An alternative to SOLIDWORKS Composer, compared honestly
SOLIDWORKS Composer is the established desktop tool for turning CAD into illustrations, manuals and interactive 3D. Here is what it does, what it costs, and where a browser tool that works from STEP files fits, including when Composer is the better buy.
Facts checked 4 sources
The short answer
If you need interactive 3D, video, or CGM for a publishing system, or you work from native SOLIDWORKS files, Composer does far more than Lineplate. If you need clean line drawings, ballooned parts pages and printed assembly manuals from STEP files, without a Windows workstation, Lineplate is built for that one job.
Composer is a desktop authoring tool for technical communication: illustrations, step-by-step procedures, animations and interactive 3D, all made from 3D CAD data. Lineplate does a narrower job. It takes a STEP file and makes printed documentation from it: line drawings, exploded views, ballooned parts lists and step-by-step assembly manuals. If the narrower job is all you need, the comparison below is worth reading in full; if you need Composer's 3D and video output, it will be short.
Side by side
Every fact about Composer comes from a reseller's or vendor's page, read on the date shown, and is listed under Sources. Every fact about our studio is what its code does today.
| Feature | SOLIDWORKS Composer | Lineplate |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows. SOLIDWORKS 2026 client products are listed for Windows 11, 64-bit, and the requirements say "SOLIDWORKS Composer is not supported in a virtualized environment".[3] | A web page: nothing to install. |
| CAD it opens | SOLIDWORKS, Pro/ENGINEER and Creo, and Inventor files, plus STEP, IGES and other neutral formats.[1] | 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. |
| Vector output | SVG, EPS, SVGZ and CGM.[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. |
| Raster output | JPG, BMP, TIF and PNG.[1] | PNG at 150, 300 or 600 dpi. |
| Video and interactive 3D | Video (AVI) and interactive 3D (3D PDF, HTML, SMG).[1] | None. The output is 2D: drawings, and manuals as PDF, SVG or PNG pages. There is no video, animation or interactive 3D. |
| Balloons and parts lists | Auto balloons, BOM table, arrows and detail views.[1] | Automatic balloons with leaders, numbered from one parts list shared by every drawing. The list goes on the sheet as a table and out as CSV (Pro). |
| Step-by-step instructions | Step-by-step procedures showing incremental components.[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 | Updates content with the latest design changes: geometry, BOM tree and metadata.[1] | 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). |
| Price | UK: £2,578 for a 12-month rental licence or £773 for 3 months, ex VAT (Visiativ UK). US: $3,142 for a 12-month term, or $5,765 perpetual plus $1,495 a year for the service; sales tax not stated (Design and Process).[1][2] | 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
An illustrated parts page made by our pipeline from a STEP file: an exploded view, automatic balloons and the parts list on the sheet. Nothing was redrawn by hand. 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 04 · iso view · Technical · 1:2.08 · 854 true arcs · 0 fragments · 0 duplicates
A single part drawn with exact hidden-line removal: circles and arcs are true arcs in the SVG, and hidden lines are dashed. NIST MBE PMI test part, a US government work used without restriction.
Dassault's Product Communicator
Dassault also sells Product Communicator on its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Its store page describes it as "fully browser-based" and as a way to create photo-quality images from 3D data in the browser, at $3,156 for a yearly subscription, excluding local VAT. We haven't compared it with our studio here. If you already use 3DEXPERIENCE, check whether it covers what you need first.
What SOLIDWORKS Composer does well
- It opens native SOLIDWORKS, Creo and Inventor files, so nobody has to export a STEP file first.
- It makes far more than print: video, 3D PDF, HTML and its own interactive SMG format alongside SVG, EPS, CGM and raster images.
- CGM and EPS output suits publishing systems that expect them.
- It keeps content up to date when the design changes, including the BOM tree and metadata.
- It can be bought on a 3-month term for occasional use, as well as for a year or as a perpetual licence.
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.
- 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.
- There is no 3D, video or animated output, and no EPS or CGM.
- 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.
- We don't claim PDF/X. Our CMYK PDFs carry the PDF/X-4 structure, but no validator has passed them as PDF/X, so a printer who needs PDF/X should check the file.
- Team shares a workspace and a bill, not files: there are no shared cloud projects, review links or single sign-on.
When to choose SOLIDWORKS Composer instead
- You need interactive 3D, video, or 3D PDF, not only printed pages.
- Your documentation system needs CGM or EPS.
- Your team works in SOLIDWORKS and wants documents tied to the native files rather than to exported STEP files.
When Lineplate is the better fit
- The models arrive as STEP files, from suppliers or from more than one CAD system.
- What you need is print: line drawings with exact hidden lines, ballooned parts pages and step-by-step assembly manuals as PDF.
- You aren't on Windows, or can't install software on the machine you have.
- You would rather the CAD file never left your computer: it is read in your browser.
- You only need a drawing now and then: the free plan makes drawings of up to 250 parts.
Sources
- 01SOLIDWORKS Composer, Visiativ UK (SOLIDWORKS reseller). Read 4 October 2026. UK prices ex VAT, file formats and features.
- 02SOLIDWORKS Composer, Design and Process (US SOLIDWORKS reseller). Read 4 October 2026. US prices, term and perpetual.
- 03SOLIDWORKS system requirements, Applicad (SOLIDWORKS reseller), copy of the SOLIDWORKS requirements. Read 4 October 2026. A reseller's copy; solidworks.com didn't respond when checked.
- 04Product Communicator, Dassault Systèmes (3DEXPERIENCE store). Read 4 October 2026.
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.
SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Composer are trademarks of Dassault Systèmes. Lineplate is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Dassault Systèmes.