The short answer: Autodesk Inventor costs US$2,585 per year on the annual plan, or US$320 per month if you pay monthly. Below is the full 2026 pricing, how the pay-as-you-go option compares, the legitimate ways to use it for free, and the alternatives worth a look if the price does not work.
All figures are Autodesk United States list prices, read directly from Autodesk’s own store on 29 August 2026. Prices vary by region and currency — confirm on your local Autodesk site before buying.
Inventor pricing in 2026
| Plan | Price | Works out at |
|---|---|---|
| Annual subscription | US$216/month, billed annually | US$2,585/year |
| Monthly subscription | US$320/month | US$3,840/year |
| Flex (pay-as-you-go) | From US$99 for 33 tokens | 8 tokens per day of use |
Inventor sits between AutoCAD and Revit on price. Monthly billing costs about 49% more per year than annual. Before you commit, check whether Fusion 360 covers your work — it is Autodesk’s own, substantially cheaper mechanical option, and for a lot of smaller design teams it is enough.
Is Flex cheaper for you?
Flex is Autodesk’s pay-as-you-go option. You buy tokens up front — a minimum pack of 33 for US$99, which is US$3 per token — and Inventor costs 8 tokens for a day of use, so about US$24 per day. A day means 24 hours from first use.
Against the annual subscription, Flex wins if you open Inventor fewer than roughly 108 days a year. Above that the subscription is cheaper. Flex suits reviewers and occasional collaborators; it does not suit anyone using the software weekly.
The legitimate ways to use Inventor for free
- The free trial — the complete application for a limited period, from Autodesk’s Inventor trial page.
- Education access — students and educators at qualifying institutions get free access to Inventor through Autodesk Education. You verify once and it renews while you remain eligible. Educational licences are for learning, not commercial work.
- Previous releases — an Autodesk subscription has historically included the right to install several recent previous versions, so you do not have to move to the newest release if your office standard is older. Confirm the current terms in your Autodesk Account.
If a site offers Inventor as an archive with a password, that is not a licence. Softwares Academy does not host or distribute Autodesk installers, licence keys or activation tools.
Alternatives to Inventor
Mechanical CAD is the most competitive category Autodesk sells into, so the alternatives here are unusually strong.
- Fusion 360 — Autodesk’s own cloud-based MCAD tool, far cheaper than Inventor and enough for most small-team parametric work. Check this before anything else.
- SolidWorks — the main commercial rival. If your suppliers or employers standardise on it, that decision is often made for you.
- Onshape — fully browser-based with real version control; free for public, non-commercial projects.
- Solid Edge (Siemens) — strong synchronous-modelling approach, and a free community edition exists for non-commercial use.
- FreeCAD — free and open source, genuinely parametric, and the most credible zero-cost option for engineering work.
- BricsCAD Mechanical — cheaper, native DWG, with a perpetual-licence option.
Researching a specific Inventor release?
These guides cover what each release needs to run, whether it still works on current Windows, and how it compares with what replaced it:
- Inventor 2023 · Inventor 2022 · Inventor 2021 · Inventor 2020
- Inventor 2019 · Inventor 2018 · Inventor 2017 · Inventor 2016
What we would actually do
- You design assemblies and run simulation: the annual subscription — but price Fusion 360 first.
- You work in a SolidWorks supply chain: the file-exchange friction usually outweighs the licence saving. Match your chain.
- Occasional part edits only: Flex — under about 108 days a year it is cheaper.
- Student or educator: Autodesk Education access, free while eligible.
- Zero budget, commercial work: FreeCAD or Onshape, and accept the workflow differences rather than running an unlicensed copy.
Buy from Autodesk directly or an authorised reseller. See also our breakdown of how much AutoCAD costs if you are pricing more than one Autodesk product.
