The online version contains all the essential tools, but their grouping hides many of them and makes it more diffucult to find and slower to select. Navigating is more cumbersome in SketchUp for web. I find that the web-based versions (both Free and Shop) have some shortcomings that woodworkers are likely to bump up against when designing their woodworking projects. SketchUp Free is freely available, whereas SketchUp Pro ($299/year) and SketchUp Go ($119/yr) are a yearly subscription.

SketchUp Free and SketchUp Go are both web-bound tools that you run in the cloud. Let’s start with the biggest differences between the available versions: SketchUp Pro is a full-featured desktop applications that you install on your computer.

Our recommendation for woodworkers is that you use the SketchUp Pro version, even if you start with the free trial. Before you can start learning the basics of the software, you first need to choose a version. In the last couple years, the entry point for learning SketchUp has gotten more confusing because there’s been several new versions of SketchUp to come out. Our recommendation has been updated to reflect that. JNote: Up until recently, SketchUp offered an older full-featured desktop application SketchUp Make 2017. Which Version of SketchUp Should Woodworkers Use

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