# HydroCAD Reviews **Vendor:** HydroCAD **Category:** [Civil Engineering Design Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/civil-engineering-design) **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 13 ## About HydroCAD HydroCAD combines the best of TR-20, TR-55, and SBUH, plus built-in hydraulics, graphics, automatic database, and on-screen routing diagram in a single program. (see comparison table) The result is the fastest, easiest, and most capable stormwater modeling system available. We call it HydroCAD because it brings the benefits of Computer Aided Design to hydrology, while not requiring any other CAD software. However, HydroCAD-10 now offers direct extraction of subarea data directly from AutoCAD®, without any other software. ## HydroCAD Reviews ### 1. Easy to use Storm Water Modeling Software **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Scott H. | Hydrogeologist, Environmental Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2021 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** HydroCAD is simple and easy to use. The screens are easy to navigate and the user guide is helpful. It was also easy to learn to use. What the program lacks in a flashy GUI is more than made up for in the flexibility and usability of the model. There is also an extensive library of constants to be used and pre-fab structures. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** Some of the data input could be simplified if you could cut and paste tables, such as the soil cover screen. **Recommendations to others considering HydroCAD:** I recommend you purchase the printed copy of the user manual. It was helpful to have when learning the software. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used it for storm water/mine discharge routing and also for simplified dam breach analysis. ### 2. HydroCAD is quick and easy but has limited capabilities **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 08, 2021 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** HydroCAD is great for basic calculations for determining runoff peak flows and volumes from a subcatchment or designing ponds. The process of setting up these calculations is very simple. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** HydroCAD has limited capabilities. For example, there is no easy way to size pipes. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** I primarily use HydroCAD for calculating peak flow rates and volumes. You can enter or compute the watershed characteristics in HydroCAD, and the software will do the calculations for you. Because the software does the calculations for you, there is a lower potential for error. ### 3. Peak **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** James H. | Senior Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 26, 2021 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** ease of use and compatible with USDA TR55 methods **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** no dislikes, it is more powerful than 55 **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** stormwater designs ### 4. Makes the job more efficient. Very accurate and a great way to store information. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2020 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** Has a lot of things you can do. Used it for a stormwater detention basin and it did a great job at calculating water flows. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** It was very hard to understand. But maybe if I specialized in hydraulics instead of roads/structures I would understand it more. **Recommendations to others considering HydroCAD:** Makes the calculations and analysis more efficient **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** quantities like flow of entrance, exit and allowed storage, excellent and practical designing tool ### 5. Great experience **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Priyanshu J. | Project Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2020 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** Easy understanding & Easy Oprating for learner, easley can operate with youtube learner. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** Some command Errors & Installation timing. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** Time Saver ### 6. Simple powerful software for stormwater design **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 25, 2019 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** Industry specific storm products are built in making design and cost estimates accurate and seamless. The variables available to modify allow for a variety of situations and designs **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** The user interface and overall appearance of the software is a bit clunky. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** Designing underground detention systems using ADS components. Streamlines the design process and makes the iterative process much easier. ### 7. Best in the Business **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 19, 2019 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** I love how easy and simple it is to visualize and implement changes to designs. It is very straightforward and intuitive. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** I do not like how ugly it is when you print it out. It almost looks like a child drew it up. There are triangles connecting to squares. It would be better if it showed something more accurate to what is happening. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** Orifice design for underground precast detention ponds. It is really easy to model our unique system in the software and the amount of orifice options are excellent for our purposes. ### 8. HydroCAD, Perfect tool for Drainage Network Evaluation. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Edger L. | Project Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2019 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** -Excellent software for stormwater designing and analyzing. Its also very useful in calculating of water flow and even designing of various practical designs. It now provides the user with plenty new additional features like direct CAD import, Importation of local data, etc. Production of high quality of services as a final result within a very short time. Not forgetting the support team, its quite nice with quick response. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** HydroCAD is not that easy to get used on your own like the cases in most software. Training is required for the new users. **Recommendations to others considering HydroCAD:** HydroCAD its very useful and reliable software for production of practical designs, but training on the new users its very much required. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** -Designing of different things. Eg, modelling of water, Analyzing, Production of quality services, Business enhancement and other more benefits. ### 9. HydroCAD is an amazing software. No other one like it. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 23, 2019 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** The onboarding for HydroCAD is very helpful. It shows you what each feature does. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** I dislike that sometimes it takes a while to start up on my computer **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using HydroCAD to find the time of concentration for properties. ### 10. Good product **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 16, 2019 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** Good tool for analyzing hydrologic systems **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** User interface is not the easiest to navigate. But can be learned **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** calculating stormwater runoff and patterns ### 11. Simple and Powerful tool to evaluate drainage networks **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2018 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** I like how simple and stable the software is. It is very easy to learn. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** Sometimes the simplicity of it is also its limitation. I wish it interfaced directly with other drainage software like InRoads. **Recommendations to others considering HydroCAD:** It takes a little getting used to its interface but once you do it is very easy to used. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am trying to evaluate drainage networks for the networks and time of concentrations. ### 12. HydroCAD for site development **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 17, 2018 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** I like that it is easy to use HydroCAD and the ease with which it works with other drafting and design components of CAD. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** There are the occasional bugs with file setup for analysis. **Recommendations to others considering HydroCAD:** It is a useful software! I would recommend it for ease of use. **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use HydroCAD for site development designs. By using this program, we can easily analyze projects and develop quality designs. ### 13. Long time user **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 12, 2018 **What do you like best about HydroCAD?** Fairly easy to use. Widely accepted. Many options. **What do you dislike about HydroCAD?** Not well integrated with Autocad, no reports in pdf format **Recommendations to others considering HydroCAD:** take a training course **What problems is HydroCAD solving and how is that benefiting you?** Use it for all drainage issues. ## HydroCAD Discussions - [What is a node in HydroCAD?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-a-node-in-hydrocad) - [Does HydroCAD use the rational method?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/does-hydrocad-use-the-rational-method) - [Is HydroCAD free?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-hydrocad-free) - [What is HydroCAD used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-hydrocad-used-for) - [View HydroCAD pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/hydrocad/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-04+05%3A40%3A47+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=d0f190ce-f7ea-456e-93c2-b02ae7160cd3&secure%5Btoken%5D=b75cefc9a4cbaeda36ea8a1c1dc1b289d7ade2c6a1bc62ecb6fab7f0bd662dc7&format=llm_user) ## HydroCAD Features **Plan** - Documentation - Sequence - Annotate - Collaborate **Design** - 3D Modeling - 3D Rendering - Drawing - Editing **Construction** - Fabrication - Reinforcement - Clash Detection - Grading - Earthwork **Engineering** - Hydraulic engineering - Hydrologic engineering - Transportation engineering - Structural engineering ## Top HydroCAD Alternatives - [Civil 3D](https://www.g2.com/products/civil-3d/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (288 reviews) - [MicroStation](https://www.g2.com/products/microstation/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (404 reviews) - [GeoHECRAS](https://www.g2.com/products/geohecras/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (348 reviews)