How much does FreeCAD cost?

FreeCAD starts at Free. No tier-by-tier breakdown is published on the record we hold.

Does FreeCAD have a free plan?

Yes, FreeCAD is recorded as open-source, so it can be used without paying.

Which cad tools can I use without paying?

2 of the 8 cad tools listed alongside FreeCAD have a free tier: RealityScan, CloudCompare.

What am I actually paying for with FreeCAD?

The record lists 16 features across 4 areas: other, integrations, security, platform. In practice it is brought in for mechanical engineering design, architectural modelling, product design and prototyping.

Does FreeCAD charge per user?

The record carries a price and a billing period, 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 FreeCAD 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 FreeCAD against before paying?

The closest cad tools in this directory are Carlson Software, RealityScan, CloudCompare, Bentley iTwin Capture Modeler. Each has a side-by-side comparison with FreeCAD covering price, platforms and features.

CAD · pricing

FreeCAD pricing

No tier breakdown is published on the record we hold for FreeCAD. Below is what is on record, and how it compares with the cad tools listed alongside it.

As of 30 August 2026, FreeCAD pricing is free. 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: Free
Model: Open-source
Tiers: -
Free tier: Yes

What is on record

The FreeCAD catalogue entry carries a starting price of Free and a open-source pricing model, but no tier breakdown. The category comparison below is still useful, and the FreeCAD review carries the full feature record.

What the product covers

The full FreeCAD 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

Parametric modeling
Part design
Assembly
Drafting
FEM simulation
Path/CAM
Architecture
BIM

Integrations

OpenCASCADE
Python scripting
STEP import/export

Security

Open source
Self-hosted

Platform

Windows support
MacOS support
Linux support

People bring FreeCAD in for mechanical engineering design, architectural modelling, product design and prototyping, cam/cnc path generation. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to FreeCAD are worth a look before you commit to a tier.

How that compares in CAD

Too few cad tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.

FreeCAD entry price against other CAD tools
Tool	Entry price	Model	Rated	Head to head
FreeCAD (this page)	Free	open-source	-
Carlson Software	$4450/one-time	One-time purchase	-	vs FreeCAD
RealityScan	Free, then $1250/year	Free below a revenue threshold, then per seat per year	-	vs FreeCAD
CloudCompare	Free	Open source, no licence fee	-	vs FreeCAD
Bentley iTwin Capture Modeler	On request	quote	-	vs FreeCAD
MicroSurvey CAD	$2945/one-time	One-time purchase	-	vs FreeCAD
Nomad Sculpt	On request	One-time purchase	-	vs FreeCAD

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 FreeCAD badges page.

Before you pay for FreeCAD

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: not published on the record we hold. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.

FreeCAD runs on windows, macos, linux, and is published by FreeCAD Community of Open Source. The full record is on the FreeCAD review, and the rest of the category is under best cad tools.

FreeCAD pricing on the vendor's own site

FreeCAD pricing questions

How much does FreeCAD cost?: FreeCAD starts at Free. No tier-by-tier breakdown is published on the record we hold.
Does FreeCAD have a free plan?: Yes, FreeCAD is recorded as open-source, so it can be used without paying.
Which cad tools can I use without paying?: 2 of the 8 cad tools listed alongside FreeCAD have a free tier: RealityScan, CloudCompare.
What am I actually paying for with FreeCAD?: The record lists 16 features across 4 areas: other, integrations, security, platform. In practice it is brought in for mechanical engineering design, architectural modelling, product design and prototyping.
Does FreeCAD charge per user?: The record carries a price and a billing period, 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 FreeCAD 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 FreeCAD against before paying?: The closest cad tools in this directory are Carlson Software, RealityScan, CloudCompare, Bentley iTwin Capture Modeler. Each has a side-by-side comparison with FreeCAD covering price, platforms and features.