The Best CAD Software

"Drafting Software Reviews by CAD Designers"

What is the best CAD software?  For a large part I think it depends on what you are designing or drawing, but for the sake of guiding those looking to buy a decent CAD program I would like to open up this topic for discussion.

You will be able to add your suggestions, reviews and comments at the bottom of this page.  It doesn't matter if you prefer the CAD program you are currently using for work or one you have grown accustomed to using over the years for your own use.

Any information you provide will help others decide what is best for them, based on what you use your computerized drafting or design program for and any reviews you present.

I'll start by saying that I prefer the AutoCAD program.

Yes, we use it for all our projects and we do so for a reason.  Almost every client we have had, has requested drafting and design work to be completed in .DWG format.  It is just simply the most used format on the market and as a CAD drafting firm we would be crazy to use any other type of software.

Now I've heard of recent CAD programs that perform very well compared to AutoCAD and many can save in DWG and DXF formats.  But I don't have the experience with these other programs so hopefully some of you who will chime in.

I suppose we could expand our clientele by delving into other CAD programs, but we enjoy using the ACAD program... and why change what works?

Granted, AutoCAD can be funky sometimes and full-blown AutoCAD is definitely not cheap. But for the most part, drawing with AutoCAD is simply fun.  Yes, that's right I said FUN : )

Ever since I've been a kid I enjoyed drawing.   Trucks, houses, cars and boats; anything that needed a pencil and a ruler.  I really enjoyed it.  Then came high school and of course taking drafting classes was on the top of my list.  I remember when my drafting teacher came back from a convention in Toronto, and told the class about how the drafting industry was about to change.  He was talking about AutoCAD.  Back then it was way too expensive for high schools to consider implementing CAD into the curriculum, but today many students can get their feet wet with AutoCAD as it is now part of many high school drafting courses.

It wasn't until college until I got to play with Auto CAD.  I think it was version 2.4 back then, complete with DOS prompts and all (remember DOS?).  But it was a match made in heaven.  I learned fast because I enjoyed using it.  I even tutored to my classmates as I enjoyed spreading my newly found joy; drawing on a computer!

So I guess you can say I'm partial to AutoCAD simply because it's what I've always used, and, it's seems to be what most of our clients want us to use.

I should point out that most of our projects are of architectural, engineering and facilities management nature.  We also do landscaping projects and have done some mining, fabrication, manufacturing, construction and as-built work as well.  Most of the work is 2 dimensional but we have had several 3D projects and AutoCAD works well with multi-dimensional projects too.

Now I'm sure there are many of you who landed here looking for the best CAD software that will accomplish simpler tasks. You may not need a large commercial program to get the job done.  If you are a home owner looking to design a house, landscape your backyard or build a deck,  we hope some of the drafting software reviews will help you decide which is the best CAD software program for you.

There are not a heck of a lot of unbiased consumer reviews for the best CAD software used by other drafters and designers, so hopefully we can turn this into a good resource for those trying to decide which program would be right for them.  If you know of any websites with UNBIASED CAD software reviews, be sure to list them in the comments.

Now for the reviews, it doesn't matter what kind of software you use; let's just see how many reviews we can get going.

If you use any of the following types of drawing programs, we'd like to hear about why you like a particular program, how long you have used it, what you use it for, etc.

• Commercial software (AutoCAD, best CAD software in our opinion)
• Do-it-yourself software for houses, decks, landscaping
• Shareware that you use on a regular basis
• Free CAD software
• 3D Computer Animation Software
• Any kind of drawing program.  If you can draw something with it, let's hear about it.

Ok, onto the reviews of the best CAD software used by you:

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