Free ChemDraw Alternatives

The best free alternative to ChemDraw is Chemaxon Marvin. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 10 alternatives to ChemDraw and 14 is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to ChemDraw are Molsketch, ACD/ChemSketch, BKchem and MolView.

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Communicate with the natural language of chemical structures, biological pathways, and models

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ChemDraw alternatives page was last updated Jan 18, 2023
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  1. Chemaxon Marvin icon
    Chemaxon Marvin icon

    Chemaxon Marvin

     15 likes
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    Marvin suite is a chemically intelligent desktop toolkit built to help you draw, edit, publish, render, import and export your chemical structures and as well as allowing you to convert between various chemical and graphical file formats.

    17 Chemaxon Marvin alternatives
    The co-factor NAD in 2D format in Marvin.

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Chemaxon Marvin Features

    1.  Drag and Drop
    Chemaxon Marvin screenshot 1
    Chemaxon Marvin iconChemDraw Icon

    Chemaxon Marvin VS ChemDraw

    Is Chemaxon Marvin a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
    Comments about Chemaxon Marvin as an Alternative to ChemDraw
     
    Guest

    Simple structures are needed.

    Positive comment •Sep 7, 2020
    0
    ChemDraw Icon
    Chemaxon Marvin icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Chemaxon Marvin is a great ChemDraw alternative.

    • Chemaxon Marvin is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to ChemDraw.

    • Chemaxon Marvin is the most popular free alternative to ChemDraw.

    • Chemaxon Marvin is Free and ProprietaryChemDraw is Paid and Proprietary
  2. Molsketch icon
    Molsketch icon

    Molsketch

     1 like
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    A 2D molecular editing tool for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Its goal is to help you draw molecules quick and easily. Of course your creations can be exported afterwards in high quality in a number of vector and bitmap formats.

    10 Molsketch alternatives
    Molsketch screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  No registration required
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Works Offline
    Molsketch iconChemDraw Icon

    Molsketch VS ChemDraw

    Is Molsketch a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     

    • Molsketch is the most popular Open Source alternative to ChemDraw.

    • Molsketch is Free and Open SourceChemDraw is Paid and Proprietary
    • Molsketch is LightweightChemDraw is not according to our users
  4. ACD/ChemSketch icon
    ACD/ChemSketch icon

    ACD/ChemSketch

     6 likes
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    ACD/ChemSketch is a chemically intelligent drawing interface that allows you to draw almost any chemical structure including organics, organometallics, polymers, and Markush structures. Use it to produce professional looking structures and diagrams for reports and publications.

    15 ACD/ChemSketch alternatives
    ACD/ChemSketch screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free Personal • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Wine
    ACD/ChemSketch screenshot 1
    ACD/ChemSketch screenshot 2
    ACD/ChemSketch iconChemDraw Icon

    ACD/ChemSketch VS ChemDraw

    Is ACD/ChemSketch a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
    Comments about ACD/ChemSketch as an Alternative to ChemDraw
     
    John Fastman

    A good alternative to ChemDraw in very limited circumstances: 1) you need it on Windows only, 2) You don't have to collaborate with ChemDraw users, 3) You don't mind looking at a confusing, dated interface. Otherwise, fine.

    Positive comment •Dec 20, 2016
    1
    ChemDraw Icon
    ACD/ChemSketch icon

    • Some users think ACD/ChemSketch is a great ChemDraw alternative, some don't.

    • ACD/ChemSketch is Free Personal and ProprietaryChemDraw is Paid and Proprietary
  5. BKchem icon
    BKchem icon

    BKchem

     9 likes
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    BKChem is a free (as in free software :o) chemical drawing program. It was conceived and written by Beda Kosata and is currently maintained by Reinis Danne.

    14 BKchem alternatives
    BKchem screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    BKchem Features

    1.  2D and 3D physics
    Discontinued

    The last release was in 2010.

    BKchem iconChemDraw Icon

    BKchem VS ChemDraw

    Is BKchem a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
    Comments about BKchem as an Alternative to ChemDraw
     
    John Fastman

    BKchem is an old attempt at replacing some of ChemDraw's functionality. It succeeded partially in providing some of ChemDraw's very core chemical structure drawing features. Unfortunately, BKchem has seen no new development since 2010, leaving it in limbo.

    Negative comment •Dec 27, 2016
    3
    Guest

    Very usefull software. You can paste images created with BKChem in a text processor or another open source graphical software like InkScape.

    Positive comment •May 9, 2016
    0
    ChemDraw Icon
    BKchem icon

    • Most users think BKchem is a great ChemDraw alternative.

    • BKchem is Free and Open SourceChemDraw is Paid and Proprietary
  6. MolView icon
    MolView icon

    MolView

     4 likes
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    MolView is an intuitive, Open-Source web-application to make science and education more awesome!

    2 MolView alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online

    MolView Features

    1.  No registration required
    2.  Ad-free
    MolView iconChemDraw Icon

    MolView VS ChemDraw

    Is MolView a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     

    • MolView is the most popular Web-based alternative to ChemDraw.

    • MolView is Freemium and ProprietaryChemDraw is Paid and Proprietary
  7. XDrawChem icon
    XDrawChem icon

    XDrawChem

     1 like
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    XDrawChem is a free software program for drawing chemical structural formulas, available for Unix and Mac OS. It is distributed under the GNU GPL. In Microsoft Windows this program is called WinDrawChem.

    10 XDrawChem alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    Last release (1.10.2-1) was in January 2017.

    XDrawChem iconChemDraw Icon

    XDrawChem VS ChemDraw

    Is XDrawChem a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
    Comments about XDrawChem as an Alternative to ChemDraw
     
    Guest

    More simply for use in class

    Positive comment •Oct 2, 2016
    0
    ChemDraw Icon
    XDrawChem icon

    • Most users think XDrawChem is a great ChemDraw alternative.

    • XDrawChem is Free and Open SourceChemDraw is Paid and Proprietary
  9. Gnome Chemistry Utils icon
    Gnome Chemistry Utils icon

    Gnome Chemistry Utils

     4 likes
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    The Gnome Chemistry Utils include six chemistry related programs:

    • GChemPaint, a 2D chemical formula editor.
    • a chemical calculator (computes raw formule, molar weight, mass composition and isotopic pattern).
    • a molecule 3d viewer using OpenGL to display molecular models. .
    19 Gnome Chemistry Utils alternatives
    Gnome Chemistry Utils screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux

    Gnome Chemistry Utils Features

    1.  Periodic table
    Gnome Chemistry Utils screenshot 1
    Gnome Chemistry Utils screenshot 2
    +2
    Gnome Chemistry Utils screenshot 3
    Gnome Chemistry Utils iconChemDraw Icon

    Gnome Chemistry Utils VS ChemDraw

    Is this a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
  10. MollyCule icon
    MollyCule icon

    MollyCule

     2 likes
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    MollyCule is a completely free Open Source Chemistry visualisation program for MacOS, Linux and Windows. MollyCule is designed to be a nice, easy to use program to help ordinary people who want to explore Chemistry.

    5 MollyCule alternatives
    Example visualisation of ATP.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Example of user interface for CPK visualisation.
    Example full-screen mode ball & stick visualisation of a complex molecule
    Discontinued

    Last update appears to be August 2011.

    MollyCule iconChemDraw Icon

    MollyCule VS ChemDraw

    Is MollyCule a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
  11. JChemPaint icon
    JChemPaint icon

    JChemPaint

     2 likes
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    JChemPaint is an editor and viewer for chemical structures in 2D. It is free and open source software, written in Java and so it runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Unix systems. There is a standalone application (editor), and two varieties of applet (editor and viewer) that...

    7 JChemPaint alternatives
    JChemPaint screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    JChemPaint Features

    1.  Impact mapping
    JChemPaint iconChemDraw Icon

    JChemPaint VS ChemDraw

    Is JChemPaint a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
  12. MedChem Designer icon
    MedChem Designer icon

    MedChem Designer

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    "MedChem Designer 3.0 is a free chemical structure drawing program. MedChem Designer can open SMILES, SDF, MOL, CSK, and RXN file types. Up to 32 compounds can be displayed in one window. Images can be exported in SMILES, SD, MOL, CQF, bitmap, JPG, or PNG formats.

    4 MedChem Designer alternatives
    MedChem Designer screenshot 1

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    MedChem Designer screenshot 1
    MedChem Designer iconChemDraw Icon

    MedChem Designer VS ChemDraw

    Is MedChem Designer a good alternative to ChemDraw?
     
10 of 14 ChemDraw alternatives