An AutoCAD LT alternative for 2D drawings, in your browser
AutoCAD LT is the standard 2D drafting program, and DWG is its format. Foundry, the 2D side of the Engineering Suite, runs in a browser tab, takes the same commands, and keeps your drawings on your own computer. It does not read DWG. What each does and costs, checked against Autodesk’s own pages on 28 September 2026, and when to stay with AutoCAD LT.
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If your drawings arrive as DWG, go back as DWG, and pass through other people’s AutoCAD every week, keep AutoCAD LT: Foundry does not read or write DWG, and DXF is a detour you would take every time. If you draw your own parts, brackets, plates and layouts, print them to scale and exchange DXF with a laser cutter, a fabricator or a CAM program, Foundry does that work in a browser tab, with AutoCAD’s commands, as part of OBSCURA Pro.
What AutoCAD LT is
Autodesk describes AutoCAD LT as CAD software for precise 2D drafting, design and documentation. It runs on Windows and macOS, and a subscription includes AutoCAD on the web and on mobile. Its drawings are DWG files, the format most of the drafting world exchanges. Autodesk’s suggested retail price in the US is $540 a year or $70 a month, before tax, with a 15-day free trial.
It is a mature program with decades of refinement behind it, and the default in most offices that draw for a living. Nothing on this page argues otherwise.
Side by side
AutoCAD LT’s entries are from Autodesk’s product, trial and system requirements pages as read on 28 September 2026; prices are US and change.
| AutoCAD LT | Foundry | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | $540 a year or $70 a month (US suggested retail price) | Part of OBSCURA Pro: $144 a year or $15 a month, with the 3D parts, the Photo Editor and the Sovereign Suite |
| Free trial | 15 days | 7 days |
| Runs on | Windows and macOS, and in a browser and on mobile with the subscription | A browser tab, on any system with a current browser |
| Install | A desktop program | None; it can be installed as an app from the browser |
| Native format | DWG | .foundry; DXF in and out |
| Reads DWG | Yes | No |
| Where drawings are kept | Where you save them | In the browser on your computer, with versions, and in files you save |
What Foundry does, in AutoCAD’s terms
The command line takes AutoCAD’s words and aliases, and the modify commands pick objects first or after, as AutoCAD’s do.
| The job | In Foundry |
|---|---|
| Draw | LINE, PLINE with arcs, RECTANG, CIRCLE, ARC, ELLIPSE, SPLINE, POLYGON, POINT, XLINE and RAY, DONUT, REVCLOUD, TEXT and MTEXT with stacked fractions |
| Snap and track | Endpoint, midpoint, centre, quadrant, intersection, tangent, perpendicular, node and extension; typed snaps (END, MID, CEN…) and FROM; polar and object snap tracking; @dx,dy input |
| Modify | MOVE, COPY, ROTATE, SCALE, MIRROR, OFFSET, TRIM, EXTEND, FILLET, CHAMFER, STRETCH, BREAK, JOIN, LENGTHEN, EXPLODE, ERASE, grips and MATCHPROP |
| Select | Window, crossing, fence, window and crossing polygon, lasso, QSELECT and SELECTSIMILAR |
| Dimension | Aligned, linear (DLI), ordinate, radius, diameter, angular and arc length, associative; ISO-25 and ANSI styles |
| Tolerance | Symmetric, deviation, limits, basic, and ISO 286 fits (H7, g6, H7/g6) with limits from the standard’s tables |
| Annotate | TOLERANCE feature control frames with datums and modifiers, datum symbols, surface texture, weld symbols, leaders, balloons, centre marks |
| Hatch | HATCH by pick point or objects, islands detected, associative; ANSI31 to ANSI38, STEEL, concrete, SOLID |
| Blocks | BLOCK, INSERT, ATTDEF, ATTEDIT, redefinition, and a Blocks panel |
| Arrays | Rectangular, polar and path, associative |
| Layers | Colour, linetype, lineweight, freeze, lock; LAYISO, LAYFRZ, LAYOFF, LAYMRG, PURGE and layer states |
| Inquire | DIST, ID, AREA (with holes subtracted), MASSPROP for a region, LIST |
| Plot | A vector PDF at a true scale on A4 to A0, Letter, Tabloid, ANSI C and ANSI D, with a border and a title block |
What AutoCAD LT has that Foundry does not
- DWG. Foundry opens and writes DXF only. A DWG has to be saved as DXF in the program that made it first.
- DXF that stays editable. Foundry writes DXF R12, the version every CAD program reads, which has no hatches, no modern dimensions and no splines: those arrive in AutoCAD as the lines, arcs, fills and text they are drawn with. Hatches in a DXF Foundry opens are left out, and it says how many.
- Layouts and viewports. Foundry prints from its one model space onto a sheet at a scale; there is no paper space.
- External references and fonts. There are no xrefs, and text is set in Helvetica only, so that a PDF prints as drawn.
- Years of other people’s habits. Offices, standards and scripts built around AutoCAD will not move to anything else for the sake of a price, and should not.
What Foundry adds
- No installation and no system requirement beyond a current browser. Foundry runs the same on Windows, macOS, ChromeOS and Linux.
- A 3D side in the same plan. The 3D parts bring the drawing open in Foundry into a sketch, to extrude into a solid and send to a printer or a machine shop as STEP, 3MF or STL.
- Your drawings stay on your computer. Everything is worked out in the tab. The drawing is kept in the browser’s storage for this site, with versions and crash recovery, and in the files you save.
- One subscription for several jobs. The same Pro plan covers the Photo Editor, the Sovereign Suite and saving in every tool on the site.
Moving a drawing across
- In AutoCAD LT, save the drawing as DXF. Foundry reads the older R12 entities and the newer ones, such as LWPOLYLINE and MTEXT.
- In Foundry, open the DXF. Lines, arcs, circles, polylines with curved runs, ellipses, splines, points, construction lines, text and multiline text come in with their layers, colours, linetypes and lineweights; blocks are expanded where they are inserted; the file’s units are converted. The message line lists anything it left out.
- Check the scale: a DXF that says nothing about its units has its numbers taken as they stand, which is where a drawing that opens at the wrong size comes from.
- Keep working in Foundry’s own .foundry file, and write DXF only for the person or machine that needs it.
What it costs
Foundry is part of OBSCURA Pro: $15 a month or $144 a year, with 7 days free first, and a $5 day pass or a $9 week pass for a single drawing. For a team it is $69 a month or $690 a year for up to 25 people. There is no free version with features held back: without Pro, the page shows Foundry and asks for a plan.
See it before you pay. Foundry’s page shows it at work, lists the files it opens and writes, and says what it cannot do yet.
Questions people ask about An AutoCAD LT alternative for 2D drawings, in your browser
Can Foundry open DWG files?
No. It opens and writes DXF. Save a DWG as DXF in the program that made it, and open that.
Will AutoCAD open a drawing made in Foundry?
Yes, as DXF R12, the version every CAD program reads. Dimensions, hatches and blocks arrive as the lines, arcs, fills and text they are drawn with, so keep Foundry’s own .foundry file to go on editing them.
Does it use AutoCAD’s commands?
Yes: the command line takes AutoCAD’s words and aliases, such as L, PL, TR, O, F, DLI and H, and the modify commands pick objects before or after, as AutoCAD’s do.
What does it cost compared with AutoCAD LT?
Foundry is part of OBSCURA Pro, $144 a year or $15 a month, with 7 days free, and the plan also covers the 3D parts, the Photo Editor and the Sovereign Suite. Autodesk’s US suggested retail price for AutoCAD LT, as read on 28 September 2026, is $540 a year or $70 a month.
Can it print to scale?
Yes. It writes a vector PDF at a true scale, 1:1, 1:50 or any of the usual ones, on A4 to A0, Letter, Tabloid or ANSI C and D, with a border and a title block.
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- A Smallpdf alternative that works in your browserCompress, merge, split, sign, protect, redact and convert, each Smallpdf job matched to a tool that never uploads the file, with what is free, what is Pro, and what is not here.
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