Open Source SketchUp Alternatives
The best open source alternative to SketchUp is FreeCAD. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to SketchUp and 19 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to SketchUp are Blender, Sweet Home 3D, Wings 3D and MakeHuman.
SketchUp alternatives are mainly 3D Modelers but may also be CAD Software or Interior Design Apps. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of SketchUp.FreeCAD is a general purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler. The development is completely Open Source (LGPL License).
FreeCAD vs SketchUp opinions
FreeCAD is a rich program for mechanical components or structures. There is more of a learning curve than Sketchup but can create professional drawings, analysis, simulation, assemblies, and more.
Love this software for 3d printing.
FreeCAD is a lot more difficult to use
I use both and they are not alternatives. Sktechup excels at drawing things realtime (to think in 3D). Freecad is cumbersome for that. Sketchup cannot do easily parametric modelling (with constraints, etc) or print blueprints. It only deals with triangles. Sketchup is easy to learn while Freecad has a steep learning curve.
You can't go in and draw parts as like Sketchup - not at all the same.
Sketchup is not a CAD software
Not the same audience. Just try to build a pyramid with FreeCAD and you will understand how far it is from sketchup.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
- Steam
Blender is the free and open-source 3D creation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, video editing, and motion tracking.
Blender vs SketchUp opinions
naught101Good generic 3D modeller, but not as suited for quick space modelling.
aronkvhIt's a bit complicated but way more powerful booleans, arrays. You can draw shapes just like in SU. Get comfortable with the snapping system. Try measureit-arch , archipack, cad-transform free addons for a similar experience. There is also construction lines for like 10USD which adds the ability to draw lines and rectangles.
Sketch up is sold on how easy it is to use. Blender is god level complex.
Sketch up is more geared for designing a table or a house. Blender seem more like creation a Pixar animated movie.
ChangeMachineAnother comment says Blender is "God level complex". I'm gonna get hate for saying this, but I think "hell-level complex" is more like it. I respect that it's an amazing and powerful (insular) community-driven project, but intuitive and inviting it is not. Thus the fork "B for Artists", which seems promising.
Too complex. "3D for everyone" is Sketchup's tagline.
Blender is a graphic artist's tool. SketchUp is an architect's tool. SketchUp is very intuitive, but Blender is very complicated and not intuitive at all.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Solaris
Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design Java application that helps you draw the plan of your house, arrange furniture on it and visit the results in 3D.
Sweet Home 3D vs SketchUp opinions
If you are looking for something related to home design, SweetHome3D is an excellent solution. But it is not a general purpose cad suite.
Very easy to learn. Has a huge library of "furniture" and other assets developed and shared by users. Has 3D photo's and video virtual tours. May not be that great for detailed framing plans and elevations.
Sketchup is far more generic and can be used for creating 3D printing models. Sweet Home 3D is a targeted application designed for laying out house designs.
Its not general purpose, its to specific to be an alternative to virtually any other CAD program
Not a general purpose CAD program
SH3D is great for home projects but lacks a lot when compared to Sketchup. Simply don't share enough features to be comparable.
Sketchup is a more generic 3D modeller. Sweet Home 3D is a tool for house and furniture designs.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Wings 3D is a subdivision modeler inspired by Nendo and Mirai from Izware.
It is possible to assign materials, vertex color, UV coordinates and textures, but there will be improvements in those features before Wings goes 1.0.
There is no support in Wings for doing animations.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
MakeHuman is an interactive modelling tool for creating realistic 3D human characters. These models can be exported to several computer graphics and animation platforms including Blender, Unity 3D, Unreal Engine, OpenSim and Second Life.
MakeHuman vs SketchUp opinions
Completely different scope. SketchUp is a general modeller with a hard surface / architecture focus while MakeHuman is strictly for creating realistic human models.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
BRL-CAD is a powerful cross-platform open source solid modeling system that includes interactive geometry editing, high-performance ray-tracing for rendering and geometric analysis, image and signal-processing tools, a system performance analysis benchmark suite, libraries for...
BRL-CAD vs SketchUp opinions
The manner in which you draw a shape, enter dimensions, and push/pull a flat plane shape are the most similar to the SketchUp workflow of any 3D/CAD program I have used.
GLC_Player is a software used to view 3D models (COLLADA 3DXML OBJ 3DS STL OFF and COFF format are supported) and to navigate easily in these models.
No screenshots yetK-3D is free-as-in-freedom 3D modeling and animation software. It features a plugin-oriented procedural engine for all of its content, making K-3D a very versatile and powerful package.
Discontinued
According to the official website k-3d.org :The latest "source code" release is from November 2015. And the latest binary executable release is even older. According to its Sourceforge page ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/k3d/files/K-3D Win32 Binaries/ ), latest release is from june 2010.
verchok is a powerful parametric tool for architects, allowing geometry to be programmed visually with nodes. Mesh and geometry programming consists of combining basic elements such as:
No screenshots yet- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Chrome OS
MakerSCAD is a web-based parametric 3D design software with a block-based programming language to create objects for 3D printing, animations, games and websites.
Discontinued
Site certificate expired. Software itself hasn't been updated in a very long time, is incomplete, and doesn't function