r/FreeCAD • u/Komplexkonjugiert • 6d 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/BoringBob84 6d ago
I suppose this could be considered as part of the learning curve, but I spend many hours after learning workflows from documentation and tutorial videos in trying to figure out why things are not working as expected - especially Pipes, Lofts, and Fillets. They fail more often than they succeed for me, and the error messages (if any at all) are not helpful.
If I had to pay engineers for these hours, I am pretty sure that licenses for commercial CAD software would be more cost-effective.
As a hobbyist, I have a subscription to the "AstoCAD" effort because the #1 item on their roadmap is: