SOLIDWORKS in Australia?
Ah yes, the million-dollar question, “How much is SOLIDWORKS?”
Well, unfortunately, there’s no exact answer…
But before we get into all that, there are a few things you should know!
To start, you should probably know which package you need, how long you need it, what you might need in the future, how large your company is and whether you are a hobbyist or a student. Here’s a short guide:
SOLIDWORKS Packages:
SOLIDWORKS Licence Types:
Other Options
Now, the reason why the answer to our million-dollar question is so hard to answer is mostly because of use and circumstance. A student, for instance, can get a licence with access to the entire suite of what SOLIDWORKS has to offer, for as low as a couple of hundred dollars, a maker or hobbyist can rent it for less than $20 a month, and an entrepreneur can get it for FREE.
If you don’t fit into the criteria above, there is a commercial option available – however, it’s going to cost a little more.
Dassault Systèmes (parent company of SOLIDWORKS) only distributes its products through certified resellers and does not explicitly disclose the recommended reseller price. The silver lining here is that these resellers are at liberty to tailor the price to accommodate the needs of your business!
In general, a Standard SOLIDWORKS licence, with just the basic capabilities, will definitely be less than $10,000 but if you talk to the right guy at the right time you might get a deal. On the other end of the scale, a Premium Licence is around $20,000.
Along with part assembly, and 2D drawing functionality, SOLIDWORKS Standard provides specialised tools for sheet metal, weldments, surfacing, molds, product configuration, design analysis, DFM, and CAM.
SOLIDWORKS Professional builds on the capabilities of SOLIDWORKS Standard with ECAD/MCAD collaboration, automated cost estimation, collaboration capabilities, design and drawing checking; a sophisticated components and parts library, and advanced photorealistic rendering.
SOLIDWORKS Premium builds on SOLIDWORKS Professional by adding structural and motion analysis capabilities, advanced surface flattening, reverse engineering, and electrical cable and pipe routing functionality.
A student can go right ahead and purchase directly through SOLIDWORKS here. Make sure you read through the site for all the details and eligibility.
If your business is less than 3 years old, you are not currently using SOLIDWORKS, and have an idea for a physical product that you plan to design using CAD and eventually manufacture, you may be eligible for SolidWorks for Entrepreneurs program. This gives start-ups access to free software, training and co-marketing resources.
Are you an accelerator, incubator, SEED/VC fund or startup-enabling organisation? Then you may be eligible to participate in the SolidWorks Accelerator & Incubators program! Get SOLIDWORKS with online training, certification, co-marketing opportunities (participation in events, promotion on social media and email campaigns), design guidance and access to knowledge resources (white papers, videos etc.).
For the philosophers again, here’s news! In the second half of 2021, SOLIDWORKS launched 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers. Giving you access to cloud-based 3D design tools including 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS Professional, 3D Creator, and 3D Sculptor for less than a couple hundred dollars a year. Click here to apply.
If you’re a bit old-school like us, and you’d like to actually own the thing you’re buying – then a perpetual licence is for you! SOLIDWORKS Standard will cost less than $10,000, but in order to receive annual updates and maintenance, you will have to pay a yearly maintenance fee. So, it is very much like renting anyway, except for the fact that even if you stop paying the annual fee, you will still own the licence which never expires – hence the name.
HOWEVER, now here’s the kicker, if you did not renew and want to go back onto maintenence to receive new updates, reactivate Visualize, etc., you will have to pay a BACKDATING fee for every month you were unsubscribed.
This is a licence intended for a single user. Once installed, it can only be used by one user on one computer. You can move the licence to a different machine by utilising the activate/deactivate mechanism. Once the licence is activated you do not need access to the internet. For details on how this works, check out our guide.
The Floating licence (SNL) can be used by multiple users, but not at the same time. It can only be used if nobody else is using it at the time you access it. These licences are used by the business where there are several ad-hoc SOLIDWORKS users as it is often the most cost-effective solution (You could also check out SOLIDWORKS Connected as an alternative floating method).
If you would prefer to rent, you can go for the Term licence, in 3 and 12-month periods. This is a great option if you’re just getting started or you’re unsure if you’ll need it long-term.
There are a lot of different types of packages, with prices ranging from low hundreds to mid-thousands for 12-month rentals, depending on the type of software.
Each has its pros and cons, if we look at the bare costs of the licences without any add-ons, then it’s only cost-effective to buy a Perpetual licence if you plan to own it for over 5 years. This is unless you are happy to never receive any updates, which will quickly cause problems due to software compatibility issues and lack of technical support – we’re talking about all related software, not just SOLIDWORKS (eg. Operating system).
For a detailed overview just visit our comparison page!
SOLIDWORKS Standard is designed for the casual user who needs the core capabilities of drawings and part assemblies, including sheet metal, surfacing, weldments and mold tools, and it also includes 3D Interconnect to enable the user to incorporate CAD files from other systems into their design without translation.
SOLIDWORKS Professional includes everything that SOLIDWORKS Standard features, but adds in several features intended to boost productivity for the everyday user who needs to get through their work faster and more efficiently.
SOLIDWORKS Premium includes everything that SOLIDWORKS Professional has to offer, but adds in basic simulation capabilities, piping and routing.
In addition to their heavy-duty software, there are a handful of free tools available on the website that interface with their main CAD packages.
eDrawings viewer is a free tool for opening and viewing SOLIDWORKS drawings, this is ideal if you want to review a file but don’t have access to SOLIDWORKS. It can be downloaded for free HERE.
In Conclusion
SOLIDWORKS is a very powerful CAD package that can be customised to suit your specific requirements. Whether you just create 3D models, or you need to design a product from concept to manufacturing, SOLIDWORKS will have what you need. This SOLIDWORKS price guide can be used as a baseline to understand the market rate for all different packages and offerings. Contact us for more accurate pricing or just fill out the form below!
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Central Innovation Pty Ltd has acquired the SOLIDWORKS & 3DEXPERIENCE assets of Cadspace Pty Ltd Steve Thomas (left) from Cadspace and Mike Russell from Central Innovation
How much is SOLIDWORKS in Australia? Ah yes, the million-dollar question, “How much is SOLIDWORKS?” Well, unfortunately, there’s no exact answer… But before we get into
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