Commercial lab licensing?

[Anonymous]

I've searched and haven't found the answer to my question. There's plenty of info about Edu labs, but nothing about using F360 in a commercial type lab which is not an educational institution.

Here's my question: I'd like to have several people use Fusion 360's Manufacturing capabilities to make parts on a CNC router. I know each user will have to have an Autodesk ID, but will I need to buy a commercial license for each user, or only one for the company? There will only ever be one person using the install at a time because it will be a dedicated computer attached to the machine. Not sure if that makes a difference. 

[leowarren34]

Hi @Anonymous,

Licenses cannot be shared so it will be one per user. See the link below.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Can-I-have-multiple-user...

[mickey.wakefield · Accepted solution]

Hi Keith -

The last post was correct. Fusion 360 licenses cannot be shared by more than one user. In our industry the term for this is "user-based licensing." This is in contrast to what used to be the standard - which was "seat-based licensing".....

In the case of Fusion - only user-based licensing makes much sense, because it is a cloud-based tool, and as a result, what you "see" in Fusion is specific to a particular person's access levels. What this means is, a Fusion user can install Fusion on as many machines as they would like, there is no limit on location either, and wherever they log in, they will see "their" data - and only their data. Also - the settings will be as they want them to be. Indeed - as a Fusion user I can log on to any Fusion installation anywhere - and all I will see are the files I am allowed to see. Also - since Fusion keeps track of versions, etc - it will log who made what changes based not on some "seat number" but on the user logged in.

We know this is different than what used to be the norm - but it is rapidly becoming the standard for most software. In fact - it already is. Besides that - we really do believe that this is the best way for us to deliver services to companies working in a modern way. Employees often work from many locations today - not just the office. The recent Covid-19 troubles, while awful, were no problem as far as Fusion 360 goes. A quick installation on a home computer - log in....and all files are there. We have thousands of people working from home, or anywhere, really. Its been a big help for many.

Hope that clears it up for you.

PS - keep in mind that the cost for a person-based license is low compared to a traditional seat-based license as well, and that our plans allow you to easily and quickly add or drop licenses as you need / no longer need them. Taken together, this low cost of entry and flexibility makes person-based licensing a good deal for most. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks @mickey.wakefield and @leowarren34 for the clarification. Unfortunately, what works for most won't work for me. I can't justify the purchase of licenses for 5-6 people for software that will only get used three to five times a year for most of them. I'm trying to cut cost and save time. Fusion 360 will save time and frustration, but not that much. It's a good piece of software though. I'm very disappointed.

I guess it's back to the hunt for something simple to use and low cost. Does that even exist? 🙂

Again, thanks for the help.

[mickey.wakefield]

Do you only need it rarely?

There is no issue at all with paying for the software for a single month, if that is all you need. It’s entirely possible to purchase the software in a minute or two, use it for a few days, and then let it lapse. Repeat when you need it again....

Of course I work here - but there is not much out there with anywhere near the functionality of Fusion 360 for anything near our price. Fusion is a screaming deal.

Our competition is often 10x!

[Anonymous]

Don't get me wrong, I use Fusion 360 at home for all my hobby projects from furniture building to 3D printed shelf brackets and toys for the kids. It's an amazing piece of software. I'm a HUGE fan.

At work it's a different story with our projects requiring FedRamp compliance and having already bought into Solidworks and the Solidworks PDM system. If it wasn't for the FedRAMP bit I'd push to switch over to Fusion completely for design and simulation. It's just too risky to have someone upload something that needs to stay controlled. 

As for purchasing a license for the occasions I need one, it would be a pain if I finish a project and then a week later another engineer needs to buy another license when I've still got two weeks left on mine. That's wasteful. I'm sure there is a way to cheat it, but trying to be honest here and play by the rules since you guys have put out something so good. I don't want this to be a series of complaints about Autodesk's licensing decisions though.

I'm currently looking into HSMWorks since it appears to be a Solidworks plugin that is the Manufacturing module in Fusion 360. HSM in Fusion 360 is WAY easier to use than the CAMWorks that Solidworks comes with.

[mickey.wakefield]

Totally understand....I don't want to give you the impression that we don't see your point on this. Your feedback is valuable and you are by no means the only person giving feedback that is similar to this. 

For some of our largest customers - there is the concept of EBAs - which is a flexible system of credits which allow them to use any Autodesk products for a set schedule of credits. The costs associated only make sense when you get into really high levels of usage - but it was created for situations like yours, in principle.

We evaluate pretty much everything on a recurring basis - but we don't do it constantly. We make decisions - and then work into those for a while, gaining data and experience - and then we ask the root questions again. What is today might change tomorrow if the market or our customers require it.

Your feedback is the most important part of that - especially as you are so positive overall about the product! Thank you. 

Yes - there are a number of certifications that we run into on occasion. I haven't run into FedRAMP myself yet, but with the others, its typically a scale problem. We could fulfill most of them, but often the costs associated with doing so are so high, we cannot afford to based off the scale of our business. Yet. I expect that as we grow, and as these certifications consolidate and become more "normal", we will be able to take advantage of them too.

And yes - HSM was a popular add in for SolidWorks even when I worked there....and we still support and develop that product today with many happy users.