LibreCAD
Free2D drafting only — light, fast, and it speaks DXF
A lightweight 2D CAD program focused on flat drawings — floor plans, mechanical views, renovation layouts and diagrams. It uses DXF natively, so files move between it and AutoCAD, and its interface and shortcuts follow traditional CAD conventions that veterans pick up immediately.
Why we picked it
Not every drawing needs three dimensions. Sketching a floor plan for a renovation, producing two views of a part, handing a contractor a properly dimensioned layout — using a 3D package for those is overkill that makes you wait through a long startup for nothing.
LibreCAD does exactly this one job: 2D only, and therefore light. The installer is a few tens of megabytes, it opens essentially instantly, and it runs fine on old hardware. The toolset is lines, circles, arcs, polylines, dimensions, layers and blocks — the fundamentals of drafting.
For anyone coming from AutoCAD the transition is cheap. Command-line entry, layer management and shortcut logic all follow the familiar conventions, and DXF is its native format, so files move back and forth without much trouble (complex drawings may show minor object-level differences, so check anything important after a round trip).
Be clear about the boundaries:
- It does no 3D. For modeling, rendering or assemblies, use FreeCAD.
- It does not support DWG, AutoCAD's proprietary format. A DWG from someone else must be converted to DXF first. That is not LibreCAD's failing — DWG is a closed format.
- Feature depth trails commercial packages, and very large, complex engineering drawings will strain it.
Who it suits: anyone who occasionally needs one proper 2D drawing — homeowners planning a renovation, DIY builders, students, and small teams sending fabrication drawings to a shop. Open source, free, and no licence needed for commercial work.