Fusion or Inventor: Which One Should Your Business Buy?
Fusion costs about a quarter of what Inventor Professional costs, and the first question we get from a manufacturing business is whether the cheaper one will do. Sometimes it will, and sometimes it is the wrong tool at any price. This guide is written by Modena Technologies, Africa's only Autodesk Platinum Partner and an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre in Cape Town. We sell both, train on both and support both, at Autodesk's prices. We earn more when you buy Inventor, and we would still rather you bought the right one, because this is the one Autodesk decision that is awkward to reverse.
The short version. Fusion and Inventor are not a small and a large version of the same thing; they are different products built for different work. Fusion is one cloud-based environment for designing a part or a small assembly and taking it straight to a CNC machine, a 3D printer or a circuit board, and it is the right buy for most job shops, product start-ups, furniture and fabrication businesses and individual designers. Inventor is a file-based mechanical design system built for large assemblies, drawing packs to a standard, rules-based automation and managed data, and it is the right buy for equipment manufacturers, industrial and mining OEMs and engineering drawing offices. The deciding questions are about the scale of the assemblies, the deliverables and where the data must live, not about budget.
Because subscriptions are per named user, a business can run both. The rest of this guide shows where each is stronger, the arithmetic in relative terms (current prices are on the Fusion and Inventor Professional product pages), the three questions we ask, and when the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection is the better buy than either.
In this guide
Two different products · Where each is stronger · The arithmetic · The three questions · When the collection is the answer · A stickier decision than AutoCAD vs LT · How Modena helps · FAQ
Two different products, not two sizes of one
Inventor is more than twenty-five years of mechanical design software for Windows. Its model is files: parts, assemblies and drawings on your drive, your server or in Vault, with the deep machinery that a drawing office needs: standards-driven drawings, parts lists, iLogic rules, Content Center libraries of standard parts, frames, tubes, cables and sheet metal, and the ability to open a competitor's CAD file and keep it associative. It assumes a team, a drawing standard and a product that will be revised for years.
Fusion is newer and built differently. It runs on Windows and Mac, keeps every design in Autodesk's cloud rather than in files, and puts design, machining, simulation and electronics in one window. It assumes a person, or a small team, who designs something and then makes it, often on their own machines, and who would rather not move files between four programs to do so. Autodesk sells extensions for the deeper manufacturing, simulation and design features, so a Fusion seat grows with the work rather than starting at full price.
Where each is stronger
| Where Fusion is stronger | Where Inventor Professional is stronger |
|---|---|
| One environment for design, CAM, simulation and electronics, with no file hand-offs between them | Large assemblies: hundreds to thousands of parts, with simplification and express modes to keep them moving |
| Design straight to your own CNC machines: 2.5- and 3-axis milling and turning included, 4- and 5-axis and probing in the Manufacturing Extension | Drawing packs to a standard: associative drawings, parts lists and BOMs, title-block and sheet automation |
| Organic and freeform product shapes (T-spline sculpting), mesh and surface work | iLogic rules and configurators for engineer-to-order products, and the Design Accelerator for bolted connections, shafts, gears and springs |
| PCB and electronics design in the same model as the enclosure | Frame Generator, Tube and Pipe, Cable and Harness, sheet metal and weldments built for fabricated equipment |
| Cloud data: share a design with a client or supplier by link, work from any machine, version history built in | Content Center libraries of standard parts, and AnyCAD associative references to SolidWorks, NX, CATIA and STEP files |
| Runs on Windows and macOS; one continuously updated version, so everyone is always on the same release | Data stays on your own drives or in Vault, with revision control, lifecycles and controlled release |
| About a quarter of the price of Inventor; extensions bought only when needed | Native DWG and AutoCAD interoperability, Revit interoperability for plant and building equipment, and annual releases with three previous versions available |
The one most people get wrong. Inventor Professional on its own does not include CAM, advanced FEA or nesting. Those are Inventor CAM, Inventor Nastran and Inventor Nesting, and they come only with the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection. Fusion includes machining in the base subscription. So a business that designs in Inventor and programs its own CNC machines needs either the collection or a Fusion seat alongside Inventor, and the collection includes a Fusion seat anyway.
The arithmetic, in relative terms
On our store today Fusion costs about a quarter of Inventor Professional, or one Inventor seat for a little under four Fusion seats. The Manufacturing Extension, which adds four- and five-axis milling, probing and the advanced strategies, costs about twice a base Fusion subscription on its own, so a fully equipped Fusion machining seat still comes in below Inventor, and Autodesk's Fusion for Manufacturing bundle, which is Fusion and the Manufacturing Extension together, costs slightly less than buying the two separately. The Product Design & Manufacturing Collection, which includes Inventor Professional, Fusion, AutoCAD, Vault Basic, Inventor Nastran, Inventor CAM, Inventor Nesting and Inventor Tolerance Analysis, costs about the same as Inventor and Fusion bought separately.
Three things follow. A job shop or product business that only needs Fusion should buy Fusion and add extensions when a job demands them, not before. An engineering business that needs Inventor should check whether anyone in it also machines, nests or runs analysis, because if so the collection is the buy and the standalone Inventor seat is the mistake. And nobody should buy Inventor as a safer version of Fusion; it is a different tool for different work, at four times the price.
The three questions we ask
The first two describe the work Inventor was built for; the third describes the work Fusion was built for. Ask them per person, because a six-person manufacturing business often has two Inventor seats in the drawing office and four Fusion seats on the floor and in the workshop, and that mix is cheaper and better than either product for everyone.
Work through the three questions for each person in turn.
- 1Will they work on large assemblies (hundreds of parts and up), engineer-to-order configurations, drawing packs to a standard, or managed design data in Vault? Yes: Inventor Professional (the PD&M Collection if they also machine, nest or run Inventor Nastran). No: next question.
- 2Must design data stay on your own servers, or do clients and suppliers send you Inventor and AutoCAD files to work on? Yes: Inventor Professional. No: next question.
- 3Is the work mostly parts and small assemblies, design straight to your own CNC machines, electronics, or organic product shapes? Or does the person work on a Mac? Yes: Fusion. No: start on Fusion and move to Inventor at renewal if the work outgrows it.
Large assemblies means hundreds of parts and up: a conveyor, a processing plant module, a vehicle body, a packaging line, a mining screen. Fusion will open assemblies of that size, and each release handles them better, but it was not designed around them, and a thousand-part machine design is still slower work in Fusion than in Inventor. Drawing packs to a standard means a drawing office that issues sets to SANS, ISO or a client standard, with parts lists, revision tables and title blocks that must be right every time; Inventor automates that, Fusion does it adequately. Engineer-to-order means products configured from rules, which is iLogic territory. Managed data means a team that needs revisions, lifecycles and a controlled release, which is Vault.
The data question is the quiet one. Fusion's designs live in Autodesk's cloud; that is a feature for a start-up sharing with suppliers and a hard stop for a business whose client contracts, defence or mining agreements, or own policy require design data on its own premises. Inventor's files live wherever you put them. The supply-chain question is similar: if the OEMs and consultancies you work for send Inventor and AutoCAD files and expect them back in kind, you work in Inventor.
Fusion's territory is the other direction. Parts and small assemblies designed and then made, on your own CNC, laser or printer, with the toolpaths done in the same model. Products with organic or sculpted shapes. Anything with a circuit board in it. Anyone on a Mac. And, more often than people expect, the general mechanical design of a small business that has never needed a drawing office and will not need one soon.
When the collection is the answer
The Product Design & Manufacturing Collection is the right buy for one kind of person: an Inventor user who also does anything on the right-hand side of the Inventor seat. Machining in Inventor CAM. Advanced analysis in Inventor Nastran. Nesting sheet and plate. Managing data in Vault Basic. Drafting in AutoCAD. Or simply wanting Fusion as well, for the quick concept, the client share or the five-axis job. For that person the collection costs about what Inventor and Fusion cost separately and brings the rest free. For an Inventor-only drawing office that does none of those things, the collection is a third more than Inventor for software nobody opens, and the standalone seat is right. Our collection guide for the AEC side makes the same argument with different products; the logic is identical.
A stickier decision than AutoCAD vs AutoCAD LT
In our AutoCAD vs AutoCAD LT guide we say start on LT if in doubt, because the files are identical and the switch is painless. That advice does not carry over here. A Fusion design and an Inventor design are different things; geometry moves between them as STEP or through AnyCAD, but the parametric history, sketches, constraints and drawings do not. A business that changes its mind after two years re-models what it still needs. So make this choice with a three-year view of the work, and when in doubt, start on Fusion rather than Inventor: the cost of outgrowing Fusion is a re-model of a few live products, while the cost of over-buying Inventor is four times the subscription every year for work that never needed it.
How Modena helps
Before a quote we will ask what you make, how big the assemblies get, what you issue to clients and where the data has to live, and recommend Fusion, Inventor, the collection or a mix with the reasoning shown. We teach Fusion Fundamentals and Inventor Fundamentals in Cape Town and live online, with advanced Inventor courses for drawing offices, and we set up Inventor templates and standards so the drawing pack is right from the first project, and review existing Inventor models that have grown slow or fragile. For furniture and joinery businesses we also supply Woodwork for Inventor. Hardware is covered in our Fusion and Inventor workstation guides.
Ask us which one fits your business See the manufacturing software range
Frequently asked questions
Is Fusion a cut-down Inventor?
No. They are different products with different foundations. Fusion is a cloud-based platform that puts CAD, CAM, simulation and electronics in one place and is built for an individual or a small team moving quickly from design to a machine. Inventor is a file-based mechanical design system built for large assemblies, drawing packs to a standard, rules-based automation and managed data. Each does things the other cannot.
Can we move from Fusion to Inventor later, or the other way?
You can change the subscription at renewal, but the files do not convert the way AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT files do. Geometry moves between them as STEP or through AnyCAD; the parametric history, sketches, constraints and drawings do not. A practice that switches re-models what it still needs. That is why this decision deserves a three-year view rather than a one-year one.
Does Inventor include Fusion?
A standalone Inventor Professional subscription does not. The Product Design & Manufacturing Collection includes both, along with AutoCAD, Vault Basic, Inventor Nastran, Inventor CAM, Inventor Nesting and Inventor Tolerance Analysis, and on our store it costs about the same as Inventor and Fusion bought separately. An Inventor user who also wants Fusion should buy the collection.
Does Fusion include CAM?
Yes. Two-and-a-half-axis and three-axis milling, turning, and waterjet, laser and plasma are in the base subscription with a free post-processor library. Four- and five-axis simultaneous milling, probing and the advanced strategies are in the Manufacturing Extension, which costs about twice the base subscription on its own. Inventor only gets CAM through the collection, as Inventor CAM.
Does Fusion work offline, and where is the data kept?
Fusion keeps every design in Autodesk's cloud and works with a local cache when the connection drops, so you can carry on for a while without internet but not indefinitely, and the data lives with Autodesk rather than on your server. Inventor files live wherever you put them, on a local drive, a network share or in Vault. If a client contract or your own policy requires design data to stay on your premises, that settles the choice in Inventor's favour.
Is there a free version of Fusion?
There is a free Fusion for personal, non-commercial use with a reduced feature set. It is not licensed for business use. If the work earns money, it needs a commercial subscription; the business one is already the cheapest professional 3D CAD subscription Autodesk sells.
Which one should a student or a new engineer learn?
Both, in the end, but start with the one your target employers use. Fabrication shops, furniture makers, product start-ups and anyone programming their own CNC machines tend to run Fusion; equipment manufacturers, mining and industrial OEMs, and engineering consultancies with drawing offices tend to run Inventor. We teach Fundamentals courses for both in Cape Town and live online.
Next step
If you are buying for one person, work through the three questions above. If you are buying for a business, send us a note on what you make, how big the assemblies get, what you issue to clients and where the data must live, and we will come back with a seat mix and the reasoning. If you already subscribe, we can review the mix against Autodesk's usage report before your next renewal.
