CAD Viewer vs ShareCAD

CAD Viewer is a free, open-source browser WebGL runtime for viewing and editing DWG and DXF drawings. It displays model space, layouts, layers, blocks, and external references. Write mode supports creating, editing, and deleting drawing entities with AutoCAD-style commands. Review tools place arrows, text, clouds, rectangles, circles, and callouts over a read-only drawing background. Measurement tools cover distance, area, angle, and arc length, with results exportable as a JSON sidecar file. The product can export a self-contained HTML viewer for offline use with pan, zoom, layers, and distance measurement; exports can be password- and expiry-protected. Full-viewer examples include HTML and PDF export, while the simple viewer offers lazy-loaded HTML, PDF, and SVG plugins. Parsing and rendering occur on the client, and drawings are not uploaded, cached, or mirrored to a server. It can be embedded through iframe or npm, and a Google Drive integration opens drawings from Drive. The responsive interface supports phones, tablets, and desktops, with touch operations documented for mobile. Read-only mode disables markup, drawing, and modification commands.

ShareCAD is a cloud platform for storing, sharing, and viewing CAD and BIM files. It renders supported technical files in a browser, so recipients can view shared links without CAD software or an account. Supported formats include DWG, DXF, Revit, IFC, DGN, STEP, IGES, STL, SolidWorks, Navisworks, and PDF. The product supports viewing and sharing, but not creating or editing files.

Sharing options include link expiration, passwords, single-recipient email restrictions, and controls that prevent downloads. Project workspaces, folder sharing, and file request links help organize and collect files. Autodesk Platform Services processes supported formats for browser viewing; subscriptions include Autodesk conversions subject to a monthly limit. The free browser viewer allows files up to 50 MB. Standard costs $49 a month for two users, Team costs $149 a month for 10 users and 3 TB of storage, and Enterprise starts at $2,890 a year. ShareCAD states that files are stored in AWS in the United States (Ohio), connections use HTTPS, and files are encrypted at rest with AES-256.