What Is BIM?
Mix (18 tools)
- License: 8 open source · 10 proprietary
- Hosting: 14 self-hosted · 1 SaaS · 3 both
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the practice of representing a building or piece of infrastructure as a data model rather than as a set of drawings. Every wall, duct, beam and room is an object carrying geometry and properties – fire rating, material, cost code, manufacturer – and drawings are generated from that model rather than drawn independently.
The distinction that matters operationally is between authoring and coordination:
- Authoring tools create the model. One per discipline is normal: architecture, structure, mechanical, electrical
- Coordination tools federate the discipline models, detect clashes, check compliance and track the resulting issues to resolution
A third group, data and interoperability platforms, moves model data between the other two and versions it over time.
About this data & disclaimer
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. This catalogue serves as a reference for the resources, applications, devices, deployment payloads, and other components that the ResorsIT platform integrates, deploys, and manages. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. This information is compiled on a best-effort basis: it may be incomplete, contain errors, and become out of date as tools, vendors, licences, and features change. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and independently verify and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it.
Comparison
Tool Shape
What each tool is actually for. Mixing these up is the most common mistake in the category.
| Tool | Authoring | Coordination | Data Platform | Library |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BimCraft | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Bonsai | Yes | Partial | No | No |
| IfcOpenShell | API | No | No | Yes |
| FreeCAD BIM | Yes | No | No | No |
| BIMserver | No | Partial | Yes | No |
| xBIM | API | No | No | Yes |
| That Open | No | No | No | Yes |
| Speckle | No | No | Yes | No |
| Revit | Yes | No | No | No |
| Archicad | Yes | No | No | No |
| Tekla Structures | Yes | Partial | No | No |
| Vectorworks | Yes | No | No | No |
| Allplan | Yes | No | No | No |
| OpenBuildings | Yes | No | No | No |
| Navisworks | No | Yes | No | No |
| Solibri | No | Yes | No | No |
| BIMcollab | No | Yes | Partial | No |
| Revizto | No | Yes | No | No |
Open Standards Support
The axis that matters most for avoiding lock-in.
| Tool | IFC Read | IFC Write | IFC4.3 | BCF | IDS | COBie |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BimCraft | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Bonsai | Native | Native | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| IfcOpenShell | Yes | Yes | Yes | Via tools | Yes | No |
| FreeCAD BIM | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | No | No |
| BIMserver | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| xBIM | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| That Open | Yes | No | Partial | Yes | No | No |
| Speckle | Via conn. | Via conn. | No | No | No | No |
| Revit | Yes | Lossy | No | Via add-in | Partial | Add-in |
| Archicad | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Tekla Structures | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Vectorworks | Yes | Yes | No | Partial | No | Yes |
| Allplan | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| OpenBuildings | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Navisworks | Yes | No | No | Via add-in | No | No |
| Solibri | Yes | No | No | Yes | Partial | No |
| BIMcollab | Yes | No | No | Native | No | No |
| Revizto | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
IFC-native: only Bonsai treats IFC as the working format rather than an exchange format.
IFC4.3 (infrastructure: alignments, roads, rail, earthworks) is supported by almost nothing here. Bonsai and IfcOpenShell have it; CivilCraft in Engineering Tools (Specialist) writes it.
Platform Support
| Tool | Linux | macOS | Windows | Browser | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BimCraft | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Bonsai | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| IfcOpenShell | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | No |
| FreeCAD BIM | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| BIMserver | Yes | Yes | Yes | Web UI | No |
| xBIM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Viewer | No |
| That Open | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Speckle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Revit | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Archicad | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tekla Structures | No | No | Yes | Partial | No |
| Vectorworks | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Allplan | No | No | Yes | Partial | No |
| OpenBuildings | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Navisworks | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Solibri | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| BIMcollab | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Revizto | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Linux desktop BIM is open source only. Not one commercial authoring or coordination tool here runs on Linux.
Coordination Capability
| Tool | Federation | Clash | Rule Checking | Issues | 4D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BimCraft | Yes | Yes | Yes | BCF | No |
| Bonsai | Yes | Limited | IDS | BCF | Yes |
| BIMserver | Merge | No | Plugin | No | No |
| Speckle | Yes | No | Automate | No | No |
| Navisworks | Yes | Yes | Limited | Basic | Yes |
| Solibri | Yes | Yes | Yes | BCF | No |
| BIMcollab | Yes | Yes | Smart rules | Yes | No |
| Revizto | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | No |
The open-source gap. Solibri’s rule-based compliance checking has no open equivalent. Bonsai’s IDS support covers information requirements, not spatial and geometric rules.
Identity & SSO
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | Self-service | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speckle | Yes | No | Yes | Self-hosted OIDC strategy |
| BIMcollab | Plan | Plan | Yes | Higher plans only |
| Revizto | No | Plan | Yes | Enterprise plans |
| Revit | Ent. | Ent. | No | Autodesk ID federation |
| Navisworks | Ent. | Ent. | No | Autodesk ID federation |
| Archicad | Ent. | Ent. | No | Graphisoft ID |
| Tekla Structures | Ent. | Ent. | No | Trimble Identity |
| Allplan | Ent. | No | No | Vendor arrangement |
| OpenBuildings | Ent. | Ent. | No | Bentley IMS |
| Solibri | Ent. | No | No | Vendor arrangement |
| BIMserver | No | No | — | Local accounts only |
| Vectorworks | No | No | — | None documented |
Ent. = enterprise arrangement with the vendor, not configurable by the customer.
Best: Speckle (self-hosted, native OIDC) and BIMcollab (self-service SAML and OIDC on higher plans). Desktop authoring tools generally have no federation path at all.
Licensing & Cost
| Tool | License | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| BimCraft | Apache-2.0 | Free |
| Bonsai | GPL-3.0-or-later | Free |
| IfcOpenShell | LGPL-3.0-or-later | Free |
| FreeCAD BIM | LGPL-2.1-or-later | Free |
| BIMserver | AGPL-3.0-or-later | Free |
| xBIM | CDDL-1.0 | Free |
| That Open | MIT | Free |
| Speckle | Apache-2.0 (+ EE modules) | Free self-hosted |
| Revit | Proprietary | ~$3,000/yr (third-party figure) |
| Archicad | Proprietary | ~$2,400/yr (third-party figure) |
| Tekla Structures | Proprietary | ~$2,000/yr and up |
| Vectorworks | Proprietary | Contact sales |
| Allplan | Proprietary | Contact sales |
| OpenBuildings | Proprietary | Contact sales; consumption-based |
| Navisworks | Proprietary | ~$1,100/yr Simulate |
| Solibri | Proprietary | Contact sales |
| BIMcollab | Proprietary | Contact sales |
| Revizto | Proprietary | Contact sales |
Commercial figures are third-party listings, not vendor price lists, and vary by region and plan. Confirm directly before budgeting.
Most permissive: That Open Engine (MIT) – the only one here with no copyleft at all, and so the only safe choice for embedding in a proprietary product.
Selection Summary
- Free IFC authoring – Bonsai. Nothing else open comes close, and the Blender dependency is the price.
- Free IFC review in a browser – BimCraft today for a quick look; That Open Engine if it is being embedded in something.
- Programmatic IFC – IfcOpenShell for Python, xBIM for .NET.
- Self-hosted, SSO, monitorable – Speckle is the only tool here that satisfies all three.
- Clash detection – Navisworks remains the standard; BimCraft is the open contender and is at v0.7.0.
- Compliance checking – Solibri, with no open alternative.
- Issue tracking – BIMcollab if on-premises matters, Revizto if mobile site use does.
- The Craft caution – BimCraft is two weeks old at evaluation. Treat it as promising, not proven.
Tools
18 tools.
Autodesk Navisworks
Autodesk Navisworks is the dominant model-coordination and clash-detection tool, federating models from many authoring applications for review, 4D sequencing and quantity takeoff.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, clash-detection, coordination, 4d, autodesk, review
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Provisioned account · Local host account
Autodesk Revit
Autodesk Revit is the dominant commercial BIM authoring application for architecture, structure and MEP, with a proprietary RVT format and the largest ecosystem in the category.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, ifc, revit, authoring, autodesk, rvt
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Provisioned account · Local host account
Bentley OpenBuildings Designer
Bentley OpenBuildings Designer is a multi-discipline BIM authoring application on the MicroStation platform, aimed at large infrastructure and industrial buildings.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, ifc, bentley, microstation, infrastructure, multidiscipline
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Local host account
BIMcollab
BIMcollab is a cloud issue-management and model-checking platform built around BCF, connecting the authoring and review tools a project already uses rather than replacing them.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, direct · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, bcf, issue-management, coordination, cloud, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
BimCraft
BimCraft is an Apache-2.0 browser and desktop BIM authoring and review application with IFC 4 and IFC 2x3 round-trip, clash detection, model checking, schedules and BCF issue exchange.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, bcf, clash-detection, openbim, javascript, webgpu
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential · Local host account
BIMserver
BIMserver is an AGPL Java model server that stores IFC models as a queryable object database rather than as files, with revisions, merging and server-side checking.
License: AGPL-3.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct, docker · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, model-server, java, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential
Bonsai
Bonsai, formerly the BlenderBIM Add-on, is a GPL OpenBIM authoring and documentation add-on for Blender built on IfcOpenShell, editing IFC natively rather than importing and exporting it.
License: GPL-3.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, openbim, blender, bcf, ids
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
FreeCAD BIM Workbench
The FreeCAD BIM Workbench adds architectural modelling and IFC import and export to FreeCAD, giving a parametric CAD kernel a building-element layer.
License: LGPL-2.1-or-later (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, freecad, openbim, parametric
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
Graphisoft Archicad
Graphisoft Archicad is a commercial BIM authoring application for architecture, notable for running on macOS as well as Windows and for a stronger OpenBIM and IFC posture than its main rival.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, ifc, archicad, authoring, graphisoft, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Local host account
IfcOpenShell
IfcOpenShell is an LGPL C++ and Python library for parsing, creating and geometrically processing IFC files, and the engine underneath most open-source BIM tooling.
License: LGPL-3.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: library · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, library, python, cpp, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Library
Nemetschek Allplan
Nemetschek Allplan is a commercial BIM application strongest in structural and reinforced-concrete design and infrastructure, widely used in German-speaking Europe.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC · Tags: bim, ifc, structural, concrete, infrastructure, nemetschek, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Local host account
Revizto
Revizto is a cloud model-coordination and issue-tracking platform that federates BIM and 2D models into a shared real-time environment for design and construction teams.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, issue-tracking, coordination, clash-detection, cloud, collaboration
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
Solibri
Solibri is the leading BIM quality-assurance and rule-based model-checking tool, verifying IFC models against configurable rulesets rather than only detecting geometric clashes.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC · Tags: bim, model-checking, quality-assurance, ifc, bcf, nemetschek
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Local host account
Speckle
Speckle is an Apache-2.0 AEC data platform that versions and exchanges geometry and metadata between design tools, with connectors for Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, Blender and others.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker, k8s, saas, direct · SSO: OIDC · Tags: bim, aec, data-platform, interoperability, openbim, oidc
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
That Open Engine
That Open Engine, formerly IFC.js, is an MIT TypeScript library suite for building IFC viewers and BIM applications that run in the browser on Three.js.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: library · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, library, typescript, webgl, viewer, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Library
Trimble Tekla Structures
Trimble Tekla Structures is the professional standard for structural BIM, covering steel and concrete detailing through to fabrication-ready shop drawings and CNC output.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: OIDC, SAML · Tags: bim, structural, steel, concrete, detailing, trimble, ifc
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Local host account
Vectorworks Architect
Vectorworks Architect is a commercial design and BIM application combining free-form 3D modelling with building-element authoring, strong on macOS and popular in architecture and landscape design.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, architecture, vectorworks, nemetschek, macos
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
xBIM Toolkit
xBIM Toolkit is a CDDL-licensed .NET library suite for reading, writing and visualising IFC models, the main alternative to IfcOpenShell for teams working in C#.
License: CDDL-1.0 (OSS) · Kind: library · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: bim, ifc, library, dotnet, csharp, openbim
ResorsIT usage: Library
