Got this email from Autodesk that Fusion is increasing their annual price by a huge amount. I subbed for 1 year a couple years ago for I think $380. Then I was able to get an educational sub after that. Fusion is still the cheapest CAD software out there, not including the free stuff like FreeCAD, but still, this price increase is massive.
It should be noted that it’s still free to use for personal use minus the extra features.
The problem is that there is no real competitor to fusion. If you think about usability/learning curve
Onshape has replaced fusion for me, was an easy switch.
I find Onshape to be much better than fusion.
Isn’t onshape for non-commercial only?
Non-commercial is the free version, with all your parts public.
They also have a pro license with a fee, where your parts are then private obviously.
The pro license is like $2000 per year.
So TheDuckPrince was right all along.
Ya TheDuckPrince clearly didnt look very hard for competitors, onshape is great.
If on shape had built in CAM like fusion does, I’d switch in a heartbeat.
SolidWorks for Makers seems like a decent competitor. $48/year USD for now.
I thought they got rid of that tier. Might have to try it out if it’s still available.
Seems to still be offered, the license allows up to $2000 profit as well instead of $1000 revenue with fusion.
Nice, someone commented veteran pricing that’s $20 a year, which I qualify for, so definitely going to try it out. Thanks!
That’s a more reasonable threshold, and allows some wiggle room if you have an idea that blows up and makes you a few bucks (what is profit? Can you count your PC and printer as capital expenditures? etc etc).
Autodesk is gonna Autodesk, but they should, at a minimum, match that term.
Very true, and the reason I went with Fusion in the first place. It’s easy to pick up while still being fully featured.
How about OnShape
OnShape is free but explicitly non-commercial if you don’t pay, and it requires your models to be publicly available in a potentially weird way where someone else could make money from your stuff but you can’t. It’s a weird AF licensing setup.
I like their pricing scheme though, because most makers work on open source.
Open source is not the same as, “you are barred from commercial use,” which is why I hesitate with OnShape. At minimum, these companies need to tighten up their licensing terms to be strict but fair.
to wit, Creators have this:
but consumers have this:
Maybe there’s some nuance I’m missing, but on its face that’s total bullshit. You can use the free version for commercial purposes as long as you don’t intend to KEEP doing so. Meanwhile, you are automagically granting a license to commercialize your files for literally everybody else. Sloppy at best, exploitative at worst.
OnShape