Dwg Gateway Direct

Autodesk’s own free offering. It is technically a gateway because it allows you to view, plot, and convert DWGs to older versions.

A DWG gateway is a software component or service that sits between DWG files (and DWG-producing applications) and downstream systems. It provides translation, access control, processing, optimization, and integration functions so other applications (document management systems, web viewers, PLM/PIM systems, cloud storage, BIM/CDE platforms, or microservices) can reliably consume or serve DWG content without needing native AutoCAD integration.

Common use cases:

Software like Solibri, Bluebeam Revu (for takeoffs), and Revizto rely on DWG Gateways to extract geometry and data from architectural drawings without needing an AutoCAD license on every machine.

These are browser-based gateways. You upload a DWG, they convert it server-side, you download a PDF or PNG. dwg gateway

If DWG Gateway doesn’t suit you:

| Tool | Free? | Key advantage | |------|-------|----------------| | DWG TrueView (Autodesk) | Yes | Official, handles newest DWG, no conversion limits | | LibreCAD | Yes | Open source, basic editing | | NanoCAD | Free version | Editing + layers + printing | | DraftSight | Free (legacy version) | Feels like AutoCAD | | Online converters (Zamzar, A360) | Limited | No install, but privacy risk | Autodesk’s own free offering

DWG formats change every few years (from AutoCAD R14 to 2025). A good gateway supports reading older versions (e.g., R12) and writing to multiple modern versions (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018, etc.).