EU Sovereignty Score
EU sovereignCAD & EngineeringHeadquarters: FR

SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes): sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

SOLIDWORKS is 3D CAD and CAE software from Dassault Systèmes for mechanical design and product development. It offers parametric, feature-based solid modelling on the Parasolid kernel, plus analysis and simulation tools such as finite element analysis and an interference check that flags parts that could collide in an assembly. SOLIDWORKS has traditionally run as a desktop application on Microsoft Windows. Dassault Systèmes also delivers SOLIDWORKS applications on its 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which has built-in cloud capabilities for online collaboration.

Dassault Systèmes is a publicly listed French company headquartered in Vélizy-Villacoublay and acquired SOLIDWORKS in 1997; SolidWorks Corp itself is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The software is commercial and closed-source, with no open-source option. With the desktop version, your own IT environment determines where files are kept; with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, data location depends on the chosen cloud service, which a European organisation should have set out contractually.

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Sovereignty score
59 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign
  • Jurisdiction SOV-2100
    Headquartered in the EU: European law applies
  • Data residency SOV-350
    Hosting inside and outside Europe (EU, US)
  • Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-360
    Key management with a European vendor
  • Freedom from lock-in SOV-640
    Closed source: switching requires data migration
  • Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-645
    Closed source, runtime with the vendor

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked July 2, 2026
HeadquartersFR (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty modelVendor-hosted (EU)Verified by hand
Data hostingEU, USVerified by hand
Open-sourceNoVerified by hand
GDPR-compliantYesVendor-stated
Hosting signalAKAMAI-AS - Akamai Technologies, Inc., US (US)Technically measured
CategoryCAD & Engineering
TypeProduct
Websitesolidworks.com ↗

The hosting signal shows the network that serves the vendor's website, often a CDN, and not necessarily where the service or your data is hosted. How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes)

The European alternatives to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) come from our knowledge base of over 6,200 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

68 European CAD & Engineering vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes)

SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) is headquartered in FR and therefore falls under European law: the GDPR, NIS2 and the Data Act. No foreign legislation can compel access to your data.

SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) hosts data in EU, US. Exactly what stays within the EU — and what does not — is defined by the vendor's data processing agreement and sub-processor list, not by a setting you control yourself; check those documents for the precise scope, including backups, logs and support access.

SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) is closed source and hosted by the vendor. The encryption keys and the runtime sit with the vendor and switching requires data migration. Ask about bring-your-own-key, export options and open standards.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes)?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) include ACCA software, ALLPLAN and AUCOTEC Engineering Base. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes)?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) include Blender. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) is headquartered in FR (EU) and hosts data in EU, US. That makes SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) an EU-sovereign choice in its own right; the EU alternatives on this page are comparable European tools.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on July 2, 2026.

Sources

This record was checked via the vendor's website and legal notice during the full audit of June and July 2026. Source links have been recorded per record since 20 September 2026.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Digital sovereignty in CAD & Engineering

CAD & Engineering: Computer-aided design, 3D modelling and engineering simulation software. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

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8 European alternatives to SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systemes) — GDPR-compliant & EU-hosted · EU Sovereignty Score