Every January, the same email arrives. License renewal. And every year, the number is a little higher than the last.

This isn’t a perception: AutoCAD’s annual subscription price reached USD 2,095 in 2025, a roughly 5% increase over the previous year — and the trend shows no signs of stopping. Multiply that by the number of seats your company uses, add specialized toolsets and collections, and the total cost of ownership looks very different from what it did five years ago. ZWSOFT

But the price itself isn’t even the worst part. If you stop renewing, you lose access to the software — and if you lose access, you can no longer open the files you created. A real headache for any business. DWGAutoCAD

For IT managers and software infrastructure leads, this situation is no longer sustainable. The question has shifted from “should we switch?” to “when, and to what?”

The Perpetual Subscription Trap

Autodesk made a strategic decision years ago: it stopped selling perpetual licenses in August 2016, replacing them entirely with subscriptions. At the time, it seemed reasonable for many companies — automatic updates, included support, no large upfront investment. DWGAutoCAD

But the model kept changing. Prices rose year after year. Licensing terms became more restrictive. And the promise of “always having the latest version” started to ring hollow when new versions didn’t bring improvements that justified the increase.

The result: many organizations today pay as if AutoCAD were irreplaceable — when in reality, a true alternative has existed for years that does exactly the same things, and in some cases does them better, at a fraction of the cost.

That alternative is Octave BricsCAD.

What Is Octave BricsCAD and Why Now?

BricsCAD was developed by Bricsys, a company that was part of Hexagon. Recently, Bricsys became part of a new independent company called Octave, which is why the product is now called Octave BricsCAD. The change is in name and visual identity only — the product, roadmap, licensing models, and support channels remain exactly the same. Bricsys NV

For IT teams, that’s good news: no disruptions, no relearning, no forced migrations. The platform they already knew is still the same, now backed by a larger organization with greater capacity to invest in development.

As part of Octave, BricsCAD becomes a core product within the Design pillar, backed by an organization committed to long-term investment in CAD innovation. Far from weakening, the platform has more support behind it than ever. Bricsys NV

Migrating from AutoCAD: What Actually Happens

The biggest resistance IT managers face when evaluating a CAD platform switch isn’t technical — it’s cultural. Users have spent years working with AutoCAD and are afraid of losing productivity during the transition.

BricsCAD addresses this head-on, and designed its platform specifically to minimize that risk.

Users coming from AutoCAD experience minimal downtime from the start, thanks to a familiar interface, the same command structure, equivalent workflows, and numerous identical menus and shortcuts. Existing .dwg files, custom settings, tool palettes, and templates transfer directly — no conversion required. Bricsys NV

In practice, this means an experienced AutoCAD user can open BricsCAD and start working without a significant learning curve. Independent user reviews confirm this: users across different industries highlight that the interface is practically identical to AutoCAD, making the switch straightforward. Many report being able to work with complex DWG files, create 2D drawings, and move into 3D or BIM when needed — all in one tool. G2

And the migration process itself? It’s structured in four simple steps and, according to the official migration guide, the full transition shouldn’t take more than a few hours. For an IT administrator managing a corporate deployment, that’s a low-risk, highly predictable project. Bricsys

What BricsCAD Solves That AutoCAD Can’t

Beyond compatibility, there are fundamental differences in how each platform relates to the organizations that use it.

Licensing designed for organizations:
BricsCAD offers individual, volume, and network licenses. Licenses are tied to the company, not to an individual user, and can float across the corporate network, covering both dedicated and occasional users. This is radically different from AutoCAD’s model, where each user needs their own active subscription to access the software. Bricsys NV

True perpetual licenses:
A BricsCAD Pro perpetual license is a one-time purchase — compare that to AutoCAD’s mandatory annual subscription. For a company that knows it will be using CAD software for the next ten years, buying instead of renting is an obvious financial decision. Bricsys NV

One platform, not an ecosystem of add-ons:
BricsCAD handles 2D drafting, 3D modeling, mechanical design, and BIM in a single platform. Fewer tools installed, fewer licenses to manage, fewer points of failure in the IT environment. G2

BricsCAD V26: Real AI, Real Daily Improvements

The current version, BricsCAD V26, launched with over 60 new and improved features. But the interesting part isn’t the number — it’s the focus: improving what users do every day, not adding showpiece functionality.

V26 includes an AI-driven chat panel integrated directly into the BricsCAD interface, helping users quickly find documentation, how-to tips, and guidance without leaving the work environment. It’s not a generic assistant — it’s built for the CAD context. Bricsys NV

For teams working in manufacturing, V26 brings an 80% improvement in robustness for sheet metal process capture, along with smarter edge form classification for more accurate recognition of complex geometries. Bricsys NV

In documentation workflows, the focus is on automating repetitive work and improving consistency across drawings. In concrete cases, productivity gains in chamfer-related dimensioning workflows reached 50%. Bricsys NV

And for IT managers, there’s good news on interoperability: V26 enables connecting BricsCAD with Autodesk Construction Cloud, Bentley ProjectWise, and adds product lifecycle management support with Teamcenter integration. BricsCAD doesn’t live in a silo — it integrates with the ecosystems companies already have deployed. Bricsys NV

The Maintenance Plan: Protecting Your Long-Term Investment

For IT managers who need to plan beyond the fiscal year, BricsCAD has a clear, no-surprises maintenance model.

A BricsCAD maintenance contract provides automatic access to all major versions without additional purchases, keeping licenses within the window of supported versions. Starting in 2026, only the three most recent versions of BricsCAD are eligible for updates and active support. Bricsys

The recommended approach for corporate deployments is straightforward: a staged rollout where advanced users test the new version first, feedback is collected, and the update is then rolled out to the rest of the organization. The kind of migration IT teams can manage without impacting operations. Bricsys

Where Aufiero Informática Comes In

Octave BricsCAD is distributed by Aufiero Informática, an authorized distributor with extensive experience in technical and professional software for companies of all sizes.

Working with Aufiero isn’t just about buying a license — it means having a knowledgeable partner that understands the product and can advise you on the right licensing model for your organization: perpetual, subscription, network, or volume. They’ll also support you through the migration process to make the transition as transparent as possible for your team.

If your company is evaluating ways to reduce the total cost of its CAD tools without sacrificing functionality or productivity, now is the time to have that conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Migrating to Octave BricsCAD