What is Autodesk Forma?
Autodesk Forma is Autodesk's cloud industry cloud for architecture, engineering, construction and operations teams, sold as several products: Forma Site Design, Forma for Buildings (a bundle with Forma Building Design, Data Management and Board) and Forma Design Collaboration. It covers early-phase site planning, environmental analysis, building design, shared project data and design review in the browser.
Who it's for
Autodesk lists Forma Site Design for anyone in pre-design or schematic design, including architects, urban planners and real estate developers, and says Forma for Buildings suits residential and mixed-use projects. Forma Design Collaboration is aimed at multidiscipline AEC teams such as project managers, project architects and BIM leads.
Pros & cons
Strengths
- Autodesk lists Forma Site Design analyses for area metrics, sun hours, daylight, wind, microclimate, noise, carbon, solar energy, shadows and views.
- Site Design imports contextual data (terrain, buildings, roads) by location and accepts IFC and OBJ files, with massing tools, Site Automation, a parking tool and unit design.
- Forma for Buildings bundles Forma Site Design, Forma Building Design, Forma Data Management and Forma Board, and Autodesk says designs can continue in Revit with native BIM geometry.
- Autodesk lists integrations with Revit, Dynamo, Rhino, Autodesk Construction Cloud and third-party extensions on the Autodesk App Store.
- Forma Design Collaboration (the new name for BIM Collaborate Pro) lists clash detection, design package exchange, change analytics, connected issues and real-time Revit co-authoring, and is web-based with no desktop OS requirements.
- Autodesk offers a 30-day free trial, a 30-day refund window on annual and multi-year plans and 15 days on monthly plans, and free software for students and educators.
Limitations
- There is no free plan: Autodesk offers a 30-day trial and free software for students and educators only.
- Autodesk's Forma Site Design pages disagree on price: the page header says 'Starting at $59 / month' while the FAQ lists $85 monthly, $700 annually or $2,100 for three years.
- The Forma for Buildings and Forma Design Collaboration buy pages showed unfilled price placeholders when read, so their prices could not be confirmed.
- AI rendering in Forma Board is 'subject to render limits' that Autodesk says may vary, and the pages do not state the numbers.
- Autodesk's AI page says it protects customer data through its Trust principles for AI but does not say whether customer content is used to train models.
Plans and pricing
- Forma Site Design: $85 monthly, $700 annually, or $2,100 for 3 years (page header: from $59 a month). Site planning, analysis, massing and Forma Board. Annual and 3-year terms are described as saving 33% over monthly. 30-day free trial.
- Forma for Buildings: Price not readable. Bundle of Forma Site Design, Forma Building Design, Forma Data Management and Forma Board. Monthly, 1-year or 3-year terms. 30-day free trial.
- Forma Design Collaboration: Price not readable. Web-based common data environment for multidiscipline teams; includes Tandem Essentials and Model Analytics Essentials. Monthly, 1-year or 3-year terms. 30-day free trial.
- AEC Collection: $460 monthly, $3,675 annually, or $11,030 for 3 years. Includes Forma Site Design and 11+ other products, according to the Forma Site Design page.
- Success Plans (Business, Enterprise): Contact Autodesk. Optional add-on support tiers such as a designated Customer Success Manager, 24/7 support and custom reporting.
Prices were read from the Forma Site Design product and buy pages (US) in October 2026; the Forma for Buildings and Forma Design Collaboration buy pages showed template placeholders instead of amounts. The Site Design page shows both $59 a month and $85 monthly / $700 annually, so confirm on the live pricing page. Prices are in US dollars; Autodesk also lists Flex tokens for pay-as-you-go use.
Details checked October 2026 against the vendor's own pages. Prices and limits change, so confirm before you buy. Official pricing page ↗
Sources
This profile was compiled from these public pages. We have not run hands-on tests.
- autodesk.com/products/forma
- autodesk.com/products/forma-site-design/overview
- autodesk.com/products/forma-for-buildings/overview
- autodesk.com/products/forma-for-buildings/buy
- autodesk.com/eu/products/forma-for-buildings/buy
- autodesk.com/products/forma-design-collaboration/buy
- autodesk.com/bim-360/design-collaboration-software
- blogs.autodesk.com/forma/2026/03/24/forma-board-now-available-for-a...
- autodesk.com/solutions/autodesk-ai
Autodesk Forma — at a glance
Autodesk Forma is Autodesk's cloud industry cloud for architecture, engineering, construction and operations teams, sold as several products: Forma Site Design, Forma for Buildings (a bundle with Forma Building Design, Data Management and Board) and Forma Design Collaboration. It covers early-phase site planning, environmental analysis, building design, shared project data and design review in the browser.
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