Item: DraftSight
Rating: 8
Author: David Yerks

Overall Satisfaction with DraftSight

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 and Cons

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

Return on Investment

In my experience, cost savings between DraftSight and AutoCAD are substantial!
In my experience, transitioning from AutoCAD to DraftSight is seamless
In my opinion, rendering & Materials are not great

Alternatives Considered

AutoCAD

In my opinion, very similar to each other but DraftSight Professional is priced at $299 per year while AutoCAD is priced at $2030 per year. The $1731 savings per year allows for hardware upgrades sooner.

Key Insights

Do you think DraftSight delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with DraftSight's feature set?

Yes

Did DraftSight live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of DraftSight go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy DraftSight again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365, Adobe Acrobat

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.

DraftSight Feature Ratings

Comments

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DraftSight vs AutoCAD

Software Version