Archicad or Revit: how to choose the right one for your firm

Both tools do real BIM. The difference that matters is not in the feature list, it is in how your firm works.

The question almost every firm gets wrong

When a firm decides to move to BIM, the first question is almost always "Archicad or Revit?". It is a fair question, but it tends to come too early, and so it tends to get answered the wrong way: by what the firm next door uses, by the software the intern happens to know, or by a feature list nobody will touch in the first year.

After implementing BIM in more than 200 Brazilian firms, we have learned something uncomfortable: the choice of software accounts for a small part of the result. A firm that picks "the right software" and implements it badly ends up with expensive 3D CAD. A firm that picks a reasonable tool and implements it well delivers better projects in less time.

That said, the choice is real and it has real consequences. This article sets out what they are, with data you can check, and ends with a simple method for making the call.

What Archicad and Revit have in common (and why that matters)

Before the differences, it is worth clearing away the part of the argument that is just noise.

Both are complete BIM platforms. They model with objects that carry information, produce documentation from the model, extract quantities, control revisions and let a team work on a shared model.

Both are IFC4 certified. buildingSMART International keeps the public list of certified software, and both Archicad and Revit have completed import and export certification in the IFC4 Architectural Reference Exchange. In practice: the two talk to each other, and to the rest of the market, through an open format that can be audited.

Both meet the Brazilian requirements. Decree 10,306/2020 sets the phases in which BIM becomes mandatory on Brazilian federal public works (phase one in January 2021, phase two in January 2024, phase three in January 2028) and, in article 6, item II, requires files to be made available in an open, non-proprietary format, on top of whatever other format the tender documents ask for. The decree does not name IFC, but IFC is the established open format for BIM models, and it is what the tender documents usually ask for. The ABNT NBR ISO 19650-1 and 19650-2 standards, published in 2022, deal with information management and are also software-agnostic.

Both are sold by subscription. Neither of them offers a perpetual license on a new purchase today.

In other words: there is no such thing as "software that is real BIM" and "software that is not". Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

Where the two really differ

1. Operating system: the most concrete difference of all

Archicad runs natively on Windows and macOS. Revit runs on Windows only. The official system requirements for Revit 2027 list 64-bit Windows 11 and, for Apple machines, point to Parallels Desktop, which is virtualization, not native support.

For a Brazilian architecture firm this is rarely a detail. Plenty of architecture and interiors firms are mostly Mac. Moving to Revit in that situation means buying new machines, keeping a virtualization layer running, or living with two sets of hardware. That is a real cost, and it does not appear on the software price list.

2. Modeling logic and learning curve

Archicad was designed from the start around the building and around the architect’s workflow. Building elements, documentation and presentation live in the same environment, and modeling tends to need less setting up before it produces something useful.

Revit is a multidisciplinary platform, built around the idea of families: almost anything that is not a wall, a floor or a slab goes through a separate editor with a logic of its own. That gives you enormous parametric power, and it charges for that power in learning time and in dependence on someone who knows the family editor well.

In Archicad the equivalent is GDL objects, which also take specific knowledge for custom cases, but account for less of the day-to-day work. Across the firms we work with, teams reach a productive level sooner in Archicad. That is not a judgment on the quality of the tools: it is the effect of one being specialized in architecture and the other being a generalist.

3. Scope of disciplines: the most decisive point

This is the difference that usually settles the question.

If your firm models structure and MEP in-house, Revit has the more mature ecosystem: structural analysis, rebar detailing, plumbing and HVAC systems in a single environment, plus the whole Autodesk coordination chain around it.

If your firm does architecture and interiors and receives the engineering disciplines from outside consultants, which is the case for most mid-sized and large Brazilian firms, that advantage of Revit stops being an advantage. Coordination happens over IFC or in a model coordination platform, whatever software each party modeled in.

Archicad has moved into that territory too: MEP Designer arrived as a headline feature in Archicad 29, in October 2025, with tools for modeling, sizing and documenting building services. Even so, it would be dishonest to claim it covers the same heavy structural engineering scope that the Autodesk platform covers. That is not what it was built for.

4. Market, people and partners

This is the strongest argument in favor of Revit in Brazil, and it is not a technical one: it is about ecosystem. Engineering offices, contractors and consultants gravitate heavily toward Autodesk. That means more people with Revit on their résumé, more material in Portuguese, and a greater chance that a client will require delivery in native .rvt files.

Three honest caveats about that argument:

1. A native-file requirement is contractual, not technical. It is worth checking case by case, because what many contracts actually ask for is the federated model and IFC.
2. Hiring "someone who already knows Revit" does not solve implementation. Someone who learned Revit on their own, in a firm with no standards, usually brings the bad habits, not the method.
3. The shortage of Archicad people is smaller than it looks in the architecture and interiors segment, which is exactly where it is used most.

5. Cost and licensing model

Archicad is sold today mainly under the Archicad Studio plan, which includes Archicad, BIMx Pro and BIMcloud Basic. The international list price is US$ 201 a month, paid annually in advance at US$ 2,414 per license. Graphisoft stopped selling Archicad Solo on 31 December 2025 and moved its subscribers to Studio on a stepped transition price.

Revit is sold on its own by subscription, or inside the AEC Collection, which bundles Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks, Forma and others. For firms already using several Autodesk products, the collection is usually the decisive commercial argument, because it spreads the cost of Revit across tools the firm would be paying for anyway.

In Brazil both are sold through resellers, with terms, exchange rates and discounts that change often, so any specific figure you read on a blog, this one included, ages fast. Ask for an official quote before you decide on price. What is worth holding on to as a principle: the two are in the same order of magnitude, and the cost difference between them is almost always smaller than the cost of a badly done implementation.

6. Where each one is heading

Both companies are betting heavily on artificial intelligence inside the modeling environment, and that is a fair criterion for anyone deciding today with five years in mind.

• Revit 2027, released on 7 April 2026, brought the Autodesk Assistant in tech preview, which lets you work with the model in natural language, along with tighter integration with Forma and with cloud coordination.
• Archicad 29 brought a built-in AI Assistant, a support chatbot inside the Archicad window, and Archicad 30 is due in early October 2026, along with the Design Intelligence initiative, Graphisoft’s cloud-native platform.

In short: neither one is standing still, and choosing one today is not a bet against AI.

The six criteria, side by side

Three myths that get in the way of the decision

"Archicad and Revit do not talk to each other." They do. Both are IFC4 certified by buildingSMART, and IFC is precisely the format the Brazilian decree requires for public deliverables. What does happen is information loss when the exchange is made without an agreed standard, and that happens just as much between two firms using the same software.

"Revit is more BIM because more people use it." Popularity is not a technical qualification. It is a fair factor in the decision, because of the ecosystem, hiring and contractual requirements, but it is a market argument, not a methodological one.

"The choice is irreversible." It is not, and we have seen firms go both ways. What is expensive is not changing software: it is changing software without standards, a template and a library, because then the firm starts from zero for the second time.

How to decide in practice: six questions

Answer these six questions before you look at any commercial proposal. They settle it in most cases.

1. Is the firm Mac, Windows or mixed? If it is Mac, Revit means virtualization or replacing the hardware.
2. Who models structure and MEP? If it is in-house, Revit gains weight. If it is outsourced, this criterion all but disappears.
3. Does any client or contract require native files? Check whether the requirement really is native, or whether IFC satisfies it.
4. What kind of project dominates your work? Residential, interiors, landscape and retrofit pull toward Archicad. Infrastructure, industrial and large projects coordinated in Autodesk pull toward Revit.
5. Who is going to lead the change inside the firm? If there is nobody with the time and the authority for it, the problem is not the software.
6. What other Autodesk tools are you already paying for? If there are several, the AEC Collection changes the math.

What actually decides the result

The last row of that table is worth repeating, because it is the most important part of this article: no software saves a firm that has no standards.

Across more than 200 implementations, the failures we have seen almost never came from the choice of tool. They came from: no consistent template, each architect naming things their own way, an object library that does not reflect what the firm actually specifies, training that teaches commands instead of method, and nobody responsible for keeping the standard alive once the consultant leaves. If you want the whole list, I wrote about it in common mistakes in BIM implementation.

If your firm is at that point, "Archicad or Revit" is the second question. The first is how you are going to reorganize the way you work, and either tool can support that, as long as the decision is followed by a process. In practice that usually runs on three fronts: the implementation itself, the firm’s template and training the team.

Frequently asked questions

Can Archicad and Revit open each other’s files?

Not directly in the native format, but both are certified by buildingSMART for IFC4 import and export. IFC is the open format used to move models between BIM platforms, and it is the market standard for the open-format deliverables that Decree 10,306/2020 requires on Brazilian federal public works.

Does Archicad run on Mac?

Yes, natively on macOS and Windows. Revit runs on Windows only; Autodesk’s official requirements point Apple users to Parallels Desktop, which means virtualization.

Which one is easier to learn?

In practice, with architecture and interiors firms, Archicad usually gets the team to a productive level in less time, mostly because it does not depend on the family editor for much of the day-to-day work. This varies with what the team already knows and, above all, with the quality of the training.

Which one is cheaper?

The two are in the same order of magnitude and both are sold by subscription. The Archicad Studio plan has an international list price of US$ 2,414 per year per license. Revit is sold on its own or inside the AEC Collection, and for anyone already using other Autodesk tools the collection changes the math considerably. In Brazil, ask for an official quote: exchange rates and reseller terms change often.

Can you switch software later?

You can, and it is not rare. The bigger cost of switching is not the software: it is rebuilding the template, the library and the working standard, which is exactly what most firms have never written down.

Does my firm need Archicad or Revit to comply with the Brazilian BIM decree?

Neither one is required by name. The decree is about methodology and requires, among other things, that files be delivered in an open, non-proprietary format, which in practice means IFC. Both pieces of software meet that.

Sources

1. buildingSMART International, public list of IFC certification participants (Archicad and Revit, IFC4 Architectural Reference Exchange).
2. Decree No. 10,306 of 2 April 2020, Office of the President of Brazil.
3. Autodesk, Revit 2027 system requirements.
4. Autodesk, what’s new in Revit 2027, 7 April 2026.
5. Graphisoft, official Archicad Studio page.
6. Graphisoft Community, transition from Archicad Solo to Archicad Studio.
7. Graphisoft Community, what’s new in Archicad 29 and 2026 release timeline.
8. ABNT NBR ISO 19650-1:2022 and ABNT NBR ISO 19650-2:2022.

Published 16 Sep 2026 · Updated 16 Sep 2026