The software a design office runs on
Architects, building designers, engineers and drafters all need the same six layers of software, whatever the size of the studio. Here's each layer, the tools Australian offices choose between, and our side-by-side guides with AUD prices and GST shown like for like.
Six layers, from first sketch to final invoice
Start with the first one: it decides which file formats everything else has to handle.
A new studio needs three of these on day one
- CAD or BIM that matches your clientsPick by the files you'll be asked for (RVT, IFC or DWG), not by the feature list. Our file-format guide covers it.
- A PDF markup toolBuilders, certifiers and councils all send PDFs. You'll mark them up from week one: see the PDF markup guide.
- Accounting softwareYou'll need BAS and invoicing before you need practice management. Timesheets and project profit can wait until you have staff (accounts and payroll compared).
Everything else (rendering, document control, practice management) earns its place as the studio grows. Every layer is compared the same way: published prices, vendor-stated facts, and a plain note on who pays us.
Five questions to settle before a studio signs up
The feature lists all look alike. These are the things that decide what a studio actually pays and whether the tool fits.
- Per seat, per named user, or per office?Autodesk sells subscriptions to a named user, so one seat is for one person, not one desk. Some practice tools charge per user per month, others a flat office fee. Count who really needs a full seat: a part-timer, a bookkeeper or a client who only views drawings often doesn't.
- Subscription or perpetual, and what happens when you stop?A subscription stops working when the payment does; a perpetual licence keeps opening your old files. Our CAD and BIM table ticks "perpetual" only where the vendor's own page confirms it, and shows "?" everywhere else.
- Which files will clients and consultants expect?If your clients ask for RVT, you need Revit or something that exports it; if they ask for IFC or DWG, the field is wider. Choose by the file you must deliver, then by price. The file-format guide covers each tool.
- Is the price with or without GST?Australian vendor pages quote some prices ex GST and some inc GST, and a few don't say. Every table on this site states the GST basis next to the price, so a $5,000 tool and a $4,600 ex-GST tool are compared as the same money.
- Will it run on the machines you already own?Mac or Windows is the first cut; a rendering tool may also need a particular graphics card. The "Runs on" rows in each table come from the vendor's own system requirements, and anything the vendor didn't state shows as "?" rather than a guess.
Four ways small studios overspend on software
- Buying the whole suite on day one. A bundle looks like value, but a two-person studio rarely uses more than two or three of the tools in it. Start with the three layers above and add the rest when a job needs them.
- Full seats for people who only need to look. Reviewers, clients and bookkeepers can usually use a free viewer or a PDF. Paying a full annual seat so someone can open a model twice a year is easy money to save.
- Letting the free trial run out untested. A trial spent clicking around proves nothing. Put one real job through it: a drawing set, a markup round, an invoice. The how we test page sets out the test work we use.
- Not budgeting the renewal. Subscription prices move. We log every price change we find on the price-change log, so you can see how a tool's cost has drifted before you sign for a year.
Design offices ask
Does a small residential studio need BIM?
Not automatically. BIM pays off when consultants and builders exchange models with you; if your clients and certifiers only ever want PDF and DWG drawings, 2D CAD with a good PDF markup tool costs far less. The deciding factor is what you'll be asked to deliver, which the CAD and BIM guide walks through.
Can a design office run entirely on Macs?
It depends on the BIM tool. The vendors' own system requirements say Archicad, Vectorworks and SketchUp run natively on a Mac, while Revit lists Windows 11 only (Autodesk lists Parallels Desktop for Mac users). The comparison table shows the "Runs on" row for each.
Is a free trial long enough to decide?
Usually, if you use it on real work. The trials in these guides run from 7 days (SketchUp Pro) to 30 days (Archicad, BricsCAD, Drawboard, Twinmotion); some vendors don't state a length and several practice tools offer a demo only. Each table lists what the vendor's page says. Run one actual job through the tool, not a sample project, and decide on that.
Which of these tools pay Studio to Site a commission?
Only the ones each table says. On the design-office guides, Autodesk (Revit and AutoCAD), Adobe (Acrobat) and D5 Render have affiliate programs; every other tool is a plain link. Rankings come from published prices and vendor-stated facts, never from the commission, and the full list is on the disclosure page.