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DraftSight? Good program but you are on your own, especially at license renewal time when it locks up.
Updated June 07, 2023

DraftSight? Good program but you are on your own, especially at license renewal time when it locks up.

Mark Horton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Paid

Overall Satisfaction with DraftSight

I use the program to generate proposal and construction drawings.
  • Provides 2.5 dimensional drafting at a fraction of the cost of AutoCAD.
  • No learning curve when switching from AutoCAD.
  • Annual license renewal system is still broken; has been broken for years.
  • Support for the program is now totally worthless.
  • Subscribers are harassed for a solid month before their anniversary date, even if they are set up to automatically renew.
  • dwg compatibilty and ability to back save to earlier formats
  • reasonable cost
  • During most of the year, the drawings I make with DraftSight help us make sales and communicate critical installation details to our clients.
  • At renewal time, about four years out of six the license renewal activation has failed. It is incredibly difficult to get any support once this occurs. No drawings can be completed or even viewed. No proposals can be sent out.
  • It has been a good value (except at renewal time.)
SOLIDWORKS is incredibly difficult to learn and very cumbersome for complete industrial plant design. Much faster to draw 2D in DraftSight or AutoCAD.

Do you think DraftSight delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with DraftSight's feature set?

Yes

Did DraftSight live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of DraftSight go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy DraftSight again?

Yes

If you are working on an urgent drawing at the time of annual license renewal forget it! the program will lock up and no one will respond to assist you. Even if you leave a message stating the urgency of the situation, no one will respond! You have paid for something that you are then locked out of when you need it and have people waiting on drawings.

Evaluating DraftSight and Competitors

Yes - AutoCad 2000. Cost to upgrade jumped from $00 to $4000 about 2003 and I switched to Draftsight. Upgraded to DS Professional about a year or two later.
  • Other
Cost and the arrogance of AutoDesk
No change

DraftSight Support

They do everything possible to prevent any possibility of reaching a live person. Previously, they made an exception for failed annual reactivation (which happens almost every year) but this year they have eliminated this exception. The reactivation issue is caused and corrected by 3DS, but takes a real human to resolve.
ProsCons
Problems get solved
Slow Resolution
Poor followup
Not kept informed
Escalation required
Difficult to get immediate help
Need to explain problems multiple times
Support doesn't seem to care
Slow Initial Response
No, I did not because it was not available except in the "Enterprise" version... there may be other support options now, but 3DS has failed to communicate them to me.
Yes - 
Draftsight 2022 began to lock up four or five times a day about halfway through 2022. This was a huge drain on my productivity. I followed advice on user boards, like reinstalling the program, but nothing seemed to help.

I faithfully sent in the electronic notifications with accurate descriptions, but never received any response. The bug continued until the release of 2023.
Never! Unless they are forced to help by continual harassment and bypassing proper channels.