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SOLIDWORKS vs OnShape
A Comparative Analysis
Explore the advantages of SOLIDWORKS over Onshape in this detailed comparison and how SOLIDWORKS offers robust features, powerful desktop capabilities, and extensive industry adoption, making it the preferred choice for complex engineering and design projects. While Onshape provides flexibility and cloud-based collaboration, SOLIDWORKS stands out with its advanced tools, mature ecosystem, and offline functionality, ensuring reliability and efficiency for enterprise and professional use.
Will Your Platform Satisfy All Current and Future Design Needs?
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SOLIDWORKS is a world leader in CAD, with 28 years (and going!) of user-driven enhancements.
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SOLIDWORKS provides specialized toolsets for many applications, including sheet metal, weldments, surfacing, routing, PCB in 3D, and much more.
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SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D provides schematic capabilities within the 3D MCAD context.
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SOLIDWORKS provides manufacturability and costing checks in CAD and robust BOM management. SOLIDWORKS Simulation tools can extend manufacturability checks into injection molding and other simulation processes.
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SOLIDWORKS has excellent drawings, model-based definition, and photoreal 3D rendering capabilities. The extended technical communications portfolio of Inspection and Composer goes even a step further.
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Develop your own customizations or hire an experienced consultant to do it for you using the SOLIDWORKS API.
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The 3DEXPERIENCE portfolio includes multiple cloud-native CAD tools that can be used in conjunction with desktop SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD. This portfolio covers traditional parametric modeling and new advanced tools like generative design.
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SOLIDWORKS can be used offline, even when working on data from 3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PDM.
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SOLIDWORKS certifications signify highly-sought after skills, valued by employers and employees alike.
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GoEngineer's reputation for high-quality SOLIDWORKS support is known nationwide. Customers also receive unlimited online self-paced training with instructor office hours.
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OnShape is a high-quality up-and-coming CAD tool, but it is still very much mid-development.
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limited
OnShape provides specialized toolsets for some applications, such as sheet metal, frames, and PCB in 3D, but may be lacking in key areas such as electrical & fluid routing.
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OnShape does not have electrical schematic capabilities.
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limited
OnShape provides manufacturability checks in CAD and robust BOM management.
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limited
OnShape has limited capabilities in drawings and other documentation.
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Develop your own customizations for OnShape using FeatureScript.
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OnShape runs entirely in your web browser on any device.
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Not available with OnShape.
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Only a handful of professional opportunities specific to OnShape experts.
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OnShape offers high-quality support & online training resources.
What customers are saying...
Still on the Fence?
Learn more about the benefits of SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software and how its advanced features, and superior performance surpass Onshape.
Which Platform Will Satisfy All Current and Future DESIGN Needs?
OnShape is a high-quality up-and-coming CAD tool, but it is still very much mid-development.
SOLIDWORKS is a world leader in CAD, with 28 years (and going!) of user-driven enhancements.
Limited
OnShape provides specialized toolsets for some applications, such as sheet metal, frames, and PCB in 3D, but may be lacking in key areas such as electrical & fluid routing.
SOLIDWORKS provides specialized toolsets for many applications, including sheet metal, weldments, surfacing, routing, PCB in 3D, and much more.
OnShape does not have electrical schematic capabilities.
SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D provides schematic capabilities within the 3D MCAD context.
Limited
OnShape provides manufacturability checks in CAD and robust BOM management.
SOLIDWORKS provides manufacturability and costing checks in CAD and robust BOM management. SOLIDWORKS Simulation tools can extend manufacturability checks into injection molding and other manufacturing processes.
Limited
OnShape has limited capabilities in drawings and other documentation.
SOLIDWORKS has excellent drawings, model-based definition , and photoreal 3D rendering capabilities. The extended technical communications portfolio of Inspection and Composer goes even a step further.
Develop your own customizations for OnShape using FeatureScript.
Develop your own customizations or hire an experienced consultant to do it for you using the SOLIDWORKS API.
OnShape runs entirely in your web browser on any device.
The 3DEXPERIENCE portfolio includes multiple cloud-native CAD tools that can be used in conjunction with desktop SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD. This portfolio covers traditional parametric modeling and new advanced tools like generative design.
Not available with OnShape.
SOLIDWORKS can be used offline, even when working on data from 3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PDM.
Only a handful of professional opportunities specific to OnShape experts.
SOLIDWORKS certifications signify highly-sought after skills, valued by employers and employees alike.
OnShape offers high-quality support & online training resources
GoEngineer's reputation for high-quality SOLIDWORKS support is known nationwide. Customers also receive unlimited online self-paced training with instructor office hours .
Will Your Platform Take the Guesswork Out of VALIDATION?
Streamlined linear static and modal analyses provide design guidance.
From within the SOLIDWORKS window, easily run many kinds of linear and nonlinear analyses, including static, modal, buckling, fatigue, drop test, and design optimization.
Not available with OnShape.
Access Abaqus and 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL with simple and thorough first-party integrations.
Not available with OnShape.
From within the SOLIDWORKS window, easily run many kinds of CFD studies (including plastic injection ), or integrate with 3DEXPERIENCE FLUIDS for extreme fluid simulation.
Not available with OnShape.
Access the industry-leading CST Studio Suite with a first-party integration, for both time- and frequency-domain simulation.
Not available with OnShape.
SOLIDWORKS-integrated 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION tools can easily combine structural, fluids, and electromagnetics simulation to truly understand performance and manufacturability before prototyping.
Not available with OnShape.
SOLIDWORKS starts with limited parametric design studies as a baseline. At the top end of the portfolio, users may execute large-scale, multivariable topology optimization studies .
Limited
OnShape simulations run on cloud but are not resource-intensive.
3DEXPERIENCE simulations run on cloud on up to hundreds of CPU cores.
Not available with OnShape.
SOLIDWORKS and 3D EXPERIENCE simulation tools can all run on local hardware.
Will Your Platform Make MANUFACTURING Easier and More Predictable?
A new solution is in limited preview.
25 years of integrated CAM, included in SOLIDWORKS and extensible with CAMWorks and 3DEXPERIENCE CAM solutions.
Will Your Platform Improve COLLABORATION for Everyone?
OnShape is built upon a managed cloud PDM service.
The SOLIDWORKS CAD license now also includes 3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PDM, a first-party, managed cloud-native PDM service.
OnShape lets designers share their 3D CAD via webapp for feedback with secure access control.
SOLIDWORKS lets designers share their 3D CAD via webapp for feedback with secure access control.
Not available with OnShape.
3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PDM natively supports SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, Creo, Inventor, Altium, Cadence, and more in its data and change management functionalities.
Not available with OnShape.
3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PDM can place multi-CAD data into the same 3D assembly with full history and real time updates.
OnShape offers few downstream tools that fully integrate with their platform.
Downstream of CAD, SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE tools stay deeply integrated and in sync with CAD data and version histories.
OnShape integrates with the first-party Arena PLM tool.
The 3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PLM portfolio, based on proven ENOVIA technology, provides top-tier project, product, and IP management through the web browser using 3D product data.
Will Your Platform Give You CONTROL of Your Software and Data?
OnShape provides no options for customers to assume full control of and responsibility for their data.
SOLIDWORKS users also have the options of SOLIDWORKS PDM, 3DEXPERIENCE CLOUD PDM, and no PDM. They may also choose to store their data on-cloud or on-premise.
Export your data offline in neutral format and open with third-party CAD tool.
Take your cloud data offline in its native format and open with offline CAD tool.
Access OnShape only while actively subscribed.
Desktop SOLIDWORKS solutions can always be purchased outright. Any up-/downstream 3DEXPERIENCE tools that rely on cloud data and compute services require an active subscription.