CAD · pricing
Bentley MicroStation pricing
Bentley MicroStation publishes 2 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
As of 31 August 2026, Bentley MicroStation pricing is $2284/year across 2 published tiers. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- $2284/year
- Model
- Per user per year
- Tiers
- 2
- Free tier
- Not on record
Bentley MicroStation plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtuoso Subscription | $2284/year | 4 | Entry tier |
| Practitioner or Enterprise licence | On request | 4 | Priced on request |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Virtuoso Subscription
$2284/yearThe entry tier. It covers single-user microstation licence, bentley keys redeemable for training, mentoring or consulting, bought through bentley's estore with a card, no procurement contract needed.
Practitioner or Enterprise licence
On requestOver Virtuoso Subscription, this tier adds:
- Term or perpetual licence sold direct by Bentley
- Perpetual purchase requires an ongoing SELECT maintenance subscription
- Volume and enterprise agreements with pooled licence usage
- Regional list prices vary, so a European or Asian quote will not match the US eStore figure
What the product covers
The full Bentley MicroStation feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- DGN modelling
- DWG editing
- Reality modelling
- Parametric components
- Drawing composition
- Visualisation
- MDL and .NET APIs
- iTwin publishing
People bring Bentley MicroStation in for a civil consultancy bidding on state dot or national highways work that mandates dgn deliverables and issues a microstation workspace, a rail or utility owner-operator maintaining decades of legacy dgn drawings that would lose data in a dwg round trip, an engineering firm standardising on openroads or openbuildings, which require the microstation platform underneath, a survey or asset team draping design geometry over point clouds and reality meshes for existing-conditions work. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Bentley MicroStation are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in CAD
Across the 3 cad tools in this directory that publish a starting price, the median entry point is $2945/month. Bentley MicroStation starts at $2284/year, which puts it below the middle of its category.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bentley MicroStation (this page) | $2284/year | Per user per year | - | |
| Carlson Software | $4450/one-time | One-time purchase | - | vs Bentley MicroStation |
| RealityScan | Free, then $1250/year | Free below a revenue threshold, then per seat per year | - | vs Bentley MicroStation |
| CloudCompare | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Bentley MicroStation |
| MicroSurvey CAD | $2945/one-time | One-time purchase | - | vs Bentley MicroStation |
| Nomad Sculpt | On request | One-time purchase | - | vs Bentley MicroStation |
| nTop | On request | quote | - | vs Bentley MicroStation |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Bentley MicroStation badges page.
Before you pay for Bentley MicroStation
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 2 tiers between $2284/year and On request, with the jump itemised above. With no free tier on record, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to compare Bentley MicroStation against the tools that do have one before committing.
Bentley MicroStation runs on windows, and is published by Bentley Systems, Incorporated of Exton, Pennsylvania, United States. The full record is on the Bentley MicroStation review, and the rest of the category is under best cad tools.
Bentley MicroStation pricing questions
- How much does Bentley MicroStation cost?
- Bentley MicroStation publishes 2 tiers, from $2284/year for Virtuoso Subscription up to On request for Practitioner or Enterprise licence. The cheapest paid tier is $2284/year.
- Does Bentley MicroStation have a free plan?
- Not on the record we hold: Bentley MicroStation is listed as Per user per year. Whether a free trial is offered is not something this record captures, so check the vendor's site.
- What is the difference between Virtuoso Subscription and Practitioner or Enterprise licence on Bentley MicroStation?
- Practitioner or Enterprise licence costs On request against $2284/year, and adds term or perpetual licence sold direct by bentley, perpetual purchase requires an ongoing select maintenance subscription, volume and enterprise agreements with pooled licence usage, regional list prices vary, so a european or asian quote will not match the us estore figure.
- Is the Practitioner or Enterprise licence plan on Bentley MicroStation worth it?
- That depends entirely on whether you need what it adds, which on the published record is term or perpetual licence sold direct by bentley, perpetual purchase requires an ongoing select maintenance subscription, volume and enterprise agreements with pooled licence usage, regional list prices vary, so a european or asian quote will not match the us estore figure. It costs On request against $2284/year for Virtuoso Subscription. Softwr has not used either tier, so this page can tell you what changes, not whether it is worth the difference to you.
- Is Bentley MicroStation expensive for a cad tool?
- It starts below the middle of its category. Across the 3 cad tools in this directory that publish a starting price, the median entry point is $2945/month; Bentley MicroStation starts at $2284/year.
- Which cad tools can I use without paying?
- 3 of the 8 cad tools listed alongside Bentley MicroStation have a free tier: RealityScan, CloudCompare, SolveSpace.
- What am I actually paying for with Bentley MicroStation?
- The record lists 8 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a civil consultancy bidding on state dot or national highways work that mandates dgn deliverables and issues a microstation workspace, a rail or utility owner-operator maintaining decades of legacy dgn drawings that would lose data in a dwg round trip, an engineering firm standardising on openroads or openbuildings, which require the microstation platform underneath.
- Does Bentley MicroStation charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 2 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Bentley MicroStation prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Bentley MicroStation against before paying?
- The closest cad tools in this directory are Carlson Software, RealityScan, CloudCompare, MicroSurvey CAD. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Bentley MicroStation covering price, platforms and features.