Compare software

flow5 vs SimScale: catalog facts
flow5	SimScale
Best for: Hobbyists and engineers doing early aerodynamic or hydrofoil design	Best for: Engineering teams running CFD and FEA without local hardware
Free Free and open source under the GNU GPL v3.	Paid Commercial subscription; plans are listed on the pricing page.
macOS	Web
Covers wings, planes, hydrofoils and sails in one tool Built-in pre- and post-processing All 4 strengths for flow5 Covers wings, planes, hydrofoils and sails in one tool Built-in pre- and post-processing Uses XFoil, Gmsh and OpenCascade Regular releases with published release notes	Runs entirely in the browser on cloud compute Covers CFD, FEA, thermal and electromagnetics All 3 strengths for SimScale Runs entirely in the browser on cloud compute Covers CFD, FEA, thermal and electromagnetics Documentation, forum and public example projects
Online documentation is still under construction Potential flow methods suit preliminary design rather than detailed analysis	Requires an internet connection and account Aimed at professional engineering budgets
Downloadable app	Web application
Open source	Not open source
License: GPL-3.0	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for flow5 flow5.tech/flow5.html Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for SimScale simscale.com Catalog checked October 1, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.