Free alternatives to Inventor

Autodesk's professional 3D mechanical design software. Here are 2 free options, most popular first.

FreeCAD

3D & parametric CAD

Open-source parametric 3D modeller for real-life objects

Stars: ★ 34.5k
Licence: LGPL-2.1+
Updated: yesterday

Alternative to SolidWorks, Fusion 360

Solid Edge Community Edition

3D & parametric CAD

Free edition of Siemens' professional CAD for hobbyists and makers

Licence: Proprietary
Status: Free (proprietary)

Alternative to SolidWorks, Inventor

Check file compatibility before switching. Free tools import STEP, DXF and other neutral formats well, but native SolidWorks, Altium or Revit files, drawing standards and PDM workflows may not carry over cleanly.