DraftSight

It is good that Draftsight is similar to AutoCAD, easy to pick up when start using Draftsight as an user of AutoCAD but sometimes Draftsight cannot read the font style of the text box from AutoCAD which leads to showing "?????". I have to input the words manually.

Perfect for 2D drawing in its Standard or Professional version. When I have 3D drawing to do, I will compare DraftSight with Sketchup which I currently use for 3D and which is suitable for my personal needs.

It is very useful for opening and working with DWG files created by others. It does a better job handling such files than some other programs I've used. Creating tabbed views with viewports takes some effort. This is as much a learning curve issue as it is a weakness in the program.

We put it through its paces with our drawings and it works fine. We do a lot of wiring diagrams and industrial control panel layout drawings, so we use a lot of its 2D capabilities. I would not use it in a multi-user environment where you have multiple designers working on one project at a time. This software makes no provisions for allowing multiple users to work at the same time on the same drawing and has no native version control. And because of their poor software control, DraftSight many times put out versions that are "crashy", which would make a lot of people very unproductive very quickly. I would look at other products for larger projects like that.

It is very well suited for drafting in 2D design and dimensioning.

We have not come to any issue that we require technical support

I tried to like it, but the puzzling quirks have just wasted too much of my time. Going back to the more expensive and reliable AutoCAD LT.

The program is well suited to quickly creating detailed design drawings to scale. Because of its functionality, a smaller entity or individual designer can start with a clean slate and develop numerous arrangement and associated design drawings, export them to colleagues, receive revision requests, and implement revisions for additional review. It is less well suited, however, to provide accessible symbols and block components which can be scaled.

Being a startup, we are always very short on time. Because we have to rely on delayed information from the user community, we experience a slowdown when we need help.

All 2D drawings in both DWF and DXF formats. Works well with BobCad and Solid Works.

All support is via other customer on the web

It is well suited for any 2D drawing.

Most of what we do is 2D. DraftSight is an excellent 2D software to replace the over-priced AutoCAD. 3D, however, is a lacking a bit and cumbersome but not used very often in our organization. I am yet to experience any BIM coordination and am curious of how well DraftSight will handle that.

Support takes quite some time and hasnt been able to solve the issues. Between the issue of copying objects and the copied object is changed to the current layer and the issue of my most used LISP file crashing Draftsight every time I use it, it has been frustrating. If support could figure these issues out, I would change that ratinging to an 8 or 9.

It's well suited for users who need AutoCAD, but don't want to pay AutoCAD's exorbitant prices. It is no longer well suited for small maker spaces with limited budgets due to there being no free option. Also, DraftSight should also be part of any SOLIDWORKS package in order to make maintaining the subscription easier.

Poor support from my last experience a couple of years ago. Luckily, the software started working properly again after installing a newer version.

DraftSight is highly functional in what we use it for. We use it more as a drawing editor than a drawing creator.

Terrible. We have 2 users that cannot get support for getting draftsight to work on their computers. We will not renew if we are paying for something that does not run on our computers.

No scenarios just a very good product. Does what AutoCAD does with ease. Cheaper than AutoCAD & therefore supports business cost savings.

No response to queries raised.

Well suited for companies that need basic and some advanced 2D drawing capabilities and want to save a lot of money.

DraftSight is extremely easy to use to modify drawings for laser cutting, engraving, and proofing designs and ideas. Price is a deciding factor for an individual or business, and with all that is available, easy of use is key. I have found many free or cheap CAD packages out there but none is as close to the AutoCAD benchmark as DraftSight. The price point is great--it was better free but what I’m paying is reasonable--however I do find the lack of basic 3D/isometric drawing and rendering a bit of a pain. Now I need to do isometric drawings manually, but this is not the end of the world for me, as I don’t do too much of this in my work environment these days.

Better than Auto-Cad because it costs so much less.

The software doesn't work. They release a version that was broken and I used the free trial of that version. I ran it on an i7, 16GB RAM, and RTX30 series (powerful computer) but the application was crashing constantly. I lost unsaved work and wasted hours restarting the application, which did cost me a few hundred dollars on billable hours. I sent errors logs, which helped them to identify the issue that they claimed is now resolved in DraftSight 2022 SP1. Technical support seems to be overseas with broken English and difficulty reading English. After 14 days, they said there is a hotfix "DraftSight memory saturation hotfix" that could solve the problem. I asked for a trial license to try the fix but it was declined. Ask pratiksha.dahotre and gayatri.keskar for details. In summary, they released a broken version, which I helped to fix by providing feedback and error logs. They claimed it is fixed but I can't test it.

Technical support seems to be overseas with broken English and difficulty to read English.
I asked for a trial license to try the fix but it was declined. Ask pratiksha.dahotre and gayatri.keskar for details.
In summary, they released a broken version, I helped to fix by providing feedback and error logs. They claimed it is fixed but I can't test it.

I use it in architectural design--both for the design phase and for the compilation of all official documents that I have to send to the public administration to obtain building permits. Its very simple interface allows me to work quickly without wasting time. Its compatibility with other CADs allows me to interface with other users who use other programs.

I rate it very well because above all I have needed it very few times in many years of using the product. My thinking is that the best technical support service possible is the one you don't need to call it because the product doesn't cause any problems. However, the few times I called them they always solved the problem.

I use DraftSight with no classes or training, and it is much more than capable of doing furniture drafting, which is wood mostly with no mechanical fasteners, reasonably uncomplicated. Anything like that, it is very easy to learn and use. I am sure it can do much more

Knowledgeable support team, but overnight communication across the world is unacceptable when DS is not working.

Really good for reviewing and marking up drawings. Because we can't run add ons like Ship Constructor or Finite Elements, we need to use AutoCAD for those situations.

Well suited for basic navigation and viewing of DWG files. Due to the absence of direct user access for support of the application, DraftSight was not retained as our primary CADD platform.

Draftsight is perfect for converting Solidworks outputted .dxf files into the industry-standard .dwg format. We're able to use Solidworks and Draftsight together to produce drawings that 99.9% of the world can use. Draftsight could be better at automating some tasks, that'd be swell. Other than that, we're happy with how Draftsight incorporates into our drafting environment.

Perfect for technical draw.

Draftsight is well suited if you can afford lost time due to buffering/calculating/stalling. The cost may out weight the lost productivity but not the frustration. If initial cost is your biggest concern and CAD is only a part-time function then Draftsight is great. If CAD is your full-time function then Draftsight is less appropriate.