Quick verdict
CADDi Drawer Review 2026: AI Drawing Search for Sheet Metal and Fabrication Shops
Updated October 13, 2026 – Tested Intelligence
Quick verdict: CADDi Drawer turns a shop’s pile of old drawings into a searchable memory. Its AI reads 2D drawings – dimensions, notes, tolerances – and finds similar past parts by shape, linked to the quotes, orders and quality records behind them, so estimators price the next job from what the last one actually cost. The Fabricator covered its launch as AI-enabled drawing management, and a 2026 vendor case study reported quoting search time falling from about 30 minutes to one or two minutes. Pricing is not public.
What it is
CADDi Drawer, from CADDi, is an AI-driven drawing management platform for manufacturers and fabricators. Every established sheet metal shop sits on the same problem: decades of drawings and job records spread across shared drives, filing cabinets and the heads of two senior people. When a similar fitting or enclosure comes back for a quote, finding how you priced it last time can take longer than quoting it fresh – and fresh guesses repeat old mistakes.
Drawer attacks that with extraction and similarity search. You batch-upload drawings and related documents, and the platform digitises them and links each drawing to its 3D model, procurement history and quality records on one screen. Its patented similarity search works by part shape, not just file names, so it surfaces lookalike jobs even when the part number changed. Design News’ coverage adds the detail estimators care about: OCR extraction of dimensions, GD&T symbols and handwritten notes, plus automatic revision comparison.
Key features
- AI similarity search finds past drawings by shape, not just by name or number
- Automatic extraction of dimensions, tolerances, GD&T and notes from 2D drawings and scans
- Drawings linked to quotes, purchase orders, quality reports and CAD/CAM data
- Revision and similar-drawing comparison highlights what changed
- Batch upload digitises legacy paper and PDF archives
- Searchable institutional knowledge – new estimators can work from veteran jobs
Pricing
Pricing is not public. CADDi does not publish rates, and major directories list the starting price as not provided by the vendor. Expect a quoted subscription scaled to your drawing volume and deployment, and budget the real project cost honestly: the upload and linking of your archive is the implementation work, and its value grows with the size and quality of the history you feed it.
Who it’s for
Established fabrication and sheet metal shops with years of repeat work buried in archives – enclosures, brackets and duct components that rhyme with jobs already run. It also suits shops losing quoting knowledge as senior estimators retire.
Who should skip it
Young shops with a thin drawing history: similarity search needs a past to search. One-off prototype shops where nothing repeats will also see limited return, and field-service or installation businesses without a drawing archive have nothing for Drawer to organise in the first place.
Pros
- Finds the job you forgot you ran, with its real pricing and quality history attached
- Shape-based search works when part numbers and file naming are a mess – which is most shops
- Preserves veteran knowledge before it walks out the door
- Strong directory ratings: 4.8 out of 5 from 43 reviews on Capterra (directory-sourced)
Cons
- No public pricing
- Value depends entirely on your archive – digitising decades of drawings is an upfront project
- It informs quoting but does not generate the quote, nest or price the job itself
- Headline results like a 96% cut in search time come from a single vendor case study, not an independent benchmark
FAQ
How does CADDi Drawer’s similarity search work?
It analyses the geometry of uploaded drawings and retrieves past parts with overlapping shapes and structures, even without a part ID or file location, and links them to their quotes, orders and quality records.
Does CADDi Drawer work with paper drawings?
Yes – batch upload and OCR extraction are core to the product. Scanned drawings and documents are digitised, their dimensions, notes and annotations extracted, and the results made searchable.
How much does CADDi Drawer cost?
Pricing is not public. The vendor quotes subscriptions individually, and directories list no starting price.
Bottom line
CADDi Drawer is AI aimed at a fab shop’s memory instead of its machines: price tomorrow’s duct fitting or enclosure from the last three you actually built. If your estimators spend their mornings digging through old job folders, that digging is exactly what it removes.