Houdini vs FreeCAD
Two of the top three 3D modeling programs, compared rule by rule on published facts.
In short
- Houdini has 72 points and FreeCAD 50, 22 apart on our 3D modeling software rules.
- Houdini earns more on modelling tools and formats; FreeCAD earns more on licence and price.
- Cheapest way to use it for paid work: Houdini $24.92/mo, FreeCAD $0.
- Only Houdini meets: one-off licence you keep, digital sculpting, node-based procedural modeling, rigging and animation, physics simulation, UV unwrapping and built-in ray-traced renderer.
- Only FreeCAD meets: free version allowed for paid work and open source.
Points by group
| Group | Houdini | FreeCAD |
|---|---|---|
| Systems of 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Licence of 33 | 18 | 21 |
| Modelling tools of 38 | 38 | 10 |
| Formats of 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Price of 15 | 7 | 12 |
| Total | 72 | 50 |
Rule by rule
What each vendor publishes, and the points it earns. Sources are on each product page.
| Rule (points) | Houdini | FreeCAD |
|---|---|---|
| Other systems (8) | macOS, Linux 4 | macOS, Linux 4 |
| Free version without a time limit (10) | Yes 10 | Yes 10 |
| Free version allowed for paid work (6) | No 0 | Yes 6 |
| One-off licence you keep (8) | Yes 8 | No 0 |
| Open source (5) | Not published 0 | Yes 5 |
| Free licence for students (4) | Not published 0 | No 0 |
| Precise curve and solid modeling (5) | Yes 5 | Yes 5 |
| Digital sculpting (5) | Yes 5 | Not published 0 |
| Node-based procedural modeling (5) | Yes 5 | Not published 0 |
| Rigging and animation (5) | Yes 5 | Not published 0 |
| Physics simulation (4) | Yes 4 | Not published 0 |
| UV unwrapping (4) | Yes 4 | Not published 0 |
| Built-in ray-traced renderer (5) | Yes 5 | Not published 0 |
| Scripting and add-ons (5) | Yes 5 | Yes 5 |
| Built-in export formats (6) | FBX, OBJ, glTF, STL, USD 5 | OBJ, STL, STEP 3 |
| Cheapest way to use it for paid work (12) | $24.92/mo 7 | $0 12 |
| Full-feature trial (3) | Not published 0 | No 0 |
Houdini
Houdini suits artists who want to build models and effects from node networks, and it covers sculpting, UV tools, cloth and fluid simulation, Karma rendering and Python scripting. The cheapest paid-work route is Indie at $299 a year. The catch: the free Apprentice version bars paid work, and Indie is limited to $100K USD in annual gross revenue.
FreeCAD
FreeCAD suits anyone who needs parametric solid modeling without paying, from hobby parts to professional design tasks. It is open source under LGPL-2.1, has a Python API, and runs on three desktop systems. The catch: its feature list names no sculpting, rigging or ray-traced renderer, and no web or iPad version is listed.
Both products are scored by the same rules: how we score 3D modeling programs.