What This Category Covers
Mix (13 tools)
- License: 5 open source · 8 proprietary
- Hosting: 8 self-hosted · 1 SaaS · 4 both
Specialist software for practising engineers that does not belong in general CAD, in BIM, or in general-purpose simulation. Four related areas:
- Structural analysis and design – analysing a structure and checking it against building codes, producing the demand-capacity ratios an engineer signs
- Structural detailing – turning a designed structure into fabrication deliverables: shop drawings, bending schedules, CNC output
- Civil and site design – surfaces, alignments, corridors, grading, earthwork and drainage
- Drawing review and takeoff – marking up plan sets and measuring quantities from them
What unites them is that each produces an engineering deliverable rather than a model or a drawing for its own sake.
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 This information is compiled on a best-effort basis: it may be incomplete, contain errors, and become out of date as tools, vendors, licences, and features change.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
| Tool | Analysis | Code Check | Detailing | Civil | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CivilCraft | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| DetailCraft | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| MarkupCraft | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| TakeoffCraft | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| OpenSees | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| SAP2000 | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| ETABS | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| STAAD.Pro | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Dlubal RFEM | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| SkyCiv | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Advance Steel | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| SDS2 | No | Design | Yes | No | No |
| IDEA StatiCa | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Analysis without code checking is the OpenSees position: a solver, not a design tool.
IDEA StatiCa analyses and checks but details nothing – it is a connection checker that plugs into the others.
Platform Support
| Tool | Linux | macOS | Windows | Browser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CivilCraft | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DetailCraft | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MarkupCraft | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TakeoffCraft | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenSees | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| SkyCiv | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SAP2000 | No | No | Yes | No |
| ETABS | No | No | Yes | No |
| STAAD.Pro | No | No | Yes | No |
| Dlubal RFEM | No | No | Yes | No |
| Advance Steel | No | No | Yes | No |
| SDS2 | No | No | Yes | No |
| IDEA StatiCa | No | No | Yes | No |
Every commercial desktop tool here is Windows-only. The only non-Windows options are the four Apache-2.0 CadCraft apps, OpenSees, and SkyCiv in a browser.
Automation Surface
The axis that matters most for platform integration, and the one that varies most.
| Tool | API | Languages | Headless |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSees | Native | Python, Tcl | Yes |
| SkyCiv | REST | Any | Yes |
| SAP2000 | OAPI | .NET, Python, MATLAB, VBA | Partial |
| ETABS | OAPI | .NET, Python, MATLAB, VBA | Partial |
| Dlubal RFEM | Python + WS | Python | Partial |
| STAAD.Pro | OpenSTAAD | COM, .NET, Python | Partial |
| IDEA StatiCa | REST + cloud | .NET, any | Yes |
| Advance Steel | AutoCAD .NET | .NET | No |
| SDS2 | Parametrics | Proprietary | No |
| CivilCraft | None | — | No |
| DetailCraft | None | — | No |
| MarkupCraft | None | — | No |
| TakeoffCraft | None | — | No |
The CadCraft apps have no automation surface at all – no CLI, no API, no MCP server. That is a notable contrast with the other two “Craft” families in this corpus: Storytold’s apps and SolidCraft both ship CLI and MCP interfaces.
Best automation: OpenSees and SkyCiv are genuinely headless. CSI’s OAPI and IDEA StatiCa’s REST API are the best of the commercial desktop tools.
Interchange Formats
| Tool | In | Out |
|---|---|---|
| CivilCraft | IFC, LandXML, CSV | IFC 4.3/4/2x3, LandXML, DWG, PDF |
| DetailCraft | IFC | IFC, DSTV NC, DWG, PDF, CSV |
| MarkupCraft | PDF, CSV, XLSX, BCF | |
| TakeoffCraft | PDF, DWG, DXF | CSV, XLSX |
| OpenSees | Scripts | Text results |
| SAP2000 | IFC, CIS/2 | IFC, CIS/2, reports |
| ETABS | IFC, CIS/2 | IFC, CIS/2, reports |
| STAAD.Pro | IFC, CIS/2 | IFC, CIS/2, reports |
| Dlubal RFEM | IFC | IFC, reports |
| SkyCiv | Common formats | Reports, API results |
| Advance Steel | IFC, SDNF | IFC, SDNF, DSTV NC, DWG |
| SDS2 | IFC, SDNF | IFC, SDNF, CNC |
| IDEA StatiCa | Via BIM links | Reports |
IFC 4.3 – CivilCraft is the only tool here that writes it, which matters because 4.3 is the schema that brought infrastructure into IFC.
DSTV NC – the steel fabrication machine format, emitted by DetailCraft, Advance Steel and SDS2.
Identity & SSO
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| All thirteen | No | No | Vendor account or network licence only |
There is no SSO anywhere in this category. Every tool authenticates against a vendor account system or a network licence manager, and none publishes an OIDC or SAML federation path. SkyCiv is browser-delivered but still has none.
Where network licensing is used, the licence manager is the only monitorable component, and its utilisation is the figure that drives seat planning.
Licensing & Cost
| Tool | License | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| CivilCraft | Apache-2.0 | Free |
| DetailCraft | Apache-2.0 | Free |
| MarkupCraft | Apache-2.0 | Free |
| TakeoffCraft | Apache-2.0 | Free |
| OpenSees | BSD-3-Clause | Free |
| SkyCiv | Proprietary | Subscription, published, low |
| SAP2000 | Proprietary | Perpetual or subscription; contact sales |
| ETABS | Proprietary | Perpetual or subscription; contact sales |
| STAAD.Pro | Proprietary | Subscription; consumption-based elements |
| Dlubal RFEM | Proprietary | Per module; contact sales |
| Advance Steel | Proprietary | Subscription or AEC Collection |
| SDS2 | Proprietary | Subscription; contact sales |
| IDEA StatiCa | Proprietary | Subscription; contact sales |
Only SkyCiv publishes commercial pricing. Dlubal’s modular model and Bentley’s consumption-based licensing both make total cost hard to compare without a quote.
The CadCraft Apps
Four of the eight applications in The Data Design Group’s CadCraft family land in this category. All are Apache-2.0, all JavaScript running browser-first with a Tauri 2 desktop shell, all released together at v0.7.0 on 25 October 2026.
| App | Answers | Stars | Closest peer here |
|---|---|---|---|
| CivilCraft | Civil 3D | 22 | None (Civil 3D is in land-survey) |
| DetailCraft | Tekla | 16 | Advance Steel, SDS2 |
| MarkupCraft | Bluebeam Revu | 15 | None here |
| TakeoffCraft | PlanSwift | 11 | None here |
CadCraft Studio installs all eight apps as one package. A workstation image that wants one takes the family, including the three that land in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and BimCraft in Building Information Modelling (BIM).
What to make of them: the licence is genuinely permissive, the scope is sensible, and two of the claims are specific enough to be worth testing – CivilCraft’s IFC 4.3 output validated against IfcOpenShell, and DetailCraft’s DSTV NC export. Neither has been independently verified, the projects are two weeks old, and adoption is in the low tens of stars. Promising, not proven.
Selection Summary
- Building structural design – ETABS. For anything that is not a building, SAP2000.
- Broadest code coverage – STAAD.Pro.
- Timber, glass or membrane – Dlubal RFEM, clearly ahead of the field.
- Connection checking – IDEA StatiCa, with the best API in the commercial set.
- Steel detailing – Tekla (in Building Information Modelling (BIM)), with Advance Steel the lighter Autodesk-stack option and SDS2 the one that designs connections automatically.
- Research and nonlinear seismic – OpenSees, free and fully scriptable.
- Cheap, cross-platform, scriptable – SkyCiv, at the cost of engineering depth and with models leaving the premises.
- Free detailing, civil, markup or takeoff – the CadCraft apps, with the maturity caveats above.
Tools
13 tools.
Autodesk Advance Steel
Autodesk Advance Steel is a structural steel detailing application built on AutoCAD, producing shop drawings, bills of material and CNC fabrication output.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural, steel-detailing, shop-drawings, autocad, autodesk, dstv
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
Bentley STAAD.Pro
STAAD.Pro is Bentley’s structural analysis and design application, long established for steel, concrete and timber structures with a very wide range of international design codes.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural-analysis, code-check, bentley, steel, concrete
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
CivilCraft
CivilCraft is an Apache-2.0 browser and desktop civil and site design application covering surfaces, alignments, corridors, grading, earthwork and pipe networks, with IFC 4.3 output.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: civil-engineering, site-design, surfaces, corridors, ifc, landxml
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential · Local host account
CSI ETABS
ETABS is a structural analysis and design application from Computers and Structures specialised for multi-storey buildings, with floor-by-floor modelling and integrated code checks.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural-analysis, buildings, seismic, code-check, csi
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
CSI SAP2000
SAP2000 is a general-purpose structural analysis and design application from Computers and Structures, covering buildings, bridges and industrial structures with code-based design checks.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural-analysis, finite-element, code-check, bridges, csi
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
DetailCraft
DetailCraft is an Apache-2.0 browser and desktop structural detailing application for steel members, connections and rebar, producing shop drawings, bending schedules and DSTV NC machine output.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: structural, steel-detailing, rebar, shop-drawings, dstv, ifc
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential · Local host account
Dlubal RFEM
Dlubal RFEM is a German finite element structural analysis application with deep Eurocode coverage and unusually strong timber, glass and membrane structure capability.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural-analysis, finite-element, eurocode, timber, glass, dlubal
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
IDEA StatiCa
IDEA StatiCa is a specialist structural connection and detail design application using component-based finite element analysis to check steel connections against code.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural, connection-design, finite-element, steel, concrete, code-check
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
MarkupCraft
MarkupCraft is an Apache-2.0 browser and desktop drawing review and markup application for PDF plan sets, with revision clouds, sheet compare, punch lists and BCF export.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: markup, drawing-review, pdf, punch-list, bcf, redlining
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential · Local host account
OpenSees
OpenSees is a BSD-licensed open-source finite element framework for earthquake engineering simulation of structural and geotechnical systems, developed at UC Berkeley.
License: BSD-3-Clause (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: structural-analysis, earthquake, finite-element, research, tcl, python
ResorsIT usage: Library
SDS2
SDS2 is a structural steel detailing application distinguished by automatic connection design, which engineers and verifies connections rather than only placing them from a library.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: package · SSO: none · Tags: structural, steel-detailing, connection-design, shop-drawings, fabrication
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
SkyCiv
SkyCiv is a cloud structural analysis and design platform running in the browser, with a documented REST API and per-seat subscription pricing well below the established desktop packages.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none · Tags: structural-analysis, cloud, saas, code-check, api
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential
TakeoffCraft
TakeoffCraft is an Apache-2.0 browser and desktop quantity takeoff and estimating application measuring from calibrated PDF, DWG and DXF plan sets with assemblies and cost columns.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, package, direct · SSO: none · Tags: takeoff, estimating, quantity-survey, construction, pdf, dwg
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential · Local host account
