--- title: Inventor Reviews meta_title: 'Inventor Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 440 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Inventor works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 440 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-13' parent_category: name: CAD url: https://www.g2.com/categories/cad --- # Inventor Reviews **Vendor:** Autodesk **Category:** [Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/mechanical-computer-aided-design-mcad) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 440 ## About Inventor Autodesk® Inventor® 2021 software provides engineers and designers professional grade design and engineering solution for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation. With Inventor software, engineers can integrate 2D and 3D data into a single design environment, creating a virtual representation of the final product that enables them to validate the form, fit, and function of the product before it is ever built. Autodesk Inventor includes powerful parametric, direct edit and freeform modeling tools as well as multi-CAD translation capabilities and industry standard DWG™ drawings. Helping you to reduce development costs, get to market faster, and make great products. Speak to Autodesk Sales at 1-844-335-4986. ## Inventor Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users commend the **ease of use** of Inventor, appreciating its user-friendly interface and customization options. (2 reviews) - Users value the **user-friendly interface** of Inventor, enhancing learning and usability for both beginners and experts. (1 reviews) - Users value the **accuracy** of Inventor, enhancing their confidence and efficiency in creating precise models and assemblies. (1 reviews) - Users commend the **user-friendly interface** of Inventor, facilitating easy assembly modeling for all skill levels. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **user-friendly assembly management** of Inventor, facilitating easy creation and integration of assemblies. (1 reviews) - Compatibility (1 reviews) - Customer Support (1 reviews) - Customization (1 reviews) - Ease of Learning (1 reviews) - Easy Integrations (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users experience **lag during heavy assembly tasks** in Inventor, leading to frustrating interruptions in their workflow. (1 reviews) - Users find the **complexity** of Inventor overwhelming due to the abundance of information to absorb and recall. (1 reviews) - Users find that **Inventor crashes periodically** , leading to frustration, lost work, and the need for frequent saves. (1 reviews) - Users find the **difficult learning curve** challenging, needing time to grasp all the necessary details. (1 reviews) - Users find the **insufficient training** challenging, making it difficult for novice students to engage effectively. (1 reviews) - Insufficient Tutorials (1 reviews) - Learning Curve (1 reviews) - Limited Educational Resources (1 reviews) - Limited Learning Resources (1 reviews) - Performance Issues (1 reviews) ## Inventor Reviews ### 1. Versatile Design Tool with Room for Improvement **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adhikari V. | Senior Technical Service Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2026 **What do you like best about Inventor?** I like Inventor's versatility; the same model can be made in different ways, and the interchangeability of 2D drawing options with AutoCAD is great. The software helps a lot by requiring less time to make more productive work. The ability to convert AutoCAD 2D drawings into 3D models easily within Inventor is really handy. Also, the ease of creating structural designs using top-down or top-up assembly methods and having the option of generative design is impressive. The initial setup was very easy. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** When I work on large assemblies, Inventor crashes suddenly, and sometimes there's no mouse movement showing. The model feature in drawings for exploded views is not working well. These issues may be resolved by upgrading the software. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Inventor to create complex 3D parametric models and drawings, resolve issues in existing designs, and easily convert AutoCAD 2D drawings to 3D. Its versatility and interchangeability save me time and enhance productivity. ### 2. Highly Customizable and Efficient, But Occasional Crashes **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Professional Training & Coaching | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2025 **What do you like best about Inventor?** I enjoy using Inventor because it allows me to customize the software to my preferences, such as setting up shortcuts and adjusting text styles. I can also personalize the drawing features and much more. Overall, I find it very efficient to use. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** Occasionally, Inventor crashes while I'm using the same feature, which forces me to restart the program. This can be frustrating, especially when I haven't saved my work and end up losing progress. But this helps in the compentitiin to be used of saving every 5 minutes and keep my results of the competition updated **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** When I use Inventor, I work faster than with other CAD software because I’ve customized the settings and shortcuts to match my preferences. With that setup, I was able to model 28 simple parts in about 20 minutes. ### 3. Powerful, User-Friendly CAD for Huge Assemblies with Seamless Autodesk Integration **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 05, 2026 **What do you like best about Inventor?** It is a user-friendly CAD software which feels like an upgrade to Autodesk's own Fusion 360, but with a steep learning curve. The tried and tested perfect sketching tools combined with advanced parametric tools Inventor combines simplicity without compromising advanced features. Its well integrated with all Autodesk family software's and most can be easily exported for use in other CAD software. As for costs it maybe high for a small shop but worth for the features it provides. Autodesk have good support and lots of forums official and public ones which are quite helpful. Software handles huge assemblies without any issues. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** Not mush to dislike other than glitches which may be due to graphics driver issues. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** Part modelling function is most used and second would be assembly. Yes the drafting and rest of basic functions well in use. Simulation and rendering is possible but Inventor is best suited for product design than visualisation. Better to use Alias or VRED for that ### 4. Intuitive, Complete CAD Tool That Just Works **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alan L. | Assistente Técnico de Desenvolvimento de Produto, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 30, 2026 **What do you like best about Inventor?** It is a complete CAD tool very intuitive. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** Electrical features are a little restricted. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** It lets me easily manage all of my mechanical projects and drawings in one place, and it is easy to use and quickly. ### 5. Autodesk Inventor **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Muhammad W. | Mechanical Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2025 **What do you like best about Inventor?** The best thing about inventor is the ease of use as it is easy to learn and understand as you start from a 2d sketch and then make 3d parts out of it which makes it very user friendly. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** The thing that i don't like is that many times when you have to open a large assembly composed of many sub assemblies there is a chance that it may crash without any possibility of saving it. So a lot of time get wasted due to it. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** Inventor like any other 3d modelling tool helps to create 3d parts and assemblies before sending your design to manufacture. It helps you see the errors and mistake that if you don't see it in 3d may cost a lot of money if a wrong part is manufactured . So, inventor helps to see the whole machine or product in a realistic way before it is actually manufactured so it saves cost and time. ### 6. Inventor is a beneficial tool for CAD Engineer **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Suyash S. | Freelance, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 29, 2024 **What do you like best about Inventor?** It is a user-friendly and robust solid modeling software allows for the creation of Assemblies featuring both Part and Assembly variations.Inventor's user interface is designed to be user-friendly, making it easier for both beginners and experienced users to learn and increase frequency of use and have great customer support,Inventor integrates with ease of implementation with other products. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** The step-by-step tutorials could be improved. It's challenging to present premade projects to novice students. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has enabled me to swiftly create 3D metal structures using your library, saving me time and resulting in a flawless finish. As a result, I believe it has enhanced both my work efficiency and my professional life. Autodesk Inventor is a powerful and versatile 3D CAD software that can help me design, analyze, and manufacture products efficiently. Its comprehensive feature set, intuitive interface, and integration with other Autodesk products make it a popular choice among professionals in various industries. ### 7. Building Consumer Electronic Product Enclosures **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ofonime W. | Design Engineer, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 07, 2024 **What do you like best about Inventor?** Inventor is my go-to tool for machine design; From design accelators, frame generators and analysis, to design automation with ilogic features , and dynamic event simulation with a powerful solver etc. Inventor's featuers are very mature in terms of capacity, and can handle data of so many kinds e.g it BOM, driving configuration with parameter etc. Inventor also integrates perfectly with PDM tools like Autodesk Vault for administrative purposes, design data managment, file control, to mention a few. Many other solutions can be integarted with inventor, making it possible to author, validate, fabricate and test your design e.g Inventor Nastran, Inventor Nesting, Factory design utilities, etc. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** You need to master how planes work, if you intend to asemble your parts and components easily, simulating real world relationship between the parts via the asssembly enviroment. You need to fully understand assembly modeling especially if you are working on a large project with over a thousand part. etc You need to understand the file structuring and basic file handling within inventor, else you would run into constant erros trying to reuse or locate design files. Sometimes the errors can cost you the clients trust if not managed properly. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** The ilogic feature in inventor basically hands me the power to automate my design, create variations and initaite design configurationns in a controlled manner. This leads to my ability to meet clients need in the shortest possible time. Adopting Inventor for my product design workflow makes the entire experince smooth. I am giving the ability to implement and insert fastners, mechanical weldments, belt and chain drives, mechanical frames an others, through calculated, and analysis-based processes,thus making informed design decisions. Basically, an ADMS console is required to set up a server, then an Autodesk vault client is set up for authoring of design data into the sever, via dedicated file structures. All i did was to link Inventor to my Autodesk vault, then all my designs from inventor was easily checked in and out of the vault, ensuring proper design documentation , control, and secuirty, to mention a few. ### 8. Inventor Professional is very good & friendly tool for solid and structural 3d modeling. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** SudhaRSHAN R. | Design Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2021 **What do you like best about Inventor?** It is best for the structural and framework of 3d modeling. The sketch part is amiable for a new user with less experience. Similar to AutoCAD with 3d modeling tools. Bundle with molding, frame generation, a piping module for skid drawing preparation. Drafting is very friendly and straightforward to generate. **What do you dislike about Inventor?** Only one dis advantage is less options and tools for sheet metal genetation and plastic components. Require to puchase additional license for these. **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are modeling and analyzing aerostructures for aircraft dockings. Tube and pipe module for piping and skid preparation for EPC and O&G segments. ### 9. Use for many applications **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 05, 2024 **What do you like best about Inventor?** Ease of use and ability to change stp files into adsk's or rfa's **What do you dislike about Inventor?** I do not realy have a dislike for this application... **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** Able to convert files into useable files within Revit ### 10. It is easy to use and fun **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 16, 2024 **What do you like best about Inventor?** Inventer is fun to use and there are many shirtcuts you can use to build anything you want to **What do you dislike about Inventor?** there are a lot of things to know and remember **What problems is Inventor solving and how is that benefiting you?** its solving suoer fast math equations ## Inventor Discussions - [How do I ensure my weldments always accept weld at their interactions.](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-do-i-ensure-my-weldments-always-accept-weld-at-their-interactions) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Am I using it correctly, space planning, fit issues, some structural loading forces](https://www.g2.com/discussions/am-i-using-it-correctly-space-planning-fit-issues-some-structural-loading-forces) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What are some of the best practices for students working in groups to use Inventor?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-some-of-the-best-practices-for-students-working-in-groups-to-use-inventor) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [How do you handle the data creation problem?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-do-you-handle-the-data-creation-problem) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [What is the best way to balloon multiple items?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/15670-what-is-the-best-way-to-balloon-multiple-items) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Inventor pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/inventor/reviews/inventor-review-33024?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-13+15%3A50%3A31+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=039b58d8-4286-4f82-b862-625b86ea30fe&secure%5Btoken%5D=0ea2511194d4c17e35ce1197fbf6f24bf4355c62fba08e8d32cba8507d7da1db&format=llm_user) ## Inventor Integrations - [Adobe Acrobat](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-acrobat/reviews) - [Autodesk Alias](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-alias/reviews) - [Autodesk Vault](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-vault/reviews) - [Design Review](https://www.g2.com/products/design-review/reviews) ## Inventor Features **Design** - Drawing - Modeling - Visualize - Rendering **Design** - 3D/solid modeling Tools - Drawing Tools - Editing Tools - Rendering tools **Tools - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - 3D/solid modeling Tools - Rendering Tools - Drawing Tools - Editing Tools - Text Editing Tools **Edit** - File Import - Push/Pull - Views - Grips **Tools** - Fluid analysis - Finite element analysis - Multibody dynamics **File Options - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - Export Files - Import Files - File Interoperability - Backwards compatibility - File size **Collaboration** - Annotate - Documentation - Data Extract **Work** - Discrete event modeling - Continuous event modeling - Mechanical event simulation - Manufacturing process simulation - Integrate **Customization - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - Custom Commands - Custom Scripts - Custom Menus - Custom Interface **Environment** - Hardware support - Task - Manage Multiple Profiles - Command Clarity **Environment - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - Hardware support - Task-based interfaces - Manage Multiple Profiles - Command Clarity ## Top Inventor Alternatives - [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (683 reviews) - [SOLIDWORKS](https://www.g2.com/products/solidworks/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (628 reviews) - [Designcenter Solid Edge](https://www.g2.com/products/designcenter-solid-edge/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (596 reviews)