Free Engineering Software for Students and Educators
Students: Learn the software used by top engineers and jumpstart your career
Educators: Bring learning to life with hands-on curriculum and academic resources
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FORWARD THINKING
Design Your Future with Free Bentley Software
Bentley Education gives students and educators free access to industry-leading civil engineering, CAD, and infrastructure software—plus real-world learning resources and a global community of users.
See how Bentley Education is helping students and educators worldwide build the infrastructure of tomorrow.
Students
Build Your Career Advantage
Here’s how you can stand out:
- Access professional software, including MicroStation, to gain hands-on experience
- Explore courses to advance your practical skills from the classroom
- Build your portfolio of infrastructure projects to show employers you are career ready
Start Learning ❯
Educators
Deliver an industry-aligned Curriculum
Here’s how you can prepare your students to be workforce ready:
- Teach all the same Bentley applications used by leading engineering firms at no cost
- Save valuable time with ready-made lesson plans, activities, and guides
- Integrate theory and practice and give students the skills employers are seeking
Get Started ❯
Get Started
New to Bentley Education? Start Here.
Getting started is easier than you think. We’ve put together a short, easy-to-follow video that walks you through every step: from creating your free Bentley Education account to downloading your first professional software.
Get up and running in just a few minutes!
Discover software
Find Your Free Engineering Software
Let us help you find the solutions that meet your needs. There are over 50 to choose from.
Use this interactive diagram to find the right software to best support your course, project, or area of interest.
Recommended for bridge design
OpenBridge Designer: Create physical and analytical models throughout the lifecycle of steel and concrete bridges, combining capabilities for modeling, analysis, and design.
ProStructures: Create accurate 3D models for structural steel, metal work, and reinforced concrete structures.
Recommended for road design
OpenRoads Designer: Comprehensive detailed design and documentation for roadway projects, including surveying, drainage, subsurface utilities, and visualization in one application
OpenRoads ConceptStation: Create conceptual designs to evaluate more options and identify risks during project planning.
Recommended for water infrastructure
OpenFlows Water: Comprehensive decision-support software for you to design, plan, and operate your water distribution systems.
OpenFlows Sewer: Efficient sanitary sewer modeling and design software used to design, analyze, and plan wastewater collection systems.
OpenFlows Hydraulic Toolset: Analyze hydraulic elements quickly and easily with a hydraulic calculator to solve design challenges for individual hydraulic components.
Recommended for rail design
OpenRail Designer: Streamline project delivery and design of rail network assets from concept through commissioning and completion.
OpenRail ConceptStation: Create conceptual track design including rail geometry, electrification, tunnels, and bridge design to evaluate more options, identify high-risk items, and minimize cost.
OpenTunnel Designer: Model, simulate, detail, and document tunnel projects fully interoperable with analysis and design.
Recommended for CAD modeling and building design
MicroStation: Model, document, access, and view architectural, engineering, mapping, construction, and operations design information with the power and flexibility you need for any size project.
Bentley LumenRT: Visualize your models with cinematic quality rendering and animation by integrating life-like digital nature into your simulated infrastructure designs from CAD/BIM files.
OpenBuildings Designer: Design, analyze, document, and visualize buildings with software made for architects and engineers.
Recommended for structural analysis and detailing
STAAD: Analyze and design any structure, simple or complex, and share the synchronized model with confidence for multidiscipline team collaboration.
RAM Elements: Perform 3D finite element analysis of almost any type of structure or structural component
Recommended for leveraging digital twins in infrastructure
SYNCHRO: Digital construction delivery tools, including virtual construction, planning, and model-based workflows, to improve project efficiency.
iTwin Capture Modeler: Automatically generate multiresolution 3D models at any scale and precision.
iTwin Capture Manage & Extract: Combines advanced reality data management and powerful feature extraction into a single user-friendly desktop application.
Recommended for geotechnical analysis
PLAXIS 3D: Perform powerful 3D finite element analysis of deformation and stability for high-profile projects in soil and rock.
PLAXIS 2D: Reliably analyze soil and rock in 2D to assess deformation and stability under the effects of ground-structure interaction, groundwater flow, heat flow, or earthquakes.
GeoStudio 2D/3D: Perform advanced 2D or 3D limit equilibrium stability analysis of soil and rock slopes, model dewatering systems or tailings storage facilities.
Recommended for bridge design
OpenBridge Designer: Create physical and analytical models throughout the lifecycle of steel and concrete bridges, combining capabilities for modeling, analysis, and design.
ProStructures: Create accurate 3D models for structural steel, metal work, and reinforced concrete structures.
Recommended for road design
OpenRoads Designer: Comprehensive detailed design and documentation for roadway projects, including surveying, drainage, subsurface utilities, and visualization in one application
OpenRoads ConceptStation: Create conceptual designs to evaluate more options and identify risks during project planning.
Recommended for water infrastructure
OpenFlows Water: Comprehensive decision-support software for you to design, plan, and operate your water distribution systems.
OpenFlows Sewer: Efficient sanitary sewer modeling and design software used to design, analyze, and plan wastewater collection systems.
OpenFlows Hydraulic Toolset: Analyze hydraulic elements quickly and easily with a hydraulic calculator to solve design challenges for individual hydraulic components.
Recommended for rail design
OpenRail Designer: Streamline project delivery and design of rail network assets from concept through commissioning and completion.
OpenRail ConceptStation: Create conceptual track design including rail geometry, electrification, tunnels, and bridge design to evaluate more options, identify high-risk items, and minimize cost.
OpenTunnel Designer: Model, simulate, detail, and document tunnel projects fully interoperable with analysis and design.
Recommended for CAD modeling and building design
MicroStation: Model, document, access, and view architectural, engineering, mapping, construction, and operations design information with the power and flexibility you need for any size project.
Bentley LumenRT: Visualize your models with cinematic quality rendering and animation by integrating life-like digital nature into your simulated infrastructure designs from CAD/BIM files.
OpenBuildings Designer: Design, analyze, document, and visualize buildings with software made for architects and engineers.
Recommended for structural analysis and detailing
STAAD: Analyze and design any structure, simple or complex, and share the synchronized model with confidence for multidiscipline team collaboration.
RAM Elements: Perform 3D finite element analysis of almost any type of structure or structural component
Recommended for leveraging digital twins in infrastructure
SYNCHRO: Digital construction delivery tools, including virtual construction, planning, and model-based workflows, to improve project efficiency.
iTwin Capture Modeler: Automatically generate multiresolution 3D models at any scale and precision.
iTwin Capture Manage & Extract: Combines advanced reality data management and powerful feature extraction into a single user-friendly desktop application.
Recommended for geotechnical analysis
PLAXIS 3D: Perform powerful 3D finite element analysis of deformation and stability for high-profile projects in soil and rock.
PLAXIS 2D: Reliably analyze soil and rock in 2D to assess deformation and stability under the effects of ground-structure interaction, groundwater flow, heat flow, or earthquakes.
GeoStudio 2D/3D: Perform advanced 2D or 3D limit equilibrium stability analysis of soil and rock slopes, model dewatering systems or tailings storage facilities.
Or explore the top engineering solutions trending with students and educators right now
I really do applaud Bentley for what they’ve done for a very long time in investing in tomorrow with the youth of today. It’s really amazing to see. I’m really encouraged about our future. We just have to continue to educate and get more students interested in STEM such that we get everything we need in the future for our engineers so the state DOTs can continue to do what we have to do to serve our public.
… what Bentley is doing by putting the software in front of the teachers and in front of students, it allows them to come in with an edge. And so, what that means is that when they get into their college campuses, when they get into industry it’s not something new to them and they’re actually adding to what we’re doing. And so, the more they come in understanding the more they come in ready to work day one.
Bentley is a critical partner for us in delivering this program, supporting this program and so when they come to us, we’re able to bring these students up to speed into our workforce and teach them that much more quickly because we have the Bentley curriculum that has supported them to that point.
I think it’s phenomenal that Bentley provides this tier of program to the students free of charge and to the educators free of charge. Because that’s just building the workforce, they’re gaining the skills, they’re learning how to use these programs.
Bentley can really make an impact; they are leading in software in civil engineering. By providing it to us we’re training future employees.
Bentley has impacted our students, … especially one on my team because … he went from absolutely no knowledge because the software is pretty intuitive and he was able to figure out how to construct a similar design to our current bridge in literally a day; I was so impressed.
Every team used the platform in such different ways, which truly highlighted the breadth and flexibility of the software and the platform. Whether it was helping accessibility issues on campus, improving sustainability, or working on power grids, the software can be used for such a wide range of applications and it really inspired me to think outside the box.
I always encourage students to seek hands-on experience and earn Bentley accreditations before entering the workforce. OpenRoads Designer and/or OpenBridge Designer experience on a resume immediately stands out. These are critical design tools and highly in-demand skills, especially in the rapidly advancing era of Digital Delivery. This experience gives you a competitive edge in the transportation industry and allows you to hit the ground running when you start your career.
We greatly appreciate Bentley’s commitment to STEM education in Hawaii. Your contribution was instrumental in making this event [Bridge Builder Competition] a success and providing our students a platform to showcase their passion, skill, and ingenuity.
Education partners
At Work in Leading Academic Institutions
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Ready to Get Started with Free Engineering Software?
Your free access to industry-leading software and resources is just a click away. Sign up for a Bentley Education User Account today or login to view your existing profile.
Contact Us
We’re here to help
Having trouble logging into your account, unsure about which software you need, or have other questions?
Visit our help page to check out our full list of FAQs or connect with the Bentley Education team for support.
education profile
Manage your account
Need to update your information or check your access status?
You can manage your details, monitor when your access expires, and learn how to renew it in your Bentley Education profile.
Ready to Get Started with Free Engineering Software?
Your free access to industry-leading software and resources is just a click away. Sign up for a Bentley Education User Account today or login to view your existing profile.
Contact Us
We’re here to help
Having trouble logging into your account, unsure about which software you need, or have other questions?
Visit our help page to check out our full list of FAQs or connect with the Bentley Education team for support.
education profile
Manage your account
Need to update your information or check your access status?
You can manage your details, monitor when your access expires, and learn how to renew it in your Bentley Education profile.
