Solid Edge vs. SketchUp

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Solid Edge
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Solid Edge is a software solutions for product development — 3D design, simulation, manufacturing, data management, and cloud collaboration. Solid Edge aims to combine the speed and simplicity of direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design.
$110
per month
SketchUp
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
SketchUp is 3D modeling software with an emphasis on usability. SketchUp is a Trimble product.
$119
per year
Pricing
Solid EdgeSketchUp
Editions & Modules
Design and Drafting XaaS
$110.00
per month
Foundation XaaS
$267.00
per month
Classic XaaS
$335.00
per month
Premium XaaS
$481.00
per month
Free
$0.00
per year
For Schools (free with G Suite or Microsoft education account)
$0
For Students
$55.00
per year
For Educators
$55.00
per year
Studio for Students / Educators (Desktop version)
$55
per year
Shop
$119.00
per year
Pro
$299.00
per year
Professional
$299.00
per year
Studio (Windows only)
$699
per year
Studio
$1199.00
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Solid EdgeSketchUp
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Solid EdgeSketchUp
Considered Both Products
Solid Edge

No answer on this topic

SketchUp
Chose SketchUp
SketchUp can be widely used in different design disciplines while some programs such as Revit and SOLIDWORKS are specifically designed for making 3D or 2D drawings related to structures, mechanical components, and building elements. The interface of SketchUp is intuitive, all …
Best Alternatives
Solid EdgeSketchUp
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.5 out of 10
Navisworks
Navisworks
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Solid EdgeSketchUp
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(16 ratings)
8.0
(47 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
5.3
(2 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
8.5
(14 ratings)
User Testimonials
Solid EdgeSketchUp
Likelihood to Recommend
Siemens AG
Well Suited for:
  • Integrated designs performed by multiple designers simultaneously (designs requiring a Product Lifecycle Management system);
  • Designs requiring a high degree of parameterisation;
  • Large companies where specific standards and best practices are applied to all models and drawings created.
Not Well Suited for:
  • Personal use in designing one-off models and drawings;
  • Small business use where very few of the expensive features are actually used.
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Trimble
SketchUp is great for individually studying options for building design. It is an awesome conceptual tool to be able to quickly model and manipulate a building to study different designs. It is not good for complex geometries, especially curves. Surfaces have a hard time registering and cutting into one another. It also eventually needs to go into Revit to be more realistic as it is not good as a documentation tool
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Pros
Siemens AG
  • It has very good user interface in classic or ordered environment.
  • In 2D or drafting, you can give any Geometric tolerancing and symbols to any dimension. There is a wide range of options available.
  • You can convert any files in step file (.stp) and can open it in other designing applications easily.
  • After converting 3D drawings in 2D you can make changes in 2D drawing by converting it in the draft. You can also add details like cross-sections and detailed view.
  • You can directly make threads without creating holes.
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Trimble
  • Quickly exploring solutions in 3D: We get a lot of "what if" and "what would that look like" questions. While hand-sketching and hand-drafting can be fairly quick, SketchUp allows me to quickly create 3D and 2D views of a detail or solution, change dimensions and materials in a flash, and show a client or installer the plan in minutes.
  • Creating professional design documents in LayOut: Projects of any scale need good documentation. Using a combination of SketchUp and LayOut, I can create a Design Intent Set, plans for permitting, a set for mechanical trades to mark-up, etc. Having clear, appropriately-scaled drawings with dimensions or notations is a must, and we don't always have the time or budget to get an architect involved!
  • Using live files to guide discussions: Not all clients are "visual" people, so opening their model and orbiting around their space in real time has been extremely helpful. Clients and trades enjoy the perspective views so much that we often include them in the full-sized drawing sets to give a good "overall" view of the project intent. For complex or tight spaces, sometimes un-rendered plans and elevations just aren't enough!
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Cons
Siemens AG
  • Being used to 2-key and 3-key commands from the keyboard, it would be nice if this was more robust in Solid Edge. The capability of programming keystroke commands exists in Solid Edge, but it would be more user friendly in that regard.
  • Editing hatches can be a challenge.
  • I'm not a fan of the ribbon bar, but that seems to be a feature across software platforms in Windows.
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Trimble
  • Ability to import Revit files and libraries.
  • Ability to export true curved vector linework. There are some workarounds, needs to be refined.
  • Create an OPEN MAPS connection. Since the split from Google, the source for high-quality aerials is limited.
  • Ability to dock all menus to the master window on a Mac
  • Ability to develop dockable menu trays on a Mac
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Likelihood to Renew
Siemens AG
No answers on this topic
Trimble
We typically wait a few years in between renewing, as even older versions are powerful tools for modeling, and we make sure the amount of feature changes are worth the re-investment.
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Usability
Siemens AG
As mentioned previously, Siemens Solid Edge is not the most user-friendly of products at all. It requires intense training to make sure that the basics are understood, and after that, there are numerous other training interventions needed to be able to perform expert-level CAD functions. The GUI is not intuitive, as many other packages are, and the features built-in are not well defined. The process to use many of these features is counter-intuitive and requires a mind-shift.
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Trimble
It is very user friendly and easy to learn. It's simplicity allows for a low learning curve so more people can learn it faster. The downside is that most schools are no longer teaching it, so many younger professionals come out of school not knowing it and knowing more complex software and they have a hard time "dumbing down" their skillsets
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Support Rating
Siemens AG
I have been involved with support and training of Solid Edge for 24 years. Given that I based my business model on support, and have been successful for all these years, I know excellent support. Siemens support for Solid Edge, "GTAC", is the definition of support for a product in every aspect.
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Trimble
Sketchup is so intuitive; I can't recall ever looking for official support. However, there are many user forums online that can answer more questions. The usefulness of the online forums is, however, tempered by the fact that there have been many versions of the software under different ownership and support regimes, and thus finding the right information for the right version of the software can be a challenge.
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Alternatives Considered
Siemens AG
FreeCAD is often better than Solid Edge 2021 when converting files, but I hope this changes with 2023 NX is overall more powerful, but that is to be expected (and you cant add it above because it is too short for whatever reason).
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Trimble
We have not evaluated any other competing software to this one. I heard about this software from a friend who teaches how to use it. She showed me in just a few minutes and I was HOOKED. I saw immediately the possible help it would be to my business. Thank you.
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Return on Investment
Siemens AG
  • It took about 20 hours of use to get the basics of Synchronous Technology, and with just a basic competency I was able to make useful changes to the design. One of those changes was impossible to do our other CAD program.
  • My use lately has mostly been on personal time and self-driven, so learning other aspects and features of Solid Edge has been slower. Creating a drawing for a part required a few hours to learn and do the first time, but luckily there were YouTube videos for examples. With practice, I would expect the time to reflect what it takes in SolidWorks (about 30 minutes).
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Trimble
  • It's good in the sense that you can quickly make a drawing and speeds up the design process. Not sure how to quantify that from a ROI perspective.
  • Also, good for editing an image after the fact. We can easily add a dimension that was forgotten in the original image.
  • Allows team members to understand a design easier than on other software platforms.
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ScreenShots