottom line profit by not expending labor.
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