Choosing CAD Software: Onshape, SolidWorks, Fusion, Inventor
The four main options
Section titled “The four main options”FRC teams almost always use one of four professional CAD packages. All four are capable of designing a championship robot; the differences are about cost, accessibility, and collaboration.
Onshape (the FRC default)
Section titled “Onshape (the FRC default)”Onshape is fully cloud-native — it runs entirely in a web browser with nothing to install. It works on Windows, Mac, Chromebooks, tablets, and phones, which matters when your team has a cart of school Chromebooks. Onshape offers FRC and FTC teams a free Educator plan that includes real-time collaboration, branching and merging, Follow Mode, the official FRC Field Model documents, COTS parts libraries, custom FeatureScripts, and Onshape Simulation for structural analysis. (CAM Studio, Onshape’s CNC toolpath/manufacturing tool, was historically Education Enterprise-only, but since late 2025 FRC teams can add it to their free Educator plan at no cost — a Lead Coach submits a verification code from the FIRST Dashboard to unlock it for the whole team.) Because the document lives in the cloud, multiple students can edit the same robot at the same time and the full edit history is saved automatically. This combination of free, cross-platform, and collaborative is why Onshape has become the dominant choice in FRC and the focus of this guide.
SolidWorks
Section titled “SolidWorks”SolidWorks (by Dassault Systèmes) is a long-established, powerful desktop CAD package widely used in industry. FRC teams can often get sponsored licenses through FIRST. It is Windows-only, requires a capable PC, and stores files locally, so teams need a file-management plan (and a way to avoid two people editing the same file). Many veteran mentors with industry experience prefer it.
Autodesk Fusion
Section titled “Autodesk Fusion”Autodesk Fusion (formerly Fusion 360) is Autodesk’s cloud-connected desktop CAD/CAM tool. It has strong integrated CAM (toolpaths for CNC) and is free for students and educators. It runs on Windows and Mac.
Autodesk Inventor
Section titled “Autodesk Inventor”Inventor is Autodesk’s traditional parametric desktop CAD, strong for large assemblies, free for students/educators, and Windows-only.
How to choose
Section titled “How to choose”| Factor | Onshape | SolidWorks | Fusion | Inventor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost for FRC | Free (Educator plan) | Often sponsored | Free for students | Free for students |
| Install | None (browser) | Desktop, Windows | Desktop, Win/Mac | Desktop, Windows |
| Devices | Any (incl. Chromebook) | Capable Windows PC | Win/Mac | Capable Windows PC |
| Real-time multi-user | Yes (native) | No | Limited | No |
| FRC community resources | Largest | Large | Growing | Moderate |
The practical recommendation
Section titled “The practical recommendation”For a new team, or any team without dedicated Windows machines, start with Onshape. The free plan, browser access, live collaboration, and enormous FRC-specific resource ecosystem — led by FRCDesign.org and its FRCDesignLib COTS parts library (the current community-standard parts library, which has superseded the older MKCad) — give beginners the fastest path to a buildable robot. Teams with deep SolidWorks mentorship and the hardware to run it may reasonably stick with it. Whatever you pick, pick one and standardize the whole team on it.
Key takeaways
Section titled “Key takeaways”- Onshape, SolidWorks, Autodesk Fusion, and Inventor are the four CAD packages FRC teams use; all can design a competitive robot
- Onshape is free for FRC teams, runs in any browser (including Chromebooks), and supports real-time multi-user editing — the reasons it dominates FRC
- SolidWorks, Fusion, and Inventor are desktop tools; SolidWorks is often sponsored, Fusion and Inventor are free for students
- Standardize your whole team on one CAD tool to share files, libraries, and skills
This lesson was adapted from learnfrc.com.