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SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS

Overview

What is SOLIDWORKS?

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.

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Video Reviews

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User Review: Efficiency Excels When Robotics Developer Can Depend on Solidworks For Accuracy
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Pricing

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Solidworks Annual Subscription

1,295

On Premise
per year

Solidworks Standard

3,996

On Premise
per standalone license

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Details

SOLIDWORKS Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of SOLIDWORKS are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

(1-5 of 12)

To create fast and easy 3D objects, use SOLIDWORKS!

Rating: 9 out of 10
May 06, 2019
Vetted Review
Verified User
SOLIDWORKS
4 years of experience
Currently, SOLIDWORKS is being used by the engineering department to create high precision parts, such as gears, handles, zippers, metal structures. With these designs our company prints them with 3D printers, to be able to sell them and obtain a constant cash flow. Also with this tool we are able to show simulations for projects presented to other companies, thanks to its excellent graphic engine, the functions we want to use in projects can be shown in detail.
  • I think it is the best CAD tool in terms of design of extreme technical details.
  • Its system of assembly of pieces is very useful when it comes to show off or create high-quality simulations.
  • Particularly I think sketch tools are excellent for create 2D drawings of pieces, thanks to this the process of creation of 3D objects is streamlined.
  • Its rendering system is very professional and provides very great visual details.
Cons
  • Very unfavorable not being able to open versions of modern SOLIDWORKS in older versions.
  • Sometimes it is difficult to understand the process of rendering 3D parts.
  • It is not capable of processing solid pieces of STL format with many surfaces.
Well suited:
For companies that need to make designs of small mechanical parts it is very useful. We can create these pieces in less than hourly, and therefore give quick responses to our customers. Also to show mechanical simulations to companies.
Less appropriate:
Creating 3D objects as sculptures is not very appropriate since it does not have mesh design. Do not try to modify STL format files, since it causes many design errors.

SOLIDWORKS in Aerospace

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 15, 2025
KS
Vetted Review
Verified User
SOLIDWORKS
5 years of experience
We use SOLIDWORKS to create 3D drawing for mainly aerospace fasteners. We need to create drawings for First Article Inspection Reports AS9102, and SOLIDWORKS is very helpful in creating 3D drawings. We use SOLIDWORKS to create mil-spec fasteners for example, bolts, screws, washers and o-rings.
  • Simulation and Analysis
  • Sheet metal Design
  • 3D modeling
Cons
  • complex assembly management
  • Difficulty in maintaining smooth transitions between different surface patches, potentially leading to design inconsistencies.
  • Need for more sophisticated material properties and behaviors within simulation tools, especially for specialized applications like composites or non-linear materials.
  • Large assemblies can push the limits of even high-end hardware, potentially causing performance issues on less powerful machines.
SOLIDWORKS is well suited for creating 3D models , It is less appropriate for Stress analysis.

Definitely not worth it. Very Slow and the program is a crash-maniac

Rating: 1 out of 10
November 05, 2020
We use it to design our new products. We mainly use Sheet metal / Large assemblies and plastic part modeling
  • Large community
Cons
  • Program Stability (Very Unstable)
  • User Interface is dated and impractical
  • Every new version introduces many new bugs and makes the program even slower
  • Insufficient official support despite the large cost of the program
  • Very Slow
  • Text Editor is dated and impractical
  • Solidworks Corp does not support customers
It is one of the most unstable programs I have ever used. Despite having been using it on high-end PCs, the program gets slower with every new version and becomes even more unstable with every service pack. The user interface is dated and impractical. For example, there are separate buttons to perform a Boss-extrusion and a Cut-extrusion, where one could do the job (like in Autodesk Inventor).
Text editor does not allow you to perform tricky tasks. Overall the program is very slow and crashes very often.

Incredible software for 3D designing

Rating: 8 out of 10
February 01, 2019
MA
Vetted Review
Verified User
SOLIDWORKS
1 year of experience
SOLIDWORKS is being used by several areas in our organization. It is mostly used in our engineering department by our mechanical, civil and electrical engineers who are responsible for designing our pieces. We mostly use it for 3D modeling whether they are as easy as a screw or as complex as a car, solid works is the software we rely on most.
  • The GUI of SOLIDWORKS is extremely comfortable, every tool is arranged in a way that makes the workspace a well-organized place, and makes the learning process (which tends to be complex) a bit simpler.
  • Moving from 3D to 2D models is extremely easy with this software and this makes the modeling process more streamlined.
  • It is universally used so we have never encountered compatibility issues between the models we create and the software used by our clients.
Cons
  • This software is extremely demanding, our high-end PCs tend to suffer and lag when this software is being used with pdf readers or other software.
  • This is not an easy to use software, it has a steep learning curve and since it counts with a vast amount of tools it can sometimes feel overwhelming.
  • This software is really expensive.
SOLIDWORKS is well suited for every 2D or 3D modeling scenario. We tend to use it when we design pieces or parts or when creating complete multi-component machines. This software is oriented for designing, so if you want to consider or study the life cycle of the part you are designing you should definitely complement this software with other products such as CATIA.

SOLIDWORKS - Best Companion for Mechanical Engineers

Rating: 10 out of 10
March 09, 2022
AS
Vetted Review
Verified User
SOLIDWORKS
4 years of experience
I have started using SOLIDWORKS during my college days, and from the experience I can say that it is the first software that a Mechanical Engineer requires to study for different mechanical components due to it's simple user-interface and placing of all the features in a concise manner that even a fresher can start without any prior experiecne. Using SOLIDWORKS we can make 3D design of parts from 2D, can make orthographic views from 3D model, we can make assembly by combining different parts. SOLIDWORKS also support various types of analysis like Static, Thermal, Flow, Fatigue, Linear, Non-linear, Drop test, Buckling, as well as Mold Simulation. With SOLIDWORKS Design Library, we can also import different standard mechanical components as per our design requirements based on different codes like ANSI, DIN, ISO, BIS, etc. Plus, we can also use the animation wizard of SOLIDWORKS to view the live results of deformation or stress distribution in the parts, hence allows us to study as per real time scenario.
  • Simple Modelling and Assembling of parts
  • Contains large database of materials
  • Design Library to import every important standard parts, hence reducing time in designing the same
  • Allows every simulation, with results as per the real time scenario
  • Animation wizard, to view the deformation and stress occuring in a precise way
  • No need of manual calculation in calculating the weight and inertia of the component, SOLIDWORKS can do the work for you
Cons
  • With increase in complexity of the mechanical components, the solving time also increases exponentially.
  • With SOLIDWORKS, I can't do manual meshing by selecting the face of the components, unlike Ansys
  • SOLIDWORKS is a high end software, hence requires system which can support the software.
SOLIDWORKS is the best software for the Mechanical Engineers, who want to design and build real time 3D models and study them in a simple way. With SOLIDWORKS I can make every mechanical components and with the help of material database I can assign different materials to each parts of my model. With the presence of Design Library, SOLIDWORKS becomes the best software in terms of importing of standard components like gears, keys, nuts, bolts, pins, washers, and structural members directly in my design interface. However, there are some drawbacks like high loading time, and increase in solving time with the increase in complexity of the model. Hence, for complex design simulations I prefer Ansys Workbench over SOLIDWORKS.
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