RapCAD
The facts below are what the maker publishes about RapCAD, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From RapCAD's own pricing page, checked 11 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| RapCAD | Free | GPLv3 software; no paid plans or usage limits stated |
The facts
Each one read from RapCAD's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- 2D and 3D
- Users can work with 2D and 3D objects within the same environment.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Boolean geometry
- It supports Boolean operations on 3D Nef Polyhedrons, including union, intersection, and difference.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Designs are compatible with traditional text based source control management software.checked 11 Oct 2026
- License
- The project is published under the GPLv3 license.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Maintenance
- The project page says RapCAD is maintained by Giles Bathgate.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Multithreading
- RapCAD is designed to use multi core processors for faster calculations.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Precision
- RapCAD uses arbitrary precision arithmetic powered by the GMP and MPFR libraries, converting to floating point precision at rendering or export.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Procedural modeling
- Its scene description language supports a procedural and imperative approach for defining and automating model creation.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- RapCAD is an integrated development environment for creating rapid prototype models for RepRap and RepStrap 3D printing machines.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Reusable modules
- Users can create reusable component modules and distribute them as a design library.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Security
- The project describes its GPLv3 licensed scene description language as avoiding general purpose capabilities such as reading or writing files and network access.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Source control
- Its text based designs are compatible with traditional source control management software.checked 11 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Design approach
- It uses a modular scene description language rather than a GUI based CAD workflow.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Linux limitation
- The README lists Ubuntu Bionic, Focal, and Groovy as supported distributions.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Supported platforms
- Installation instructions are provided for Windows, Ubuntu Linux, and Mac OS X.checked 11 Oct 2026
Money
- Free plan
- Yeschecked 19 Sep 2026
Alternatives to RapCAD
- 1
Rhino 3D
Free planiOSAPILinuxmacOS8.8Free plan - 2
Onshape
Free planAndroidiOSWeb8.6From $1,500 a year - 3
SOLIDWORKS
WebmacOSWindows8.3From $48 a year - 4
Shapr3D
Free planmacOSWindows8.1From $299 a year - 5
Plasticity
Free planLinuxmacOSWindows7.9$175 one-time - 6
OpenSCAD
Free planOpen sourceWebAPILinuxmacOS7.9Free plan