Autodesk’s scheduled pricing changes in 2025, including the recent removal of standard renewal discounts and the upcoming adjustments to legacy trade-in offers, will have a direct impact on enterprise cost structures for engineering software. Organizations using high-demand Autodesk licenses such as AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D, and the AEC Collection must prepare not only for rising renewal costs but also for increased scrutiny on license utilization efficiency.
2025 Autodesk Licenses: Higher Costs, Reduced Discounts
In a phased approach that began in January 2025 and continues through May 2025, Autodesk is making substantial adjustments to its subscription pricing models. As of January 7, 2024, the 5% discount for annual renewals has been discontinued, and the 10% multi-year renewal discount has been reduced to 5%.
This change excludes subscriptions obtained via trade-in programs such as Move to Subscription (M2S) and Transition to Named User (TNU), which will face their own 5% global price increase by May 7, 2025. Beginning May 10, 2025, these trade-in-based subscriptions will also be restricted to annual terms only, eliminating multi-year subscription options altogether.
The affected product list includes several of most widely deployed Autodesk licenses:
- AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT
- Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) Collection
- Product Design & Manufacturing Collection
- Revit
- Civil 3D
- BIM Collaborate Pro
- Navisworks
For organizations managing large, distributed teams of engineers, architects, and designers, these changes represent more than a simple budget adjustment—they necessitate a fundamental reevaluation of license allocation, user demand, and application lifecycle usage.
Passive License Management Will No Longer Suffice
In traditional environments, license management has been largely reactive. Renewals are processed based on historical purchases, assumed user requirements, and departmental feedback. However, with the elimination of predictable multi-year pricing advantages and increasing license costs, a reactive strategy will lead to overspending, underutilization, and inadequate forecasting.
What is required instead is a data-driven, analytics-centric approach to Autodesk license management—one that captures granular usage metrics across multiple organizational dimensions and enables proactive decision-making.
Open iT’s Strategic Value for Autodesk License Users
Open iT enables organizations to reclaim control over software license usage by offering advanced metering, detailed reporting, and actionable insights—especially critical for high-value Autodesk licenses. While Autodesk Admin Console provides basic usage statistics, Open iT delivers the depth, customization, and integration needed to perform comprehensive software asset management at scale.
1. Granular, Time-Stamped Usage Analytics
Open iT LicenseAnalyzer for Autodesk captures highly granular user activity data, including session duration, idle time, and feature-level engagement. This allows IT and engineering leaders to distinguish between nominal license access and actual productive use. For example, identifying users who frequently launch Revit or Civil 3D but remain idle for extended periods can reveal optimization opportunities that standard Autodesk tools cannot.
2. Cross-Application and Multi-Vendor Correlation
Modern engineering environments rarely rely on Autodesk licenses in isolation. Open iT enables visibility across the entire software ecosystem—including MATLAB, ANSYS, PTC, Dassault Systèmes, and Bentley—so organizations can optimize license usage across projects, teams, and disciplines. For project-based workflows that span multiple applications, this multi-vendor intelligence becomes essential for right-sizing entitlements.
3. Support for Cloud-Based and Hybrid Environments
As more Autodesk applications transition to the cloud, Open iT continues to evolve with support for both on-premise and SaaS-based license models.
Engineering-Centric License Intelligence for a Volatile Pricing Landscape
Organizations that rely on broad estimates or legacy purchasing patterns will find themselves at a disadvantage—not just in terms of cost, but in competitiveness and compliance. As software licensing becomes a critical component of digital engineering workflows, visibility into real usage patterns is no longer optional.
Open iT delivers the intelligence required to turn usage data into a strategic asset. By providing engineering and IT leaders with the tools to analyze, forecast, and optimize license consumption, Open iT empowers organizations to align their Autodesk licenses investments with actual project requirements and business outcomes.
Contact Open iT and explore how we can help your organization mitigate Autodesk pricing risks and maximize software value.
