I was a newbie...
I use it strictly for my own benefit. I have an offsite design engineer that does the bulk of the design work, then he sends it to me and …
Starting at $249 per year
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What is DraftSight?
DraftSight is a 2D and 3D CAD solution for architects, engineers and construction service providers, as well as professional CAD users, designers, educators and hobbyists. DraftSight lets users create, edit, view, and markup any kind of 2D and 3D DWG…
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Texas Sales Manager
Airsystem Concepts, Inc. (Environmental Services, 1-10 employees)
Pricing
DraftSight Professional
$249
On Premise
per year
DraftSight Premium (3D)
$549
On Premise
per year
DraftSight Enterprise
Contact sales team
On Premise
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttp://www.draftsight.com/BuyProfession…
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
DraftSight Demo Video
YouTube
DraftSight Demo (Engelsk)
YouTube
3DEXPERIENCE DraftSight Demo
YouTube
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is DraftSight?
DraftSight is a 2D and 3D CAD solution for architects, engineers and construction service providers, as well as professional CAD users, designers, educators and hobbyists. DraftSight lets users create, edit, view, and markup any kind of 2D and 3D DWG file with greater ease, speed, and efficiency. Its familiar user interface helps to facilitate a quick transition from other CAD applications.
DraftSight Offerings:
DraftSight Offerings:
- DraftSight Professional: the advanced 2D CAD drafting solution with time-saving functionalities and an API to help bring designs to life quickly and easily. Ideal for companies, individuals and designers.
- DraftSight Premium (3D): a robust 2D drafting and 3D design experience with full 3D capabilities and constraints features to help meet any drafting, modeling, prototyping, manufacturing, laser cutting and 3D printing needs. Created for individuals, designers, companies, manufacturers and makers.
- DraftSight Enterprise and Enterprise Plus: a comprehensive 2D drafting and 3D design solution created to meet various drafting, modeling, prototyping, manufacturing, laser cutting, and 3D printing requirements. Designed for large organizations with many users or multiple sites.
DraftSight Screenshots
DraftSight Video
DraftSight: A Better 2D Drafting and 3D Design Experience
DraftSight Integrations
- GEOVIA Surpac
- SOLIDWORKS PDM
- SOLIDWORKS Electrical
- 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
DraftSight Competitors
DraftSight Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
| Supported Languages | English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese-Brazilian, Turkish, Russian |
Frequently Asked Questions
Reviewers rate Availability highest, with a score of 8.7.
The most common users of DraftSight are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
DraftSight is a versatile and user-friendly 2D CAD tool that is highly valued by organizations across industries. Users find it to be a cost-effective solution for a wide range of design and drafting needs. It is particularly suitable for creating and exchanging files with other companies and professionals, making it an ideal choice for collaboration in the furniture industry. Design teams appreciate DraftSight's simplicity and power, as it allows them to collaborate on the creation of new products, improving speed and focus. The software has also been instrumental in various charity projects, such as designing and rebuilding a temple. Engineering departments rely on DraftSight for electrical and mechanical design, taking advantage of its performance and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, DraftSight is widely used as a replacement for AutoCAD in the transition to SolidWorks, enabling quick and easy modification of existing drawings. The software caters to a diverse range of applications, from generating geometry for CAM files to performing geometric layouts for inspection or small construction projects. It is also favored by users for build floor plan layouts, partnering with molding companies, verifying client or vendor drawings, and even creating aircraft floorplans. Users appreciate DraftSight's simplicity, power, and ability to open and edit designs of all kinds while serving as a cost-effective alternative to more expensive software options. Whether it is designing tooling or creating shop floor drawings, DraftSight proves to be reliable for daily tasks and future designs. Furthermore, drafting departments benefit from DraftSight's compatibility with common 2D file formats and its ability to handle technical aspects effectively when preparing 2D CAD drawings for customers provided by vendors. The software is also recommended for architectural projects with no issues, the design and development of engineering projects, the creation of system block diagrams and schematic development, manufacturing drawings, custom drawings conversion from Gerber data into DXF format, mechanical design layouts, die-making models, CNC programming models as well as creating and reviewing basic 2D drawings within the organization. DraftSight is highly valued for its simplicity, affordability, and compatibility with different file types, making it a perfect fit for microbusinesses and individual users. Users appreciate its efficiency in creating professional-grade detailed drawings while reducing installation problems. Moreover, DraftSight's API is utilized for extracting details from drawings and creating BOMs. Cabinet design and construction benefit from using DraftSight, leading to improved manufacturing accuracy and reduced installation issues. The software is relied upon as primary 2D CAD software for creating and
Cost-effectiveness: Many users have praised DraftSight for being an economical option compared to similar CAD software, making it a cost-effective choice for small businesses. Some reviewers have mentioned that the affordability of DraftSight played a significant role in their decision to choose it over other options.
Stability and performance: Users consistently mention that DraftSight is stable and reliable, with no crashes or technical issues. Several reviewers have specifically highlighted the software's stability, noting that they have not experienced any crashes while using it. This aspect has greatly contributed to the positive sentiment surrounding DraftSight.
Compatibility with AutoCAD: The ability of DraftSight to open both old and new DWG/DXF files has been highly appreciated by users. Many AutoCAD users feel that this feature makes the transition to DraftSight seamless and efficient. Additionally, several reviewers praise the inclusion of commonly used AutoCAD commands in DraftSight, which further enhances its compatibility with industry-standard drawing file types.
Confusing User Interface: A significant number of users have expressed frustration with DraftSight's user interface, finding it confusing and experiencing difficulties while completing tasks. They feel that the layout and organization of features could be improved to enhance usability.
Crude Text Search and Replace Function: Users have criticized the text search and replace function in DraftSight, describing it as crude and barely functional. Many users find it difficult to perform accurate searches or efficiently replace text within their documents.
Issues with Software Updates: Several users have voiced their dissatisfaction with DraftSight's update control. They claim that although updates address certain problems, new issues are introduced in later versions. This inconsistency affects user experience and undermines confidence in the software's stability.
Users have made several recommendations for DraftSight based on their experiences. The most common recommendations include shopping around for options in 2D CAD software. Users suggest exploring different options available in the market before deciding on DraftSight. This recommendation highlights the importance of evaluating different tools to find the best fit for specific needs or preferences.
Another recommendation is to utilize the free trial of DraftSight. Users recommend taking advantage of the free trial offered by DraftSight. This allows potential users to test the software's capabilities and determine if it meets their requirements before making a purchase.
Users also recommend using DraftSight for beginners, students, small businesses, and hobbyists. Several users have recommended DraftSight as an ideal choice for individuals or organizations with limited budgets or less complex drafting needs. This cost-effective solution is often suggested for beginners, students, small businesses, and hobbyists who want to perform 2D CAD tasks without investing heavily in high-end software.
These recommendations highlight the flexibility and affordability of DraftSight as an alternative to AutoCAD. Users also emphasize the importance of checking hardware requirements and testing all functionality before implementing the software. Additionally, tutorials are suggested as a time-saving resource when working with DraftSight, particularly for editing legacy DWG files. Overall, these recommendations present DraftSight as a lightweight and low-cost option comparable to other drafting software available in the market.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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October 22, 2021
Great drafting tool
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use it for the design and development of engineering and manufacturing projects. It has been very useful for many years. Designing test equipment, system block diagrams, schematic development, and manufacturing drawings used in a machine shop. I've exposed several other engineers and managers to the ease of use, powerful inter-drawing flexibility, and low cost of this tool.
- Open and edit other systems' output files
- Dimension and text editing
- Don't change the menus between releases
- Get more keyboard shortcuts please
October 20, 2021
Great Product For The Value
DraftSight is used within our organization by CAD specialists and interior designers creating architectural drawings to support products we sell.
- Easy To Understand
- Fast Processing
- Convertible Files
- Easier to set drawing standards
- Easier to understand typing short cuts
- Higher quality hatches and printing
- Drag to scale rather than typing ratio
October 18, 2021
Draftsight does the job.
I use draftsight for home projects like building a deck, finishing a basement, or just building a small project. It is affordable and does the job perfect for me!
- 2D designs
- templates
- making customer commands
- 3D design
- pre-defined template sheets would be nice
- Make a linux version
October 14, 2021
Good value for the money, does the job for us
We use Draftsight across the business for designing profiles' cutters and tooling as well as creating drawings of these for marketing. Draftsight allows us to save drawings as PDFs for our customers to approve, we can then use the drawings to program cutting paths on our grinding machines that make the cutters.
- Flexible hash and fill options for creating metal and wood effects
- Ease of use allows for drawings to be creating quickly
- Range of export options to more commonly used formats for drawings to be reviewed
- Draftsight could run better on lower performace machines, even on high performance machines there can be some lag now and again.
- There used to be a more basic subscription version which was perfect for our needs, now lowest subscription is more expensive. Bringing back the standard version would be great.
- Including hash pattern files would be very useful.
October 13, 2021
DraftSight Pros and Cons
Our organization uses DrafSight for electrical and mechanical drawings as an alternative to SOLIDWORKS where we do not have sufficient licenses. The teams that use this have been using Draftsight for many years when it was free, and still, continue to use it when it went pay/license as it is one of the feature-rich tools that are out there in the market. DraftSight has been an amazing tool in our organization for many years and will more than likely continue to be a valued tool. As the IT Support for the users, the installation, licensing, and use of this tool is simple and great for an IT Professional. The only drawback is that licensing is not readily available online in a portal. I would like to have created an account, add licenses there and manage them all under one account, instead of putting them all on separate.
- Ease of use.
- 2D Imaging
- Inexpensive alternative to SOLIDWORKS.
- Licensing /portal for licensing
- Bring back the standard version.
- Offer a lifetime license verses a subscription.
October 12, 2021
An economical alternative to AutoCAD
I use DraftSight to design equipment that is used by the company that I consult with. These are mechanical parts and assemblies. I like the DraftSight product but the company that sells the product just passes the buck and does not help the customer.
- DraftSight is easy to use if you are familiar with AutoCAD but a lot less expensive.
- If you are using DraftSight professional the hardware catalog and other drawings are easy to insert in the drawing you are working on.
- Drawings are easy to create with dimensions in standard form.
- An easier startup menu for setting up drawing defaults would be nice.
- The product takes a long time to load with no indication that it is loading just a blank screen.
- Product support is almost no existent. Took about 3 weeks to resolve a s/n issue.
October 09, 2021
Draftsight - Great product, fantastic value
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use the software for creating as-built drawings for site installation works, where points are taken by a GPS net rover and loaded onto Draftsight. We also use it for creating DXF files to be used in CNC plasma cutting once turned into g-code.
- Can manage larger drawings without suffering any/minimal lag
- Very intuitive to use, similar to other mainstream programs that are significantly more expensive.
- Would like the ability to have preset colours for linetypes, hatching, etc. So, for example, I would set up a linetype that I would give a name such as "concrete" I would then have a linetype, weight, and colour that remains the same each time I select the "concrete" line. It could be the same for hatching; the hatch type, colour, scale, angle, etc., would be preset to a name, and all you would need to do was select which entity to hatch. Similar to selecting blocks. It would make updating drawings so much faster.
October 09, 2021
Draftsight: Good job !
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
DraftSight is being used for our engineering and production drawings, for some little electrical drawings too. I'm the only one to use it, but our engineering department is growing [...], our production department too, and we will probably need more licenses eventually. DraftSight fills a lack of drawings that existed before I joined the team.
- Engineering drawings
- Production drawings
- Electrical drawings
- Being able to write an equation (ex. 8*12) instead of just a value while sketching
- Being able to exit from a block by pressing Esc twice
- Having a dark theme for the UI
October 06, 2021
AutoCAD functionality at a fraction of the price
I use DraftSight as a 2D tool for block diagrams. It is easy to use and had all of the versatility of AutoCAD without the massive expense. Having access to command line makes it much easier to use for quick tasks that fully graphic tools can make cumbersome. I would highly recommend this tool.
- Command line use
- Cross platform use
- Drawing manipulation
- Reading in different file formats
- Has issues flattening out drawings in the Z access
- Could do a better job with snap points
- The paper space needs better integration
September 27, 2021
DraftSight: Easy-to-use 2D CAD with many features
DraftSight is used for preliminary design of complex systems and for drawing revisions exchanged between customers and suppliers. It is used by most of the engineers.
- Ease of use
- Cross-platform integration
- Functionalities
- Automatic updates
- Scripting
September 24, 2021
Why would you pay more when you have all you need to do a great job!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The DraftSight software is being used by an individual. I use it to check dimensions, create new designs, and look at proposals and approval drawings. I also verify the templates (DXF files) with it. The software interface is very [user] friendly and it is really easy to learn all the differents features.
- Check dimensions
- Draw new designs
- Look at drawings
- Easy tolerance match between 2 elements
- A pop up window to calculate an area of a shape
- To be an e-viewer for 3D SOLIDWORKS drawings
September 23, 2021
Great value for the cost
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Draftsight is being used along with SOLIDWORKS for importing and updating existing corporate documents and creating new 2D drawings.
- 2D drawings - far and away the best value
- I have no criticism of DraftSight
September 23, 2021
Good for floor plans, OK for electrical
We use it for electrical diagrams and floor plans.
- Drawing
- Ease of use
- Multiple-page automatic numbering
September 17, 2021
As good as cad
Used as an alternative to cad by myself only at the moment. I use it to draw and size solutions for my customers and check our own aluminum extrusion sizes to ensure our products will fit together. I do know that a couple of my colleagues used to use the free version before it was changed. They now rely heavily on our design department when needed.
- Easy to use
- Priced well
- Performs well
- Support
- Regular tips on functions would be great
September 14, 2021
I Highly Recommend DraftSight!!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use DraftSight for site maps, construction drawings, remediation system drawings, process and instrumentation drawings, and component custom remediation system component drawings. It is used by me and our junior staff for drawing preparation. It provides the drawing platform necessary for creating the necessary drawings for reports and design purposes.
- Easy user interface; very similar to AutoCAD, which makes for an easy transition.
- Easy file management
- Customizable
- Copying many entities bogs it down sometimes.
- Layout setup and scaling is not straight forward or simple.
September 13, 2021
Value for Money
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Draftsight is a very useful software for preparing, editing and reviewing CAD Drawings for Apple Mac users. It is very similar to other CAD software and is competitively prices compare to the other more expensive software. Definitely recommended for small organizations who are unable to afford licenses for expensive software.
- Opening and Reviewing CAD Drawings.
- Making Changes to CAD Drawings.
- Saving and Printing CAD Drawings.
- Drawings open in small windows, which tend to be annoying
- Commands could be similar to other CAD software
- XRef and Referencing could be better
September 12, 2021
Ease of use, fairly priced
We draw 2D plant layouts for customers who run egg grading machines. It is being used by the e-sales department to prepare proposals.
- Easy interface that is similar to AutoCAD, which is what I originally learned.
- Printouts in PDF format.
- Command info window is hidden and you always have to open it separately.
September 08, 2021
Great value for money
We started using Draftsight as a substitution to Autocad some years ago when it was free. It was a great choice as it does everything we needed from Autocad for all our technical 2D drawings. Control panels, menus, and buttons have a less fancy look, but they are very intuitive, simple, and designed to be immediately recognizable. When they made it a subscription, we decided to use it paying the very affordable fees of the standard version. It is a great and stable program (although it sometimes crashes as most design programs) to use for basic interior architecture purposes. We use it also to design simple furniture, for which it is a good instrument as well.
- 2D technical drawings
- Interior design plans
- Simple architecture drawings
- Simple furniture designs
- Interface
- Fancy aspect
- Sometimes it crashes
September 07, 2021
Great Value for our Organization
DraftSight allows us to equip multiple individuals in our organization with easy CAD software for many different applications. Whether it be in engineering, management, quality control, or even purchasing, this tool empowers our organization to get their work done and move towards a common goal, success. Thanks for such a quality product coupled with world-class support and training.
- Modifying existing drawings
- Determining measurements for shop workers
- Printing blueprints for the shop or field fabricators
- Occasionally has crash issues
September 02, 2021
DraftSight - Just Works
[DraftSight] allows customer drawings and designs to be opened.
- Great for 2D designs and reviews
- Powerful options
- Compact and lightweight software
- Help should be free to all and not based on level of purchase
- A true user manual that is offered, online or within the app
September 02, 2021
DraftSight - Great AutoCAD alternative
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use DraftSight almost daily in our design of cabinetry. It's most helpful for us to make DXF files to import into our cabinet design software. Custom drawings of components our software won't draw are our main uses on Draftsight. For example, having many save as options to get the right file type we need.
- Saving old DXF files
- Being similar to AutoCAD, which we use as well
- Cost-effective
- We really like the free version and wish it would come back
- Importing PDF files could be better. Clarity is not good enough.
- I would like the options menu to be easier to navigate.
- Keep up with AutoCAD features as much as possible.
August 24, 2021
Draftsite is affordable, flexible and robust.
[DraftSight] is used by me as an individual to engineer and design for our product.
- Affordable
- Robust
- Easy to use
- Some commands from AutoCAD don't work
- Can't draw a line at a specific angle
- Randomly crashes
August 21, 2021
The beauty of a simple, fast, and intuitive CAD.
It is being used by an individual. DraftSight is useful for mechanical plant design. It is very user friendly and easy to use. I use it at work for different projects mainly to verify dimensions, and I use it personally at home doing shop drawings and as-built drawings and some construction drawings. I have used the standard 2D and found that I was able to use 3D since it is similar to the 2D drafting and you can jump back and forth easily. I use DraftSight for a lot of things. I do take-offs and square footage for materials, but also use it as a working platform for engineering designs and working with designers/architects.
- DraftSight is a simple to use CAD that allows you to make the most of the entire design phase of the drawings.
- Easy to use
- Intuitive
- Speed up productivity
- Yearly cost is affordable.
- Better management of tables
- Better management of quotas
- Better print styles management
August 17, 2021
Former AutoCAD user, 20yrs, Current SOLIDWORKS, 5yrs
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I am a previous user of AutoCAD. It was very easy to use and the commands are the same as what I have used for the past 20 years. We use SOLIDWORKS software for truck body design and engineering drawings. When I am doing Research and Development projects, it is much easier to use DraftSight. I use DraftSight for simple and complex designs. This software works well to import to SOLIDWORKS. I use DraftSight to convert SOLIDWORKS Layflat .dxf files to polyline format and send the files to manufacturers that laser cut sheet metal parts.
- Convert SOLIDWORKS .dwg export to Polyline and save as .dxf
- Commands are the same as older versions of AutoCAD
- Stretch and Rotate when working on Research and Development projects. Way easier for me than R&D using SOLIDWORKS.
- Modifying dimension text position is difficult or unavailable.
- Dimension styles are difficult to set up.
- Not sure where the purge command is like Auto Cad to get rid of line types not used, etc.
August 17, 2021
High cost performance
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
by an individual.
Equipment placement.
Equipment placement.
- Affordable
- Ease of use
- Heavy movement
- I want to use it at work and at home