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Newbie introduction and a question.

stuart_freeman765
stuart_freeman765 Member Posts: 6 ✭
in Community Support

Okay.  TOTAL newbie to Onshape here.  

 I “acquired” a copy of SolidWorks 2005 shortly after it was introduced and taught myself how to create more than just mechanical stuff.

I have over 30 gigabytes of files devoted to that program. 

Then Microsoft fucked me.   My PC crapped out, and I was forced to “upgrade”. I had been creating 3D models and uploading to Shapeways.com

You can probably guess the rest.

Then one day I was watching YouTube.  To be specific, I stumbled onto the two “seasons” of Toolroom Takeover (2025 and 2026) and just had to look at some of the sponsors that were mentioned.

I’ve been using Onshape for a couple of weeks now, and I’m beginning to get a feel for it. With my SolidWorks experience, I don't think the learning curve will be as steep as it was back then. I hope to (at least) catch up to where I was. 

I’m using the “free” version, and I know I’ll want to keep using it as long as I can. 6 months is cool, but the price tag for the Pro version is a really big chunk out of my fixed income. If I can make a few bucks indulging my hobby, that would be great. But I’m not looking to go into “production”. 

I have a Google Album that I’m willing to share to show some of my work. (Let me know if the link doesn’t work.)

3D ETC

I just want to keep using this without having to spend (for me) an arm and a leg. I’ve not seen or been able to find any kind of “Payment Plan” 

Anybody have any input?

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Answers

  • Kevin_Cowles
    Kevin_Cowles Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 81 PRO

    Once your 6-month professional trial is over, you can choose to purchase Professional ($2500 per year), Standard ($1500 per year, meant for individual users) or simply allow your plan to revert to Onshape Free.

    Onshape Free means that any data you create is in the Onshape public domain, and can be copied by other users if they search for it/stumble across it. But it has all of the modeling features and power of the other plans.

    More details on those plans/pricing here: https://www.onshape.com/en/pricing

    If you're doing hobbyist work, then Free is great! But if you're going to commercialize your designs, then you need at least Standard. There should be a "Contact Sales" button from your Upgrade Account options if you have additional questions around pricing.

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