Simple CAD software to compete with Autodesk. | TrustRadius

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Schematics, basic machine tool layouts, and data translation.

Pros and Cons

PDF underlays are useful to help create CAD data when the is no DWG option.
Image tracing is also helpful for the same reason.
Block editing is pretty simple to use.

The software can be buggy from time to time. Would be good if DraftSight could clean up after itself, I traded "Good " folder remnants for "ac-system-logfile" text files that need to be deleted manually.
Have yet to get 3D ContentCentral to drag and drop models into drawings.
Custom paper sizes for plotting. We use a laser engraver that insists on using a square paper size to reorient the zero point.

Return on Investment

I started using DraftSight as an AutoCAD clone for data conversion and drawing schematics. I didn't think that the cost for DraftSight Professional was unreasonable since we also use LISP routines. Low-end users will be OK with DraftSight standard.

Other Software Used

PTC Creo, KeyShot, Siemens Solid Edge

Likelihood to Recommend

We use DraftSight primarily because it's a cheaper option than AutoCAD and works just as well.