Inventor Nastran Alternatives: Top 10 Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) Software in 2025

Change the way you make decisions every day with fast, intuitive simulation software.

ANSYS nCode DesignLife works with ANSYS Mechanical to reliably evaluate fatigue life. It calculates stresses and strains, then cumulates damage from repetitive loading.

ProModel is a discrete-event simulation technology that is used to plan, design and improve new or existing manufacturing, logistics and other operational systems.

MSC Apex transforms the way engineers perform simulation by reducing critical CAE modeling and process time from days to hours.

PathWave ADS offers market-leading circuit design and simulation software with integrated design guidance via templates to help you get started faster.

Electrical software for designing, teaching, TESTING and printing electrical ladder diagrams. Electrical floor-plan, Motor control training and PLC training software as well. Constructor for ladder diagrams. Residential Wire Pro for electrical floor-plans with PDF import.

6SigmaET's constantly expanding list of features enables you to design, solve, and analyze your thermal models faster than ever before.

Simulation solutions for SOLIDWORKS® provide an easy-to-use portfolio of analysis tools for predicting a product’s real-world physical behavior by virtually testing CAD models.

Rapidly produce proof-of-concepts and shorten your time to market with Ansys Discovery, a complete solution for real-time 3D simulation and analysis.

Automated, reliable and fast CFD simulations with MantiumFlow. Thanks to the automated approach, even non-CFD engineers can use this CFD software.

Altair model-based development (MBD) tools can simulate complex products as systems-of-systems throughout the entire development cycle from early concept design to detailed design to hardware-in-the-loop testing (HIL).

ANSYS Q3D Extractor performs electromagnetic field simulations required for the extraction of resistance, inductance, capacitance and conductance.

ANSYS Electronics Desktop integrates rigorous electromagnetic analysis with system and circuit simulation in a comprehensive, easy-to-use design platform.

Learn more about Autodesk CFD features. Autodesk CFD software provides flexible fluid flow and thermal simulation tools with improved reliability and performance.

Simulation software to integrate concept development, design, testing and production.

Ansys Icepak is a CFD solution for heat control in electronics that forecasts heat transfer, temperature and airflow in power electronics, IC packages, electronic assemblies/enclosures, and PCBs. It offers sophisticated electronic cooling solutions that use the industry-leading Ansys Fluent CFD (computational fluid dynamics) solver for fluid flow and thermal studies of electronic assemblies, integrated circuits (ICs), PCBs (printed circuit boards) and packages. You can perform radiation, convection, and conduction conjugate heat transfer studies, as well as species analysis and laminar and turbulent flow modelling, including convection and radiation with Ansys. You can also gain embedded Joule heating analysis that allows you to solve closely linked electrical and thermal domains at the same time. Electrical voltage and current excitations, as well as thermal sources and loads, can all be included. Users get a basic toolkit for setting up and running parametric runs for training design points in the new LPV ROM (Linear Parameter Varying Reduced-Order Model) functionality with Ansys. Solver initialization, meshing and MCAD geometry loading are 10 to 100 times quicker with Ansys Icepak solver and performance enhancements.

ANSYS Autodyn simulates the response of materials to short duration severe loadings. It is best suited for simulating large material deformation or failure. Integrated within ANSYS Workbench with its own native user interface.

FEATool is an easy to use MATLAB Finite Element FEM toolbox for simulation of structural mechanics, heat transfer, CFD, and multiphysics engineering applications

Fluent is the industry-leading fluid simulation software used to predict fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions and other related phenomena. Known for delivering the most accurate solutions in the industry without compromise, Fluent’s advanced physics modeling capabilities include cutting-edge turbulence models, multiphase flows, heat transfer, combustion, shape optimization, multiphysics and much more.

PLAXIS 3D allows you to make safe, cost-efficient decisions that offer fast, reliable comprehensive analysis methods. The PLAXIS interface guides you across several modes to efficiently create models with intuitive digital geotechnical workflows. Used on projects of all types, ranging from excavations, embankment and foundations to tunneling, mining, and reservoir geomechanics.