Which CAD program do you use? Is it free? What are its advantages?

I downloaded FreeCAD (0.19), and it is pretty much ok. I come from SolidWorks, but cant afford that (was a student, when I used it).
So FreeCAD doesn't come intuitively.
A friend suggested OnShape!, which I have to check out, but that one is in-browser, and I'm kinda oud-school i guess.

Oh yeah: Minimum requirement: must be able to create stl-files.

Sketchup 2017 requires no subscription and can be supplemented with a massive amount of community plugins. It's also a local program, and not the ridiculous online web browser that a lot of free CAD programs are using.

Onshape is somewhat solidworks like, it's definitely a good tool. Only disadvantage is that you can't use it when not connected to the internet.

Fusion 360 is my current favorite program. They offer a free license for makers. I use it for lots of 2d cad, as well as 3d stuff.

Ross

Fusion is my choice too. I literally have tried all the free cad programs. All seem to have something to recommend them but for my backround none seemed to be intuitive enough to learn much without help. Basics could be figured out but then it always seemed they did things in an odd way.
With Fusion the concepts involved seemed more consistent but I will admit sometimes how you use a tool seemed inconsistent with others. BUT there is a wealth of online help, especially the user forum and unlike all the other programs I've tried I've been able to do what ever I wanted with a little research. Add to that the integration of Eagle PCB design, Mesh design and the CAM and drafting modes and its has been an amazing tool. I think its really nice to have an end to end tool to make things using both additive and subtractive methods so it works equally well to laser, CNC route and 3D print things.
Another thing to recommend it is while Autodesk does limit you to 10 active projects(thats not much of a limit for me) you can have unlimited projects just by changing their status from non edit to active. So I have a couple dozen projects but usually only 3-5 active at any one time.

I also use F360, but on an educational license that doesn't seem to expire.

As far as I'm aware, the free free version was severely limited which is why I didn't even mention it. F360 is a one stop for CAD and CAM operations, from milling/routing, to laser/waterjet, to turning.

Like Ross says, the free non commercial/hobby use license is the way to go. As I mentioned the main limit is on projects and also it does not allow multiple tool changes for milling in the same operation and a few other things which are pretty much applicable to machines which means the licence cost would be trivial if you can afford the machine which supports those operations.

There were no limits on F360 hobby version until last October, but like crossup says, most of the limits aren't a big deal for us hobbyists. I think they also nerf'd a few CAM features like high-speed moves, but it's not that big of a deal to edit the G-code after the fact if you need to. F360 is definitely different than the traditional CAD programs I cut my teeth on, and it was at times maddening to learn, but well worth it in the end. SketchUp and Blender were also maddening enough to learn that I just gave up on them.

I have close to 100 Fusion360 projects over the last few years ranging from the complex (An 80" Avro Lancaster for balsa) to the ridiculous (a 3D printed refrigerator door handle that I wasn't going to pay $100 for ). I think for 3D it can't be beat, and it's pretty darn good for most 2D work too.

I still use the DevCad suite for parametric airplane design and most of my 2D CAM (laser and router), but it ain't free...

BTW-if you join the EAA, you get a free Solidworks educational license. I've been tempted since it comes with a magazine too, and I'm old enough to like reading things on paper

Mike C.