Free CAD software compared

Almost every CAD tool advertises a free option, and almost none of them mean the same thing by it. Before comparing features, it is worth sorting the options by what "free" actually costs you, because that is the difference that tends to matter six months in.

The three kinds of free

Free and open source. FreeCAD and OpenSCAD are the main examples. There is no licence tier, no usage cap, and no restriction on commercial use. You own everything you make. The cost is paid in learning curve and polish rather than money.

Free for personal use. Several large commercial suites offer a hobbyist tier. These are genuinely capable, because they are the real product with conditions attached. Those conditions typically cover commercial use, the number of active documents, and which export formats and advanced features are enabled. They also change from time to time, which is worth knowing before you build a workflow on one.

Free with your work public. Some browser based tools offer an unrestricted free plan on the condition that your documents are visible to everyone. That is completely fine for hobby projects and completely unusable for client work or anything under NDA.

The questions that actually decide it

Do you intend to sell anything you design? This is the single most important question, and it eliminates more options than any feature comparison. If the answer is yes, either use open source or read the licence terms of your chosen tool carefully.

Do you need STEP export? STEP carries real solid geometry, which is what a machine shop or another CAD package needs. A tool that only exports meshes such as STL or OBJ is fine for 3D printing and a dead end for manufacturing. Confirm this before you invest time.

Does your work need to stay private? If yes, rule out the public-by-default free plans immediately.

How much CAD do you want to learn? Be honest here. The most capable free tool is worthless if the learning curve means you never finish the part you needed.

What each type is best for

Open source desktop CAD suits people who will use CAD repeatedly, want no restrictions, and can absorb a real learning investment. FreeCAD is fully parametric and exports STEP.

Script based CAD such as OpenSCAD suits programmers and anyone generating families of parts from variables. If you would rather write code than push a mouse, this is a genuinely good fit.

Beginner browser modellers suit education, simple shapes, and quick 3D printing. They are the fastest way to make something, and they usually stop short of engineering geometry.

Free tiers of commercial suites suit hobbyists who want professional capability and are genuinely not selling anything.

Text to CAD suits people who know exactly what the part needs to be and do not want to learn an interface to get it. You describe the part, adjust the dimensions, and export.

Where TextoCAD fits

TextoCAD is free to start: after signing in, your first 2 generations cost nothing, and adjusting dimensions with the sliders never consumes credits. Models are real parametric solids, so STEP and STL export both work. Paid plans add a more capable model and a higher monthly limit rather than unlocking basic functionality. Current details are on the pricing page.

It is not a replacement for a full CAD suite, and this comparison would be dishonest if it claimed otherwise. If you need assemblies, drawings, simulation, or CAM, you need one of the tools above. What TextoCAD replaces is the modelling step for parts you can describe.

A note on comparing licence terms

Free tiers change. Restrictions get added and removed, and articles like this one go stale faster than the tools do. Treat any specific limit you read online, here included, as a starting point and confirm the current terms on the vendor's own site before making a decision that matters.

Related reading: text to CAD vs traditional CAD, AI CAD generators compared, and the free CAD software overview.