--- title: HydroCAD Reviews meta_title: 'HydroCAD Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 13 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how HydroCAD works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.2 review_count: 13 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-07' parent_category: name: CAD url: https://www.g2.com/categories/cad --- # 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. 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 ### 3. 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 ### 4. 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. ### 5. 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. ### 6. 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. ### 7. 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. ### 8. 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?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=4§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-12+16%3A09%3A15+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=c0463bbc-93d9-4a85-8e76-a463febc9156&secure%5Btoken%5D=b66eac175aef3bc56f9dd00a73abda4c4b15c3faa283c3de6b2596a03b814c69&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 **Additional Functionality** - Mechanical - Process Control - Access Controls/Permissions - Product Data Management - Configurable Workflow - Manufacturing Design Data - Collaboration Tools - 3D Imaging - Data Import/Export - Civil - Customizable Fields - Data Capture and Transfer - Design Management - Version Control - Presentation Tools - Configuration Management - Document Generation - Compliance Management - Change Management - Electrical - Mechatronics - Project Management - AI Copilot - Design Analysis - CAD Tools - Document Management - Bills of Material - Generative AI - Visual Analytics - Data Visualization - File Management - Reporting/Analytics - Project Templates - Content Library ## Top HydroCAD Alternatives - [Civil 3D](https://www.g2.com/products/civil-3d/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (290 reviews) - [MicroStation](https://www.g2.com/products/microstation/reviews) - 4.0/5.0 (407 reviews) - [GeoHECRAS](https://www.g2.com/products/geohecras/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (353 reviews)