When comparing bforartists vs SolidWorks, the Slant community recommends SolidWorks for most people. In the question“What is the best 3D modeling software?” SolidWorks is ranked 11th while bforartists is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose SolidWorks is:
Because Solidworks is so used, most companies/universities/research institutes have at least some licenses for it, even if it's not their main CAD program. This facilitates exchanging CAD models in native formats between institutions.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Based on Blender, but more user-friendly
Pro Very stable, based on the Blender master
They pull their code from the Blender master.
Pro Not so stressfull to the eyes
Even 10 minutes in Blender can cause a headache. Alone the colored icons are worth the migration. Everything is dull and grey in grey. The monochrome icons in Blender was one of the worst design decisions ever. It's like you tell a programmer that in the future you have monochrome syntax highlighting in the code because it looks newer and fresher. That's a usability disaster.
Pro Easy CAD model exchange
Because Solidworks is so used, most companies/universities/research institutes have at least some licenses for it, even if it's not their main CAD program. This facilitates exchanging CAD models in native formats between institutions.
Pro Advanced modelling
Solidworks is one of the most advanced, commercial CAD applications on the market today. For solid modeling, it uses a parametric and feature-based philosophy. Its operations library is enough to build the products/objects that most designers/engineers will ever need to model.
Cons
Con Unstable
Con Expensive for individuals and freelancers
Solidworks typical clients are big organizations, so buying licenses can be quite expensive for individuals. Usually they only sell them in packs and will only give quotations when requested directly.
Con Weak analysis modules
Solidworks has analysis modules ( structural, thermal, flow, ... ), but they are quite simplistic and their solving abilities aren't the best, so analysis results should be looked at with a critical eye. These modules should only be used for preliminary analysis.