A free AutoCAD alternative that runs in the browser

AutoCAD is a deep, mature program and a browser tool is not going to replace it for everything. Here is an honest account of what TrimCAD does well, and where it does not.

What TrimCAD is good at

• Opening drawings you did not create — DXF and DWG — and finding out what is in them.
• 2D drafting in the familiar idiom: the command line, layers, object snaps, dimensions, hatches, blocks.
• Working offline, on a machine where you cannot install anything.
• Sending a drawing back as DXF that AutoCAD opens without complaint.

What it is not

• Not 3D modelling, and not a rendering package.
• Not a replacement for AutoCAD's third-party ecosystem or its industry-specific toolsets.
• Not a way to work on drawings the size of a shopping centre — it is aimed at ordinary architectural and mechanical sheets.

How to decide in five minutes

Take one drawing you actually care about — the messiest one you have — open it, and check three things: do the fills appear, does the text land inside its boxes, and does the title block read correctly. Those three catch almost every difference between a real CAD tool and a viewer wearing a CAD icon.

TrimCAD is free and open source. It runs entirely in your browser: your drawings are not uploaded anywhere, and it keeps working with no connection at all. Open the app · Source on GitHub