BIM and Model Checking Software

“BIM software” covers two jobs that get bought as though they were one. Authoring tools build the model. Model checking tools interrogate it — for clashes, for missing data, for rules the project has agreed to. A practice that buys only the first and reviews coordination by eye is doing the second job manually without realising it.

What model checking actually means

Three distinct things travel under the name, and suppliers are not always careful about which they are selling.

• Clash detection — does this duct pass through that beam? Geometric, automatic, and the easiest to demonstrate. It generates a great many results, most of which do not matter, so the useful part of the software is the filtering rather than the detection.
• Rule-based validation — does every fire door carry a fire rating? Is every room named? Does the model meet the information requirements the client asked for? This is where the real time is saved, because the failures are the ones a human reviewer reliably misses.
• Issue management — once something is found, who owns it, what is its status, and did it get fixed? Usually built on BCF, the open format for passing issues between tools, so a problem raised in one application opens in another with its camera view intact.

Anything that does the first but not the third produces a list nobody acts on.

The checkers

Autodesk Navisworks — $115/mo or $915/yr

The long-standing default for clash detection, and still the one most contractors expect to receive. It aggregates models from almost anything, runs clash tests in batches, and handles 4D sequencing. The catch: the interface is of its era, rule-based data validation is weak compared with dedicated checkers, and it pulls you further into the Autodesk stack.

Revizto — Quote only

Strongest on the part most tools treat as an afterthought: the issue actually reaching the person who can fix it. Live federated model, issue tracker built in, and a genuinely usable experience for people who are not modellers — site teams, clients, project managers. The catch: no public pricing, which in practice means it is priced for funded projects rather than small practices.

BIMcollab — Free to quote

Built around BCF from the start, so it is the natural choice when several disciplines are on different authoring tools and nobody wants to standardise. Its rule-based checking is closer to the validation described above than Navisworks manages. The catch: the free tier is a genuine starting point but the useful automation is above it.

Speckle — Free to $99/mo

Open source, and a different shape of answer. Rather than a checking application, it is a data layer: models are pushed from Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper or Blender into a versioned stream that other tools and scripts can read. If your checks are specific to your practice, this is the platform to write them on. The catch: it assumes someone on the team can write a little code. Out of the box it checks nothing.

Bluebeam Revu — $260 to $440/yr

Not a model checker at all, but it is what a great deal of real coordination still runs on, because drawings remain the contractual deliverable. Markup, comparison between revisions and measurement on PDFs, with a shared session so several people mark up the same sheet at once. The catch: it is 2D. It will not find a clash the drawings do not show.

The authoring tools

Autodesk Revit — $680 to $2,070/yr

The industry default, and the one most job adverts ask for. Deep, well-documented, and the assumption behind most consultants’ workflows. The catch: it is expensive, heavy on hardware, and unforgiving about early-stage design — it wants decisions made before it is comfortable.

Graphisoft Archicad — $680 to $2,500/yr

The main alternative, and generally the more pleasant to design in: it tolerates ambiguity for longer, and its documentation output is strong. The catch: a smaller ecosystem, and on a project where everyone else is on Revit, you will be the one handling the exchange.

Vectorworks Architect — $1,200 to $3,045 one-time, or from $109/mo

Still available as a perpetual licence, which is increasingly rare and worth real money over a decade. Strong where architecture meets landscape and interiors. The catch: its BIM capability is genuine but shallower than the two above on large, heavily coordinated projects.

SketchUp — Free to $680/yr

The fastest way from an idea to a three-dimensional thing, which is why it survives every prediction of its demise. The catch: it is a modeller, not a BIM tool. Data, schedules and coordination are bolted on through extensions, and treating it as BIM on a large project ends badly.

The newer, lighter options

Snaptrude (free to quote), Arcol (free to quote) and Rayon (free to $30/user/mo) are browser-based and built around multiplayer editing, aimed at the early stage where Revit is a burden. BricsCAD ($390 to $1,290 one-time) is the credible perpetual-licence answer to AutoCAD. All are worth a look; none of them is yet where a large coordinated project ends up.

At a glance

Which to pick

• A small practice that has never checked a model. Start with BIMcollab’s free tier and one rule set. The habit matters more than the software.
• You are handing models to a contractor. Navisworks, because it is what they will open.
• Issues keep getting found and not fixed. That is an issue-management problem, not a detection one. Revizto.
• Your checks are specific to how your practice works. Speckle, and someone who can script.
• Choosing an authoring tool from scratch. Revit if you need to match what everyone else does, Archicad if you would rather enjoy the work, Vectorworks if a perpetual licence matters.

Frequently asked questions

What is model checking in BIM?

Running automated tests against a model rather than reviewing it by eye: geometric clash detection, rule-based validation of the data attached to objects, and tracking the resulting issues to closure. The second of those catches the errors people miss.

Is Navisworks the only clash detection software?

No, though it is the most widely expected. Revizto and BIMcollab both do it, and BIMcollab is stronger on rule-based data validation. Which one is right usually depends on who else has to open the file.

Do I need BIM software as a small practice?

You need it when a client or a jurisdiction asks for it, and it starts paying for itself on any project coordinated across more than about three disciplines. Below that, drawings and a modeller may genuinely be enough — and pretending otherwise is how practices end up paying for software they use as a drafting tool.

What is IFC, and why does it keep coming up?

The open, vendor-neutral file format for building models. It is what lets an Archicad model be checked by a tool that has never heard of Archicad. Exports are imperfect and need testing early rather than the week before a deadline, but it is the only reason cross-tool checking works at all.

Is there free BIM software?

There are free tiers — SketchUp, Snaptrude, Arcol, Speckle, BIMcollab all have one — and Blender with the open-source BlenderBIM add-on is genuinely free IFC authoring. None of the mainstream authoring tools is free beyond a student licence.

Related

Browse all BIM and model checking tools, the wider architecture directory, or architectural visualization software for the rendering side. For the generative end, see parametric and generative design, and AutoCAD alternatives if drafting is the immediate problem.