BricsCAD 24.2.04-05-1 — Mac version

If you can find your way around AutoCAD, BricsCAD will feel like meeting an old colleague. The shortcut keys, the command line, even custom menus and toolbars you’ve used for years — they all work here. But you’re not locked into one way of working. You get solid 2D drafting and proper 3D modelling in the same app, and the single installer covers everything from the free Shape edition right up to BIM and Ultimate.

Your AutoCAD muscle memory, menus, and LISP routines come straight across

• AutoCAD users who want a familiar drawing environment on a Mac.
• Reusing custom menus, toolbars, scripts and snaps you already rely on.
• Mixed 2D and 3D work without switching between programs.
• Running on older Intel machines or newer Macs via Rosetta 2.

Apple silicon Macs still run it under Rosetta 2 translation

• The Mac build is x86 64-bit, so Apple silicon Macs run it through Rosetta 2.
• Interface languages are limited to English and Russian.
• There’s no native Apple silicon build yet.

Native DWG read/write and AutoLISP support, minus the subscription lock-in

AutoCAD for Mac is the obvious comparison. BricsCAD reads and writes DWG files natively, supports AutoLISP routines, and recognises the same menus and toolbars. The key difference is licensing — but since we're talking about the software itself, what matters day to day is that BricsCAD bundles 2D drafting, 3D direct modelling, sheet metal tools and BIM features into a single install. AutoCAD splits most of those into separate toolkits.

Next to Fusion 360, BricsCAD takes a different road. Fusion is cloud-first, parametric, and aimed at product design teams sharing one workspace. BricsCAD stays on your hard drive. It feels more like a drafting table upgrade than a collaboration hub, which suits people who just want to draw without an internet connection nagging them. Fusion's free tier works for hobbyists, but BricsCAD's Shape edition gives you solid modelling basics with no cloud strings attached.

Then there's LibreCAD, the open-source 2D option. It's lightweight and runs on practically anything, but it stops at 2D. If you ever need to extrude a floor plan into walls or turn a bracket sketch into a 3D part, LibreCAD can't follow you there. BricsCAD gives you that room to grow, even if you start with the free Shape tools. And LibreCAD won't open your old AutoCAD menus or scripts — BricsCAD will.

From laptop to site visit: one architect's afternoon

Imagine an architect prepping for a small extension job. They pull up the existing floor plan on a 2017 MacBook Pro running Monterey, fire up BricsCAD, and load the DWG the client sent over. The custom shortcut toolbar they built years ago in AutoCAD pops up exactly where they left it. They trace over the old walls, drop in new window blocks, and switch to the 3D workspace to check sightlines from the kitchen. No export, no import — same file, same app. The model spins smoothly under Rosetta 2, and when the builder texts asking for a height measurement, the distance snap gives it in seconds. They send a quick PDF and head out the door. One program, one file format, no fuss.

AutoCAD refugees who think in command lines and scripted workflows

AutoCAD refugees on Mac. If you already think in command-line shortcuts and have a folder full of LISP routines, BricsCAD fits like a broken-in pair of boots. Your old customisations carry over, so you're not rebuilding your workflow from scratch.

Surveyors and civil drafters working with large 2D site plans appreciate that the snap and precision tools behave exactly as expected. There's no retraining muscle memory. And the perpetual DWG compatibility means collaborators on Windows won't even know you're on a Mac.

Small-practice architects and structural engineers who dip into 3D occasionally, but not enough to justify a separate modeller, benefit from having BIM and solid modelling under the same roof. You can detail a steel connection in 3D for one job, then go back to pure 2D sections for the next, all in the same program.

Tinkerers and repair-café types — the kind of folk who measure a broken bracket, sketch it in 2D, extrude a replacement in 3D, and print it — will find the Shape tools more than enough to get started. And if you ever need the full Pro or Mechanical toolkit, it's already sitting in the installer, ready to activate.

• macOS 10.15 or later
• Intel processor (or Apple silicon with Rosetta 2)
• x86 64-bit build