[tomkinstinch]

Looking forward to the day when FreeCAD is a viable and stable option for free parametric CAD. There are a few free options for direct modeling, but not for parametric design.

As far as commercial software goes, my current favorite CAD software for hobby use is Rhino[1]. It's not parametric[2], but it's stable, fast[3], can import and export a wide variety of 3D file types, and it's pay-once-per-major-release. It's not cloud-based. The marketing around it seems to emphasize design/architecture/artistic use cases, but it also works well for dimensionally-accurate mechanical parts.

For those eligible for a student license, the pricing is reasonable (cheaper still if you shop around among third-party edu software vendors). Surprisingly, the student license also allows commercial use.

1. https://www.rhino3d.com

2. Well, Rhino is not parametric in the usual sketch-based way. People do wild things with the Grasshopper plugin.

3. Rhino also runs on macOS, w/ hardware acceleration of graphics via Metal