alt Hacker NewsI find SOLIDWORKS for Makers [1] a great middle ground between bait-and-switch "free" Fusion and the real, very expensive, deal. SW is one of industry standards, its interface is much better than FreeCAD's, and it's more powerful than both FreeCAD and Fusion. For example, both FreeCAD and Fusion struggle with G2/G3 smoothness [2] where SW doesn't even blink. Fusion doesn't allow to pattern features on sketch points (it's gated behind an expensive add-on [3]) when it's a built-in feature in SW.
[1]: https://www.solidworks.com/solution/solidworks-makers
[2]: https://www.printables.com/model/1490911-g0-g3-corners-visua...
[3]: https://www.autodesk.com/uk/products/fusion-360/design-exten...
Subscription-based, cloud-based. That's two strikes.
It sounds like Solidworks is better for someone who is always using it—I maybe use a 3D CAD tool two or three weeks out of the year. Rent-anxiety (paying for it but not using it) keeps me from subscription apps.