Item: DraftSight
Rating: 1
Author: Christopher Alan Lewis

Overall Satisfaction with DraftSight

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We primarily use SOLIDWORKS, but there are lots of legacy files that are AutoCAD DWG's. We use AutoCAD so rarely that it wasn't worth it to buy it. Instead, we use the free version of DraftSight. I am not sure how many people in my company use DraftSight, though.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Open up old and new DWG/DXF's.
It has many of the most used AutoCAD Commands.
If you're an AutoCAD person then the Command line is great to have.

Cons

Activation is a bear. It doesn't always work and sometimes it sends the activation email to your spam.
It wants to activate over and over again. Why? I do not know...
DraftSight only works online, that I know of. It fails if my laptop is not hooked up (I use the free version).
It's a great clone but clones are not that good. Dassault Systemes should really remake this program work with Catia and SOLIDWORKS.
Buttons are arranged in a way to not fully copy AutoCAD but are just enough off that it's annoying when searching for what you need.
The free version is no longer available in 2019. But the program doesn't look to have changed with the paid version.
I will keep using the free version until Dassault Systemes kicks me off and we buy it because it's still cheaper than AutoCAD LT. Sad Day!

Return on Investment

I guess the ROI has been great as we didn't have to buy expensive software for minor edits.
Going forward it's going to cost $199 a year for DraftSight or $400 for AutoCAD LT. That's a hard sell if you only use it 10 times a year.

Alternatives Considered

AutoCAD

I've used AutoCAD and it's better. I selected DraftSight because it was free.

Other Software Used

SOLIDWORKS, Autodesk Inventor, Fusion 360

Likelihood to Recommend

If DraftSight were still free I would recommend it if you are like me and only use it rarely. If it's your day to day program then please get AutoCAD or LT!
I wish Pro or Premium came free with DraftSight if you owned SOLIDWORKS or Catia. Those programs cost a ton and everyone who works at a long-lasting company knows that there are tons of Legacy DWG's. There are not many options for minor edits to DWG files. I know you can export it to SOLIDWORKS, but it's more of a pain than it is useful. Sometimes you just need to edit some text or print a file and you're done. That's what I like about DraftSight!

Comments

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Eric Pellerin
(Vendor Representative) commented 7 years ago
Hi Christopher - I'm sorry to hear that you have had a few issues with the free version of DraftSight. I recommend that you make sure that you have updated to the latest version (30-day trial). Additionally, if you are experiencing technical /free activation issues, I recommend that you take advantage of the DraftSight Community Forum: http://www.draftsight.com/community It's very interactive.
Christopher Alan Lewis
commented 7 years ago
Eric Pellerin, thank you for the link to DS Community(support page). I opened up the link to many people not being able to use DS2018 anymore and people trying the DS2019 30 day Trial that is broken and also not working due to activation... In the comments of these people in panic/distress is someone saying; please uninstall and try again. Or we are sorry DS is crashing on you, please uninstall and try again. Personally, I haven't touched DS2018 since writing about it. I am pretty sure mine is also broken and that will help me sell my boss that we should spend money on LT. But Who knows? maybe DS2019 will get fixed sometime this year and it becomes a worth wild program. For the moment, I am going to wait and see what happens. Again, thank you for the link to Dassault Systems Community.

It was worth it when it was free. Is it still worth it now that it costs?