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 US$540 a year or US$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 | US$540 a year or US$70 a month (US suggested retail price) | US$35 a year or US$4 a month with the Engineering Suite, the 3D parts included; or US$79 a year or US$9 a month in OBSCURA Pro, with every other OBSCURA application |
| 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 |
| Parametric | Geometric constraints (GCHORIZONTAL, GCPARALLEL, GCTANGENT and the rest), dimensional constraints (DCALIGNED and the rest), DELCON, CONSTRAINTBAR and PARAMETERS, solved by FreeCAD’s planegcs |
| Layouts | Sheets as layouts, each with its paper, an ISO or ASME frame and title block, and viewports (MVIEW) at their own scale with their own hidden layers |
| Underlays | IMAGEATTACH for a picture or a PDF page, with CALIBRATE, IMAGECLIP and IMAGEFADE |
| 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, or every sheet as a page |
| Cut | CAM: G-code for GRBL or LinuxCNC, with kerf, lead-ins, tabs and passes |
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.
- Everything in a DXF. Foundry writes AutoCAD 2000 or 2007 DXF with real dimensions, hatches, blocks and layouts, but a picture under the drawing stays in the .foundry file, an array goes out to other programs as one block of its copies, and an arc length dimension is a true ARC_DIMENSION only in a 2007 file. A hatch pattern Foundry does not have keeps the lines the file gives it.
- Live external references and SHX fonts. Foundry attaches another drawing as an xref, but keeps a copy of it that is brought up to date only when you reload it, since a web page cannot follow a file by its path. Text is set in Helvetica, DejaVu Sans, DejaVu Sans Mono or Hershey Sans, a single-stroke lookalike of the SHX fonts rather than the fonts themselves.
- 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, and lay a part out on a Foundry sheet as views with hole callouts and a parts list.
- G-code from the drawing. CAM cuts a drawing’s outlines on a laser or router running GRBL or LinuxCNC, with the kerf allowed for and tabs to hold parts in the sheet. It is 2D profiling, not a full CAM program.
- 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 PDF Studio, OBSCURA Case, 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, MTEXT, HATCH and DIMENSION.
- 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 stay blocks with their attributes, dimensions stay dimensions, hatches stay hatches, and layouts come in as sheets with their viewports; 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 comes with the Engineering Suite, US$4 a month or US$35 a year on its own; all of OBSCURA Pro is US$9 a month or US$79 a year. Each comes with 7 days free first. For a team, each person needs a plan of their own. 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. Foundry writes AutoCAD 2000 by default, so dimensions, hatches, blocks with their attributes and the sheets as layouts arrive as themselves, or R12 for older programs, where they arrive as the lines, arcs, fills and text they are drawn with. Pictures under the drawing stay in Foundry’s own .foundry file.
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 comes with the Engineering Suite, which is US$35 a year or US$4 a month on its own, the 3D parts included, or with all of OBSCURA Pro at US$79 a year or US$9 a month; either has 7 days free. Autodesk’s US suggested retail price for AutoCAD LT, as read on 28 September 2026, is $540 a year or $70 a month, so the Engineering Suite alone is US$505 a year less, and all of Pro US$461 a year less.
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. A drawing laid out on sheets prints every sheet as a page, each viewport at its own scale.
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