Compare the Top CFD Software in the USA as of November 2025

What is CFD Software in the USA?

CFD software is used to simulate fluid flow through a physical system. It uses numerical methods and algorithms to calculate complex flows involving heat transfer, turbulence and chemical reactions. CFD software is widely used in many industries, such as automotive and aerospace engineering, to identify potential design flaws before the product goes into production. Compare and read user reviews of the best CFD software in the USA currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

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    Azore CFD

    Azore CFD

    Azore CFD

    AzoreCFD has been a trusted, cutting-edge software tool since 2007. Azore focuses on analysis, design, engineering, and on obtaining precise, and quick results. Customers use Azore for applications that include: industrial flows, aerodynamics, thermal mixing, conjugate heat transfer, gas species mixing, heating and cooling systems, external flows, and more. Azore can be used to simulate essentially any steady-state or transient fluid flow model, including problems that involve conjugate heat transfer and special transport. With flexible pre/post processing, Azore allows for arbitrary polyhedral mesh topology with several import formats supported. Built-in post-processing capabilities includes: scalar fields, pathlines, animations, residual reports, vector fields, ISO-surfaces, force & movement reports, and export for external post-processing.
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    Orbital Stack

    Orbital Stack

    Orbital Stack

    Orbital Stack is an AI and CFD web-based software that provides earlier qualitative guidance, comparing a large number of design options while highlighting any potential wind and thermal comfort red flags. It allows for the realization of a variety of climate-conscious, high-performance developments not previously feasible due to cost and/or time constraints associated with traditional studies. Orbital Stack is the first digital climate-analysis tool built by global leaders in wind and microclimate engineering using real wind tunnel data. It is truly a game-changer for the architecture and building design sector, offering our clients direct access to wind comfort and safety analysis, thermal comfort and shadowing analysis, and cladding pressure simulations. This means architects can run their own wind simulations and quickly understand the climate impacts of their proposed building designs from the start, making decisions that result in higher performing and more resilient projects.
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    SimScale

    SimScale

    SimScale

    SimScale is a cloud-based web application that plays a key part in simulation software for many kinds of industries. The platform allows the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and Thermal Simulation. It also offers 3D simulation, continuous modeling, and motion & dynamic modeling.
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    Tecplot 360
    Make Better Decisions with Tecplot 360, the most complete CFD Post processor. More CFD simulations are being run, grid sizes are getting larger, and data sets are being stored remotely. It’s essential that you have the right tools to handle large data sets, automate workflows, and visualize parametric results. Tecplot 360 helps you spend less time waiting and more time discovering. Integrate XY, 2D & 3D plots and get them looking exactly the way you want. Communicate your results with brilliant images and animations. Automate the boring stuff with PyTecplot Python scripting. Never miss a result when analyzing parametric data with Chorus. Securely access large, remote data with SZL-Server client-server. Load Tecplot, FLUENT, PLot3D, CGNS, OpenFOAM, FVCOM, VTU data and 22 other CFD, FEA, structural analysis, and industry-standard data formats. Report and compare solutions in a multi-frame environment with multiple pages.
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    Autodesk CFD
    Autodesk CFD is a computational fluid dynamics simulation software that engineers and analysts use to intelligently predict how liquids and gases will perform. Autodesk CFD helps to minimize the need for physical prototypes while providing deeper insight into fluid flow design performance. Autodesk CFD provides engineers with a range of powerful tools for system design optimization. Fluid flow and free surface movement. Thermal management for electronics cooling. BIM integration for occupant comfort of HVAC in AEC and MEP. The Application Programming Interface (API) and scripting functions expand the base capabilities of Autodesk CFD through the Decision Center’s customization and automation of common tasks. In addition, the Decision Center automates system design comparisons to speed up design-based decision making.
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    Ansys Sherlock
    Ansys Sherlock is the only reliability physics-based electronics design tool that provides fast and accurate life predictions for electronic hardware at the component, board and system levels in early stage design. Ansys Sherlock automated design analysis provides fast and accurate life predictions for electronic hardware at the component, board and system levels in early design stages. Sherlock bypasses the ‘test-fail-fix-repeat’ cycle by empowering designers to accurately model silicon–metal layers, semiconductor packaging, printed circuit boards (PCBs) and assemblies to predict failure risks due to thermal, mechanical and manufacturing stressors--all before prototype. With embedded libraries containing over 500,000 parts, Sherlock rapidly converts electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) files into computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) models. Each model contains accurate geometries, material properties and translates stress information.
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    OpenFOAM

    OpenFOAM

    OpenFOAM

    OpenFOAM is the free, open-source CFD software developed primarily by OpenCFD Ltd since 2004. It has a large user base across most areas of engineering and science, from both commercial and academic organizations. OpenFOAM has an extensive range of features to solve anything from complex fluid flows involving chemical reactions, turbulence and heat transfer, to acoustics, solid mechanics and electromagnetics. OpenFOAM is professionally released every six months to include customer-sponsored developments and contributions from the community. It is independently tested by ESI-OpenCFD's application specialists, development partners and selected customers, and supported by ESI's worldwide infrastructure, values and commitment. Quality assurance is based on rigorous testing. The process of code evaluation, verification and validation includes several hundred daily unit tests, a medium-sized test battery run on a weekly basis, and a large industry-based test battery-run.
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    Ansys CFX
    Known for its extreme robustness, CFX is the gold standard CFD software when it comes to turbomachinery applications. Both solver and models are wrapped in a modern, intuitive, and flexible GUI, with extensive capabilities for customization and automation using session files, scripting and a powerful expression language. Highly scalable high-performance computing will help speed up simulations including pumps, fans, compressors and turbines. New manufacturing methods have opened the door to more effective turbine cooling channel geometries. The new geometries will lead to better performance and efficiency but are more complex. To achieve highly accurate results, a team of Purdue engineers turned to Ansys CFX. The engineers executed key computations with little turnaround time. With the extra time, they could perform more in-depth comparisons and run further simulations to fully optimize their product.
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    Ansys Icepak
    Ansys Icepak is a CFD solver for electronics thermal management. It predicts airflow, temperature, and heat transfer in IC packages, PCBs, electronic assemblies/enclosures, and power electronics. Ansys Icepak provides powerful electronic cooling solutions that utilize the industry-leading Ansys Fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver for thermal and fluid flow analyses of integrated circuits (ICs), packages, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and electronic assemblies. The Ansys Icepak CFD solver uses the Ansys Electronics Desktop (AEDT) graphical user interface (GUI). Perform conduction, convection, and radiation conjugate heat transfer analyses, with many advanced capabilities to model laminar and turbulent flows, and species analysis including radiation and convection. Ansys’ complete PCB design solution enables you to simulate PCBs, ICs, and packages and accurately evaluate an entire system.
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    HyperWorks

    HyperWorks

    Altair Engineering

    HyperWorks provides easy-to-learn, effective workflows that leverage domain knowledge and increase team productivity, enabling the efficient development of today’s increasingly complex and connected products. The new HyperWorks experience was created to free engineers to move from physics to physics, domain to domain, and even create reports without ever leaving their model. Create, explore and optimize designs within HyperWorks to produce robust designs that accurately model structures, mechanisms, fluids, electromagnetics, electrical, embedded software, systems design, and manufacturing processes. The solution-specific workflows enhance a growing number of engineering processes including fatigue analysis, concept design optimization, CFD modeling, and design exploration. Each provides a meticulously designed and intuitive user interface, differentiated for each user profile while remaining consistent and easy to learn.
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    Ansys Fluent
    Ansys Fluent is the industry-leading fluid simulation software known for its advanced physics modeling capabilities and industry leading accuracy. Ansys Fluent gives you more time to innovate and optimize product performance. Trust your simulation results with a software that has been extensively validated across a wide range of applications. With Ansys Fluent, you can create advanced physics models and analyze a variety of fluids phenomena—all in a customizable and intuitive space. Accelerate your design cycle with this powerful fluid simulation software. Ansys Fluent contains the best-in class physics models and can accurately and efficiently solve large , complex models. Ansys Fluent unlocks new potentials for CFD analysis. A fluid simulation software with fast pre-processing and faster solve times to help you be the fastest to break into the market. Fluent’s industry leading features enable limitless innovation, while never making a compromise on accuracy.
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    Simcenter STAR-CCM+

    Simcenter STAR-CCM+

    Siemens Digital Industries

    Simcenter STAR-CCM+ is a multiphysics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software for the simulation of products operating under real-world conditions. Simcenter STAR-CCM+ uniquely brings automated design exploration and optimization to the CFD simulation toolkit of every engineer. The single integrated environment includes everything from CAD, automated meshing, multiphysics CFD, sophisticated postprocessing, and design exploration. This allows engineers to efficiently explore the entire design space to make better design decisions faster. The additional insight gained by using Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to guide your design process ultimately leads to more innovative products that exceed customer expectations. Significantly improving a battery design across its whole operating range is a challenging task, and involves the simultaneous optimization of numerous parameters. Simcenter provides a complete simulation environment for the analysis and design of the electrochemical system.
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    Altair Activate
    Altair Activate can be applied to model and simulate a broad range of products as a system-of-systems to discover better designs, faster. Products in every industry are becoming increasingly complex and electrified, as well as smarter and more connected. Multi-disciplinary system-level simulation capabilities help develop smart, complex mechatronic systems holistically while enabling more streamlined product development teamwork and workflows. Altair Activate breaks down silos between mechanical subsystems, electrical subsystems, control subsystems, electronic subsystems, software, hardware-in-the-loop, data analytics, and more. Model thermal-fluid system dynamics using 1D modeling &and simulation (rather than using only 3D CFD) to yield nearly-as-accurate results significantly faster – to enable more design exploration and optimized performance in less time.
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    Fidelity CFD

    Fidelity CFD

    Cadence Design Systems

    Accelerate engineering with the industry's only intuitive, comprehensive CFD platform for multidisciplinary design and optimization. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an aspect of multiphysics system analysis that simulates the behavior of fluids and their thermodynamic properties using numerical models. Engineers use the Cadence Fidelity CFD platform design processes, such as propulsion, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and combustion, to improve and increase the efficiency of products by reducing time-consuming and expensive physical testing. Fidelity CFD platform provides an easy-to-use end-to-end CFD solution for multidisciplinary design and optimization, in applications such as aerospace, automotive, turbomachinery, and marine industries. The platform, with its streamlined workflows, massively parallel architecture, and state-of-the-art solver technology, provides unprecedented performance and accuracy and increases engineering efficiency for today’s design challenges.
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    FLOW-3D

    FLOW-3D

    Flow Science

    Optimize product designs and reduce time to market with FLOW-3D, a highly-accurate CFD software that specializes in solving transient, free-surface problems. FLOW-3D‘s complete multiphysics suite includes our state-of-the-art postprocessor, FlowSight. FLOW-3D provides a complete and versatile CFD simulation platform for engineers investigating the dynamic behavior of liquids and gas in a wide range of industrial applications and physical processes. FLOW-3D focuses on free surface and multi-phase applications, serving a broad range of industries including microfluidics, bio-medical devices, water civil infrastructure, aerospace, consumer products, additive manufacturing, inkjet printing, laser welding, automotive, offshore, energy and automotive. A uniquely powerful, multiphysics tool, FLOW-3D provides the functionality, ease-of-use and power that helps engineers advance their modeling objectives.
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