Gridsnap vs AutoCAD LT: Do You Need Full CAD for a Floor Plan?
AutoCAD LT is professional, general-purpose 2D CAD: native DWG, precise drafting of anything from machine parts to site plans, and the file format the building industry runs on. It is also $515 a year and drafts in lines — in LT, a wall is something you construct from geometry, not an object that knows it’s a wall. Gridsnap is the opposite trade: it only does buildings, so walls, doors and windows are parametric objects, elevations and 3D are generated, the plan is checked automatically — and the DXF it exports opens fine in AutoCAD. If your deliverable is a DWG in a professional workflow, LT earns its price; if it’s a floor plan, most people don’t need it.
Gridsnap vs AutoCAD LT
| Gridsnap | AutoCAD LT | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free; $19 once for one project (90 days), or $9/mo · $90/yr ongoing | $65/mo, $515/yr or $1,545/3 yr (US list) |
| Free tier | Full drafting, exports and core plan check free; 1 synced cloud project | Free trial |
| Platform | Browser (nothing to install); works on any OS | Windows and macOS desktop, plus web and mobile apps |
| Drafting model | Parametric building objects: walls join automatically, doors and windows live on walls | Professional general-purpose 2D drafting: lines, polylines, blocks — walls are drawn, not modelled |
| File format | Layered R12 DXF of the full drawing, included | Native DWG — the industry standard |
| Elevations | All four elevations generated automatically from the plan | Drawn manually |
| 3D | Instant 3D with first-person walkthrough | None in LT — 2D drafting only |
| Plan checking | Built-in plan check: overlaps and in-wall errors free; blocked doors/windows, circulation, room sizes, daylight on Pro | None |
| Dimensioning | One-click auto-dimensioning of plans and elevations (Pro) | Full manual dimensioning toolset |
Compared as of 2026-08-19. AutoCAD LT details from its own published pricing and documentation; corrections welcome via the editor's feedback form.
Where AutoCAD LT is strong
- Native DWG — the file format architects, engineers and fabricators exchange
- Professional drafting precision for any 2D content, not just buildings
- Autodesk ecosystem: industry familiarity, training, support, web and mobile apps
When Gridsnap is the better choice
Choose Gridsnap when the job is a floor plan and you’re not already an AutoCAD user: drawing a wall takes one gesture instead of offsetting lines, doors and windows are objects that cut and dimension themselves, elevations and 3D come free with the plan, the checker reads the layout for you, and the result exports as a scaled vector PDF or a layered DXF that AutoCAD opens. The learning curve is minutes, not months, and the price is $0–9/month against $515/year.
When AutoCAD LT is the better choice
Choose AutoCAD LT if you draft professionally in a DWG workflow: deliverables that must be native DWG, drawings beyond buildings, title-block standards from a client, or a team that already lives in AutoCAD. LT is the real thing — precise, scriptable, universally accepted — and a floor-plan-only tool can’t replace it in that context.
Common questions
Weighing more options? See the best free floor plan creators roundup, the full feature list, or browse ready-made templates to judge the output directly.
Do I need AutoCAD to draw a floor plan?
No. For a floor plan — a renovation, an extension, a rental layout, a permit sketch — a purpose-built tool like Gridsnap is faster and free: walls, doors and windows are building objects, elevations generate automatically, and it exports vector PDF and DXF. AutoCAD LT makes sense when you need native DWG or draft more than buildings.
Can Gridsnap open or produce AutoCAD files?
Gridsnap exports a layered R12 ASCII DXF — the most compatible CAD flavour — which AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT open directly. It doesn’t import DWG; to trace an existing drawing you import an image of it, calibrate the scale against one known distance, and draw over it.
How much cheaper is Gridsnap than AutoCAD LT?
AutoCAD LT lists at $65/month or $515/year (US). Gridsnap’s drafting and exports are free; Pro is $9/month or $90/year for expert plan checks, AI assistance and auto-dimensioning. For a one-off home project the difference is the whole budget.
Try it on your own plan
Gridsnap runs in the browser and the drafting core is free — draw a room to real dimensions and run the plan check on it in a couple of minutes.