If you run an architecture practice in India and you're picking a BIM tool today, the choice almost always comes down to Archicad or Revit. Both are mature, both export IFC, both have an Indian user base — and both have evangelists who'll tell you the other one is wrong.
We work with hundreds of practices across India through our training program and our Archicad offers for IIA members. Here is the honest, project-tested comparison we share with architects who ask us "which should I buy?"
The short answer
- Choose Archicad if you are a small-to-mid architecture practice (1–50 people), you want to be productive in weeks not months, you work mostly in residential, hospitality and institutional, and your team values design freedom.
- Choose Revit if you are part of a large multi-disciplinary firm (architecture + MEP + structural under one roof), most of your projects are submitted to clients who mandate RVT files, and you have the in-house BIM management to absorb the learning curve.
Most Indian practices we meet fit the first profile. Many adopted Revit because "the industry uses it" and then spent two years fighting it. The honest reality is that for design-led architecture work, Archicad is the more productive tool.
Cost: licence vs. real cost of ownership
Looking only at licence price misses the actual TCO. What matters in India:
- Perpetual vs subscription. Archicad still offers a perpetual licence option (with special IIA member pricing). Revit is subscription-only.
- GST + import. Both are imported software so GST applies — your CA can capture this as ITC.
- Training hours to billable output. This is where most practices lose money. Architects need ~80–120 hours to be productive in Revit; ~40–60 hours in Archicad. At ₹500/hr loaded cost, that's a real number.
- Renewal lock-in. Subscription tools force the renewal. A perpetual Archicad licence keeps working if cash flow tightens.
Rule of thumb: over 5 years, Archicad perpetual + Annual Subscription Plan typically lands 30–40% cheaper than equivalent Revit subscription for a 5-seat firm.
Learning curve: time to first billable project
Revit's logic is engineering-driven. Families, parameters, types, and the discipline-based workspaces are powerful but require unlearning AutoCAD habits.
Archicad's logic is architecture-driven. The interface mirrors how architects actually think: floor plans, sections, elevations, schedules, all live updates of one model. Architects coming from AutoCAD typically draft their first usable apartment plan inside week 1.
If you want a structured path, our Archicad BIM Training Program takes practising architects from zero to project-ready in 6 weekends.
IFC and OpenBIM: the interoperability story
The single biggest myth in Indian BIM is "Revit is the standard, so we have to use it." Almost every project in India that needs cross-discipline collaboration uses IFC as the exchange format — that's why buildingSMART exists. Both tools export IFC. In our experience:
- Archicad's IFC export is more reliable out of the box. Mappings for IS-code element classifications work cleanly.
- Revit's IFC export needs configuration care. A misconfigured
IFC Export Setupproduces broken models that frustrate consultants. - For coordination, both tools work fine when paired with Solibri for model checking.
If your structural and MEP consultants insist on Revit, that doesn't force you to use Revit — it forces you to export clean IFC. Archicad does this well.
IS-code and Indian context
Both tools are international software, so neither ships with IS-code title blocks, IS 962 hatches, or NBC 2016 occupancy schedules. You build these once and reuse. Practical differences:
- Sheet sizes: Archicad's master layouts are easier to set up for A0/A1 with the standard Indian title block.
- Door/window schedules: Archicad's Interactive Schedule is faster to customise for the schedule formats most BMC/BBMP authorities expect.
- FAR/setback compliance views: Both can do it; both need a bit of templating work.
Once your office template is built, this is a non-issue in either tool.
Real-world workflow: what changes day to day
A residential architect in Bangalore using Archicad will typically:
- Draft floor plans, sections and elevations as live views of one model.
- Run a sun study and energy analysis using built-in EcoDesigner inside Archicad.
- Coordinate with the structural consultant via IFC export, reviewed in Solibri.
- Issue tender drawings as a publisher set straight to PDF.
- Mark up consultant feedback in Bluebeam Revu.
The same architect on Revit spends meaningful time on family creation, view filters, and worksharing setup before they get to design. Some practices love that control. Most just want to design.
Our recommendation for Indian practices
Pick Archicad if any two of these apply:
- You are a 1–50 person practice doing mostly architecture (not full multi-discipline).
- You bill on design quality, not on the size of your model server.
- You want predictable software costs over 5+ years (perpetual is on the table).
- Your team is currently on AutoCAD and you want them productive this year, not next.
If you check more than two boxes, talk to us. We've moved hundreds of Indian practices to Archicad and we know what gets in the way.
Frequently asked questions
Is Revit better for tall buildings or commercial projects? Not really. Revit's strength is multi-discipline coordination, which matters more for the firm than the project. Archicad handles G+30 residential and commercial buildings without trouble.
Will my consultants be able to open my Archicad files? Consultants don't need your .pln file — they need clean IFC, DWG or PDF. Archicad exports all three.
Can I migrate existing AutoCAD drawings? Yes — both tools import DWG. The bigger question is whether to re-model from scratch or trace, which depends on the drawing fidelity. We cover this in our CAD-to-BIM migration plan.
Where do I get IIA member pricing? Cosmicstar is the authorised partner. See the IIA Archicad Perpetual Offer 2025 or contact us for the latest IIA P2S 2026 pricing.
