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It's a split decision.
Choose Autodesk Inventor if your work centers on mechanical design, specialized toolsets, simulation, and linking imported CAD files without translation. Its listed monthly price is $320, or $215.42 per month on annual billing. Choose SOLIDWORKS for parts, assemblies, drawings, and cloud product workflows, or if you qualify for Makers: promotional $24/year, with an under-$2,000 annual project revenue limit. Neither has a general free plan; Inventor’s free access is limited to eligible education users. Both score 6/10 for ease in the published reviews.
01Side by side
| Autodesk Inventor | SOLIDWORKS | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $215.42/month equivalent annually; $320 monthly listed | $2/month equivalent, promotional Makers annual plan |
| Free plan | Free access for eligible students and educators | No free plan listed |
| Best for | Mechanical teams needing specialized design tools | Product teams needing CAD and cloud workflows |
| Core strength | Mechanical toolsets, simulation, and CAD interoperability | Parts, assemblies, simulation, and product data management |
| Learning curve | Ease score: 6/10 in published review | Ease score: 6/10 in published review |
| Integrations/data | AnyCAD links STEP, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, and Creo | Cloud collaboration and data management; formats not listed |
| Team/seat terms | One named user; three installs; one active user | Named-user or device license; device license shares one workstation |
| Support | $0 extra for 8x5 assisted support on Standard Plan | Support terms not published; 15-day money-back policy |
Autodesk Inventor Choose Autodesk Inventor if
- Choose Autodesk Inventor if mechanical design is your main workload.
- Choose Autodesk Inventor if you need its dedicated toolsets and simulation.
- Choose Autodesk Inventor if AnyCAD links fit your existing CAD files.
SOLIDWORKS Choose SOLIDWORKS if
- Choose SOLIDWORKS if cloud product-development workflows matter to your team.
- Choose SOLIDWORKS if you need parts, assemblies, drawings, and data management.
- Choose SOLIDWORKS Makers if your non-commercial projects meet its revenue limit.
02Pricing compared
Inventor Professional is listed at $320 per user per month, or $215.42 per user per month with annual billing. Autodesk also lists a 30-day free trial. Its Flex option starts at $99 for 33 tokens; Inventor uses 8 tokens per 24 hours, and tokens expire after 365 days.
SOLIDWORKS Design Standard is listed at $235 per user per month on an annual plan. Professional is $288 and Premium is $393. The Makers options are much cheaper, but restricted to personal, non-commercial projects generating under $2,000 in annual revenue: the listed annual price is $48, with a $24 promotional price. Neither product has a general free plan. Inventor is free for eligible students and educators; SOLIDWORKS Makers is not a free plan.
03Features and depth
Inventor’s feature set is aimed squarely at mechanical design. It combines parametric solids, direct face editing, T-spline surfacing and iLogic automation, with dedicated tools for sheet metal, structural frames, mold bases, tubing, piping, and cable and harness runs. Its listed simulation tools include finite element stress analysis and dynamic mechanism analysis. Shape Generator creates designs intended to reduce component weight under defined loads.
For teams handling mixed CAD files, Inventor’s AnyCAD links to formats including STEP, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS and PTC Creo without translation, according to the product information. Inventor also automates drawing views and bills of materials and supports 3D geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.
SOLIDWORKS emphasizes parts, assemblies and drawings, with sheet metal, framing, simulation, data management and manufacturing workflows. Its product information also highlights AI Virtual Companions for repetitive tasks and capturing knowledge in the CAD environment. The published feature list does not specify the depth or limits of those capabilities, so compare the exact editions you need before choosing.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The published reviews give both products an ease-of-use score of 6/10. That does not establish which one is easier for your team: the materials provide no direct learning-time comparison or independent usability test.
Inventor’s wide toolset includes specialized mechanical workflows and iLogic automation, so evaluate whether those tools match your work rather than assuming more features make setup easier. SOLIDWORKS offers named-user licenses that can work offline for up to 30 consecutive days, according to its pricing details. Its review flags possible friction around Maker logins, but does not describe the issue in detail. If you are considering a Makers plan, check the login and project restrictions before paying.
Questions people ask
Do professional engineers use SOLIDWORKS?
The published product information describes SOLIDWORKS as 3D CAD and cloud product development software for designing, testing, managing and manufacturing products. It does not provide adoption data or identify which professional engineers use it. We can confirm its stated capabilities, but not how widely engineers use it.
Can SOLIDWORKS read Inventor files?
The published information says Inventor’s AnyCAD links to SOLIDWORKS formats without translation. It does not confirm whether SOLIDWORKS can read Inventor files directly, or which file versions and workflows are supported. Check SOLIDWORKS’ current import documentation before relying on a direct file handoff.
Are AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor the same?
No. The published information describes Autodesk Inventor as professional 3D CAD software for mechanical design, simulation and production documentation. It does not describe AutoCAD’s features or compare the two products in detail, so we can’t use these materials to make a fuller distinction.
What are some alternatives to Autodesk Inventor?
SOLIDWORKS is one option to compare: the published information describes it as 3D CAD software with parts, assemblies, drawings, simulation and manufacturing workflows. The materials do not provide a broader list of Inventor alternatives, so treat this as a comparison option, not a complete shortlist.