DraftSight Reviews & Insights

Score9.3 out of 10

1,341 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for DraftSight are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Cost-effectiveness: Many users have praised DraftSight for being an economical option compared to similar CAD software, making it a cost-effective choice for small businesses. Some reviewers have mentioned that the affordability of DraftSight played a significant role in their decision to choose it over other options.

Stability and performance: Users consistently mention that DraftSight is stable and reliable, with no crashes or technical issues. Several reviewers have specifically highlighted the software's stability, noting that they have not experienced any crashes while using it. This aspect has greatly contributed to the positive sentiment surrounding DraftSight.

Compatibility with AutoCAD: The ability of DraftSight to open both old and new DWG/DXF files has been highly appreciated by users. Many AutoCAD users feel that this feature makes the transition to DraftSight seamless and efficient. Additionally, several reviewers praise the inclusion of commonly used AutoCAD commands in DraftSight, which further enhances its compatibility with industry-standard drawing file types.

DraftSight Reviews

185 Reviews

Engineering

DraftSight vs AutoCAD

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 27, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use DraftSight for structural steel detailing, custom fabrication, and custom designed steel products. DraftSight is an affordable replacement for AutoCAD with LISP routine capability in "DraftSight Professional" and 3D capability if using "DraftSight Premium". The cost savings of using DraftSight has allowed us to upgrade hardware sooner than if we were paying for AutoCAD.

Pros

Integrate LISP routines
save into multiple DWG and DXF versions
commands are almost all the same as AutoCAD

Cons

In my opinion, stability is slightly lacking
In my experience, auto-stack dimension feature doesn't seem to work as it should
In my experience, rendering with materials is lacking capability

Likelihood to Recommend

Cost savings compared to AutoCAD is the #1 reason. If you have used AutCAD, you can easily transition to Draftsight within a single day.

David Yerks

Estimator/Project Manager in Engineering at Bills Custom Fab, Inc. (Construction, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

12 years of experience

View profile

Overpowered

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

December 9, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I have used AutoCAD for over 5 years. My company uses Draftsight as an alternative of AutoCAD sometimes. It is way less expensive with similar functions. That's why our company uses Draftsight instead of getting a more updated version of AutoCAD, though we have a 2007 AutoCAD. I usually convert the newer version of .dwg files to an older version through Draftsight, or sometimes edit the our production drawing in Draftsight if the changes are not too complicated.

Pros

Cheaper than AutoCAD
Easy-to-use interface
Similar function like AutoCAD

Cons

Likelihood to Recommend

It is good that Draftsight is similar to AutoCAD, easy to pick up when start using Draftsight as an user of AutoCAD but sometimes Draftsight cannot read the font style of the text box from AutoCAD which leads to showing "?????". I have to input the words manually.

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering (Design company, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

DraftSight! You could be so much better if.....

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

October 14, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for Industrial automation design. We use it for complex wiring diagrams and industrial control panel layout.

Pros

Reads and writes Autocad files without a problem.
Flexible user interface with lots of options.
Good tools for 2D design.

Cons

The text search and replace is very crude and barely works. Needs a major revamping.
The layout tabs are very clunky and hard to use. Needs to be fixed.
DraftSight will fix a problem in one version, mess it up in another version, then fix it again later on. And so forth, and so forth, and so forth. Very poor software update control.

Likelihood to Recommend

We put it through its paces with our drawings and it works fine. We do a lot of wiring diagrams and industrial control panel layout drawings, so we use a lot of its 2D capabilities. I would not use it in a multi-user environment where you have multiple designers working on one project at a time. This software makes no provisions for allowing multiple users to work at the same time on the same drawing and has no native version control. And because of their poor software control, DraftSight many times put out versions that are "crashy", which would make a lot of people very unproductive very quickly. I would look at other products for larger projects like that.

Paul Karnopp, PE

Owner/Senior Engineef in Engineering at Prime Control Systems (Industrial Automation, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

View profile

Cheap software

Rating: 1 out of 10

Incentivized

September 27, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use DraftSight as a 2D drawing tool. It was purchased to replace the more expensive AutoCAD LT.

Pros

Imports legacy CAD data

Cons

In my opinion, customer support is too time-consuming. When you do get an answer half the time it is related to your question which is pretty good, but who has 16 hours to wait for that?
Interface could be far more stable
Snap settings turn themselves off
Dimension in "paper space" may or may not provide accurate dimensions
Same line weight issues as AutoCAD. by block, by layer, has little effect. Printing line weights can be a guessing game.
Block access is fixed to one location, instead of last used location.
Extreme care is required when mouse picking. Make sure you are not picking in air, instead of the end of a line that is a millimeter away. Even with snap on.

Likelihood to Recommend

I tried to like it, but the puzzling quirks have just wasted too much of my time. Going back to the more expensive and reliable AutoCAD LT.

Verified User

Employee in Engineering (Construction company, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Great features and functionality at a great price!

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 20, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Used to create P&ID and schematics for Control Systems. Also used to plan control systems upgrades and piping details.

Drawings are accessible by other trade groups to aid in location of equipment.

Drawings are also used for contractors to bid on projects.

Saves time and money in designing control systems.

Pros

Layer Management
Contextual application (Right mouse click)
Print layout

Cons

Home by Me window always pops-up on startup! Annoying in my opinion
Why open a No-Name_0 window? I am almost always going to open a file!
Slow to open

Likelihood to Recommend

Part and or schematic libraries are non-existent!

I had to create all my own P&ID symbols, and then scale them to the appropriate size.

Not the easiest to create electrical schematics. It works okay, but lacking features specific to schematics.

Well suited for piping drawings and general mechanical layout.

Mike Kowal

Controls and Instrumentation Specialist in Engineering at Binghamton University (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

10 years of experience

It works good!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 2, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm the only user of DrafSight or any other design software in my company. It is used to edit old mechanical desktop files or customers' Autocad files. I would like to get it into use at a local community workshop, but for them, the price is too much for a non-profit to afford.

Pros

Edit Mechanical Desktop or Autocad files.
Great at editing drawings.
Works just like Autocad, so there's a learning curve.

Cons

It would be nice if DraftSight had the 3D functionality of Mechanical Desktop.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's well suited for users who need Autocad, but don't want to pay Autocad's exorbitant prices. It is no longer well suited for small maker spaces with limited budgets due to there being no free option. Also, DraftSight should also be part of any Solidworks package in order to make maintaining the subscription easier.

Arthur C Gagnon

Design Engineer in Engineering at Wanho Manufacturing, LLC (Telecommunications, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

View profile

DraftSight Professional vs AutoCAD Full version

Rating: 1 out of 10

Incentivized

May 30, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a direct replacement for AutoCAD.

Pros

Everything that AutoCAD does.
Very intuative
No cross training required for AutoCAD users.

Cons

Integration with Bentley ProjectWise
Unhelpful sales team

Likelihood to Recommend

No scenarios just a very good product. Does what AutoCAD does with ease. Cheaper than AutoCAD & therefore supports business cost savings. Cannot recommend bechaues of lack of contact from vendors to several emails sents.

Verified User

Manager in Engineering (Transportation/Trucking/Railroad company, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

Stay away - It crashes all the time and you will lose work

Rating: 1 out of 10

Incentivized

February 28, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use CAD software to develop drawings for manufacturing. Mostly electrical panels, network diagrams, plant layout, P&ID (Process and Instrumentation Diagram), and many other documents for engineering.

Pros

Crashes
Doesn't work
N/A

Cons

Technical support
Diagnostic
Customer support

Likelihood to Recommend

The software doesn't work. They release a version that was broken and I used the free trial of that version. I ran it on an i7, 16GB RAM, and RTX30 series (powerful computer) but the application was crashing constantly. I lost unsaved work and wasted hours restarting the application, which did cost me a few hundred dollars on billable hours. I sent errors logs, which helped them to identify the issue that they claimed is now resolved in DraftSight 2022 SP1. Technical support seems to be overseas with broken English and difficulty reading English. After 14 days, they said there is a hotfix "DraftSight memory saturation hotfix" that could solve the problem. I asked for a trial license to try the fix but it was declined. Ask pratiksha.dahotre and gayatri.keskar for details. In summary, they released a broken version, which I helped to fix by providing feedback and error logs. They claimed it is fixed but I can't test it.

Ricardo Santos

CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in Engineering at Tupinix Smart Factory Solutions (Food & Beverages, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

Shipbuilders

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

December 1, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I mostly am reviewing drawings done by other engineers who use Autocad. I will make minor revisions and redline drawings for further work before issuing them to the client.

Pros

Easy to install.
Printing and making pdf views.
Opens many formats of drawings and easy to scan around on the drawing.

Cons

We need to use Autocad for other programs integration. For example ShipConstructor requires the use of Autocad.
We like to be able to do some simple structural analysis with add-on programs and we are not aware of any that work with DraftSight.

Likelihood to Recommend

Really good for reviewing and marking up drawings. Because we can't run add ons like Ship Constructor or Finite Elements, we need to use Autocad for those situations.

Anthony Thompson

President in Engineering at EYE Marine Consultants (Shipbuilding, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

6 years of experience

[In my opinion,] the DraftSight application is short on customer service.

Rating: 1 out of 10

Incentivized

November 30, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

DraftSight was installed as our primary CADD interface on four workstations to conduct 2D line-work for detailing and presentation of structural engineering plans.

Pros

reads/writes DWG files
provides an economical alternative to other CADD applications for plan processing
closely mimics the command interface of a prominent DWG CADD application

Cons

Tutorials are provided for use of the application [and] are introductory in scope.
Open-source access to tool modification for user profiles does not consistently save user preferences.
During a 3-year period of application assessment, we were unable to secure direct customer service for the application (i.e. "how do I...").

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited for basic navigation and viewing of DWG files. Due to the absence of direct user access for support of the application, DraftSight was not retained as our primary CADD platform.

Paul Reilly, PE

Principal in Engineering at APE advanced pool engineering (Civil Engineering, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

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