AutoCalcs for Engineering Students
Learning structural analysis shouldn't require expensive software. AutoCalcs gives you professional-grade FEA tools completely free—perfect for understanding concepts, verifying hand calculations, and completing assignments.
Why Students Love AutoCalcs
Traditional structural software is designed for practicing engineers with years of experience and corporate budgets. Student editions are often crippled, time-limited, or require complicated university licenses. We took a different approach.
100% Free
No student discounts or trial periods. AutoCalcs is genuinely free for everyone, including all analysis features.
Learn by Doing
Build models, apply loads, and see results instantly. Understanding comes from experimentation, not just reading textbooks.
Verify Your Work
Check your hand calculations against FEA results. Understand where approximations break down and why.
No Barriers
Works in your browser on any computer. No installation, no IT department approval, no license servers.
Perfect for Your Coursework
Whether you're studying structural mechanics, steel design, or finite element methods, AutoCalcs helps you visualise and understand the concepts you're learning in class.
Structural Mechanics
- Visualise shear force and bending moment diagrams
- Understand how loads transfer through structures
- See deflected shapes under different loads
- Verify textbook examples and problem sets
Steel & Concrete Design
- Access real section libraries (W shapes, HSS, angles, etc.)
- Calculate section properties accurately
- Get member forces for design checks
- Model realistic frame behaviour
Finite Element Analysis
- Understand the Direct Stiffness Method hands-on
- See how element stiffness matrices combine
- Experiment with mesh refinement effects
- Build intuition for FEA behaviour
What You Can Do
The free tier gives you everything you need for learning:
- Up to 20 nodes per model (plenty for learning)
- Full 3D frame analysis
- Linear static and P-Delta analysis
- Thousands of real sections (steel, timber, aluminium)
- Save projects locally or to the cloud
- Interactive 3D visualisation
From Classroom to Career
The skills you develop with AutoCalcs translate directly to industry software. Understanding structural behaviour, load paths, and FEA fundamentals is universal—the concepts work the same whether you're using AutoCalcs, SAP2000, ETABS, or STAAD.
Many practicing engineers keep AutoCalcs bookmarked for quick checks and simple analyses, even when they have access to expensive commercial packages. It's that useful.