Hobbyist free version license

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I saw great reviews of the free hobbyist version of Fusion 360 in the DIY woodworking forums.   But when I went to download it I noticed that (A) the version is 100% online (not a problem) and (B) the license is only for 3 years.

My woodworking is purely for use in my own home, I am close to retirement, do not expect to ever generate any income from my designs and I will never be able to afford the regular annual license price of Fusion 360. 

Did I misunderstand the 3 year free license?  Is it perhaps a free license that can be renewed indefinitely as long as I keep meeting the no-profit requirements? 

Or does it really expire after 3 years, with all designs becoming lost at that time?  In other words... should I forget about Fusion 360 and go for one of the more limited but fully free design applications like Sketchup?

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I saw great reviews of the free hobbyist version of Fusion 360 in the DIY woodworking forums.   But when I went to download it I noticed that (A) the version is 100% online (not a problem) and (B) the license is only for 3 years.

My woodworking is purely for use in my own home, I am close to retirement, do not expect to ever generate any income from my designs and I will never be able to afford the regular annual license price of Fusion 360. 

Did I misunderstand the 3 year free license?  Is it perhaps a free license that can be renewed indefinitely as long as I keep meeting the no-profit requirements? 

Or does it really expire after 3 years, with all designs becoming lost at that time?  In other words... should I forget about Fusion 360 and go for one of the more limited but fully free design applications like Sketchup?

[Drewpan]

Hi,

I don't think you will have a problem. My experience here on the forum is the free version is free, just limited in a

few ways that don't really bother hobbyists and such. I think you will find it is more of a "hey, have your

circumstances changed in the last three years?" kind of thing. If they never checked then I am sure some people

would try to abuse the privelege.

Cheers

Andrew

[Drewpan]

Hi,

I don't think you will have a problem. My experience here on the forum is the free version is free, just limited in a

few ways that don't really bother hobbyists and such. I think you will find it is more of a "hey, have your

circumstances changed in the last three years?" kind of thing. If they never checked then I am sure some people

would try to abuse the privelege.

Cheers

Andrew

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So, it is really a no-time-limit license with checks every 3 years to make sure you are still a hobbyist?  If so, that would be perfect.

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So, it is really a no-time-limit license with checks every 3 years to make sure you are still a hobbyist?  If so, that would be perfect.

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

You are correct, you can renew every three years until Autodesk changes its policy.  There is one thing I think you should be aware of.  When you sign up for the Fusion Personal License (formidably called the Hobby version) you will set up an Autodesk ID and Password.  You want to use this same Autodesk ID to renew your license, when the time comes, to keep access to your Cloud data.  You can change the password if needed by managing your Autodesk Account but you do not want to change the Autodesk ID.

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

You are correct, you can renew every three years until Autodesk changes its policy.  There is one thing I think you should be aware of.  When you sign up for the Fusion Personal License (formidably called the Hobby version) you will set up an Autodesk ID and Password.  You want to use this same Autodesk ID to renew your license, when the time comes, to keep access to your Cloud data.  You can change the password if needed by managing your Autodesk Account but you do not want to change the Autodesk ID.