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- Feb 1, 2015
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Other than cost what are some of the differences between SolidWorks and Fusion 360? From reading some other articles online it seems that Fusion has a simplified user interface making it more user friendly to those who aren't SW gurus in the commercial world. From others experience does Fusion stack up against SW as far as features, power, versatility, etc? Or is Fusion just a viable option due to the expense of a SW license? I have access to SW and have a fair amount of experience with the program. Not sure how much longer my access will be as it is through a college VPN that I have to log in to. Feeling out if I should break up with SW and move to using Fusion?
The biggest difference is the cost. I bought a SolidWorks seat because I had been using it for 8 years, was fairly proficient with it, and it fit well with my CAM and Tormach CNC. Fusion wasn't available at the time or I would have gone that route. My SW is 2012 and it is already obsolete in regard with interfacing with the outside world. $1400 a year to keep it current is out of the question for a hobbyist.
I also have Fusion loaded although I haven't done much with it yet. My intent is to put some time into learning it this winter. They approach parametric modelling in a different fashion and it well take some exposure time to get used to it.
From what I have seen, the two are fairly well equivalent as to their capabilities. Fusion has CAM built into it which is nice. Their rendering is also great. SolidWorks handles rendering well as well but you have to have the Professional version at an additional cost of around $2K. Fusion also has the sculpting feature which could be useful. It is relatively painful to do anything like that in SW. Fusion is also always up to date with the latest version. Fusion uses cloud based storage of files which can be inconvenient although you can store files locally. It does allow you to access your files from any computer or smart phone provided you have the software loaded and it allows you to share your work with others.
If I were doing it from scratch, I would definitely go the Fusion route. I have directly asked their reps on a number of occasions if there was any intent to eliminate the free access for hobbyists, startups, etc. in the future and their answer was unequivocally no. If the intent is to use it commercially for businesses with more than $100K in anual revenue, the monthly subscription fee is modest. As I recall it was $60/mo. on a month by month basis and $30/mo. if you buy a year at a time. If you buy it a month at a time, you only have to pay for the months you actually use it.