Altair Inspire vs. SimScale

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Altair Inspire
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Altair Inspire, developed by SolidThinking which was acquired by Altair, is software for Generative Design/Topology Optimization, and rapid simulation solution for design engineers. It is designed to enhance the concept development process by enabling simulation-driven design to increase a product’s efficiency, strength and manufacturability. This can lead to reduced costs, development time, material consumption, and product weight.N/A
SimScale
Score 9.6 out of 10
N/A
SimScale is an engineering simulation platform that aims to revolutionize the way engineers, designers, scientists, and students design products. The SimScale platform is fully cloud-based and is accessible completely via a standard web browser. The easy-to-use interface supports numerous simulation types including Structural Mechanics, Fluid Dynamics, Thermodynamics, and more. The vendor says that SimScale eliminates many of the hurdles that accompany traditional simulation tools: high…N/A
Pricing
Altair InspireSimScale
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Altair InspireSimScale
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Altair InspireSimScale
Considered Both Products
Altair Inspire
Chose Altair Inspire
Working Model, MathCad, Dynamic Designer, Algor, and Mathlab had poor UI's and poor ways to define actuator and motor motion profiles. The force results and vectors were not easy to input into the FEA software. SolidWorks Motion does not have an excellent way to define a linear …
SimScale
Chose SimScale
I used this software when it was known as CFDesign and in the first couple of years after it was acquired by Autodesk. I was familiar with the workflow of CFDesign and the user interface, the first couple times using SimScale was a bit of a challenge but I quickly became …
Chose SimScale
We chose to go with SimScale based mostly on capital cost. Competitors have a large upfront cost and also require expensive hardware to properly run them. Even their subscription cost is competitive with the annual cost of others.
Chose SimScale
SimScale is much faster to spin up on than OpenFOAM. Ansys CFD tools are much more expensive! Both tools require expensive computing equipment to run, which SimScale does not!
Best Alternatives
Altair InspireSimScale
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.9 out of 10
SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.9 out of 10
SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 9.0 out of 10
Navisworks
Navisworks
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Altair InspireSimScale
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Altair InspireSimScale
Likelihood to Recommend
This software is incredibly intuitive and really does provide a great finished product. The software runs relatively quickly and will usually throw an error right away, which is a nice feature. I didn't use the geometry editing parts of the software, but it looks promising to be able to edit files directly in the program.
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SimScale has a quick learning ramp. This is due to the excellent staff at SimScale. I've had interns in their 2nd year of a BSME degree pick this program up and solve some difficult incompressible flow simulations. They love it and I love that we can iterate so quickly on a tool that doesn't stop their other design work. We can run a simulation and get back to designing in CAD. We get notified when the simulation is done. It's great! Give it a try for free and see for yourself.
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Pros
  • Defining the actuators, pin joints, sliding joints is very easy.
  • Defining a motion sequence is straightforward.
  • The UI tends to make you follow a sequence of steps to be successful in doing a motion simulation and finite element analysis study on a design.
  • The motion simulation results are automatically transferred to the FEA solver.
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  • Material non-linear analysis.
  • Geometric non-linear analysis.
  • Meshing.
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Cons
  • I think the tools to create CAD are a bit difficult to use. Consequently, it is now easier to develop the part in other software, which is bad since we need to use more than one tool at a time.
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  • Learning from tutorials is great, but limiting. The online help is a must.
  • Some simulations take a lot of time, but at least it's not on your PC.
  • Sometimes the software times out due to the server.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
I had a great experience with SimScale but we only used the software for a short period of time to complete the current design requirements. It is not a software that we would continually subscribe to. Next subscription event would occur when there is a design requirement to do so.
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Support Rating
When I needed clarification on how do use a feature or best way to define the constraints for a design problem, the response was quick and solved my needs.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Working Model, MathCad, Dynamic Designer, Algor, and Mathlab had poor UI's and poor ways to define actuator and motor motion profiles. The force results and vectors were not easy to input into the FEA software. SOLIDWORKS Motion does not have an excellent way to define a linear actuator or its motion profile. Altair provides a UI that guides you through defining your linear actuator or motor's motion profile quickly.
Read full review
We chose to go with SimScale based mostly on capital cost. Competitors have a large upfront cost and also require expensive hardware to properly run them. Even their subscription cost is competitive with the annual cost of others.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • In my personal opinion, we think that this product does not have any negative aspect that makes us feel very uncomfortable.
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  • We've been able to iterate through a large number of designs more quickly than we would have without a CFD simulation, and also compared to the time it would have taken to prepare most other CFD simulations.
  • Affordable price, and it prevented us from needing to invest in expensive computing equipment.
  • Help from the support team also sped up the process of modeling different scenarios!
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ScreenShots

SimScale Screenshots

Screenshot of Thermodynamics: Gearbox Thermal SimulationScreenshot of Finite Element Analysis (FEA): Gantry Crane Stress AnalysisScreenshot of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD): HVAC Internal Flow Analysis