FreeCAD icon
FreeCAD icon

FreeCAD

 447 likes

A powerful open-source parametric 3D modeler ideal for mechanical engineering, supporting Python scripting, running on Windows, Linux, and Mac, with modular architecture allowing extensive adaptability and use with scientific computing libraries.

FreeCAD screenshot 1

License model

  • FreeOpen Source

Application types

Country of Origin

  • DE flagGermany
  • European Union flagEU

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • BSD
  • Snapcraft
  • Flathub
  • PortableApps.com
  • Flatpak
4.3 / 5 Avg rating (34)
447likes
17comments

Features

Suggest and vote on features
  1.  Parametric Modeling
  2.  Drawing 2D
  3.  Interior Design
  4.  FEM
  5.  Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
  6.  Parametric
  7.  3d Drawing
  8.  DWG support
  9.  Windows XP Compatibility
  10.  Ad-free
  11.  Procedural Modeling
  12.  Bim
  13.  No registration required
  14.  Dark Mode
  15.  Works Offline
  16.  Portable Linux
  17.  Support for Layers
  18.  No Tracking
  19.  Portable

 Tags

  • 3d-engine
  • cad-environment
  • dxf
  • 3d-engineering
  • programmatic-cad

FreeCAD News & Activities

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Recent activities

  • EmilE1337 liked FreeCAD
    1 day ago
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    POX added FreeCAD as alternative to AdamCAD
    16 days ago
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    PapaCarlo added FreeCAD as alternative to Flatma
    16 days ago
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    joltfire added FreeCAD as alternative to Estlcam
    19 days ago
  • nu1iess3 liked FreeCAD
    28 days ago
  • Marcio_Bulla rated FreeCAD  
    about 1 month ago
  • EuP, PinkPlastic, KuboFHromoslav and thesuncitywitch liked FreeCAD
    about 1 month ago
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Comments and Reviews

   
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Comment summary: FreeCAD receives mixed reviews, with many praising its capabilities as an open source, feature-rich CAD software that's on par with commercial counterparts after a learning period. Users appreciate its free access for tasks like 3D printing and customization. However, criticism includes a steep learning curve, unintuitive interface, and some bugs, though improvements are noted in newer versions. The open-source nature allows for community-driven enhancements.
Top Positive Comment
Wayne Tracker
Jan 28, 2018
5

FreeCAD is Open Source, and very capable software. With it one can design complex models, including prints, etc. Steep learning curve aside, this is a solid program, and I enjoy the process of learning all its features.

Top Negative Comment
Buom_01
Jul 22, 2024
-3

TL;DR JUST GO AWAY ! I want to cry when I see a mess like that exists. Honestly. I have to switch back to X11 to get any 3D render while it's the only software that have a render issue like that. I got a lot of trouble with constraint. When it says it's fully OK, I already lost multiple hours. And when I finally finish my project, some of them just broke after reopening saying more 90% of constraints are not OK. Seriously ? Worst, if you are lucky and it's OK, just tweaking your table of measuring on which your constraint are based on, it sometime flipped the constraint with NO REASON !! That's an insult, more because there are no possibility to fix the right way. Also, if you were new into FreeCAD like me, you probably thought that your wire is closed because mathematically the vertices are at the same place. AND NO. You can restart for nothing because "that's discrete" (or a garbage software, no ?) I lost a ton of hours and multiple projects with a non-negligible amount of research on forums because this software is a total mess. I just tried OpenSCAD thinking it's harder but in only half an hour I finished my part reading doc included while on FreeCAD after 3 hours my part is still broke or ugly. I also learned SolidWorks at school, and I don't remember to have issues like FreeCAD create.

Edit: I would like to say that render issues are maybe caused by my GPU. Unfortunately, I'm now on AMD with drivers, and it's render as 0.3FPS. FreeCAD is the software I regret the most to have used in my whole life.

Nestor Numbers
Aug 16, 2024
1

Complex Peace of software. If new to FreeCAD i recomended to do at least one or two tutorials specially if make use of Part Design AND Sketcher. Does not mean that there is no room for improvement that it there off course enough. But every Major version is a big step forward.

Another great thing is that it is (almost )fully customizable. You can create your own style-sheets or extensions. A lot of already exist. Some of them exist because they should have been core for a long time. But this is the core of FreeCAD: Open source. So everybody can do what he wants to improve. And working on the core is more difficult than a external Workbench. And because of that it is open source feel free to buy the developers a coffee!

Engineer the world

TBayAreaPat
Jul 23, 2023
0

What intrigues me about FreeCad, aside from it being free, is that it is cross-platform between Linux and Windows, and even Autocad in allowing DWG import/export. Neither Autocad, nor Revit ,will run on Linux without a virtual machine. I keep running into Microsoft issues, and would like to be able to work remotely with the assurance that if my operating system went down, I could still work on Linux instead. FreeCad seems able to do it all. Most people who have had to use Cad systems that aren't Autocad probably don't want to try anything that is new after companies made them use other odd systems. FreeCad sounds like it is. In the past it stalled out on me.. probably due to my system. and I'm glad to give it another try in 2024.

Guest
Dec 18, 2022
-3

totally not beginner friendly, where is all the creative tools? it looks like just a viewing software i can't do anything with it

Hasan Yildiz
Aug 7, 2022
0

The fact that it's free and open source is reason enough to use it. User-friendly.

John Lyon-Smith
Mar 21, 2022
3

I'm a hobbyist 3D designer and model maker I was using Fusion 360 on the free license for a year, and after watching the great "Fusion 360 or Die" series on Youtube I was pretty comfortable with it. Then after a year AutoDesk asked me to pay $495 per year to continue using it. So I switched over to FreeCAD 0.19 and within an evening of watching Flowwie's "FreeCAD 0.19 Basic Course" on Youtube I can do everything I was able to do in Fusion 360. Also, from what I've seen so far, FreeCAD is actually better designed and better organized than Fusion 360. I highly recommend you make the switch.

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7 of 17 comments

What is FreeCAD?

FreeCAD is a general purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler. The development is completely Open Source (LGPL License). FreeCAD is aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits in a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties.

FreeCAD features tools similar to Catia, SolidWorks or Solid Edge, and therefore also falls into the category of MCAD, PLM, CAx and CAE. It is a feature based parametric modeler with a modular software architecture which makes it easy to provide additional functionality without modifying the core system.

As with many modern 3D CAD modelers it has many 2D components in order to sketch 2D shapes or extract design details from the 3D model to create 2D production drawings, but direct 2D drawing (like AutoCAD LT) is not the focus, neither are animation or organic shapes (like Maya, 3ds Max, Blender or Cinema 4D), although, thanks to its wide adaptability, FreeCAD might become useful in a much broader area than its current focus.

FreeCAD makes heavy use of all the great open-source libraries that exist out there in the field of Scientific Computing. Among them are OpenCascade, a powerful CAD kernel, Coin3D, an incarnation of Open Inventor, Qt, the world-famous UI framework, and Python, one of the best scripting languages available. FreeCAD itself can also be used as a library by other programs.

FreeCAD is also fully multi-platform, and currently runs flawlessly on Windows and Linux/Unix and Mac OSX systems, with the exact same look and functionality on all platforms.

FreeCAD information

  • Developed by

    DE flagJuergen Riegel, Werner Mayer
  • Licensing

    Open Source and Free product.
  • Written in

  • Rating

    Average rating of 4.3 (34 ratings)
  • Alternatives

    111 alternatives listed
  • Supported Languages

    • English
    • Russian
    • Spanish
    • Hungarian

AlternativeTo Categories

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GitHub repository

  •  25,063 Stars
  •  4,618 Forks
  •  3162 Open Issues
  •   Updated Jun 19, 2025 
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Our users have written 17 comments and reviews about FreeCAD, and it has gotten 447 likes

FreeCAD was added to AlternativeTo by deveu09 on Oct 10, 2010 and this page was last updated Feb 13, 2025.