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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    LabVIEW

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ANational Instruments headquartered in Austin offers LabVIEW, a systems engineering software platform and toolkit.

    $407

    per year

    SOLIDWORKS

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ADassault Systemes offers SOLIDWORKS, a computer-aided design (CAD) system for education and manufacturing supporting 2D or 3D design, electrical design, simulations, and product development with collaboration tools.

    $1,295

    per year

    Pricing
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Editions & Modules
    LabView Base
    $407
    per year
    LabView Full
    3,206
    per year
    LabView Professional
    5,344
    per year
    Solidworks Annual Subscription
    1,295
    per year
    Solidworks Standard
    3,996
    per standalone license
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Considered Both Products
    NI (National Instruments)
    No answer on this topic
    Dassault Systemes
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Would buy again
    32 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    30 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    19 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    24 Answers
    Features
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Computer-Aided Design Software
    Comparison of Computer-Aided Design Software features of National Instruments LabVIEW and SOLIDWORKS
    Feature
    National Instruments LabVIEW
    8.0
    1 Ratings
    12% above category average
    SOLIDWORKS
    7.6
    2 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Rendering and Visualization8.01 Ratings7.52 Ratings
    Parametric Design8.01 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Collaboration and Sharing6.01 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Compatibility with other software and formats6.01 Ratings9.22 Ratings
    Assembly Design6.01 Ratings6.92 Ratings
    Simulation and Analysis10.01 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Documentation and Annotation10.01 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Customization and Extensions10.01 Ratings7.72 Ratings
    3D Modeling00 Ratings9.22 Ratings
    2D Drafting00 Ratings7.72 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Small Businesses
    Onshape
    Score10 out of 10
    Onshape
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Onshape
    Score10 out of 10
    Onshape
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    PTC Creo
    Score5.4 out of 10
    PTC Creo
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    9.1
    (57 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.2
    (16 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    LabVIEWSOLIDWORKS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    NI (National Instruments)
    LabView is a great tool to connect your sensors to your data aquisition hardware. It makes it really easy to set-up a data acquisition routine that meets your individual requirements. I, as an engine researcher, find it very well suited for engine experimentation. For any other programming needs, i.e. not data acquisition, I would not recommend using LabView because of its graphical programming architecture. The architecture makes it a great tool for Data Aquisition but puts at a disadvantage when it comes to other computational tasks, e.g. making a thermodynamic engine model. For those applications having text-based programming is better suited
    Incentivized
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    Dassault Systemes
    As a mechanical engineer, it is one of the best tools to just start modeling and engineering with. The UI tools are intuitive and engineering analysis such Mold Analysis, FEA, are great! Other 3D CAD modeling tools have a longer learning curve to master. All in all, if you're not planning to design an entire airplane with large assembly files, then Solidworks is your tool!
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    NI (National Instruments)
    • Being a graphical programming language, it is a little easier for a layperson to understand than text based programming languages.
    • The program has very good debugging features.
    • Support is good.
    • There are a variety of tutorials which make it easier to do something that you aren't sure about.
    Incentivized
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    Dassault Systemes
    • The collaborative work environment is a cool and useful feature where groups of people can work on the same model at the same time, and SOLIDWORKS ensures that you don't overwrite each other's work.
    • The ease and amount of customization options are very useful for creating a personalized and intuitive user interface, whether SOLIDWORKS is your native CAD package or not.
    • It is very easy to quickly edit a model you have already created. The software allows sketch and feature editing without having to take the time to actually enter the sketch/feature environment.
    • The use of configurations and configurations-specific dimensions in the same sketch is very useful for creating different forms of the same part
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    NI (National Instruments)
    • improve the management of pc resources to use the minimum amount of resources
    • add a utility for zooming in the block diagram window
    • Improve management of complementary applications, such as real time module or dsc
    Incentivized
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    Dassault Systemes
    • Save DWG 2D files in inches or metric easily, defaults to metric and has to be manually converted to inches
    • When using the sketch feature, the ability to disable ALL references. If I don't know the exact shape and I want to draw/adapt my design, it harshly interprets the references which have no value to me. The easiest exact is to think about when you have a Microsoft Word document that has a lot of formatting, photos, tabs, etc. If you accidentally hit the "enter" key, you can explode the formatting and everything goes crazy. SW does this to me, I just want to "doodle" my sketches, edit/delete/etc and not be bound by arbitrary references.
    • For the sketch feature, ability to use a DraftSight plugin of some sort. I'm super fast in DS, if I could draw using the commands in SW then I would probably never open DS again and convert to SW full time. Currently, I only use SW as a way to convert 3D files so I can build everything in DraftSight.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    NI (National Instruments)
    No answers on this topic
    Dassault Systemes
    We have absolutely no reasons to not keep with SolidWorks for the foreseeable future.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    NI (National Instruments)
    No answers on this topic
    Dassault Systemes
    I have been using SOLIDWORKS for around 12 years as of writing this review, so have learned where most things are and how they work. When first starting out it was quite daunting, but the interface is well laid out with like functions near each other which made finding new functions relatively easy.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    NI (National Instruments)
    No answers on this topic
    Dassault Systemes
    We have an unusual arrangement. We don’t pay for support, but we’re partnered with a VAR for second-tier support.
    I work with other users if I have questions but when we’ve had to ask the VAR, they always have answers. It appears that all of the VARs have access to a support platform from DS SOLIDWORKS that helps them answer most questions.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    NI (National Instruments)
    We chose LabVIEW over MATLAB due to the integration with hardware and the graphical programming interface. Also, the ability to use LabVIEW with FPGAs and real-time processors without having to make large changes to the code base or swapping to a separate programming environment was a big benefit since we don't know what hardware will be suitable for each customer application.
    Incentivized
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    Dassault Systemes
    Onshape is a direct competitor. It has great entry level pricing and it is easy to access with no installation required. Being a web based app there is sometime some lag being based in NZ. Management also have concerns over where the data is stored on the cloud. With SW we can control where it is stored
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    NI (National Instruments)
    • We use NI's data acquisition hardware as well which has made it possible to get whatever experimental data we need to get for our studies.
    • LabView has made it possible for us to post-process and tailor the raw data to our specific needs.
    • With a responsive customer support team, NI allows us to expand our data acquisition and post-processing capabilities to carry out the kind of research projects that we would want.
    Incentivized
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    Dassault Systemes
    • Creation of small 3D pieces to generate cash flow.
    • Not being able to create 3D sculptures with this tool, and not being able to fulfill the client's requirements.
    • To be able to sell high visual quality simulations for companies that hire the service.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots