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SimScale vs PrePoMax: catalog facts
SimScale	PrePoMax
Best for: Engineering teams running CFD and FEA without local hardware	Best for: Engineers and students running structural FEM simulations with CalculiX
Paid Commercial subscription; plans are listed on the pricing page.	Free Free and open source.
Web	Windows
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	Graphical front end for the CalculiX solver Imports CAD exchange formats and STL files All 4 strengths for PrePoMax Graphical front end for the CalculiX solver Imports CAD exchange formats and STL files Netgen and Gmsh meshing, including hexahedral elements Animated 3D result fields and 2D history plots
Requires an internet connection and account Aimed at professional engineering budgets	Limited to the CalculiX solver Requires knowledge of finite element analysis
Web application	Downloadable app
Not open source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
Account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for SimScale simscale.com Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for PrePoMax prepomax.fs.um.si Catalog checked October 1, 2026

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