Updated: August 2026
Every option, side by side
The same ten products, with the catch on each one spelled out. Scroll the table sideways on a phone — the columns that matter are price and license.
| Product | Price | License | Scope | DWG | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AutoCAD | Subscription only — priced by Autodesk | subscription | 2D + 3D | native | No perpetual license at any price since 2016. Autodesk publishes current rates itself. |
| BricsCAD | EUR 330–1,176 / year (approx. $385–$1,375) EUR | both | 2D + 3D | native | Bricsys is now part of Octave Intelligence plc and the site has moved to bricscad.octave.com — bricsys.com 301-redirects. Expect churn in docs and links. |
| progeCAD | $540 USD one-time | perpetual | 2D + 3D | native | progecad.com now 301-redirects to progesoft.com — old bookmarks and guides will rot |
| QCAD | $48 USD perpetual — or free | both | 2D | via DXF | 2D only — there is no 3D and there is not going to be |
| FreeCAD | Free — open source | foss | 2D + 3D | via DXF | DWG is not native and the round trip is the weak point |
| SketchUp | $10.75–$68.25 USD / month, billed annually | subscription | 3D | via DXF | Subscription only — the old perpetual SketchUp Pro is long gone |
| Rhino | $995 USD perpetual | perpetual | 3D | via DXF | Not a 2D drafting tool; DWG is interchange, not native |
| ZWCAD | $1,399 USD perpetual (Professional) | both | 2D + 3D | native | ⚠ No perpetual license in the USA or Canada, per ZWSOFT’s own page |
| DraftSight | $299–$599 USD / year | subscription | 2D + 3D | native | The free edition is gone. Do not pick this on a memory of 2015. |
| nanoCAD | $289 USD / year — free tier available | both | 2D + 3D | native | Free edition is v.5 — well behind the current v.26 Platform |
| LibreCAD | Free — GPLv2 | foss | 2D | via DXF | ⚠ Last stable release 2.2.1.5 is dated May 2024 — development cadence is slow |
Reading the license column
- perpetual — you buy it once and it keeps working. Updates may cost extra; the software does not stop.
- subscription — you rent it. Stop paying and it stops opening your drawings.
- both — perpetual is available, but subscription is what the vendor leads with. Expect to ask for the perpetual price.
- foss / free — free and open source, or a genuinely free tier with real limits stated on its page.
The five-year number
One year of subscription always looks cheap. Five does not, and that is where the license column earns its place. Over five years QCAD Professional costs $48 USD plus optional update renewals, and Rhino costs $995 USD — both once, not per year. Every subscription on this page multiplies by five over the same period, and AutoCAD has no perpetual option at all. That gap matters more than any feature checklist.
Every price here is taken from the vendor’s own pricing page, and each product page links to it so you can confirm the figure yourself. Prices change and vendors move — check before you buy. Rows marked EUR are priced in euros by the vendor. Dollar figures marked “approx.” are converted from the vendor’s own euro price at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.17 USD. They are an indication only — the price you pay is the vendor’s euro figure, and conversions move with the exchange rate.