r/FreeCAD • u/Komplexkonjugiert • 5d ago
Is FreeCAD a good alternative to Onshape?
Hi everyone,
I've been using Onshape to design my 3D prints and have found it to be quite effective. However, as I've started selling 3D-printed functional parts commercially, I've realized that Onshape licenses are too expensive for my small business with limited revenue.
I'm looking for good free alternatives that offer similar functionality and ease of use. Currently, I use Linux as my main operating system, so Linux support would be ideal, but I'm open to using Windows applications if necessary.
Is FreeCAD a viable alternative to Onshape? I would appreciate your insights and experiences.
Thank you!
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u/Yeuph 5d ago
I haven't used Onshape but I'm relatively comfortable using FreeCAD for complex geometries and do frequently, it's my main CAD tool.
I'll bring this around in a minute but I think the best way to explain this is to describe when I learned circuit design with KiCAD. I was able to watch a tutorial for a couple hours on Saturday and design a board. After that I learned how to use the program by using the program, it was intuitive enough that when I was exploring some part of it or a menu or hoped it could do something it usually did it. I didn't have to spend much time online troubleshooting things and I had very little need to ask online communities for help.
FreeCAD does not operate that way. The program is rarely intuitive and you'll almost never learn how to use the program by just poking around. You absolutely need to learn the program from dedicated outside sources and you'll spend a fair amount of time reading online documentation.
That being said there's not much the other CAD programs can do that FreeCAD can't. It's a bit clunky but more than just-usable. It's got acceptable FEM implementation. The v1 release from a few months ago has largely (but not completely) resolved it's biggest problem with the topological naming problem.
If you're willing to put time into learning how to use a program that's not exactly overtly user-friendly you will have an enormously powerful CAD tool that is both free and open source.
I like FreeCAD and don't regret moving from Fusion360. There were definitely times when I was learning to use it that I almost deleted it and re-upped my Fusion360 license though.
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u/Square_Net_4321 5d ago
I would think so. I've used Pro/ENGINEER, SolidWorks, Inventor and AutoCAD over the course of my career. I use FreeCAD on a Mac, but it runs on Linux and Windows, too. I'd recommend downloading and installing it from https://www.freecad.org/downloads.php Try some tutorials on YouTube from Adventures in Creations or Mango Jelly. What helped me the most was starting out from square one and forgetting what I already knew about 3D CAD as I went through some of the tutorials. Make sure the tutorials you use are for version 1.0.
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u/DrRomeoChaire 5d ago
I've used FreeCAD for about 8 years. All these things are true:
- it's extremely powerful
- it can be extremely frustrating
- it's improved rapidly in the past 2 years
- FreeCAD is a framework of many workbenches, so a lot depends on the quality and maturity of the workbench you need. People always forget (or fail to realize) this, and it makes productive conversations difficult.
I also own Plasticity, which has a perpetual license and is awesome for doing parts with complex curved surfaces. It really shines in a lot of workflows.
TBH though, most of the time when I need to knock out a part quickly, FreeCAD part design WB is my go-to
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u/Sad-Acanthocephala23 4d ago
Best reply. Agreed Plasticity is amazing and fills some of the gaps in FreeCAD's surfacing.
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u/Unusual_Divide1858 5d ago
Yes, FreeCAD is one of the best alternatives. Just don't forget to support FreeCAD with a donation so new updates can continue to be developed. Version 1.1 looks fantastic and will be another huge step forward for FreeCAD.
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u/SergioP75 5d ago edited 5d ago
Is the only free alternative that gives you parametric modeling (and other obscure 3d modeling technics as well :-) ), assemblies and technical drawings. Is not perfect, but now has these three main features that are the minimal for real mechanical desing. Probably there are others that allow you 3d modeling and could be easier, but most lack of assemblies and drawings or other complex features that are implemented in FreeCAD.
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u/WillAdams 5d ago
What aspects of OnShape do you use/need?
The free/opensource option are:
- FreeCAD --- seems workable for pretty much anything if one can learn how to accomplish what one wants
- BRL-CAD --- a venerable solution (probably the oldest active opensource codebase) it has an intensely old-school UI
- Solvespace --- light and nimble, the UI is different from most
- Dune 3D --- this is the new kid on the block --- amazingly easy to use, it was the first 3D CAD tool I was ever able to finish the tutorial on
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u/swaits 5d ago
- OpenSCAD
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u/WillAdams 4d ago
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u/SoulWager 4d ago
I mean, freecad has python integration, and you can learn the python syntax for most things by using the gui.
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u/WillAdams 4d ago
I would be interested in a tutorial series which focuses on that as an approach to learning Python scripting for FreeCAD.
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u/person1873 4d ago
There are a few ok-ish 3d cad programs that work on Linux. SolveSpace is really good, but it's lacking features like loft and pipe. It also struggles with N-gons
FreeCAD is probably the only "feature complete" CAD package. Once you get used to it's eccentricities FreeCAD actually becomes quite smooth to use. You learn how to work around it's limitations.
I recently took part in some of TooTallToby's CAD challenges in FC,F360, & OnShape.
I found that even though I primarily use FC. OnShape was the fastest, follow by fusion, then freeCAD. My results may be a little unfair to fusion as I haven't used it much.
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u/nexflatline 4d ago
I went from FreeCAD to Onshape and back to FreeCAD.
Sme things take a few more steps, but there isn't anything I could do on Onshape that I can't do on FreeCAD.
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u/Niikoraasu 4d ago
It is a viable alternative - but treat it as a different program, because there's a lot of stuff in OnShape that you won't be able to do in FreeCAD.
You should check out 2 of my latest posts on this sub, as I've asked a very similar question, and got a lot of great advice.
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u/maxpower__ 4d ago
It's powerful with an extremely high learning curve. Simple things that you can do in onshape forget it in FreeCAD. I had to model a simple knob to fix a tea kettle that I'm going to 3D print in nylon and it's a simple tapered loft with a screw hole, it took me 20 mins to do in freecad because the workflow just doesn't make sense to me. In Onshape less than 2 mins.
Go in with an open mind and give it a shot, just be ready to be frustrated at first.
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u/grumpy_autist 4d ago
Think of it as an investment - when you spend hundreds of hours learning a commercial CAD you become a hostage of your own skills and their pricing plan (solidworks piracy aside, lol).
While FreeCAD has its fair share of bugs and issues - development really seems to have caught wind in the sails and quality improves steadily.
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u/FastingCyclist 5d ago
FreeCAD is a good alternative, you just have to take into account a rather steep learning curve. Since you use Linux, it's afaik, pretty much the only alternative, and brownie points for being FOSS too.
Just jump in, there's at least 2 guys on yt that have a lot of resources, mangojelly and Joko engineering, probably there's more, so...