{"slug": "astocad", "name": "AstoCAD", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.718, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-19", "latest": "2026-03-31", "why": "the overhauled UI makes it a lot nicer to use than stock freecad", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "the overhauled UI makes it a lot nicer to use than stock freecad", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": "astocad.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://astocad.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["AstoCAD", "astocad"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 748866736, "item_id": 46804171, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46804171", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "is quite more user friendly too, compared to the vanilla experience", "excerpt": "FreeCAD via AstoCAD (https://www.astocad.com/ - 4\u20ac/month) is quite more user friendly too, compared to the vanilla experience, for those who want to do CAD sometimes and forget things between uses. It's made by FreeCAD contributors who push things upstream too.", "context": "", "use_case": "occasional CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "3D-Printed Mathematical Lampshades"}, {"id": 738891104, "item_id": 46180694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46180694", "by": "inhumantsar", "date": "2025-12-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the overhauled UI makes it a lot nicer to use than stock freecad", "excerpt": "been using this for a while now. the dev has been doing great work up streaming fixes and the overhauled UI makes it a lot nicer to use than stock freecad", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "FreeCAD", "story": "AstoCAD \u2013 Polished, paid \"soft-fork\" of FreeCAD with upstream contributions"}, {"id": 735680784, "item_id": 45980049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980049", "by": "nirvdrum", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "AstoCAD[1] might be another option for you.", "excerpt": "Have you tried since the 1.0 release? There were quite a few improvements that were locked behind weekly builds for a long time. AstoCAD[1] might be another option for you. It's basically FreeCAD with a streamlined UI. [1] -- https://www.astocad.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["occasional cad modeling", "cad"], "compared": [{"slug": "freecad", "name": "FreeCAD", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47586614", "title": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47047010", "title": "FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46744272", "title": "3D-Printed Mathematical Lampshades", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46178735", "title": "AstoCAD \u2013 Polished, paid \"soft-fork\" of FreeCAD with upstream contributions", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45972519", "title": "Blender 5.0", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 761523520, "item_id": 47595220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47595220", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-03-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "There's also a soft-fork which some folks are funding", "excerpt": "The new 1.1 update seems markedly easier to use. There's also a soft-fork which some folks are funding: https://www.astocad.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open source CAD in the browser (Solvespace)"}, {"id": 753388149, "item_id": 47086759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47086759", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "one of the devs from Ondsel has done a soft-fork", "excerpt": "I've crashed and burned in FreeCAD each time I've tried it (to be fair, that's happened in every other traditional 3D CAD program I've tried except Dune 3D) --- hoping that someone will update: https://magazine.raspberrypi.com/books/freecad for the new UI --- any word on that? (Just an annotated copy would be great) Apparently, one of the devs from Ondsel has done a soft-fork and is stumping for funding: https://www.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler"}, {"id": 748866736, "item_id": 46804171, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46804171", "by": "embedding-shape", "date": "2026-01-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "is quite more user friendly too, compared to the vanilla experience", "excerpt": "FreeCAD via AstoCAD (https://www.astocad.com/ - 4\u20ac/month) is quite more user friendly too, compared to the vanilla experience, for those who want to do CAD sometimes and forget things between uses. It's made by FreeCAD contributors who push things upstream too.", "context": "", "use_case": "occasional CAD modeling", "switched_from": "", "story": "3D-Printed Mathematical Lampshades"}, {"id": 738891104, "item_id": 46180694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46180694", "by": "inhumantsar", "date": "2025-12-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the overhauled UI makes it a lot nicer to use than stock freecad", "excerpt": "been using this for a while now. the dev has been doing great work up streaming fixes and the overhauled UI makes it a lot nicer to use than stock freecad", "context": "", "use_case": "CAD", "switched_from": "FreeCAD", "story": "AstoCAD \u2013 Polished, paid \"soft-fork\" of FreeCAD with upstream contributions"}, {"id": 735680784, "item_id": 45980049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45980049", "by": "nirvdrum", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "AstoCAD[1] might be another option for you.", "excerpt": "Have you tried since the 1.0 release? There were quite a few improvements that were locked behind weekly builds for a long time. AstoCAD[1] might be another option for you. It's basically FreeCAD with a streamlined UI. [1] -- https://www.astocad.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Blender 5.0"}]}