Why I use Onshape
You may know Fusion 360 or SolidWorks by name. Onshape is in the same class: professional 3D CAD used by engineering companies to design real products. Here's what that means for your job.
What it is
Onshape is professional, cloud-based parametric CAD. It was started in 2012 by Jon Hirschtick, who founded SolidWorks, together with other members of the original SolidWorks team. Since 2019 it has been owned by PTC, the engineering software company behind Creo and Windchill.
Who uses it
Engineering and manufacturing companies use Onshape for production design work, including Trek Bicycle, Formlabs, BOA Technology, and CNC toolholder maker Command Tooling Systems. See Onshape's customer case studies.
Files any shop can open
Onshape exports standard, neutral formats, so you're never locked into Onshape:
- STEP, IGES, and Parasolid for 3D models: neutral formats that other CAD and CAM programs, including Fusion 360, can open
- STL and 3MF for 3D printing
- PDF, DXF, and DWG for drawings, and DXF flat patterns for laser and punch work
Full list: Onshape supported file formats.
Nothing gets lost
Onshape records every change automatically, with a full history of who changed what and when. I can mark named versions at each delivery and return to any earlier point if you want to go back to a previous revision.
See your model in a browser
I can send you a view-only link to your model and drawings. It opens in an ordinary web browser, with no software to install and no Onshape account needed. You can turn it, zoom in, and look at the drawings, and I can switch the link off whenever you want.
Fully parametric
Like Fusion 360 and SolidWorks, Onshape models are built from sketches, features, and dimensions. Changing a dimension later updates the part and the drawings made from it, instead of starting over.
How does it compare to Fusion 360?
Fusion 360 (now called Autodesk Fusion) is a strong program, and it's a fair comparison. Both are professional parametric CAD with assemblies, sheet metal, drawings, and cloud-based version control. The main differences:
| Onshape | Autodesk Fusion | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | PTC (makers of Creo), started by the SolidWorks founder | Autodesk |
| How it runs | In a web browser, nothing to install | Desktop app for Windows and macOS, with designs stored in Autodesk's cloud |
| Version history | Every change recorded automatically | Cloud version control |
| Machining (CAM) | Built-in CAM Studio, included with Professional and Enterprise plans: 2.5- and 3-axis milling toolpaths, including adaptive roughing, plus machine simulation. A CAM Studio Advanced add-on for 4-axis, 3+2, 5-axis, and turning is listed as coming soon. | Built-in CAM with 2.5- and 3-axis milling, 3+2 positional milling, 2-axis turning, and turn-mill. Simultaneous 4- and 5-axis milling needs the paid Manufacturing Extension. |
| Electronics (PCB) | PCB Studio, which brings circuit boards in from electronics design software (Altium, Cadence, Siemens, Eagle, and others), with a live two-way link to Altium 365. It handles board shape (including rigid-flex boards), mounting holes, and component placement. The circuit itself is still designed in the electronics program. | Schematic capture and PCB layout with trace routing, built into the same program |
| Generative design | Not built in. Optimized shapes can be made in outside tools and brought back in as mesh. | Available in the Fusion for Design tier |
Where Fusion is still ahead: turning and multi-axis machining are available in Fusion today, it can design the circuit itself (schematic and trace routing), and it offers generative design. Onshape covers machining with CAM Studio and connects to electronics design software, but the electronic design itself happens in that other program. None of those differences change the modeling, drawings, and print files I deliver.
What matters for you: the files you receive are the same either way. A STEP file from Onshape opens in Fusion 360 just like one made in Fusion. If your shop uses Fusion, SolidWorks, or something else, tell me and I'll send the format that fits.
One honest limit: a STEP file carries the finished shape, not the feature-by-feature history behind it. That's true for every CAD program, Fusion included. If you need to keep editing the model in your own software, say so in your quote request and we'll plan for it.
Learn more at onshape.com Request a quote
Onshape, Creo, and Windchill are trademarks of PTC Inc. Fusion is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc. SolidWorks is a trademark of Dassault Systèmes. Gearhed Design & Fabrication isn't affiliated with any of them.