What's the best CAD software for makers in 2026?
Pick the tool that lets you change one dimension without breaking the part, and sell what you make without a license surprise.
You own a 3D printer, a laser cutter or a small CNC router, and you want to design your own parts: a bracket, an enclosure, a replacement knob. CAD (computer-aided design) is how you draw parts with real dimensions that you can edit later by changing a number.
The short answer: Autodesk Fusion for the most capable free tool, as long as you're not selling. FreeCAD for a free tool that still works the day you open an Etsy shop. Onshape if you hop between computers and don't mind public files. Tinkercad for your first prints or your kids' first prints. SolidWorks for Makers at $48 a year if you want the software engineers use at work. Shapr3D if you sketch with an Apple Pencil.
The catch most roundups skip: nearly every free tier bans selling. Fusion personal stops at $1,000 a year in revenue, SolidWorks for Makers at $2,000, and Onshape Free makes every document public. Running an engineering shop instead? Our ranking of professional CAD software covers that.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best CAD software for each kind of project
Free for personal use, CAM included
Free, even when you sellOpen source, no account, version 1.1
Any computer, any browserRuns in a browser, public files on Free
First prints and kidsFree, browser-based, STL and SVG export
Learn the industry standard$48 a year, personal use
Sketch with a pencil on iPadFree Basic plan, 2 projects
6 CAD tools for makers, side by side
The "free" column only counts lasting free tiers, not trials. The price is the first official paid tier, in US dollars. Rank follows the profile of a maker who prints or cuts at home and may sell a few parts, not the score alone.
| Best for | What it does best | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Autodesk Fusion | Best all-round free CAD | Design, CAM and slicer handoff in one | 4.2/5 | Personal free; commercial $680/yr | ✓ | 3D printing, CNC, electronics | Visit → |
| 2 | FreeCAD | Best free CAD to sell with | No caps, no account | 4.1/5 | Free, open source | ✓ | Makers who sell, Linux users | Visit → |
| 3 | Onshape | Best in the browser | Nothing to install, built-in history | 3.8/5 | Free (public); Standard $1,500/yr | ✓ | Multiple computers, Chromebooks | Visit → |
| 4 | Tinkercad | Best for beginners | A printable part in one evening | 3.9/5 | Free | ✓ | Beginners, kids, classrooms | Visit → |
| 5 | SolidWorks for Makers | Best for a career path | The tool engineering firms use | 4.0/5 | $48/yr | — | Students, career changers | Visit → |
| 6 | Shapr3D | Best with a stylus | Direct modeling on iPad | 3.9/5 | Basic free; Pro $299/yr | ✓ | Product designers, iPad users | Visit → |
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
Makers don't buy CAD the way engineering firms do. You rarely pay, you work evenings on the family laptop, and you usually read the license terms for the first time when you want to sell your first batch. So we went through the terms of each free tier line by line: revenue caps, document limits, file visibility, export formats.
We also went through hundreds of posts on the Bambu Lab, Prusa, Onshape and Shapr3D forums, plus summaries of Reddit threads, with a focus on complaints. That's where the tips on this page come from: keeping files outside your cloud account, importing STEP into your slicer, working around the 10-document limit.
One score per tool, everywhere on our site. Fusion (4.2), FreeCAD (4.1), Onshape (3.8) and SolidWorks (4.0) keep the scores from our CAD software ranking, and Shapr3D (3.9) keeps the one from our 3D modeling software page. Tinkercad is scored here for the first time, on the same five criteria.
Rank doesn't always follow score. SolidWorks scores higher than Onshape but ranks lower: a maker doesn't need its power, and its Makers plan costs money. Tinkercad sits fourth at 3.9 because it's perfect for starting out, and you'll outgrow it fast.
Not ranked, and why. OpenSCAD is free and open source, but you build parts by writing code: great if you're a programmer, tedious if you're not. Plasticity (perpetual license from $175) and Blender (free) are in our 3D modeling ranking, because they shape forms rather than dimensioned parts.
- Power for the jobConstrained sketches, parametric parts, assemblies, threads, CAM toolpaths.30%
- Three-year costWhat you pay over three years, including the day you have to go paid.25%
- Learning curveTime to your first printable part, quality of tutorials.20%
- Free versionFree-tier limits, and above all whether you can sell what you design.15%
- Platforms and formatsWindows, Mac, Linux, browser or iPad; STEP, STL, 3MF, DXF, SVG export.10%
Autodesk Fusion
Fusion (Autodesk) is the tool you'll see most in makerspaces and YouTube tutorials. One file holds everything: sketch, parametric part, assembly and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing, the toolpaths for a CNC router). It runs on Mac and Windows and sends a part to your slicer in one click.
The personal use license is free for non-commercial projects outside your day job, if you make under $1,000 a year from them. Know its four limits: 10 editable documents at once, restricted DXF and DWG export, CAM capped at 2, 2.5 and 3 axes, and forum-only support. STEP export stays: Autodesk tried to pull it in 2020 and backed down after hobbyists pushed back hard.
A detail from the Bambu Lab forum: Fusion can turn an imported STL into an editable solid. That's handy when you want to remix a part from a model site, and Onshape can't do it.
The downside: your files live on Autodesk's servers, and the free terms have already changed more than once. Cross $1,000 a year in sales and you need the $680-a-year subscription.
Tip: the 10-document cap counts editable documents, not stored ones. Set finished projects to "read-only" in My Editable Documents to free a slot.
- CAD, CAM and slicer handoff in one tool
- Mac and Windows
- Turns an STL into an editable solid
- ✓Most capable free tier
- ✓Thousands of maker tutorials
- ✓3-axis CAM included for free
- ✗No selling past $1,000 a year
- ✗10 editable documents at once
- ✗Files on Autodesk's servers
The best starting point if you want one tool for everything. Export every finished part to STEP: if you start selling or the terms change again, you lose nothing.
FreeCAD
FreeCAD is the only tool here you can sell with and never pay for. No account, no revenue cap, no document limit, and your files stay on your drive. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Version 1.1, out in 2026, continues the cleanup that 1.0 started. The Hole tool was reworked and handles tapered threads. Settings are now stored per version, so you can keep an older release installed next to the new one. Assembly also picked up new datum tools for placing joints.
Forum feedback from Prusa and Bambu Lab users is consistent. FreeCAD feels easier than Blender for dimensioned parts. But beginners hit fillets that fail, threads that break the model, and "topological naming": a sketch that detaches from its face after an upstream edit. Version 1.0 softened that problem without killing it.
The downside is the interface. It's split into workbenches (Part Design, Sketcher, TechDraw) you learn one by one, and its learning-curve score (2.8) is the lowest in this ranking. Support means the forum and the wiki.
Tip: the FreeCAD wiki has a page for people coming from Fusion. And add details like knurling, honeycomb cutouts and fillets last in the tree: that's what breaks least.
- Free, open source, selling allowed
- Windows, Mac and Linux
- Version 1.1 with better holes and assemblies
- ✓$0 even once you sell
- ✓Files on your drive, no account
- ✓STEP, STL, 3MF and DXF export
- ✗Slowest learning curve
- ✗Fillets and threads can fail
- ✗No commercial support
The free tool you can build a small business on. Budget a few evenings before your first clean part, and save often.
Onshape
Onshape (PTC) is parametric CAD that runs entirely in a browser. Nothing to install, no graphics card to buy: a school Chromebook is enough. Open your project at the makerspace, pick it up at home that night, and every change is kept in the version history.
On maker forums it's the most recommended free option. The Free plan has no storage cap and no document cap. It has two rules: no commercial use, and every document is public. Free accounts lost private documents in 2016, and anyone can copy what you publish.
Private work means jumping to Standard at $1,500 per user per year. There's nothing in between, and hobbyists say so on Onshape's own forum.
The downside: no connection, no work. And it can't turn a downloaded STL into an editable solid, unlike Fusion.
Tip: if you're designing something to sell, don't draw it in Onshape Free. Once it's public, it can be copied, and you're not allowed to sell it anyway.
- 100% browser, Chromebooks included
- Built-in version history
- Unlimited storage on Free
- ✓Nothing to install
- ✓Easiest tool to use across computers
- ✓Quick to learn, per forum users
- ✗Public documents on Free
- ✗Nothing between $0 and $1,500 a year
- ✗Useless offline
The best pick for a maker on the move who shares parts openly. For anything you'll sell or keep private, go FreeCAD.
Tinkercad
Tinkercad (Autodesk) launched in 2011 and runs in your browser. You stack simple shapes (boxes, cylinders, holes) like building blocks and export STL or OBJ for your printer. SVG export turns a flat design into a file for a laser cutter.
It does more than people think. Codeblocks lets you build a part from blocks of code, a gentle intro to scripted modeling. Circuits simulates an Arduino Uno or micro:bit with components before you solder anything. For a classroom or a weekend with the kids, that combo is hard to beat.
Its power score (2.2) is the lowest in the ranking, on purpose. No constrained sketches, no parametric history: changing a hole size means moving the shape by hand. Forum users are blunt about it: you leave Tinkercad once parts need to fit into each other.
The downside: a complex part built in Tinkercad usually has to be redrawn later in a real parametric tool.
Tip: import an SVG from a drawing app and give it thickness. It's the fastest way to make a keychain, a stamp or a stencil.
- Free, nothing to install
- Codeblocks and Circuits built in
- STL, OBJ and SVG export
- ✓Printable part in one evening
- ✓Great with kids
- ✓Arduino simulator included
- ✗No parametric modeling
- ✗Outgrown once parts must fit together
- ✗Complex parts need redrawing elsewhere
The best first step, and the best way to show a kid what CAD is. Move to Fusion, FreeCAD or Onshape with your first mechanical part.
SolidWorks for Makers
SolidWorks (Dassault Systèmes) is the most common CAD at US machine shops and contract manufacturers. Its for Makers plan gives you full 3D CAD for $48 a year: parts, assemblies, drawings. That's the top power score in this ranking (4.8), for about the price of a streaming subscription.
It comes in two flavors. xDesign for Makers runs in a browser on Mac, Chromebook and Windows, and needs a connection. 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers is the classic desktop app on Windows 10 or 11, usable offline for up to 30 days. CNC features only come with the desktop version.
The rules are strict: personal, non-commercial use, and no more than $2,000 a year in revenue from your projects.
The downside: it's the only tool here with no lasting free tier, and the full version wants a strong Windows PC. Forum users also find it slower to learn than Fusion.
Tip: if you just bought a printer or a 3D mouse, look for that brand's Makers discount code before paying full price.
- The CAD engineering firms use
- Browser and desktop versions
- CNC tools in the desktop version
- ✓Full power for $48 a year
- ✓Skill employers look for
- ✓15-day refund
- ✗Paid, no lasting free tier
- ✗No selling past $2,000 a year
- ✗Desktop version is Windows-only
The best $48 you'll spend if you're aiming at a job in mechanical design. For tinkering at $0, Fusion gets you most of the way.
Shapr3D
Shapr3D lets you draw solids with a stylus right on an iPad screen. Sketch, pull, round: its learning-curve score (4.6) is among the best here. It also runs on Mac and Windows, and imports STEP, IGES, DWG and STL from your other tools.
The Basic plan is free but tight: 2 projects, 3 renders a day, and low-resolution STL and 3MF export only. On a precise mechanical part, those exports show up in the print. Pro is $299 per seat per year, before tax, with a 14-day trial.
On Shapr3D's own forum, hobbyists keep raising the same point: there's no hobby plan, and $299 a year is hard to justify for a pastime. Students and teachers get it free.
The downside: it's a direct modeler, better at shaping an object than driving a part by its dimensions. And the free plan isn't enough for serious work.
Tip: if you're a student or teacher with an iPad, request the education license inside the app before buying anything.
- Stylus modeling on iPad
- Mac, Windows and iPad
- STEP, IGES, DWG, STL import
- ✓Very fast to learn
- ✓Great for product design
- ✓Free for education
- ✗Basic capped at 2 projects
- ✗Low-res exports on Free
- ✗$299 a year, no hobby plan
The most pleasant to use if you own an iPad and a pencil. For precise prints at $0, pick Fusion or FreeCAD.
Three questions every maker should ask first
Free CAD costs you nothing until the day it costs you your files. Here's how the six ranked tools handle the three things that trip makers up most.
The day you start selling
Selling a few brackets online is enough to fall out of most free licenses. Fusion personal stops at $1,000 a year in revenue, SolidWorks for Makers at $2,000. Onshape Free bans commercial use outright. Only FreeCAD lets you sell without limits or fees. Planning a shop? Our list of Etsy SEO tools helps you price and list your parts.
From CAD to slicer: STEP or STL
Your slicer (PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer) cuts the part into layers. STL is a triangle mesh and loses exact curves. STEP keeps precise geometry. PrusaSlicer has imported it since version 2.5, and Bambu Studio inherited that. Export STEP for parts that must fit. STL or 3MF is fine for a figurine. Shapr3D Basic's low-res exports show on any circle.
Where your files live
Fusion and Onshape keep your parts on their servers. So does Tinkercad. FreeCAD and the SolidWorks desktop app save to your drive. The risk is real: Fusion changed its free terms in 2020, and Onshape dropped free private documents in 2016. Always keep a STEP copy of finished parts in a folder you own.
- Decide now whether you'll ever sell parts: that rules out half the free tiers.
- Model the same simple part in two tools, then change one dimension: keep the one that doesn't break.
- Export every finished part to STEP, outside your cloud account.
- For precise parts, import STEP into the slicer instead of STL.
- Ask for an education license if you're a student or teacher: Fusion, Onshape and Shapr3D all have one.
Six maker habits that save your files
These come from 3D printing and CAD forums, where makers post about lost files and failed prints.
Export STEP, not just STL
PrioritySTL is made for the printer, not for editing. Keep a STEP copy of every finished part: any modeler can reopen it, even if you switch tools.
In Fusion, the Export command writes a file to your drive, and that file doesn't count toward the 10-document limit.
- Format
- STEP
Fix Bambu Studio's STEP import
PrintingBambu Studio imports STEP files at a low mesh quality by default. Forum users recommend turning on the STEP mesh dialog in Preferences, so you pick the triangle density on every import.
A faceted circle on your printed part often starts right there.
- Applies to
- Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer
Run the one-dimension test
ChoosingDraw a plate with a hole in each tool you're considering. Then change the hole diameter and the plate thickness. The right tool is the one where nothing breaks and you find the dimension in two clicks.
This test, suggested on the Bambu Lab forum, takes under an hour per tool.
- Time
- Under an hour per tool
Add details last
FreeCADFillets, chamfers, knurling, honeycomb patterns: put them at the end of the feature tree. Upstream edits break less that way, especially in FreeCAD.
And save often: it's the single most repeated FreeCAD tip.
- Works in
- FreeCAD, Fusion, Onshape
For laser cutting, think flat
LaserA laser cutter reads a flat drawing, in SVG or DXF. Tinkercad exports SVG. Fusion personal restricts DXF export. FreeCAD exports DXF with no limits.
For a finger-joint box, model it in 3D, then export each face flat.
- Formats
- SVG, DXF
Try SolidWorks Makers without risk
PriceThe Makers plan comes with a 15-day refund. Install the desktop app or open xDesign right after you buy, and rebuild your test part inside that window: if it doesn't click, you get your $48 back.
If you're a student, check your school's education license first.
- Window
- 15 days
Where to go from here
These pages pick up where this one stops.
SolidWorks, BricsCAD, Solid Edge.
You sculpt figurines or render3D modeling softwareBlender, Plasticity, Rhino.
You want to sell what you makeEtsy SEO toolsKeywords, pricing, listings.
You want to sell without inventoryPrint-on-demand servicesYour designs printed and shipped for you.
Filament and parts are piling upInventory management softwareSpools, finished parts, stock counts.
You want to write a macro or scriptAI assistantsFor a FreeCAD macro or an OpenSCAD file.
CAD software for makers · FAQ
What's the best free CAD software for 3D printing?
Fusion if you're not selling, FreeCAD if you are or might. Fusion personal is the most capable free tier, but it stops at $1,000 a year in revenue. FreeCAD is open source with no limits. Onshape Free works too, if you're fine with every part being public.Is Fusion 360 still free for hobbyists?
Yes, for personal, non-commercial use under $1,000 a year in revenue. You get 10 editable documents at once, restricted DXF and DWG export, and CAM up to 3 axes. STEP export is still there. The product is now just called Autodesk Fusion.Can I sell parts I designed with free CAD software?
With FreeCAD, yes, with no cap. Fusion personal bans it past $1,000 a year in revenue, SolidWorks for Makers past $2,000, and Onshape Free bans commercial use entirely. Onshape's first commercial plan is $1,500 a year.Is Tinkercad good enough for functional parts?
For simple parts, yes; for parts that fit together, no. Tinkercad has no constrained sketches and no history, so changing a dimension means moving shapes by hand. It's great for a hook or a keychain, and for learning. Then move to Fusion, FreeCAD or Onshape.Do I need a powerful computer for CAD at home?
No, unless you run the SolidWorks desktop app. Onshape, Tinkercad and SolidWorks xDesign run in a browser, even on a Chromebook. Fusion and FreeCAD run on a recent laptop. Shapr3D runs on an iPad. The SolidWorks desktop version needs Windows 10 or 11.STL, STEP or 3MF: what should I send to my slicer?
STEP for precise parts, STL or 3MF for organic shapes. STEP keeps exact curves, and both PrusaSlicer and Bambu Studio can import it. 3MF is an archive that can carry colors and settings. Always keep the STEP, even if you print from an STL.Which CAD software works best for a laser cutter?
One that exports SVG or DXF without limits. Tinkercad exports SVG, and FreeCAD exports DXF with no restrictions. Fusion personal restricts DXF export. For a finger-joint box, model it in 3D and export each face flat.Who is OpenSCAD for?
People who'd rather write code than click. OpenSCAD describes a part with a script, so changing a variable changes the part. It's free and open source on Windows, Mac and Linux, and development builds now use a much faster geometry engine. Non-programmers usually find it tedious.