nTop vs SmartDO
nTop
ntop.comSmartDO
smartdo.coSide by side
| Figure | nTop | SmartDO |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 0 |
| Spec score · Generative Design Software | 7.9 (#8) | 6.9 (#17) |
| Company | nTop says it was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in New York City. | The maker identifies FEA-Opt Technology Co. Ltd. as SmartDO’s developer and describes it as an R&D, consultancy, CAE, and software firm. |
| Founded | 2015 | 2005 |
| Headquarters | New York City, United States | Zhunan Town, Miaoli County, Taiwan |
| Support | nTop Support offers guides, troubleshooting, a knowledge base, and support requests, including a request path for ITAR support. | The SmartDO technical support ticket system is available only to existing customers, who are directed to contact FEA-Opt Technology or a local distributor for an account. |
Plans
In their own words
nTop
nTop is an engineering design platform for generating parametric geometry and exploring design variants. Its implicit modeling represents geometry mathematically, helping models remain stable through substantial parameter changes. Design logic can run across thousands of variants on desktop or distributed cloud compute, while GPU compute and machine learning are described as ways to shorten simulation feedback cycles. The platform supports assembly and surface modeling and imports CAD, mesh, CAE, and other formats, including STEP, Parasolid, CATIA V5, Creo, SolidWorks, STL, OBJ, Abaqus, and ANSYS; listed exports include STEP, Parasolid, STL, and 3MF. The interactive desktop application supports 64-bit Windows 11 Enterprise, Professional, and Education editions; nTop Automate also supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.9. The system requirements specify at least 64 GB RAM and an NVIDIA GPU with Volta architecture or newer and 8 GB VRAM. Commercial pricing is on request. Students, educators, and academic researchers can apply for a free non-commercial education version.
SmartDO
SmartDO is a multidisciplinary, multiphysics platform for automatic engineering design optimization. Its Direct Global Search can begin an optimization after setup with one button, without a design of experiments or manual sensitivity study. The maker describes S.A.F.E.D. and SmartLearning as features that can bypass failed CAD or CAE runs and use earlier calculations to reduce computational cost. APO supports synchronous multi-objective optimization without user weighting. SmartDO uses Tcl/Tk and Python, allowing add-ons, GUIs, graphics, and plotting tools. SmartLink connects the platform with CAE packages, while OpenXim links commercial or open-source CAD with simulation software. Named examples include ANSYS Workbench, FreeCAD, SOLIDWORKS, NX, PrePoMax, and CalculiX. The software page reports successful use with more than 240 design variables and 132 constraints. FEA-Opt Technology develops SmartDO and offers consulting and integration services. Pricing is available on request.