Open IFC Viewer — The Complete Guide: A Free IFC Viewer for Windows, macOS and Linux
Open IFC Viewer is a free IFC viewer from the Open Design Alliance, the organisation that develops the DWG and IFC libraries many commercial products are built on. The viewer is free for any use, but it is not open source.
Open IFC Viewer
Open Design Alliance (ODA)
A free, light IFC viewer, available for Linux and macOS too.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- IFC 2×3 and IFC4 — including the bridge and rail extensions.
- Model tree and properties — the project structure and data on every element.
- Sections and measurement — section planes and measuring with snapping.
- Element isolation — showing only part of the model.
- Local work — files stay on your computer, with no cloud.
Who it suits
Its practical advantage: it runs on macOS and Linux as well as Windows. ODA’s IFC engine also reads files other viewers struggle with, so it is useful when a file will not open elsewhere. Like any viewer, it cannot edit the model.
Related tools
A Windows viewer with quantities and version comparison — BIMvision. For open-source IFC editing — Bonsai. For GIS formats alongside IFC — FZKViewer.
BIMvision
Datacomp
A free IFC viewer — open a BIM model, measure, section and take off quantities, without a licence.
Get it from the vendor
Bonsai (BlenderBIM)
IfcOpenShell
Native IFC editing inside Blender — open-source BIM.
Get it from the vendorFZKViewer
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
An academic viewer for IFC and CityGML — the bridge between BIM and city models.
Get it from the vendor
FreeCAD
FreeCAD Project
Open-source parametric 3D modeller with workbenches for solid modelling, FEM, drafting and BIM.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
A free, light and reliable IFC viewer — the natural choice for anyone working on macOS or Linux.