FeenoX vs OpenFOAM
FeenoX
seamplex.com
OpenFOAM
openfoam.comSide by side
| Figure | FeenoX | OpenFOAM |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Physics Simulation Software | 8.8 (#3) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Data export | Yes | Yes |
| Delivery mode | desktop | desktop |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| License | FeenoX is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 or any later version, with freedom to use, modify and redistribute it under the license terms. | OpenFOAM is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL). |
| Purpose | FeenoX is a cloud-first computational engineering tool for solving engineering problems with one or many computers in parallel. | OpenFOAM is an open-source computational fluid dynamics toolbox for simulating fluid flow, heat transfer, and related physical processes. |
| Support | The project directs users to GitHub Discussions for help and GitHub Issues for bug reporting. | OpenCFD offers a one-year support package covering installation, bug fixes, updates, CFD assistance, and code customisation, with a maximum number of service hours per year. |
| 3D visuals | Yes | Yes |
Plans
In their own words
FeenoX
FeenoX is free, open-source computational engineering software for solving mathematical and engineering problems, including work across computers in parallel. It handles ODEs and DAEs, along with finite-element problems such as heat conduction, thermo-mechanical analysis, modal analysis, neutron diffusion, and neutron transport. Users describe problems in self-descriptive, English-like plain-text input files, so changes do not require recompiling. FeenoX reads Gmsh meshes and writes results in Gmsh MSH or ParaView VTK/VTU formats. It uses GNU GSL, SUNDIALS, PETSc, and SLEPc for computational tasks, and supports MPI parallelization. Installation options include Debian or Ubuntu packages, source tarballs, the GitHub repository, and generic statically linked GNU/Linux binaries. Ubuntu packages are available from version 25.04 onward. The generic binaries omit MUMPS and MPI and use basic optimization flags. FeenoX has no graphical interface, targets GNU/Linux, and is not expected to run in Windows. Browser access is available through interfaces such as SunCAE and CAEplex.
OpenFOAM
OpenFOAM is a free, open-source computational fluid dynamics toolbox for simulating fluid flow, heat transfer, and related physical processes. It provides pre-processing, mesh generation, solvers for different flow and physics problems, and post-processing tools. Built-in utilities include blockMesh and snappyHexMesh, and it can convert meshes from external formats. ParaView visualization is supported through the paraFoam launcher, reader modules, VTK conversion, and VTK output during simulations. OpenFOAM runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and supports self-hosted use. Its current release is v2606, released on 26 June 2026; GPU offloading is available as a compile-time option, with that work on a separate development track. It is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence. OpenCFD offers a one-year support package for installation, fixes, updates, CFD assistance, and code customization, subject to a yearly service-hours maximum. It does not respond to support queries without a prior package. Training courses are also offered, with prices provided through a schedule or enquiry process.