SolidWorks, et al let you play.
Creo lets you play doctor.
NX lets you play god.
More jokes and memes please, I need to influence my co-workers 
I think it depends on what work you do. I used NX for 3-4 years and couldn’t wait to get back to SolidWorks. But it was mostly prismatic shapes at a medical company with some surfacing. There were some nice features but the basic stuff (sketching, mates) really stunk in NX, it was just missing a lot. That was a lot of years ago though and I’d love to see it today. I certainly trust Siemens at this point more so than D’ass’ault.
When I first learned the basics of NX and SolidWorks in university about 10 years ago, I preferred SolidWorks for its UI and sketching in particular, with NX 8 - 9 looking like some old-school Win 98 software. But after having used both on and off for some years, NX just feels like a technologically superior product even for simple tasks.
I use SolidWorks in my present job and have enjoyed using it in the past, but I have also worked as a Siemens VAR, so I may have become a bit biased. The designs I do with are not very advanced or anything that can’t be done efficiently in SolidWorks, but I just appreciate the granular control NX provides for my design data and how certain functionality is implemented. For example:
- How part attributes/properties can be defined with proper data types (including body/face/edge attributes which don’t even exist in SolidWorks as far as I know, they can be very useful for design automation)
- How NX expressions can be used for pretty much any parameter or input field (where SolidWorks’ equations have been more limited, like not working for certain patterns)
- How site/user preferences are stored and managed
- How multiple NX versions and custom environments can be installed side-by-side on the same computer without too much hassle
- Better than most at importing neutral formats and effective tools for cleaning geometry (e.g. for purchased parts)
- The predictable performance
Even with the concerns about NX being built on top of an ancient codebase, it (finally) looks modern and seems to be thriving at the moment. Siemens has claimed to have the largest dev team, most patents filed etc. for years. Considering how they control a lot of what makes SolidWorks and others tick (Parasolid, D-Cubed DCM, simulation tools like FLOEFD) does seem to make them the obvious choice if money is no concern. I would love to see an illustration showing these master/muppet relations between CAD vendors and their technology dependencies.
martin They do have some in depth functions, probably due to their long history and large corporate customers. SolidWorks current equations are far better than they were, and I worked with their dev team giving feedback based on my experience with NX at the time…I had pushed for Global Variables and feature suppression by equation.
Cost is really their weak point, unless that has changed, last I looked years ago, you had lots of basic modules to buy and could easily get up to 20k. SW and SE it was just simpler and cheaper to get started and has most of the functionality needed for small customers.
My view is most probably biased… but…
Creo by PTC is exactly as its name… Product That Confuse
" if you want to get that done you need to stick your elbow in your ear and place your knee behind your back and then do these mouse clicks etc etc" and hope it works; and it might not work this way if you are using windchill etc etc"
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Having an issue or looking for a feature that is commonly available in other CAD?
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My wife is sleeping with the guy who made that cartoon!
Creo is far and away the most painful user experience. No doubt.
But Creo also has excellent tools that aren’t available anywhere else. They were once the best for variable section sweeps. They’re the only one with “trajpar” parameter that allows sweep section dimensions to vary by equation in relation to path position. Creo is also the best at connecting engineering math to 3D design.
Creo is in a diner getting breakfast. He orders two eggs: one over-easy and one scrambled. The waitress delivers the food. Creo sends it back, complaining “You scrambled the wrong egg!”.
Now we know who to blame for this “experience” garbage. I always thought you were a malevolent force.
I use both Solidworks & NX to design gages & fixtures. I’d much rather have a root canal than try to design anything from scratch with NX. Can it be done, sure but plan on it taking twice as long if not longer than it does in Solidworks. Drafting in Solidworks is hands down the better of the two with much more “automatic” input on features and holes than NX does. Yes NX has hole callouts but only if that feature was created by a pattern rather than a bunch of holes at random created with the hole wizard. Hole tables in NX are practically useless. Linking part properties to notes may be possible but I’ve yet to figure out how that is done where Solidworks was maybe 10 minutes & could link notes to model properties in the drawing. And all of the useless unneeded mouse picks to do something in NX I’m surprised Seimens doesn’t own Logitech. I wish NX would come out of the dark age and not have to be a rocket scientist to make it work efficiently like they are now. Only good thing that NX has in drafting that SW doesn’t is I can reattach just about any dimension that becomes detached whether it is one side or both sides where Solidworks method is delete the detached dimension & redo it.
Modeling in NX & SW are pretty similar but trying to figure out where an error is in NX compared to SW takes longer. Also hate the disappearing dialogs in NX that cause additional mouse picks to open it back up again rather than being able to either pin or allow them up till you close them.
Opto-mechanical designer here. I have NX and SW licenses
That’s because it is. The notion that NX really only offers added value for industrial-designer “digital sculptors” is nonsense. I don’t have those fancy-pants shape-magician licenses, I am 99% stuff you can turn and mill and 98% of that is doable without free-form machining. BUT you need to invest the time to learn how to use NX fully. Not just learning enough to struggle through next week’s modeling-and-print job, but really in-depth. And I will be the first one to say that depending on the racket you’re in, it might not be worth it from a workload and/or financial POV, because the learning curve is not trivial. SW/SE/IV are fine for lots of things and the added “superiority” of NX might be irrelevant based on the task at hand.
It bends my member every time I read about the “ancient NX codebase.” I think this is a red herring. I used to have one of those mobile workstations that compressed my spine and made me put the massive power brick in my checked luggage in order to stay within the airline carry-on weight allowance. NX ran way faster than SW by every measure, as was predictable. Now I have a lightweight “convertible” notebook that runs off a phone charger or even a USB battery for a few hours if needed. NX runs absolutely the same on this new laptop, and if anything, the new releases are often a bit faster – never slower (!). SW is noticeably sluggish(er), but since I don’t use SW all that much, I can live with this as the price for avoiding a slipped disc as I get older. So I would venture that SW is actually the one stacking bloat on an old codebase… whereas the NX interface may superficially not look as race-car as one might expect, but the code is actually being optimized properly.
What is indisputably difficult about NX is the cost. I don’t question why NX costs more… one only needs to make a comparison count of crashes to arrive at the conclusion that the software engineering behind NX is very high-caliber and those people earn their pay. But there are capabilities which other systems have included in their basic packages (wall thickness analysis, grouping components, etc.) that are only available in NX with costly additional licenses.
Gang-
Ryan here- just to get this out of the way- I work for Dassault Systems. Don’t hold that against me. But I have good reasons for doing so. Anyway, this really isn’t a good question because you are attempting to compare apples to crab apples. Both are technically apples but they really can’t compare taste-wise!
Here’s why I say this. NX is a high-end market CAx suite of tools. Creo..we’ll go with independent industry analysts’ definitions..is a high-end CAD tool. CATIA is a high-end CAx suite of tools.
SOLIDWORKS is a mid-market CAx portfolio of tools. Solid Edge is a mid-market Cax portfolio of tools.
Attempting to compare across the markets gets complicated. We can’t just look at the cost of one tool alone. It even gets harder because of the CapEX vs OpEX for licensing these days. And that is only one factor to look at!
My opinion, you need to look at the total cost of ownership of these tools combined with the overall benefits of the systems to the company. It’s tough to do..I should know! We don’t JUST do CAD anymore. We don’t design and manufacture in a bubble. The 3D model is used by many, many more areas of the business. Therefore the value is spread across the organization and that needs to be accounted for.
Willing to listen!
Ryan
Dassault Systmems employee
Here is where I have a problem.
My problem with Sw isn’t that it is a midrange set of tools. It is the attitude that new features are more important than software that doesn’t crash regularly. Mid range features shouldn’t mean mid range reliability.
Based on others’ comments, SE is a midrange set of features, but Siemens still places high priority on the software being robust.
Ryan-3DS
“Willing to listen!”
Well, there is a TTL, with hundreds of valuable entries, that is neglected, imho. Only 10 out of these ideas are taken to the next level. The number of users reading and voting is unbelievable. Dassault could start promoting the TTL in a serious way.
The old/existing ER, SR and SPR database is a bit clumsy, and has a huge amount of double entries, caused by malfunctioning classification and indexing. The new SWYM 3DExperience ER, SR and SPR registration shows even worse indexing.
The habit of Dassault to introduce new bugs, re-introduce bugs, create half baked new features etc. in combination with reduced testing of the software, introduces problems for the users, who assume a tool of 7K purchase and 1,8K a year subscription is a serious tool. I think many users get the feeling the tool is not for professional use, many users feel disregarded by the Dassault approach of changing running agreements.
So it might be hard, but it could be better to invest a bit more, to get a serious professional tool, you can rely on, for many years.
It’s a fair question as many have asked and need help decoding the propaganda that’s out there. As you mentioned, all things considered, not just what they can do from a modeling standpoint, then it’s a fair comparison. I look at it from that macro level. Maybe a crappy metaphor but take motor vehicles: “What’s better? Subaru Outback, Honda Civic, Tesla, Toyota Tundra, Ford F350, Dodge Ram, Chevy Suburban, Willys Jeep, 351 Pete or a Freightliner Cascadia?” That’s kinda like trying to compare all the CAD systems on the market. Now people don’t ask that about vehicles because it’s kinda obvious you’re not going to pull a '53 van with a Civic and probably not going to take the Willys to work every day. Price points vary as much as intended usage.
I’m curious about that “good reason”. 
Hey Ben,
The technology that is the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is truly different than any offering in the market today. 3DS is not a CAD or PLM company, they are a science-based software company. There is soo much to offer on the Platform. Everything from Big Data Analytics to, yes CAD, PDM and PLM to supply chain management. Heck combine the offerings for data analytics and supply chain management and you have a new business application. It is a “true” platform. I am defining that as a tool that has a lot of base tools that are used to perform many different functions or used as lego blocks to build business processes. It’s so much fun here! Every day is something new.
I can’t argue Siemens’ points at all. I’m more focused on the CATIA and platform (business and collaboration side) than on SW at the moment.
You will find the whole industry has or is moving to subscriptions. Autodesk, PTC, Siemens, 3DS..
Somebody drank the Kool Aid.
For SaaS it makes sense…for desktop software, it’s a cash grab, customer lock-in strategy from companies that have mature products and markets and can’t figure out how to sell more software. Imagine if all cars could only be bought on lease. I’d prefer if software companies wouldn’t go the way of sleazy car salesmen but I guess sales is sales.
As you know if you’re familiar with my posts, I haven’t drank any Dassault Kool-aid, but that statement isn’t correct, or I misunderstand what you’re saying. There have been a number of my idea submissions that didn’t get a lot of traction but were still implemented. The enhancement this year that allows us to set a display style for Detail Views in the drawing template is just the most recent.