How it compares
The desktop giants own decades of features. Source owns what they can’t retrofit — an open, browser-native, deterministic core with version control, collaboration, and AI in its DNA. Here’s the fair picture, “coming soon” and all.
| SourceThis is us | SolidWorks | Fusion 360 | Rhino 3D | Onshape | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs in the browser | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Zero install | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Parametric feature history | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | via Grasshopper | ✓ |
| STEP interchange | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-time collaboration | Soon | ✗ | Limited | ✗ | ✓ |
| Assemblies | Soon | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | ✓ |
| Open / self-owned file format | ✓ | Parasolid | Cloud-locked | Partly | Cloud-locked |
| Deterministic, byte-identical rebuild | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Git-style branch / diff / merge | Soon | PDM add-on | Cloud history | ✗ | Proprietary |
| Semantic, geometry-aware merge | Soon | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Native AI copilot | Soon | ✗ | Limited | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to start | ✓ | ✗ | Hobby tier | Trial only | Non-commercial |
Highlighted rows are where Source is structurally ahead — an open, deterministic core is very hard to retrofit onto a mature kernel. The comparison reflects typical current offerings; capabilities change often, so verify against each vendor. “Soon” = on the Source roadmap, not yet shipped.
One rival per axis — and its soft spot
The market is converging on browser + AI + API-first — so those become table stakes. The moat is the part no incumbent can copy without rebuilding their kernel.
Onshape pioneered browser CAD with versions and branches — but they’re feature-tree deltas in a proprietary cloud database. Source’s edge: content-addressed, deterministic, geometry-diffable, and yours to host — beat it on merge quality, not just presence.
Zoo shares the code-as-truth, diffable, agentic thesis, but diffs its script as text via external git. Source’s edge: CAD-native semantic version control and reproducible, geometry-level agent edits.
FreeCAD 1.0 finally added persistent naming — bolted onto OpenCASCADE, version-sensitive. Source’s edge: deterministic naming designed into the kernel from line one.
Slick tools like Shapr3D rent Parasolid; their format and roadmap answer to a licensor. Source’s edge: zero third-party geometry code — no Parasolid, ACIS, or OpenCASCADE, ever — so your files and future are yours.
See for yourself
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