13 Freeware For 2D CAD Drafting And 3D STL Printing

What is the easiest 2D or 3D CAD software to use? As a graduate architect and a 3D printer user, I have to say AutoCAD. Undeniably, AutoCAD is the primary CAD software just like Photoshop is to photo editing. AutoCAD is used across a range of industries, including architects, project managers and engineers, among other professions.

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Autodesk is a juggernaut in the drafting industry—and they know it. While they tend to produce sleek, full-featured products, they come at a high cost. Listed below are their favorite free alternatives to AutoDesk AutoCAD CAD Drafting programs, which they believe to be well worth using.

These free alternatives 2D 3D CAD software are ideal for architects or engineers that are tight on budget and do not want to use pirated versions of AutoCAD. The DWG and STL file format has been widely adopted, and now is compatible with many other CAD and 3D printers.

1. nanoCAD Free

nanoCAD is an easy-to-use CAD application that delivers a great user experience by providing high performance, full capability, a classic interface and native .dwg format support. nanoCAD has been built to deliver design and project documentation for all industries. nanoCAD includes a full suite of basic and advanced tools, for creating industry-standard DWG-compatible CAD files. nanoCAD provides innovative, collaborative and customizable features to enhance your efficiency. nanoCAD includes several API’s, allowing anything from routine task automation to complex CAD application development. All for free.

• Classic CAD interface – Any engineer could easily master nanoCAD since everything is in their right places: menu, button icons, panels, command line, and the commands themselves are easily recognizable. This makes nanoCAD easy to migrate to since enterprise needs no time to retrain its engineers.
• Native *.dwg support – The world’s most popular file format for technical documentation – *.dwg – is the nanoCAD native file format. Project created using nanoCAD and saved as *.dwg file could be easily opened and edited in any CAD application supporting *.dwg which in turn makes nanoCAD perfect tool for project collaboration and sharing.
• Ultimate design tool – nanoCAD includes all necessary tools required for basic design and allows creating and editing 2D and 3D vector primitives, texts, tables, blocks, graphical technical documentation display and print settings using either a model or a sheet.

2. QCAD

QCAD is a free, open source application for computer aided drafting (CAD) in two dimensions (2D). With QCAD you can create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, mechanical parts or schematics and diagrams. QCAD works on Windows, macOS and Linux. The source code of QCAD is released under the GPL version 3 (GPLv3), a popular Open Source license.

3. SolveSpace

SolveSpace is an Open Source 2D and 3D CAD (computer-aided design) program. It is a constraint-based parametric modeler with simple mechanical simulation capabilities. It is developed by Jonathan Westhues. SOLVESPACE is a free (GPLv3) parametric 3d CAD tool. Applications include:

• Modeling 3d parts — Draw with extrudes, revolves, and Boolean (union / difference) operations
• Modeling 2d parts — Draw the part as a single section, and export DXF, PDF, SVG; use 3d assembly to verify fit
• 3d-printed parts — Export the STL or other triangle mesh expected by most 3d printers
• Preparing CAM data — Export 2d vector art for a waterjet machine or laser cutter; or generate STEP or STL, for import into third-party CAM software for machining
• Mechanism design — Use the constraint solver to simulate planar or spatial linkages, with pin, ball, or slide joints
• Plane and solid geometry — Replace hand-solved trigonometry and spreadsheets with a live dimensioned drawing

4. LibreCAD

LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application for Windows, Apple and Linux. Support and documentation is free from their large, dedicated community of users, contributors and developers. LibreCAD can read DWG files (and others) as of the latest Nightly build. It writes DXF files, but can also export SVG, JPG, PNG, PDF and other files. It has layers, blocks, splines, polylines, ellipse tools, advanced tangent line & circle tools, transformation tools, an advanced snapping system and more.

5. FreeCAD

FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler made primarily to design real-life objects of any size. Parametric modeling allows you to easily modify your design by going back into your model history and changing its parameters. FreeCAD is aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits in a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties.

FreeCAD features tools similar to Catia, SolidWorks or Solid Edge, and therefore also falls into the category of MCAD, PLM, CAx and CAE. It is a feature based parametric modeler with a modular software architecture which makes it easy to provide additional functionality without modifying the core system.

6. FreeDraft

Free CAD software for your DWG and DXF files: A new 2D CAD product that provides professional CAD users with a better way to read, write and share DWG files. Portable 2D CAD application for Windows with DWG/DXF support.

7. Onshape

Work with AI like a teammate to generate intelligent, editable CAD and automate workflows with Onshape FeatureScript MCP. Onshape delivers the reliability, speed, and modern cloud architecture today’s engineering teams expect.

• PCB Studio – Design electronics enclosures faster, and create custom circuit boards with bidirectional exchange of information between Onshape and ECAD solutions.
• CAM – Generate, visualize, and simulate your manufacturing processes for 2.5 to 5-Axis simultaneous CNC machining operations.
• Augmented Reality – View and interact with 3D scans of physical spaces or objects using Apple iPhones/iPads equipped with Lidar scanners.
• Sheet Metal – Design manufacturable sheet metal parts using standard tools for flanges, bends, hems, and louvers, with automatic flat patterns and bend tables for accurate fabrication.
• Frames – Create structural frame designs with a library of standard frame profiles, comprehensive frame trimming, and a built-in cut list.

8. FluidCAD

FluidCAD is a parametric CAD program whose native file format is JavaScript. You model in a 3D viewport with sketch tools, feature dialogs and mates, and every action is written into a .part.js or .assembly.js file as a statement you can read.

You can also open that file and type the statements yourself. Both directions stay in sync: a dialog edits the statement it wrote, and a hand edit re-renders the model.

9. Dune 3D

So why another open-source 3D CAD application when FreeCAD and Solvespace exist? My primary use case for 3D CAD is designing 3D-printed enclosures for my electronics projects. I often found myself procrastinating designing the enclosure and attributed that to my dissatisfaction with the available open source 3D CAD applications.

While FreeCAD technically does everything I need, the way it’s implemented isn’t quite to my liking. My biggest pain points with it are the modal sketcher that only works in 2D, no constraints in 3D for extrusions and the perils of referencing things in the design.

Dune 3D is free and open source, built on a modern and legacy-free codebase and runs on Linux and Windows.

10. CAD Sketcher

CAD Sketcher is a constraint-based sketcher addon first developed by hlorus for Blender that allows you to create precise 2d shapes by defining CAD geometric constraints like tangents, dimension, angles, equal and more. These Sketches are then converted into beziers or mesh which stay editable through a fully non-destructive workflow i.e, Geometry nodes and modifiers.

11. Tinkercad

Tinkercad is a simple, browser-based app by Autodesk for beginners, kids, and quick 3D printing models. It uses basic shape-combining logic rather than complex parametric sketches. If you can dream it, you can build it. From product models to printable parts, 3D design is the first step in making big ideas real.

12. OpenSCAD

OpenSCAD is software for creating solid 3D CAD objects. It is free software and available for Linux/UNIX, MS Windows and Mac OS X. Unlike most free software for creating 3D models (such as Blender) it does not focus on the artistic aspects of 3D modelling but instead on the CAD aspects.

OpenSCAD provides two main modelling techniques: First there is constructive solid geometry (aka CSG) and second there is extrusion of 2D outlines. Autocad DXF files can be used as the data exchange format for such 2D outlines.

In addition to 2D paths for extrusion it is also possible to read design parameters from DXF files. Besides DXF files OpenSCAD can read and create 3D models in the STL and OFF file formats.

13. BRL‑CAD

BRL-CAD is a powerful cross-platform open source combinatorial solid modeling system that includes an interactive 3D solid geometry editor, a network-distributed symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) high-performance ray-tracer with support for rendering and geometric analysis, image and signal-processing tools, a system performance analysis benchmark suite, a flexible geometry scripting interface, and a high-performance geometric representation and analysis library.

14. DraftSight Free

[ Not Free Anymore ] DraftSight is a professional-grade 2D design and drafting solution that lets you create, edit, view and markup any kind of 2D drawing. A familiar user interface and a minimal learning curve facilitates an easy transition from your current CAD application.

Based on advanced architecture, DraftSight has a small footprint, should take less than a few minutes to download, and runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows XP®, Windows Vista® and Windows® 7.