Autodesk offers a 30-day free trial of Fusion 360’s full version with no functional restrictions whatsoever. However, do keep in mind that the free trial is for non-commercial evaluation purposes only, according to Autodesk’s terms of use, so you couldn’t use it for work on an actual client project.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to access the full version of Fusion 360 free for 30 days:

1. Visit the Fusion 360 free trial page.
2. Click “Download free trial”.
3. Select “Fusion 360 free trial” then, click “Next”.
4. Sign in to your existing Autodesk account or create a new one.
5. Fill out the “Company Info” fields and click “Next”.
6. Click “Access”.
7. Fusion 360 will download automatically, and your trial will begin upon running the installer.

The free trial version of Fusion 360 is a great way to assess the software and decide if it’s right for you. However, it’s not great as a place to start learning CAD. Being a high-end software, and one that’s rather expensive, a 30-day window just isn’t enough to effectively learn Fusion 360 and make the full software worthwhile. And it’s not really supposed to be.

If you’re new to CAD software and are looking for a place to start, check out the free Fusion 360 alternatives at the bottom of this article. Or, if you’re not planning to use the software for commercial purposes, check out how to get Fusion 360 for personal use below, which is free and not limited to 30 days.

The one and only way to access a full and unrestricted version of Fusion 360 for free is to be a student or educator. Those eligible can apply for Autodesk’s educational license and get a free year of Autodesk software, including Fusion 360.

The Autodesk educational license is available to help students and educators access the learning tools they need without the prohibitive costs typically associated with the software. For Autodesk, the offering has the added benefit of ensuring new grads are familiar with its software thereby encouraging companies to use it.

Though educational licenses are available for a period of just one year, users can reapply annually to confirm their continued association with a qualifying institution.

To access Fusion 360’s free educational license, simply follow these steps:

1. Visit the Autodesk Education Community.
2. Choose Fusion 360 from the list of software.
3. Sign in to your existing Autodesk account or create a new one.
4. Fill out your education profile.
   Note: If you can’t find your institution listed, click “Can’t find your school?” and wait for validation, which may take up to seven days.
5. If prompted, submit further documentation and proof of eligibility, such as a student ID or transcript, and wait for validation.
6. Once you receive a confirmation email, click “GET PRODUCTS”
7. You’ll now have access to Autodesk’s education programs.
8. Click “GET AUTODESK SOFTWARE” to download Fusion 360.

Users with an educational license also have access to an additional browser-based version of Fusion 360. Using this version allows students and educators to use Fusion 360 on computers as limited as a Chromebook. The features are slightly more limited, and it requires internet access, but gives an additional option to those without a higher-spec computer to run the software locally.

It’s worth noting that institutions can also apply for “class/lab” licenses to apply to specific machines or to an institution’s network. The process is very similar to the one listed above and can be started from the same Autodesk Education Community webpage.

If the days of education are far behind you, not all hope is lost. If you’re a non-professional (someone who earns less than $1,000 in annual revenue) and only planning on using Fusion 360 for personal projects, you can still obtain a free license. However, you’ll be strictly limited to non-commercial purposes and you won’t have access to the full version or all of the extensions. Free Fusion 360 for personal use has limited CAM functionality, only single user data management, limited electronics and PCB design functionality, limited 2D documentation and drawings, forum support only, and limited import/export file types.

To download Fusion 360 for Personal Use:

1. Navigate to the dedicated “Fusion 360 for personal use” page on Autodesk’s website.
2. Click “Get Started” under the personal & hobby use license.
3. Sign in to your existing Autodesk account or create a new one.
4. Fill out the required personal information and click “Next”.
5. Click “Download Now” and install Fusion 360.
6. Once you’ve installed Fusion 360, log in to activate your license.

The personal license grants access one year at a time and you will not have access to the cloud features.

This license is for those of us who wish to use Fusion 360 around the workshop and in our various hobbies. Although you won’t have quite all the high-end features and rendering options, designing for 3D printing and basic CNC work will still work just fine.

If you’re running a small startup, you may be eligible for a three-year Fusion 360 license for $150. This is a full, commercial-use version of Fusion 360 intended to help small businesses get off the ground (so you can later afford the full version).

To access this license, you need to submit an application on Autodesk’s website. Autodesk has tightened qualifications for this license over the years, which limits its applicability, but it’s still a great deal.

Eligible startups must design or manufacture physical products (not digital models or virtual environments) and be venture funded, angel-backed, or bootstrapped, with a valid company website and company email address.

You must be willing to share your company story with the Fusion 360 community to qualify. The license will be valid for three-years, after which you can not re-apply or renew. The program is not offered to all companies or in all countries and availability may vary.

Fusion 360 is one of the most used computer-aided-design programs in the world. Its name comes from the software’s ability to allow users to go through much of the design pipeline without ever needing to switch programs. It was first launched in 2013 and became an almost instant hit. Fusion 360 has only grown in popularity since.

Its popularity derives from the accessible price, flexible options, and versatile applications. It’s being constantly updated with new features and the program can be used for 3D modeling, generative design, failure mode simulation, electrical circuits, manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and motion animation.

With so many capabilities, Fusion 360 can be a bit daunting and overwhelming to a beginner. It has a multi-component part system that combines parametric, direct, and mesh modeling tools. It’s also cloud-based, promoting collaboration for remote teams.

Fusion 360 offers easy-to-use simulation packages, perhaps more useful in the early stages of design to better understand how parts would behave under certain conditions. It’s simpler than what SolidWorks provides, allowing non-technical designers to take advantage of such features, but as a result, it lacks the more advanced analysis tools.

Unlike other professional solid-body 3D modeling software, this CAD program is considered strong in usability. Still, Fusion 360 covers the whole process of planning, testing, and executing a CAD design.

The software has powerful parametric and analytic mesh tools that are well-suited to most challenges in industrial design. Moreover, it is able to simulate both the construction of components and the stresses they will face once put to use.

There are plenty of reasons people choose Fusion 360 over other available CAD options, but here are a few features that we think push people it’s way:

Live Review

Autodesk software is often set apart by its sophisticated collaboration and presentation features, and Fusion 360 is no exception. Live review allows engineers or designers to present their work to stakeholders or project participants who are not physically present. It is as simple as sharing a link that the reviewers paste into their browser to inspect a textured 3D model.

As long as you possess presenter controls, your reviewers will see as you pan around the design, zoom, and so forth. You can also give control to one of the users, who can then use the Fusion 360 tools in the comfort of their browser.

Sculpting

In addition to common engineering modeling tools like solid and surface modeling, Fusion 360 also offers freeform modeling: a way to quickly and easily sculpt design iterations via T-splines. With simple push-pull gestures, vertices, faces, or edges can be manipulated to find the ideal shape between aesthetics and function. This is especially intriguing for concept and industrial designers, as they can design products directly in Fusion 360 rather than a more exclusively design-oriented program. This enables a seamless production workflow within a single, unified platform to avoid translation issues between different software applications at various stages in product development.

PCB Design

Also rather unique to CAD/CAM software is Fusion 360’s electronics design function, Autodesk EAGLE. Keeping in mind that Fusion 360 users are not designing architecture or electronics exclusively but complete products, this capability once again provides users with a more streamlined and collaborative design and manufacturing environment.

Fusion 360 includes some electronic libraries and provides access to thousands of electronic components including schematics, footprints, and 3D models via Ultra Librarian.

Cloud Features

Fusion 360 includes a number of cloud features like simple file sharing between devices and robust collaboration features that help streamline your work between multiple devices and within your project team. They allow detailed project oversight in collaborative environments with features like version control that detail what’s changed and who changed it whenever a design is worked on, allowing you to easily backtrack if something goes wrong.

Perhaps most notable of Fusion 360’s cloud features are cloud rendering, analysis, simulation, and generative design. These allows users to run these intensive processes without the limitations of their local software. That means you’re able to render and run simulations even on lower spec hardware, or just keep your local system’s resources free for other important tasks while Autodesk’s cloud servers handle the heavy lifting. Though, cloud processing is an extended function that will cost you Flex, the company’s pay-as-you-go currency, to take advantage of.

New Features in Fusion 360 – Sept. 2023 Update

The latest update to Fusion 360 introduced a trove of fixes and new features including in generative design, drawing, simulation and usability.

First, let take a quick look at generative design. In this update, Autodesk added a new level of robustness to its solver in the Structural Component study to help handle geometry separations. Geometry separations were common in setups that had multiple loads in a single load case that greatly varied in magnitude, had preserve bodies with no loads or constraints applied, or had constrained preserves that were not actually needed for the overall performance of the part. Results often looked incomplete with minimal material removed due to the solver stopping early. The robustness improvements in this update will help keep the design space connected and allow the solver to iterate further, ultimately giving you a better result.

There’s also notable improvement in a design feature called Configurations. Configurations lets you reuse parametric logic to create variations of a design. You might use Configurations to author a family of parts in a product line, define different material and appearance options, create complex variant assemblies, or represent stages in your manufacturing workflow.

Below are the recommended specifications to run Fusion 360:

OS: Mac & Wondows

• MacOS Sonoma – Official support coming soon
• MacOS 13 Ventura – (Version 2.0.15289 or newer)
• MacOS 12 Monterey
• MacOS 11 Big Sur – Until March 2024 (Learn more)
• Windows 10 (64-bit) Version 1809 or newer

CPU

• x86-based 64-bit processor (for example, Intel Core i, AMD Ryzen series), 4 cores, 1.7 GHz or greater; 32-bit not supported
• Apple silicon processors require Rosetta 2

RAM

• 4 GB of RAM (integrated graphics recommend 6 GB or more)

Graphics Card

• DirectX11 (Direct3D 10.1 or greater)
• Dedicated GPU with 1 GB or more of VRAM
• Integrated graphics with 6 GB or more of RAM

Disk Space

• 3GB or higher

Fusion 360 cannot be directly installed on Linux. The full hardware requirements can be viewed on the Autodesk website.

Autodesk also offers a Flex plan for occasional Fusion users where a bulk of “tokens” are purchased at once and used to access the software per day. The value is far from as good as even a monthly subscription for regular use but can be handy in the right situation. One benefit of the program is that the tokens can be used for a variety of Autodesk software, so they are practical if you need to use a variety of Autodesk software but just occasionally for a day or two at a time.

Autodesk’s going rate is $300 per 100 tokens, and Fusion 360 costs 2 tokens per day for access, which equates to 6$/day.

Designed around parametric modeling, FreeCAD is a solid choice for free CAD software. It’s made to design real-life objects of any size, not limited to either products or architecture. Its parametric modeling capability allows you to easily modify your 3D design by going back into your model history and changing its dimensions.

Being an open-source program, its feature set is oriented towards the community. Be prepared, FreeCAD can be a bit overwhelming at first. But if you make an effort to dig deeper into the free CAD software, you will be rewarded with an awesome set of features.

The FreeCAD software offers a modular architecture that allows plugins to be mounted to the core application. It also offers a Sketcher with constraint-solver, allowing you to sketch 2D shapes; a robot simulation to study robot movements, and a Path module dedicated to mechanical machining like milling (CAM), and can output, display, and adjust G-code. One of the most impressive modules in this free CAD software is the architecture bench that enables BIM (building information design). This feature allows you to design models of buildings that contain important metadata like the cost of materials, weight, and much more.

In sum, if you are looking for a free Fusion 360 alternative, it doesn’t get much better than FreeCAD!

Onshape is an extremely powerful cloud-based CAD software favored by many enterprise organizations. The software is aimed at professional users who need version control and collaboration tools to work in large teams.

In terms of design capabilities, Onshape is at least on par with locally installed programs like Fusion 360, with a robust toolset for parametric design including full model history and processor-intensive capabilities like rendering, simulation, and animation.

Like Autodesk’s Fusion 360, Onshape isn’t exactly a free CAD software (at least not for commercial purposes) but does offer a hobbyist license, on the condition that any design created becomes public under Onshape’s license.

Luckily, Onshape is an excellent tool for community-developed projects, with first-class collaboration and branching capabilities. It can easily feel like the GitHub of product design. If you were planning to make your models open source anyways, it is an excellent option.

Because of its robust capabilities comparable to the most popular locally-installed professional CAD software, you’re not likely to find Onshape any easier to use as a beginner than Fusion 360. So, if you’re not keen to share your models, scroll back up to Fusion 360’s free personal license and start there.

Vectary is a freemium browser-based CAD software that offers an innovative UI and unique approach to collaboration, making it well worth a look as a Fusion 360 alternative.

Vectary includes parametric modeling, allowing for quick adaptions of the mesh using sliders and selections — the same functionality typically found in professional engineering suites like Fusion 360. But, this doesn’t make Vectary an engineering program for the web, since the program doesn’t rely on precise measurements. Instead, designs are created in a 3D viewport using subdivision modeling and then transformed using various tools. This makes it better equipped for the needs of designers than anything approaching production.

Although the range of features is amazing for free CAD software that runs in the browser, this comes at a price. Don’t underestimate how much memory this free CAD software takes up, you’ll need a decent bit of RAM to run it smoothly. Vectary’s free plan includes 25 private projects, which can be exported exclusively in STL and OBJ formats. To unlock more projects, features, and formats, you will need to purchase the Premium plan, available for $12/month.