# OpenBuildings Designer Reviews **Vendor:** Bentley Systems **Category:** [Building Design and Building Information Modeling (BIM) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/building-design-and-building-information-modeling-bim) **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 16 ## About OpenBuildings Designer OpenBuildings Designer is a multi-discipline building design application that enables BIM workflows to provide information-rich models for the design, analysis, simulation, and documentation of buildings. It incorporates OpenBuildings Designer computational design and energy services for building performance evaluation. OpenBuildings Designer immerses you in a 3D modeling environment and provides site content by referencing reality models. The application shares a catalog of design components across the project team. Built-in clash detection allows designers to coordinate building systems. The federated data approach to modeling and drawing management allows users to work on any size models simultaneously across distributed geographies. • Multi-discipline: Increase collaboration among architects, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers with a shared set of tools and workflows • Interoperability: Integrate information you have from multiple formats and easily work on projects of any size • Information-rich deliverables: Clearly communicate your design intent with reliable deliverables that you can easily customize • Unrestrictive design environment: Model anything with total freedom from buildings with simple to highly complex geometry and designs • Building performance: Simulate buildings and predict the real-world performance of the asset quickly and with precision to explore various options for iterative refinement Explore 21-Day Free Trial - https://go.virtuosity.com/openbuildings-designer-free-trial-get-started ## OpenBuildings Designer Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **customer support** of OpenBuildings Designer, though it mainly relies on email communication. (1 reviews) - Users value the **customization options** in OpenBuildings Designer, allowing for flexible model creation and integration. (1 reviews) - Users find OpenBuildings Designer's **ease of use** excellent for building models both individually and as integrated projects. (1 reviews) - Users value the **flexible modeling capabilities** of OpenBuildings Designer, enabling detailed designs for various projects. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **high costs** of OpenBuildings Designer challenging, especially given its competitive market position. (1 reviews) ## OpenBuildings Designer Reviews ### 1. Great product and far ahead of Autdesk products **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eric M. | CEO, Architecture & Planning, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** Easy to build models with lots ofv control. Building Models as one or as peices. Models can be combined into a full building or a city. Easy to impliment your project model. Customer Service is fair but best with a yearly subscription. They do rely too much on emails withour personal support. Need an asnwer today - you will get it Tuesday. I have used this product since 1988. I requently use this product for Franchise and commercial clients. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** The pay to play model. I own all my license and pay a yearly fee to keep current.setup or integration is a little awkward. But it is integrated will will our work flow with Engineers that may be from another vendor. Cost is still high considering they are not the leader in the market. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Great for collaboration of Models that create 2d and 3d drawings. ### 2. OpenBuildings is the most flexible BIM app for big multidisciplinary intrastructure projects **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pedro M. | AECOsim / OpenBuildings CONNECT Trainer - Master in BIM Metodology & Management, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 23, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** OpenBuildings CAD core (MicroStation) is shared by most Bentley apps, which makes it very versatile for geometry demanding projects such as big infrastructure ones. It is easy to create generic 3D CAD geometry like the one in tunnels or roads, and add data at a later stage taking geometry models into true BIM ones. The federated model system based on referenced DGNs is very flexible too and makes the work with OpenBuildings -as all the other Bentley tools- to be easily structured for large teams. It can be used without any problem not only on an EDMS system like the one offered by Bentley (ProjectWise) but even on local ones like a server-based company network. In the same way, producing 2D drawings is easy due to the fact of having all the MicroStation tools available. Regarding BIM interoperability, OpenBuildings not only has good IFC export options but is also well integrated with the market-dominant Autodesk tools. The possibility of using DWG as native makes it far more flexible, and even there is an option to use native Revit RFAs libraries. OpenBuildings i-Model options are also a good way to handle the need for a signed and secured delivery model, an aspect that even though is essential when working with complex geometry full-of-data BIM models, is still not taken into consideration in most BIM & CAD apps. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** Since is a BIM app that comes from the 90s, and even the CONNECT upgrade was a huge change, there are still some specific tools that should be updated like, say, creating compound walls or instance annotation tools. Every update, though, comes with an update in a specific tool (like Curtain Walls or Compound Slabs), so it will probably be updated soon. It would be good also to review the data system to become more unified. I mean, it would be good to have the Family & Parts systems be just a "material" setting of the Datagroup system, and not as a whole separated system as is still now, in which there are settings that there are no longer in use. As a plus, it would be fantastic to add an option to open Autodesk RVT files. **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** In my opinion, OpenBuildings Designer is the most complete BIM tool to use in big multidisciplinary infrastructure projects. It can be used easily to handle complex geometry and turn them quickly into true BIM models. Even though it may look very "different" from the competitor's apps approach it is for me far more organized and adaptable to any kind of project than any other tool. The federated model system of its MicroStation CAD core makes it also perfect for big teams' work. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have been using Bentley tools since the 90s, and OpenBuildings has been my only BIM tool since around 2014. What I value the most is that OpenBuildingns doesn't necessarily ask you to start creating a project in "BIM" mode: The ability to start a project as a single 2D CAD one, then move to 3D for visualization and then a complete BIM one allows me to use it for preliminary projects, contests, full BIM projects or infrastructure ones in a flexible way. ### 3. The most customizable and powerful BIM model authoring tool I used **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Raed H. | Senior Consultant/Academic Instructor, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 20, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** Customization Flexibility Automation possibilities Availability of tools Training and support Worksets management Reporting capabilities Compatibility with previous and new versions of the software **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** The installation wizard needs to show the datasets checklist as by default installing USM only The program startup loading time is very slow The trial is only one week compared with Autodesk products (30 Days) Educational Licenses are not available on the website Price is high **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** I'm using this software since 2009, I used the previous versions of V8i and SS, it was one of the best tools to use, I did a lot of automation using mvba to customize our workflows and to increase the productivity. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** It gives a wide range of BIM modeling possibilities for mostly all types of building projects and disciplines, data integration and reporting are innovative especially if you have automation skills. ### 4. User-friendly and detailed building design **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ignacio V. | Data management specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 24, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** I recommend the program due to the following reasons: - The interface of the program is quite intuitive and friendly. - The automatic solutions for wall, roof, and piping design and very practical. - It has a very practical creation of "spaces" and areas, even by importing room parameters included in an Excel file. The parameters of the items can be imported from Excel, and that is very useful. - The usage of "references" is quite intuitive **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** During the design process, I found several disadvantages: - The creation of drawings takes a lot of time and is not intuitive. - It is not possible to change the classification (part and family) of several elements at the same time - it can only be done for one element. - Sometimes, the automatic connections of piping are "too smart", automatically connecting pipes that are not supposed to be together. -Sometimes it is difficult to rotate the model by selecting a suitable pivot point. - Personally, I would prefer to use the button "Escape", rather than the mouse right click (small issue). - Small library of items (furniture, objects, HVAC equipement). **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** WIth OpenBuilding Designer, we are designing projects which include all the necessary parts of a building: architecture, structures, HVAC systems... Having all these different parts in one system is very useful, to avoid problems of compatibility or errors during design. ### 5. Very complete SW for the design of all disciplines of a building including internal check systems **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sergi d. | Product Manager de Software BIM/ VDC, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 23, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** What I like the most about OBD is the integration of all the discipline tools in a single interface and having Clash detection in the same SW. I also really like the federated structure of the project across multiple files and references. The upsides of using OBD is the interoperability with other BIM applications, such as the ease of importing RFA libraries. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** The least important thing could be to have two databases for the specifications of the BIM components, the Datagopup system with BIM information of the components and on the other hand the Familiy and part system to specify the graphic representation and the units of measurement. The downsides of OBD is the company's system for customizing variables and defining standards. **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** My advice for those who are interested in BIM design applications is that if you want a robust system to afford any type of project, regardless of its size and complexity, and especially if you work as a team, OBD is a highly recommended solution. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** With OBD I can solve the main design and model coding challenges that a BIM model needs throughout its life cycle, from design, through construction and maintenance of the asset. ### 6. You can reference a lot of different files into your project. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andy P. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** You can open also DWG files and modify it. And also import RFA files, Attach IFC files as reference or create i-models to reference it in your project. So it's faster to reference the file **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** The delivered data files is incomplete (Plumbing) and it's not as I want it to be. Because my clients want to see what I have designed and execute it. So I have to use my old Cells (Microstation 95) to make it the real dimensions. **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** You must follow a course to use it. And when you know how to use it, you don't want to use other CAD products. 27 years of experience with Bentley products. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm a mechanical/plumbing designer. So I want to have catalog's to make a better design using 100% possibilities of OpenBuilding Designer. The benefit that I now have is that I'm a 3d modeller since 1995 and in Holland they use BIM tech and use Revit and Tekla a lot. So promotion material of Bentley in Holland (for Mechanical and Architectural users) is nihil. Because nobody knows Bentley products. Only the expensive car. ### 7. With OpenBuildings 9 Bentley has created a complete software for the design of buildings and more **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Daniele P. | Specialista in campo grafico, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** OpenBuildings combines the powerful Bentley CAD MicroStation with all BIM tools in terms of disciplines, analysis, reporting. More bigger is the project, more efficient is Openbuildings. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** As already done for Prostructure that brings OpenBuidings to an advanced level in the structural projects, for the next releases I hope in a Bentley Raceway technology integration into the Electrical discipline of OpenBuildings. Furthermore I'll appreciate parametric items in the Datagroup with more easy workflow. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** OpenBuildings is very flexible, thanks also to the CAD platform that communicates with the BIM tools, thanks to its extreme interoperability that allows it to integrate any standard format and many proprietary formats. OpenBuildings Designer also includes Generative design, Energy simulation, the VUE rendering and animation tool, it's a very all-inclusive bulding solution. ### 8. Fantastic **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marco P. | BIM Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** it's all integrated. I like the integration with other Bentley software. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** It is not widespread in Italy and there are few tutorials **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have developed complete projects in BIM, including bill of quantities ### 9. Open Buildings Designer Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** I like the possibility of customising the Dataset and the data that will be attached to the models. Another pivotal tool is the Datagroup Explorer that allow us to keep consistency across every single Asset and discipline and ensure that we are fulfilling the requirements coming from the Client. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** I wish the Clash detection tool engine run a bit faster. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Clash detection, dataset customisation, and data input for Detail Design. ### 10. The best experience about modelling **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jackelyn C. | BIM Technician specialist - BIM modeller, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** The easily to explore Keys and interface **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** T'he pau, It cost a little bit to freelance **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Modelling earrhworks and infraestructure elements and drainage too ### 11. Mayk loves BIM **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mayk J. | Senior BIM Technician, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 07, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** It's gives the graphics designer to show his/her talent in the BIM World **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** The downsides are the updates annually are too costly. **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** No try in harming **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** In 3D Modeling, you can easily find and solve any issue ### 12. The Best Solution for Large Scale Project. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Civil Engineering | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 08, 2017 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** This Application is very Use full for large scale Projects Like Rail, Infrastructure, Bridges , Airport, Industrial Plant, and water Treatment Plants. I am using this application from 2009. It is one of the oldest BIM application. It support to all Industry's standards. I-twin is the letest technology for infrastructure. It has very good Genretive Design application named Bentley Genretive Components. It works on True coordinator system. All Bentley Application netive file extension is. dgn, mean no time wast for expoting and conterting. It is multi Discipline BIM application. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** It is not good for small project. Has less users in the industry. It only support till LOD 300+. But you can build data till 500+ **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** Use Bentley OpenBuildings Designer for your next Infrastructure Project. Most of big Clint's like London Underground. Network Rail. HS2, PUB Singapore. All Railway Authority use these Bentley applications. So ger more project. And Bentley have various types of license offers. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rail, Infrastructure, Bridges , Airport, Industrial Plant, and water Treatment Plants. Road Projects ### 13. Is really good tool to model and to create information in the models **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Julia G. | Engineering Data (BIM) Coordinator, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 25, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** the Data, reports and schedules. The collaboration and integration with other parties. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** IFC exports, Catalogues and families need to be improved **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** useful tool for integration **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** Modelling and Design integration: It is compatible with other formats (DWGs) which makes easy integration. ### 14. Building design software **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2022 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** Material library, randering, conceptual graphics. **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** drawing extraction end result is not perticularly good like autocad or microstation. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** its regular 3D model software like others available in the market. ### 15. Open Buildings Designer is a godsend to my small design firm **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ray D. | President, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2021 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** The integration of Concept, Concept Development and Production workflows **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** The skill and practice it takes to use the software effectively and efficiently. **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** If you want a quality building design software solution, kept current to accommodate all the latest trends, and powerfully integrated with graphic and analytical companion software, than OpenBuildings Designer is the building design software for you. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problem of avoiding repetition of the same design at each stage of project development. OpenBuildings Designer move smoothly from one stage to the next. ### 16. AECOSIM A MASTER TOOL **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Deepanshu J. | Deepanshu Jain, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 21, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenBuildings Designer?** It offers multiple routings in plumbing once end points are decided. And this single software embodies all trades (MEP AND ARCH) and no need to save work manually . **What do you dislike about OpenBuildings Designer?** Commands names are not user friendly.Work process is very difficult to learn. **Recommendations to others considering OpenBuildings Designer:** People can use help of Bentley community platform to solve their doubts regarding software. **What problems is OpenBuildings Designer solving and how is that benefiting you?** I m doing BIM using AECOSIM AND THIS SOFTWARE has lot of keys or commands as compared to other software which makes working easier some times. ## OpenBuildings Designer Discussions - [Where can I found OpenBuildings training material?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/where-can-i-found-openbuildings-training-material) - 1 comment, 3 upvotes - [How can I promote OpenBuildings for Mechanical and plumbing firms](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-can-i-promote-openbuildings-for-mechanical-and-plumbing-firms) - 1 comment, 2 upvotes - [What is OpenBuildings Designer?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-openbuildings-designer) - 1 comment, 2 upvotes - [What is open building software?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-open-building-software) - 1 comment - [View OpenBuildings Designer pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/openbuildings-designer/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-30+02%3A52%3A52+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=7d55e05c-eb11-469a-8707-d12c6d6d003f&secure%5Btoken%5D=2712acacb1b99b4bdd26f9013027725b9f4c03d3a1f49f9b3eeda52d9192f16d&format=llm_user) ## OpenBuildings Designer Features **Design** - Visualizing - Rendering - Drawing - Editing - Sequence Steps - Dynamic Updating **Collaboration** - Multi User - File Import/Export - Annotating - Document Storage **Construction** - Fabrication - Reinforcement Tools - Clash Detection - Grading - Earthwork **Generative AI** - AI Text Generation - AI Text Summarization - AI Text-to-3D **Common Data Environment (CDE) - Building Design and Building Information Modeling** - Role-Based Access - Centralized Data Management **Cost Estimation - Building Design and Building Information Modeling** - Lifecycle Cost Tracking - Quantity Takeoff & Cost Estimation **Electrical & Circuit Design - Building Design and Building Information Modeling** - Clash Detection - Electrical System Modeling - MEP Coordination - Load Calculation & Analysis - Interoperability with BIM & CAD - Circuit Design Integration ## Top OpenBuildings Designer Alternatives - [Revit](https://www.g2.com/products/revit/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (912 reviews) - [Archicad](https://www.g2.com/products/archicad/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (284 reviews) - [SketchUp](https://www.g2.com/products/sketchup/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (1,296 reviews)