Cadasio or a print-first tool: an honest comparison
Cadasio and our studio both run in a browser and both turn CAD assemblies into instructions. They are built for different outputs: Cadasio for interactive 3D presentations, ours for printed line drawings and PDF manuals. Here is how to tell which you need.
Facts checked 4 sources
The short answer
If your customers will follow the instructions on a phone or a screen, in 3D, Cadasio is made for that and Lineplate doesn't do it at all. If the instructions have to be printed, or sent as a PDF with clean line drawings and a ballooned parts list, Lineplate is built for that.
Cadasio is a UK company, like Galaxy Technology, which makes Lineplate. Both tools take a CAD assembly and turn it into instructions, and both run in a web browser. The difference is what comes out. Cadasio's own support team put it this way:
“I think it's fair to say that our primary selling point is the creation of 3D presentations”
Lineplate is the other way round: it makes 2D documentation for print and PDF, and nothing in 3D. So the question is less which tool is better than which kind of instructions your customers use.
Side by side
Every fact about Cadasio comes from Cadasio's own pages, read on the date shown. Every fact about our studio is what its code does today.
| Feature | Cadasio | Lineplate |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | A web browser, with an internet connection for the designer. Published presentations open in the browser of any mobile device.[1][3] | A web page: nothing to install. |
| CAD it opens | Add-ins for SOLIDWORKS, Inventor, Fusion 360, Onshape and Solid Edge, plus STEP and OBJ files.[2] | STEP (.step, .stp), IGES (.iges, .igs) and OpenCASCADE BREP only. Native SOLIDWORKS, Creo or Inventor files need exporting to STEP first. A mesh-only file opens in 3D but gives no line drawing. |
| How the model is held | Converted to an encrypted, compressed and simplified mesh, hosted on AWS servers in the US or EU.[1] | The exact solid geometry, kept in your browser; hidden lines are computed from it. Files are read in your browser and aren't uploaded anywhere. |
| Main output | Interactive 3D presentations, shared by link, embedded or opened from a QR code.[1] | Printed documentation: drawings and multi-page manuals. |
| Other output | Raster and vector images, movies, a basic PDF, and an advanced 2D layout on Premium.[1] | SVG, with circles and arcs written as true arcs, and vector PDF (PDF/A-2b, in RGB or in CMYK with the FOGRA39 profile; the leader arm's manual passed veraPDF on 5 October 2026). No EPS or CGM. PNG at 150, 300 or 600 dpi. |
| Step-by-step instructions | Built as steps of a 3D presentation, with animated transitions between them.[3][1] | Assembly steps worked out from the exploded view, then edited by hand. A manual builder lays out a cover, a parts list with a picture of each part, step pages and your own text, exported as a PDF with bookmarks, or as SVG or PNG pages (Pro). |
| When the design changes | The CAD add-ins update an existing project: new parts are added and geometry changes show in every step.[3] | Drop in the new STEP file: parts are matched and balloons, numbers, the exploded view and steps are carried across, with anything uncertain listed for review (Pro). |
| Free plan | Personal: £0, 3 projects and 10 steps per project. Publishing PDF and movies, and batch 2D image export, are listed from Professional.[1] | Drawings of up to 250 parts, exported as SVG, PDF or PNG with no watermark. Balloons, parts lists and manuals are Pro. |
| Paid plans | Professional: £650 per user a year, or £65 per user a month on the monthly option. Premium: £1,800 per user a year. Taxes added at checkout.[1] | Free: drawings of up to 250 parts, with no watermark. Pro: £49 a month per editor, or £490 a year. No VAT is charged: Galaxy Technology isn't VAT registered. |
What our output looks like
Fig. 1 · leader_arm.step · 16 balloons · 16 items · A3
A printed parts page made from a STEP file: exploded view, balloons and parts list, all line art. Leader arm of Alexander Koch's low-cost robot arm. Model © 2024 Alexander Koch, MIT licence; servo and frame models by Galaxy Technology.
Fig. 2 · NIST CTC 01 · iso view · Technical · 1:2.1 · 143 true arcs · 0 fragments · 0 duplicates
Exact hidden-line removal on a single part: true arcs in the SVG and dashed hidden lines. NIST MBE PMI test part, a US government work used without restriction.
What Cadasio does well
- Interactive 3D instructions that a customer opens on a phone, by link or QR code, with no app to install.
- Add-ins for five CAD systems, so a project comes straight from SOLIDWORKS, Inventor, Fusion 360, Onshape or Solid Edge.
- Updating a project from the CAD add-ins when the design changes, with the steps kept.
- A free plan you can use today, and paid plans you can buy today.
- Movies, analytics, forms and versioning on the higher plans, for instructions that live online.
Where Lineplate falls short today
- Each project lives in the browser it was made in. Nothing syncs between machines or people, so moving a project means importing its CAD file again.
- There is no 3D, video or animated output, and no EPS or CGM.
- It reads STEP, IGES and BREP, not native CAD files. From SOLIDWORKS, Creo or Inventor you export a STEP file first, and a STEP file that holds only a mesh (tessellated geometry) gives no line drawing.
- Very large assemblies are slow to open in a browser. In our test, a 3D printer of 1,683 placed parts took about 6½ minutes to import with the in-browser kernel. Hidden-line views of open 1,000-part assemblies took 1½ to 5½ minutes, over our one-minute target, and left parts out.
- Auto-explode moves each part in a straight line. A part that can only come out with a twist or a dog-leg is kept together with what traps it and listed for you to deal with. On one 58-part extruder sub-assembly, 6 parts stayed together this way.
- Team shares a workspace and a bill, not files: there are no shared cloud projects, review links or single sign-on.
When to choose Cadasio instead
- Your instructions are meant to be followed on screen, in 3D, on a phone or a tablet.
- You want a link or a QR code on the box rather than a printed booklet.
- You work in one of the five CAD systems it has add-ins for, and want to update projects from there.
When Lineplate is the better fit
- The instructions have to be printed, or sent as a PDF, and the drawings have to be clean line art.
- You need a ballooned parts list on the page, numbered the same on every drawing.
- You would rather the CAD file stayed on your computer instead of being converted and hosted.
- Your models arrive as STEP files and you have no CAD add-in to send them from.
Sources
- 01Pricing, Cadasio. Read 4 October 2026. Plans, what each publishes, and the FAQ. Prices per user; taxes added at checkout.
- 02CAD Addins, Cadasio. Read 4 October 2026.
- 03Features, Cadasio. Read 4 October 2026.
- 04Improving 2D output (forum topic 416), Cadasio Forum. Read 4 October 2026. A reply from Cadasio Support, 23 January 2024.
Facts about our studio describe its code on 4 October 2026. Prices change; check the source before you buy. If anything here is wrong, tell us at hello@lineplate.com and we'll correct it.
Cadasio is a trademark of Cadasio Ltd. Lineplate is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cadasio Ltd.