SimScale vs HELYX

SimScale4.0Visit HELYX—Visit

Higher score SimScale #2 in CFD software 4.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 3 features Visit SimScale

vs

HELYX #7 in CFD software —/10 Pricing on request ✓ 2 of 3 features Contact ENGYS

• SimScale fits best

  Teams preferring browser-based cloud simulation

• HELYX fits best

  Teams wanting flexible OpenFOAM-based CFD

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Side by side

Feature	SimScale 4.0/10 Visit ↗	HELYX —/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	4.0	—
Ranking	#2 in CFD software	#7 in CFD software
Best for	Teams preferring browser-based cloud simulation	Teams wanting flexible OpenFOAM-based CFD
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Windows, Linux
Support	Email, Live chat, Phone, Community, Docs	Email
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features SimScale 0/3 · HELYX 2/3
Multiphysics solver	Not published	✓ (best)
Built-in meshing	Not published	✓ (best)
CAD import	Not published	Not published
Specs
Deployment	Not published	Hybrid
Parallel cores	Not published	Not published
Operating systems	Not published	Linux, Windows
Our review
Pros	Browser-based CFD with CAD upload, meshing, and 3D result visualization Integrates with SOLIDWORKS, Fusion 360, Onshape, and other CAD tools Free Community plan plus REST API and Python and C# SDK support	Covers compressible and incompressible flows, turbulence, and multiphase simulation Includes mesh generation, moving meshes, and conjugate heat transfer Client-server operation supports local, remote, and cloud computing
Cons	Community projects are public and limited to selected analysis types Commercial plans require a pricing request rather than published prices Cloud-only deployment provides no offline access	The HELYX package is commercial, despite its open-source HELYX-Core engine Pricing requires contacting ENGYS rather than choosing a published plan The listed desktop operating systems are limited to Windows and Linux
Our verdict	SimScale is a browser-based engineering simulation platform for teams running computational fluid dynamics alongside structural, thermal, electromagnetics, and multiphysics work. Users can upload CAD models, prepare geometry in the… Read the review →	HELYX is a general-purpose computational fluid dynamics package from ENGYS, combining a graphical interface with HELYX-Core, an open-source simulation engine, for finite-volume engineering analysis. Its scope suits engineering teams and… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• SimScale — where it wins

  • Browser-based CFD with CAD upload, meshing, and 3D result visualization
  • Integrates with SOLIDWORKS, Fusion 360, Onshape, and other CAD tools
  • Free Community plan plus REST API and Python and C# SDK support

  Where it doesn't

  • Community projects are public and limited to selected analysis types
  • Commercial plans require a pricing request rather than published prices
  • Cloud-only deployment provides no offline access

• HELYX — where it wins

  • Covers compressible and incompressible flows, turbulence, and multiphase simulation
  • Includes mesh generation, moving meshes, and conjugate heat transfer
  • Client-server operation supports local, remote, and cloud computing

  Where it doesn't

  • The HELYX package is commercial, despite its open-source HELYX-Core engine
  • Pricing requires contacting ENGYS rather than choosing a published plan
  • The listed desktop operating systems are limited to Windows and Linux

• SimScale4.0/10 · Free plan

  Browser-based CFD with CAD preparation, cloud computing, APIs, and a free entry plan.

  Visit SimScaleFull verdict →
• HELYX—/10 · Pricing on request

  A commercial OpenFOAM-based CFD package with meshing and broad flow-simulation capabilities.

  Contact ENGYSFull verdict →