AutoCAD vs Revit: Do Architects Still Need Both?

You are probably paying for AutoCAD and Revit both, and you have been for years, because nobody ever questioned the invoice. Here is where each one actually earns its seat, and how to stop double paying.

Here is the short version. Most architecture firms touch both AutoCAD and Revit. Few need to pay for both as separate licenses. Revit is the main tool for modern coordinated design. AutoCAD still earns its keep for 2D details, legacy DWG files, and the files your consultants send. If one person uses both, the Autodesk AEC Collection is almost always cheaper than two standalone seats. If someone opens a tool only a few days a month, Autodesk Flex tokens beat a full seat. And here is the part most posts skip: you cannot cancel an Autodesk subscription in the middle of your term. You can only turn off auto renew before your renewal date. So this is a renewal project, not a Tuesday project.

What each tool is really for

The budget answer flows from here, so start simple.

Revit builds a smart 3D model of the building. Plans, sections, and schedules come out of that one model. This is what we call BIM (Building Information Modeling). Change a wall once and the drawings follow.

AutoCAD draws lines. It makes DWG files: flat geometry, layers, and blocks. Full AutoCAD also does 3D and comes with seven specialized toolsets, including one for architecture. AutoCAD LT is the 2D only version.

Here is the split. Revit builds the model. AutoCAD draws the lines. Most firms need some of both. The amounts are lopsided, and that lopsidedness is where your savings live.

You cannot cancel an Autodesk seat in the middle of your term. Which means your savings window opens once a year, and most firms sleep through it.

Where Revit replaces AutoCAD

For a lot of modern work, Revit does the whole job.

If the project is a coordinated building model, Revit handles design, documentation, and sheets. You are not redrawing plans in AutoCAD. On those projects, a separate AutoCAD seat on top of Revit can be pure waste.

For example, let’s say a designer spends all week in Revit. She opens a DWG maybe twice a month to check a consultant file. If she holds her own full AutoCAD license, you are paying about two thousand dollars a year for roughly twenty four days of use. That is the line item worth hunting down. There is a cheaper way to cover her, and we get to it below.

Where AutoCAD still earns its seat

Now the honest other side. AutoCAD is not dead.

Legacy projects already drawn in DWG do not need a costly rebuild. Consultants and clients still send DWG and expect DWG back. Many firms have years of standard details and title blocks living in DWG, plus custom LISP routines that only run in AutoCAD.

Speed on 2D details is less settled than people claim. Plenty of drafters are faster drawing a detail in AutoCAD. Plenty of good BIM managers will tell you that is a trap, because a separate DWG detail library drifts away from the model over time, and drifted details are how a wrong detail ships. Both camps have a point. You should settle that one with your design lead, not your accountant.

The DWG trap that breaks cheap seats

This is the part that costs firms real days, so read it twice.

AutoCAD LT is a great deal for pure 2D work. It cannot open everything, though. Files created in Civil 3D or AutoCAD Architecture hold special objects (AEC objects). Full AutoCAD can load a free object enabler to display and edit them. AutoCAD LT cannot. Autodesk is blunt about this. In AutoCAD LT those objects show up as boxes and wireframes, and they cannot be edited.

So if your survey consultant works in Civil 3D, an LT seat is the wrong seat for the person who handles those files. LT also cannot run the architecture toolset or third party plugins. It does run AutoLISP now, which surprises people, but not routines that call custom plugins.

Before you move anyone to LT, open two or three real consultant files on an LT trial. Fifteen minutes of testing beats a blown deadline.

Engineers, this part is different for you

If you run a civil, structural, or MEP shop, the math shifts.

Civil 3D is not a bonus in the AEC Collection for you. It is the tool. Same for Revit on the structural and MEP side. That means the Collection usually wins on value faster for engineering firms than for a small architecture studio, because you are genuinely using three or four products, not two.

It also means the LT versions are mostly off the table. Revit LT has no MEP or structural design tools. AutoCAD LT chokes on Civil 3D files. Do not downgrade an engineer to an LT seat to save money. You will pay for it in rework.

Four ways to pay, and who each one fits

Autodesk sells the same software four ways. Most firms only know about two.

• AEC Collection. One subscription, nearly twenty products, including Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and Navisworks. Best for anyone who uses two or more tools regularly.
• A standalone seat. Just Revit, or just AutoCAD. Best for someone who genuinely lives in one product all year.
• The LT products. AutoCAD LT for 2D drafting. Revit LT for simple single user architectural BIM. AutoCAD Revit LT Suite bundles both. These run a few hundred dollars a year instead of a few thousand. Real limits apply. Revit LT has no worksharing, so only one person can be in a model at a time, and it cannot model families in place.
• Flex tokens. Prepaid tokens, charged per day of use. Best for occasional users. More on this below, because it is the option that saves the most and gets mentioned the least.

The AEC Collection math

Here are Autodesk list prices in the United States at the time of writing, for one user paying annually.

• Revit: $3,005 a year
• AutoCAD: $2,095 a year
• AEC Collection: $3,675 a year

Buy Revit and AutoCAD separately and you spend $5,100 for two tools. The Collection costs $3,675 and includes both, plus about eighteen more. So for anyone who really uses both, the Collection is cheaper and gives you more. Autodesk says the same thing in its own FAQ. If you use just two or three products in the Collection, it usually costs less than subscribing to them one at a time.

Two honest caveats. First, these are list prices. If you buy through a reseller, or you are sitting on a three year deal, your numbers are different, and your deal may already beat this math. Second, prices change. Check current numbers and get a quote before you renew.

Autodesk Flex, the option most small firms miss

This is the one that would have helped that designer above.

Flex is prepay. You buy tokens, then spend them per day, only on days someone actually opens a product. Tokens cost $3 each below five thousand. AutoCAD burns 7 tokens a day, so about $21. Revit burns 10, so about $30.

Now do the division. A full AutoCAD seat at $2,095 equals about 100 days of Flex. A Revit seat at $3,005 equals about 100 days too. So if a person opens that product fewer than roughly 100 days a year (about two days a week) Flex costs less. If they open it every day, a subscription wins easily.

Autodesk actually recommends this exact combination for firms your size. Give the drafter an AutoCAD LT seat for daily 2D work, then hand them Flex tokens for the days they need full AutoCAD or full Revit. Autodesk’s own guidance puts typical use in that pattern around 200 to 250 tokens per person per year.

One catch. Tokens expire one year after purchase and do not roll over. Buy for real usage, not for comfort.

What you cannot do: cancel a seat today

Here is where a lot of well meaning advice goes wrong.

You cannot end an Autodesk subscription in the middle of its term. There is a return window (30 days on annual and three year terms, 15 days on monthly). After that, you are paid up through the end of the term either way. The only lever you have left is turning off auto renew before your renewal date.

So the calendar matters more than the spreadsheet. Build your plan about 60 days before renewal. Make the changes at renewal. If you find waste in month four, write it down and fix it in month twelve.

Two more rules that protect you.

Reassign, do not cancel, when someone leaves. Autodesk lets you unassign a named user seat and give it to a new hire. That is a five minute job in your Autodesk account. Canceling a seat you already paid for, then buying a fresh one when you hire, is throwing money away.

Never share one login between two people. It is tempting when you are cutting seats. It also breaks your license agreement, and license compliance is exactly what Autodesk audits for. Getting caught costs far more than the seat you saved.

Two risks nobody warns you about

Cutting software is not risk free. These are the two we see bite firms.

Your legal tail is longer than your project. In Tennessee, design professionals can face claims for years after a project wraps. If a claim lands, you may need to open, revise, or reissue old drawings. That is a real reason to keep DWG editing ability on legacy work, even when a usage report says nobody touched it this year. Talk to whoever handles your E&O coverage before you drop that access.

Revit files only go one direction. A newer version of Revit cannot save down to an older one. If you drop or downgrade a Revit seat while models are live or still inside your retention window, you may lose the ability to open your own archive. DWG stays readable in lots of tools. RVT needs Revit. Plan your archive before you plan your savings.

Your yearly right sizing checklist

Run this once a year, about 60 days before renewal.

• Pull the real numbers, not opinions. Autodesk Account gives subscription admins usage reporting. Use it. Asking people what they use gets you guesses.
• List every seat. Who holds it, and what that person actually opened.
• Match each person to the cheapest option that covers their real work. Two or more tools daily means the Collection. One tool daily means a standalone seat. Pure 2D means an LT seat, after you test real consultant files. A few days a month means an LT seat plus Flex tokens.
• Handle the leftovers. Reassign seats from people who left. Mark unused seats for non renewal, and put the renewal date on the calendar.
• Test before you switch anyone. One trial and three real project files.

For example, let’s say you have ten seats. Six people use Revit and AutoCAD daily, so they belong on the Collection. Two mark up architectural DWGs all day and never touch 3D, so an LT seat plus a small token pool covers them, once you confirm their files open clean. Two seats belong to people who left, so you reassign one to a new hire and let the other lapse at renewal. That is real savings, taken at the right moment, with nobody losing the ability to do the work.

Frequently asked questions

We will right size your Autodesk spend

Your design team should pick the tools. Making sure you are not overpaying for them is where a second set of eyes helps.

Here is what we do not do. We do not tell architects what to draw in. Here is what we do. We pull the real usage numbers, match each person to the license that fits their actual work, test the risky downgrades before you commit, and put your renewal dates where you will see them. Then you or your reseller make the change at renewal, when it is actually possible.

We help small architecture and engineering firms around Knoxville keep software spend honest and tools running. Proactive is better than reactive, and with Autodesk it is also the only option, because the savings window opens once a year.

If you suspect you are double paying for AutoCAD and Revit, give us a call. We will look at your seats and tell you straight where the waste is.

Sources: Autodesk AEC Collection: Included Software; Autodesk AEC Collection Overview and FAQ; Buy Revit; Buy AutoCAD; AutoCAD LT Overview and FAQ; Autodesk: Does Autodesk support third party plugins for AutoCAD LT; Autodesk: Proxy objects do not show correctly and cannot be edited in AutoCAD LT; AutoCAD LT Help: About Custom Objects and Proxy Objects; AutoCAD LT AutoLISP documentation; Autodesk: Is it possible to use worksharing in Revit LT; Autodesk: Model in Place not available in Revit LT; Autodesk Flex: prepay pricing, rates and FAQ; Autodesk Flex rate sheet; Autodesk: Use Flex tokens with an Autodesk subscription; Autodesk: Can I cancel before the end of my subscription; Autodesk refund policy; Autodesk: Transition to a named user subscription; Autodesk: Assign product access