This means you can trial the fully functioning software for a year, for free, then downgrade to the ‘free for personal use’ when you subscribe again.Īlthough, I would suggest using the ‘free for personal use’ option right from the start, if you have no intention to upgrade in the future. I believe they are referring to the fully functioning version of fusion 360 with this quote.Īuto desk just wants to ensure you have not started your own side business in the past year and started earning over $1000/year. A hobbyist user must generate less than $1,000 USD in annual revenue, using Fusion 360 for home-based, non-commercial design, manufacturing, and fabrication projects” “Fusion 360 for personal use is free for 1-year for qualifying non-commercial users. I lot of the confusion stems from quotes like this, taken from autodesk’s website:. What it means is after your 1 year subscription expires you have to ‘re-qualify’ for the ‘free for personal use’ subscription. Is Fusion 360 only free for a year?Īutodesk’s website is really confusing on this topic and at first glance it does look like fusion 360 is a free trial for a year and then you have to cough up the dough to keep using it. I use a different cad/cam software at work (Mastercam) so I have not used Fusion that much, but it was still quite easy to understand based on its similarity with other “industrial grade” software programs.īasically you are getting the real deal for free and not a low functioning knock off. This means the user interface will guide you on creating the correct workflow when programming your toolpaths just as professionals do in any machine shop.

Fusion 360 Priceįusion 360 is a free download and is capable of doing anything a cnc hobbyist will ever need.īecause Fusion is a fully functioning “industrial grade” Cad/Cam program you will get to learn how trained machinists create toolpaths. Hopefully this article will explain the current situation with this software and I also show a useful ‘hack’ to fix one of the most annoying restrictions from the Fusion 360 October 2020 update. Sometimes, after recommending Fusion 360 I will get a reply saying its only free for a year, or Autodesk has added restrictions to prevent its usefulness. They have used software such as JScut and vector software like Inkscape and have quickly discovered its limitations. I frequently get emails from my website visitors asking for advice on which Cad/Cam software they should progress to.

Autodesk fusion 360 free trial