Pricing
Plans for every stage of CNC work — hobby to production. Start free and stay free, or take a 14-day Pro trial with everything unlocked.
Join 2,000+ machinists using HelioCad
Free
Learn HelioCad at your own pace
no card, no expiry
Upgrade only when you need the pro tools.
- Unlimited parametric CAD & sketching
- 10 active projects
- STEP, STL and DXF export
- 5 AI requests per day
- Basic 2.5D CAM + G-code export
- Community support
No card required · stay free as long as you like
Maker
For hobbyist CNC owners and weekend warriors
billed monthly
Or $179/yr — save 25%.
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Full parametric, surface and sheet metal modeling
- Full 3-axis CAM strategies
- Full laser engraving & cutting (GRBL, Ruida CO2, EzCad fiber/galvo)
- 500 HelioAI credits/month, rolling over
- Unlimited private projects
- Basic toolpath simulation
- LinuxCNC, Grbl, Mach3/4, Masso, Centroid, Smoothieware support
Free for 14 days · no card required · cancel anytime
Pro
For professional machinists and small job shops
billed monthly
Or $449/yr — save 25%.
- Everything in Maker, plus:
- 4-axis and 5-axis simultaneous CAM
- 2,000 HelioAI credits/month on the larger reasoning model
- Reverse engineering & scan-to-CAD
- Structural simulation (FEA)
- Industrial posts: Siemens 840D, Fanuc, Haas, Mazak, Okuma, Heidenhain
- Full 3D stock simulation + collision detection
- STEP, IGES, STL, G-code, DXF, Parasolid export
- Priority AI queue
Free for 14 days · no card required · cancel anytime
Team
For production shops and multi-user teams
billed monthly
Or $990/user/yr — save 17%.
- Everything in Pro, plus:
- Per-user pricing — add or remove seats anytime
- Unlimited HelioAI
- Team collaboration, shared projects, review workflows
- Batch G-code generation (multi-part)
- Custom post-processors
- Dedicated GPU queue
Free for 14 days · no card required · cancel anytime
Heavy week? Top up AI credits any time: 500 credits for $10 or 2,000 credits for $25 — purchased credits never expire.
Need a pro tool exactly once? Pro Day Pass $9.99 · 5-axis CAM (one project) $8 · Advanced FEA (one run) $5 — no subscription required.
How HelioCad Compares
AI-powered CAD/CAM at a fraction of the cost. No installs, no dongles, no annual lock-in.
| Feature | HelioCad | Fusion 360 | Mastercam |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-axis CAM | $49.99/moPro · or $8 per project | $155/mo | $10K+/yr |
| AI G-code generation | IncludedFree plan included | No | No |
| Browser-based | YesAll plans | Desktop only | Desktop only |
| Built-in post-processors | 19 includedIndustrial posts on Pro | Large library | Reseller-supplied |
| Custom post-processors | In-app editorTeam | Edit post files | Reseller / .pst editing |
Works with Haas, Fanuc, Siemens 840D, Heidenhain, Mazak, Okuma, Brother, Hurco, LinuxCNC, Grbl, Mach3/4, Masso, Centroid, and more.
Frequently asked questions
Is the free plan really free?
Yes — no card, no expiry, no trial countdown. Free gives you unlimited parametric CAD and sketching, 10 active projects, STEP/STL/DXF export, basic 2.5D CAM with G-code output, and 5 AI requests a day. It is meant to be genuinely useful, so you can learn HelioCad at your own pace instead of racing a clock. You upgrade when you need the pro tools, not to keep the lights on.
What do I get during the free trial?
Every new account starts on a full-featured 14-day Pro trial — no card required. You get everything Pro has: 4/5-axis CAM, industrial posts, simulation, reverse engineering and the larger AI model. When it ends you are not locked out: your account drops to the Free plan, your projects stay yours, and you can keep working. Subscribe whenever the pro tools start paying for themselves.
What happens to my projects if I do not subscribe?
Nothing bad. You land on the Free plan and keep full access to your work. If you have more than 10 projects when the trial ends, all of them stay readable and exportable — you just cannot create new ones until you archive some or upgrade. We never hold your CAD files hostage: STEP, STL, DXF and G-code export are on every plan, including Free.
What are AI credits?
One credit is one AI request — generating a part, editing geometry, planning a toolpath. Free gets 5 a day. Maker gets 500 a month and Pro gets 2,000 a month, both on the larger reasoning model for Pro. Unused plan credits roll over into the next month, up to three months' worth. Need more on a heavy weekend? Top-ups are $10 for 500 credits or $25 for 2,000, and purchased credits never expire.
Can I pay for just one job instead of subscribing?
Yes. A Pro Day Pass is $9.99 and unlocks everything for 24 hours, plus 50 AI credits — handy when you need 5-axis or an industrial post exactly once. There are also one-off unlocks for the individual jobs: $8 to run 5-axis on a project, $5 for a structural simulation, $4 to reverse-engineer a model, $3 to post to an industrial controller. No subscription required for any of them.
Is annual billing cheaper?
Considerably. Maker is $179/year instead of $239.88, and Pro is $449/year instead of $599.88 — about 25% off either way. Pro works out to roughly $37/month, which is around a third less than Autodesk Fusion's advertised annual price. Team is $990/user/year, the usual two months free.
How do Team plan seats work?
Team is priced per user at $99/user/mo — pick your seat count at checkout and add or remove seats anytime. Each seat gets full Pro-level access with unlimited AI, plus team collaboration features.
Can I switch plans later?
Absolutely. Upgrade or downgrade at any time. When upgrading, you only pay the prorated difference for the remainder of your billing period. Downgrades take effect at your next renewal, and you keep any credits you have already banked.
What payment methods do you accept?
Major credit cards are accepted. Stripe Checkout shows the payment methods available for your purchase.
What controllers do you support?
Free and Maker support generic G-code and popular hobby controllers (Grbl, LinuxCNC, Mach3/4, Masso, Centroid, Smoothieware). Laser controllers — Grbl, Ruida CO2 DSP, and EzCad fiber/galvo — are included from Maker up. Pro and Team add the industrial CNC posts: Siemens 840D SL, Fanuc, Haas, Mazak, Okuma and Heidenhain, for 19 built-in post-processors in total. Team adds custom post-processors: start from any built-in, adjust the preamble, postamble, tool-change block and option defaults in the in-app editor, then save it as your own post and reuse it across projects.