Parasolid
CAD kernel in Developer tools
Mature geometry kernel that major CAD systems use, praised for handling geometry robustly and for being more refined than OpenCASCADE.
Mature geometry kernel that major CAD systems use, praised for handling geometry robustly and for being more refined than OpenCASCADE.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Mature kernel used by major CAD
“I've heard Parasolid and whatever it is that Autodesk uses these days are both excellent as well.”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “FreeCAD Version 1.1 Released” “All major CAD systems use mature geometry kernels like Parasolid”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler” Handles geometry robustly without complaint
“Parasolid handles it in geometry (the math)”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Blender 5.0” “Parasolid handles without complaint”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenCascade | 15 | 14 | 52% | 6 | — | — |
| ParasolidThis page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“set up to provide the kind of detailed error reporting needed to provide agent feedback”
“I've heard Parasolid and whatever it is that Autodesk uses these days are both excellent as well.”
“OpenCASCADE is less refined than parasolid”
“All major CAD systems use mature geometry kernels like Parasolid”
“Parasolid handles without complaint”
“Parasolid handles it in geometry (the math)”
“uses the same proprietary, expensive library to do the heavy lifting”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.