Best architecture & engineering software

With ever increasing demands on our time, new architecture & engineering software applications are emerging to help us manage the day-to-day tasks of running an architecture & engineering firm. Here’s a list of architecture & engineering software curated to help you run a modern and efficient firm.

CAD/BIM

SketchUp + Layout

$20/mo Easy to use 3D software with a 2D layout engine for basic construction drawings.

AutoCAD LT

$55/mo Affordable and fully-featured CAD software that is suited for large, complex projects.

Revit

$212/mo Defacto standard BIM package capable of producing enterprise-level drawing sets.

Client files (FTP)

Box

$5/mo Secure, enterprise-grade file storage and upload. Generates unique links for clients.

Dropbox

$10/mo Robust storage with a friendly, approachable interface. Previews images, pdfs, and more.

Modelo

$70/mo/user Along with storage, has blazing fast 3D (Revit) rendering for collaborating on drawings.

Management

Asana

Free A web and mobile application designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work.

Notion

Free An application that provides components like notes, databases, kanban boards, wikis, and calendars.

Monograph

Offers 2 plans Gain deep performance insights into your A&E business from project planning, scheduling, invoicing, and time tracking.

Communication

Slack

Free Internal communication and chat software. Integrations make this a powerful tool.

Google GSuite

$5/mo/user Business version of GMAIL which includes all the Drive products and user management.

FrontApp

$15/mo/user Manages all communication channels in one spot including email, SMS, voice, and social media.

Graphic Production

Figma + Pixlr

Free Both web based tools give you advanced editing of raster and vector graphics, all for free.

Affinity Designer + Photo

$3/mo/user Award-winning software for visual editing, this product is both affordable and beautiful.

Adobe Creative Cloud

$80/mo/user As an industry standard, Photoshop and family are robust software packages for creative output.

Visualization

Rhino3D

$28/mo A commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design application software.

Enscape

$68/mo A commercial real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin to add on to your visualization platforms.

3DS Max

$142/mo A professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images.

Collaboration

Loom

$8/mo/user A recording tool to help you record and share video messages of your screen, cam, or both.

Miro

$16/mo/user An online visual collaboration platform for teamwork with an engaging, intuitive, in-person experience.

Bluebeam

$349/mo/seat An architect favorite tool that lets you mark up drawings and collaborate among teams.

Website

Houzz

Free While Houzz has a free website product, their real value is the platform for architects.

Squarespace

$18/mo An easy-to-use and beautiful website building and hosting platform.

Custom Wordpress

$150/mo Powering over 20% of the internet, a custom built Wordpress website is both bespoke and stable.

Accounting

Google Sheets

Free For basic accounting, there are several free Google Sheet templates for bookkeeping.

QuickBooks

$20/mo With over 4 million customers, the product was built with small businesses in mind.

Xero

$32/mo While a robust accounting platform, this software also has bill pay, payroll, and more.

Material Specification

Pinterest

Free Create extensive public or private material boards with direct links to manufacturers.

Material Bank

Free Search and order material samples with thousands of manufacturers.

Fohlio

$30/mo/user With an easy to use browser plugin, this product makes material specification a snap.

Construction Admin

PlanGrid

$39/mo Highly-rated, in-the-field app for plans, punchlists, documents, and daily reporting.

BIM360

$249/mo A super powerful Autodesk cloud-based solution with data management and collaboration functionality.

ProCore

$667/mo Collaboration software focusing on documents, contracts, RFIs, and schedules.

Proposals

Google Docs

Free To collaborate on proposals, a simple doc allows text, image and tabular data to show capabilities.

PandaDoc

$19/mo/user Build custom proposals with unique styling, collaborative editing, and advanced analytics.

Nusii

$49/mo With templates and online signatures, this product simplifies the entire proposal process.

Architecture & engineering software

To compare all the options, we simplified the pricing to monthly. For instance Sketchup costs $695 one-time but we amortize the price over 3 years which is $19.30/mo (rounded to $20/mo).

As advocates for software in architecture & engineering, we trial and experiment with a diverse spectrum of applications. If you found a new useful software or want to suggest a new category, feel free to send us a message.