Autodesk Inventor vs. SOLIDWORKS

Autodesk Inventor

89 Reviews and Ratings

SOLIDWORKS

430 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Autodesk Inventor	Score8 out of 10	N/A	Autodesk Inventor 3D CAD software offers professional-grade 3D mechanical design, documentation, and product simulation tools. These blend parametric, direct, freeform, and rules-based design capabilities. Inventor includes integrated tools for sheet metal, frame design, tube and pipe, cable & harness, presentations, rendering, simulation, and machine design. It also features TrustedDWG® compatibility and Model-Based Definition capabilities for embedding manufacturing information directly in…	$300 12 days over 1 year via Flex pricing 100 tokens
SOLIDWORKS	Score8.3 out of 10	N/A	Dassault Systemes offers SOLIDWORKS, a computer-aided design (CAD) system for education and manufacturing supporting 2D or 3D design, electrical design, simulations, and product development with collaboration tools.	$1,295 per year

Pricing

Autodesk Inventor

SOLIDWORKS

Subscription - Monthly: $305
per month per user
Subscription - Yearly: $2440
per year per user
Subscription - 3 Years: $7320
3 years per user

Solidworks Annual Subscription: 1,295
per year
Solidworks Standard: 3,996
per standalone license

Pricing Offerings
Autodesk Inventor	SOLIDWORKS
Free Trial
Yes	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

No setup fee

No setup fee

Also available for limited use through tokens on a Flex plan.

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Community Pulse
Key User Insights
	Autodesk Inventor	SOLIDWORKS
Considered Both Products	Autodesk Andrew Defever Teacher at Big Rapids Public Schools (Education Management, 51-200 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor Fusion works very similarly to Inventor as it is from the same company. SOLIDWORKS is also fairly similar, with only small features/functions and user interface differences. Onshape functions similarly to Inventor, but is web-based, so it requires no download to use. It is … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor Very similar products. In my opinion, Autodesk Inventor is better at sheet metal and that is why we are not using SOLIDWORKS. It has been a while since we have used SOLIDWORKS so beyond that the comparison is difficult. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor I have no current experience with SOLIDWORKS Incentivized Helpful? Rehan Akram Mechanical Design Engineer in Engineering at Ciclo Fze (Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering, 11-50 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor I used to work on SOLIDWORKS CAD modeling software. but now, I am working with Autodesk Inventor. Inventor in budget software for new start-up companies. and Inventor provide a product bundle in one. So, you will get the other beneficial software also. and we can also design … Incentivized Helpful? Scott Hutson Director of Engineering in Engineering at TrippNT Manufacturing (Medical Device, 11-50 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor I definitely prefer SOLIDWORKS to Inventor. For part modeling, SOLIDWORKS is second to none. Because Inventor is part of the Autodesk suite, if you are wrapped up in AutoCAD information and data, it's possible that Inventor may be the part modeling tool you would naturally use. … Incentivized Helpful? MITCHELL PILSON Production Engineer in Manufacturing at General Kinematics Vibrating Equipment (Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor In my opinion, Autodesk Inventor is easier to set up and use. It also has iLogic that has added many more design options over what I have been able to accomplish in SOLIDWORKS. Incentivized Helpful? Prajwal Pokharel Engineering Manager in Engineering at WestCraft Manufacturing Inc. (Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor SOLIDWORKS: Better with surfaces and weld CATIA: Works well with complex assemblies with 1000+ components Incentivized Helpful? Keith Cordero Product Engineer in Engineering at Atkore International (Building Materials, 1001-5000 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor Some of the features are more intuitive in Inventor. For example, there is an auto mid-plane function in Inventor that doesn't exist in SOLIDWORKS. Also, the mouse controls are easier to use in Inventor. It is easier to spin and rotate the part in Inventor, this action is a … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor Inventor and SOLIDWORKS compare nicely with it coming down to user preference. Both are great modeling tools, with Autodesk providing more flexibility through its subscription add-ons. Although AutoCAD exists in a different environment it is still used for design although less … Incentivized Helpful? Tony Dang Draftsperson in Engineering at Synertec (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 11-50 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor Inventor is more intuitive and directional when it comes to the creation of parts and assemblies. The commands are also simpler and easier to understand than SOLIDWORKS. Inventor also has the support and presence in the market that allows for it to be utilized for different … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor Audesk Inventor is better than SOLIDWORKS in all ways, better than Onshape in important ways, but not as good on collaboration tools, and more professional than Fusion 360. Incentivized Helpful? Andrew McLeod Mechanical Designer in Engineering at Gemcor (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor I've listed SOLIDWORKS, SDRC Ideas and Pro/Engineer as alternative and comparable applications. SDRC Ideas is an extinct product, and Pro/E is available as it's descendent, PTC Creo, I think. Of the two alternatives, SOLIDWORKS is easier for me to use and I can do more with it, … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor I believe Autodesk Inventor is the easiest 3D modeling software to use, but it might not be the most cost effective though. The best thing about Inventor is the learning curve. It makes bringing new people up to speed much easier. I do believe that SOLIDWORKS has better … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor Inventor is a very similar design platform as SOLIDWORKS. I have used both over the last 19 years. Functionality is very similar. In my own experiences, SOLIDWORKS has proven to be easier for new users to learn but Inventor has improved in that area over the last few years. Incentivized Helpful? Tyler Grudowski Product Development Engineer in Engineering at NoMo Diagnostics (Medical Devices, 1-10 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor has the same underlying features as both SOLIDWORKS and Fusion 360. Being made by the same company, Autodesk Inventor and Fusion 360 are pretty much the same product, except Fusion 360 is an online version. SOLIDWORKS is much more advanced than the other … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is by far the best CAD package when it comes to mechanical design. The product development that requires small mechanical details, including electronic components. The user interface is much more intuitive and clean when compared to SOLIDWORKS or PTC Creo. … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is better supported as a native system to export to other Autodesk products namely CAD related. SOLIDWORKS is less powerful in regards to features and analysis tools, but is much quicker and reliable in regards to file management. Incentivized Helpful? Scott Sichmeller Vice President Of Engineering and Operations in Engineering at Skidmore Pump (Machinery, 11-50 employees) Chose Autodesk Inventor We chose Inventor because the team had some historic experience with older versions of AutoCAD. Our market services primarily building engineers, so to export directly to a REVIT file was critical. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor When it comes to solid modeling, the bad choices died out years ago. So we looked at the total ecosystem and chose Autodesk Inventor because of the integration with Nastran, HSM (machining), Autodesk CFD, MoldFlow, and AutoCAD. This means our legacy data (2D) is still a valid … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor As previously mentioned in an earlier question, Autodesk Inventor has found the happy middle ground for my 3D CAD needs. Autodesk is easy to pick up but complex enough to allow for all our CAD needs to be filled. I personally didn't select Autodesk Inventor (it was what the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose Autodesk Inventor We selected Inventor since we were deeply invested in AutoCAD for previous 2D designs and this was smoother integration with existing design practices. Incentivized Helpful?	Dassault Systemes Prey Patel Student in Engineering at Milwaukee School of Engineering (Education Management, 1001-5000 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS is actually used by major corporations to design and create products for wide release, whereas Autodesk Inventor is usually only seen as an instructional tool to teach students the basics of 3d modeling so that they can adapt to more complex software with less effort … Incentivized Helpful? Konstantinos Aggelis Mechanical Design Engineer in Engineering at Raycap (Construction, 1001-5000 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS I have previously worked with Autodesk Inventor for designing very complex door mechanisms and large assemblies of drilling machines. I did not face any stability or performance issues Incentivized Helpful? Sean Nutley Mechanical Designer in Engineering at Kadant Carmanah Design (Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS has the advantage on Autodesk Inventor due to the amount of users and support that SOLIDWORKS has. The help you receive from resellers and 3DS themselves is much better. Also the other users on the internet in community forums provide a wider range of solutions. The … Incentivized Helpful? Chris Bartch Product Development Lead in Engineering at Rockmore International (Mining & Metals, 51-200 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS In many scenarios, SolidWorks and Inventor actually compare fairly evenly to each other. However, I believe that where SolidWorks really stands out is the fact that it was designed from the start as a 3D parametric solid modeling application whereas Inventor comes from a … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS I only used Inventor for the 30-day free trial, which admittedly is not enough time to really give it a fair shot, especially since I had almost no 3D drawing experience before I used Inventor. There were two main things that pushed us toward SOLIDWORKS. First was the support … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS provides not only aesthetic appearance of a product but also provides the capability to analyze behavior of structural and material components. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS Creo offers easier design for surface modeling. Inventor is simpler to use, however, it is much more limited in modeling. Overall, I find SOLIDWORKS has a good balance of simplicity and completeness at the same time. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS is easier. Incentivized Helpful? Keith Cordero Product Engineer in Engineering at Atkore International (Building Materials, 1001-5000 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS I think it stacks up very well to Inventor. Inventor has some more auto features that make working easier. For example, Inventor has an auto mid-plane function and their hole wizard is easier to use. Other than that, they have a lot of the same features it just a matter of … Incentivized Helpful? Benjamin Reilly Project Engineer in Engineering at SageGlass (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS Solidworks is easier to use than Creo, but not as usable as Inventor. It is superior to Onshape and Fusion, however, Onshape is better for collaboration. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS SolidWorks is in a similar class with both Inventor and SolidEdge. I selected SolidWorks due to its wide user base and my past experience. Incentivized Helpful? Tyler Grudowski Product Development Engineer in Engineering at NoMo Diagnostics (Medical Devices, 1-10 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS is so much more advanced than either of the other programs. Fusion 360 and Inventor are great programs, but once you get to more complicated models, they do not stack up. There are so many more functions and ways to customize files in SOLIDWORKS for users to create … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS has been around much longer than Fusion 360...and in many realms they aren't even comparable. Fusion 360 is great for small product development projects... but really can't handle large files like SOLIDWORKS can. SOLIDWORKS overall has better and more simulation … Incentivized Helpful? Floyd Finch National Field Representative Coordinator (volunteer) in Engineering at VJMC North America (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 51-200 employees) Chose SOLIDWORKS Solidworks & Inventor are actually pretty evenly matched in terms of design & modeling capability. I will say in my experience that Solidworks is easier to learn the basics of 3d modeling on but at the advanced level both are very capable pieces of software. Inventor has the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Chose SOLIDWORKS It's very good. SolidWorks has a great marketing budget and really reaches college students. My loyalty actually is to Inventor by AutoDesk, but honestly, they do the same things equally as well. I think that the user interface is better in Inventor and allows me to be … Incentivized Helpful?
	Would buy again
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Delivers good value for the price
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Happy with the feature set
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Lived up to sales and marketing promises
	No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic
	Implementation went as expected
No answers on this topic	No answers on this topic

TrustRadius Insights
	Autodesk Inventor	SOLIDWORKS
Highlights	Research Team Insight Published July 10, 2024 Autodesk Inventor is popular within a variety of sectors for tasks such as detailed mechanical design, sheet metal design, and 3D modeling. Users have praised its strong integration with other Autodesk software, making it a suitable choice for those entrenched within Autodesk’s ecosystem. Users have utilized Autodesk Inventor for everything from large-scale product development utilizing its advanced simulation capabilities to educational purposes where it aids in teaching mechanical design and engineering concepts. On the other hand, SOLIDWORKS is favored for its ease of use, robust feature set, and strong performance in designing complex assemblies and detailed parts. It is frequently highlighted for use in large manufacturing processes, where it aids in not only the design but also in prototyping, thanks to its efficient 3D modeling and simulation features. Long-term users appreciate SOLIDWORKS for its consistent upgrades and the ability to handle comprehensive projects involving 3D printing and intricate manufacturing. Moreover, it serves as an educational tool in institutions, helping students and researchers visualize and create complex structures. Despite their similar capabilities, users of each software might select one over the other based on specific needs like integration capability for Autodesk Inventor or extensive community and resources support for SOLIDWORKS. Additionally, unique business processes, existing software infrastructure, and personal familiarity with the interface can be deciding factors influencing the choice between these two powerful CAD tools.

Features

Autodesk Inventor

SOLIDWORKS

Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of Autodesk Inventor and SOLIDWORKS
Feature	Autodesk Inventor 6.8 2 Ratings	SOLIDWORKS 7.6 2 Ratings
3D Modeling	8.52 Ratings	9.22 Ratings
2D Drafting	6.02 Ratings	7.72 Ratings
Rendering and Visualization	6.52 Ratings	7.52 Ratings
Parametric Design	7.52 Ratings	6.01 Ratings
Collaboration and Sharing	6.02 Ratings	8.01 Ratings
Compatibility with other software and formats	7.02 Ratings	9.22 Ratings
Assembly Design	6.52 Ratings	6.92 Ratings
Simulation and Analysis	5.52 Ratings	7.01 Ratings
Documentation and Annotation	6.52 Ratings	7.01 Ratings
Customization and Extensions	7.52 Ratings	7.72 Ratings

User Ratings
	Autodesk Inventor	SOLIDWORKS
Likelihood to Recommend	8.0 (27 ratings)	9.1 (57 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	9.2 (2 ratings)	10.0 (2 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (1 ratings)	8.5 (4 ratings)
Support Rating	8.1 (12 ratings)	5.2 (16 ratings)
In-Person Training	6.0 (1 ratings)	9.0 (1 ratings)
Online Training	- (0 ratings)	9.0 (1 ratings)
Implementation Rating	10.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Configurability	10.0 (1 ratings)	- (0 ratings)