Onshape - Excellent Cloud CAD Software
January 02, 2018
Onshape - Excellent Cloud CAD Software
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Onshape
We use Onshape for all of our mechanical engineering purposes. It has great version history management and is easy to use across different platforms (iOS, Mac, pc, etc), and it's all cloud-based, so all of our info is synced across everyone's computers seamlessly and there isn't a check in/check out the procedure for accessing the workspace. Permissions are easily controlled so we can share parts with other people without fear of them changing anything by accident, or we can restrict their export privileges for confidentiality.
- It's always under development. I came from Solidworks and have used NX in the past, and while it might not be as powerful as NX, it feels right on par with Solidworks and goes far beyond in some cases. The development team welcomes feedback and directly incorporates it into the software when they're ready, so you don't have to wait for next year's version to come out before you see improvements.
- The cloud-based platform is excellent for collaboration. It takes time to figure out to set it up properly (personal preference, not Onshape setup), but we have a number of engineers working on a lot of isolated pieces that have to come together to form our product, but because everything is in the cloud, we can all look at each other's drawings and parts and incorporate them into our own workspaces so that we're sure we're using the right dimensions/features/etc.
- It has a lot of features. I was hesitant at first, but it's got a ton of features. I haven't found anything I wanted to do, but couldn't do because it was lacking the feature. They just added sheet metal support a few months ago, and they're adding more every day.
- This isn't an Onshape fault, but is inherent to anything cloud-based; if your internet goes down, Onshape goes down. We occasionally have internet problems and our whole mechanical team has to stop development when this happens. Not Onshape's fault, but it's something to be aware of.
- It's hard to complain about any features or lack thereof, because they're always updating them. I don't have anything bad to say!
- It's hard to quantify, since this is the only software we've used, but for how much it costs (somewhere in the $100-$200 per month range per person, I think), it's way more affordable for a small company than buying 10 SW or NX licenses.
- solidworks and Siemens NX
Onshape wins out by far when it comes to the cloud and syncing aspect. I've had a lot of issues with SW epdm or trying to use Dropbox, or email, and anything that isn't stupidly easy to use is going to get used incorrectly. Onshape developed all of that right in, and it works amazingly.