What good CAD programs are available?

Question

Just that. By good I mean something at the level of SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or similar. This is a complete limitation for me (and many others) to use Ubuntu.

Please specify what you need the CAD application for. There are plenty of open and commercial solutions available. — Takkat, Feb 18 '11 at 08:02

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 15 '19 at 04:50

5

See for example

6 of the Best Free Linux CAD Software
The LUnIx Linux CAD Links: Extensive list of more than 50 alternatives with their licence type.

Not exactly the same as Solidworks or Autocad, but it really depends on what you are going to do. Reviews says that many free software do have good quality, but unfortunately that's really subjective.

edited Jan 15 '19 at 04:50

Pablo Bianchi

15,657

answered Feb 18 '11 at 08:37

Olli

8,971

Can you quote the contents of the links to prevent link-rotÉ – raphael May 11 '16 at 15:36

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 18 '11 at 11:18

3

You could try FreeCAD or BRL-CAD or some of the other floss alternatives.

answered Feb 18 '11 at 11:18

Lincity

25,371

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

2

VariCAD

It is a good and professional CAD Solution. It is available for Ubuntu. Since it is not OpenSource you can download a free trial version, it will works just like the full version for a period of 30 days. Require registration before.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Feb 18 '11 at 09:51

Downloaded from Ubuntu Software Center on 14.04 LTS 64bits. Worked fine, but I just needed to view the content. – Telmo Pimentel Mota Aug 15 '14 at 17:37

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 05 '22 at 12:05

I use qCAD for simple architectural drawings. It is only for 2D CAD. I find it excellent, better than AutoCAD, for my purposes. The documentation is good and the project continues to be maintained.

There is a community edition with limited features, or you can pay for the "professional" version (which I use), currently 33 EUR. The latter fully supports dwg and dxf formats.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 05 '22 at 12:16

two good choices:
1: FreeCAD, free and opensource, native born to linux, but not as functional as, not even close to solidworks, not to mention siemens nx or catia.
2: onshape, which is cloud based, running on webbrowser, which is comparable to solidworks in functionality, and which is actually made by the original/early founder of solidworks when solidworks refuse to adopt his advice to move everything to cloud. Price is also comparable to but less than solidworks.

by the way, autodesk fusion 360 works both on windows and macos if you only hate windows.

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 15 '19 at 04:41

1

Check out these 2Doptions.

LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application for Windows, Apple and Linux.LibreCAD is available in the Ubuntu Software Center. LibreCAD is an application for computer aided design (CAD) in two dimensions (2D). With LibreCAD you can create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, mechanical parts or schematics and diagrams.

DraftSight (not free software) is the only native software running on Ubuntu compatible with DWG files - it's 2D only (can view 3D files but not create them), sort of an equivalent to AutoCAD LT.

If you want to spend money then

Bricscad is a lot more powerful, has ACIS modeling just like AutoCAD (Pro version) and its Platinum version has even parametric modeling.

edited Jan 15 '19 at 04:41

Pablo Bianchi

15,657

answered Oct 25 '13 at 09:51

Aatish Sai

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Please do not post duplicate answers on different questions. It just creates more work for the moderators. If the questions are so similar that the same answer works on each, then the later of the two is likely a duplicate and should be flagged as such. – RolandiXor Oct 26 '13 at 17:51
Ok. Will keep in mind from next time – Aatish Sai Oct 27 '13 at 02:15

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

1

DraftSight

DraftSight is a DWG files 2D editor and it has similar environment as AutoCAD.

It is free of charge but is not Open Source.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

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answered Dec 18 '11 at 17:02

BSimulj

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Note: for the moment it only works for 32bit systems (oct.2013) :( – Elzo Valugi Oct 24 '13 at 19:14
No, it works nicelly in my 64 bit system, but installation was a pain (I had to hunt all the i386 libraries that it need). – Javier Rivera Oct 25 '13 at 10:12
Draftsight is very close to Autodesk Autocad, I have a very good use of it – Ale Jan 11 '14 at 14:32

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 04 '22 at 09:01

Draftsight (Archive)

Although this is no longer available for download, the last release can be found on archive.org : https://web.archive.org/web/20200125001609/http://dl-ak.solidworks.com/nonsecure/draftsight/2019SP2/draftSight.deb

See all archived versions here:

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dl-ak.solidworks.com/nonsecure/draftsight//*

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

0

Google sketchUp

Ok so its not strictly speaking a native Linux application. But it runs under Wine. Is very powerful and very easy to use and most of all is completely free.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

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answered Sep 02 '12 at 23:16

tomodachi

14,832

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

0

BricsCAD

Bricscad is a 2D CAD and 3D direct modeling. This software have three licenses models offering different prices. You can download a free version without license key for a 30 day trial period. This version is received via an email.

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Feb 18 '11 at 11:02

Praweł

6,490

score 0 · Answer 11 · edited May 16 '16 at 21:48

"At level of Autocad" means commercial software. Best commercial software. I used many CAD programs in both Windows and linux, and my assessment for linux is like this:

Closest Autocad equivalent is Bricscad.
Second place goes to ARES Commander and CorelCAD.
Third place goes to DraftSight Pro (because it got video card issues on nVidia cards).

Solidworks is NOT CAD, is PLM (product lifecycle management). Best equivalent for Solidworks could be Siemens NX. Others may say CATIA, but CATIA lost linux support back in 2008.

What good CAD programs are available?

11 Answers11

VariCAD

DraftSight

Draftsight (Archive)

Google sketchUp

BricsCAD

Linked

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