Comparison
BIMx comes from Graphisoft, the makers of ArchiCAD. It bundles the 3D model, the layouts and the information per element into one hyper-model, with hyperlinks between the 3D view and the complete 2D documentation. Graphisoft names architects, engineers, construction teams and clients as its audience, and describes both presenting to a client and reviewing designs on the go. For an architect who wants to show and discuss their own project, that is a strong combination.
Field-Viewer does not start from the design but from the building work: the screen hanging by the workstation or going up the scaffolding, and the team that has to work it with gloves on. We do not make a presentation of a building, we show what is being built that day. Below you will also find, plainly stated, what we do not do.
What this table says about BIMx comes from Graphisoft's own product pages and ArchiCAD help, and from the app description in the App Store.
| Feature | Field-Viewer | BIMx |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | The team in the workshop and on site: viewing, measuring and reading off, not drawing. | Graphisoft names architects, engineers, construction teams and clients, and describes presentations to a client alongside reviewing on the go. |
| Where it runs | On the screen at the workstation and on a tablet on site. You buy the hardware yourself. | Apps for Windows and Mac, for iOS, iPadOS and Android, a viewer in the browser and support for Apple Vision Pro. |
| Model and 2D drawing linked | Tap an element in the model and the matching 2D drawing sits next to it, and the other way round just as well. | The hyper-model holds the 3D model plus the layouts, with hyperlinks to the complete 2D documentation. That is where the product gets its name. |
| Measuring yourself | Tapping two points is enough for a distance, an angle or an area. | Graphisoft's app description names measuring in 3D and on 2D layouts. |
| Layers on and off | Structure, services and finishes switch on and off separately, so only what matters for that job is left. | Showing and hiding elements, and working with layers, layer folders and layer combinations. |
| Offline | Viewing, measuring and noting a comment work without a connection, and as soon as there is a network again it syncs. | As far as we can see, the official pages make no statement about working offline. What they do say is that a hyper-model is one file that ends up on the device. |
| Licence on the floor | Where the looking happens, no licence for the CAD package is needed. We agree the price together, per project or site. | The app is free to download. Extra features become available with a free Graphisoft account, and the more far-reaching collaboration features come with a running ArchiCAD subscription. |
| Files you open alongside | An IFC from another package or a pdf from a supplier sits next to the model, in the format it came in. | Hyper-models, according to the app description made in ArchiCAD, MEP Designer and DDScad. That BIMx itself opens an IFC is not something we found on an official page. |
| What it does not do | No redlining with text and lines on the drawing itself: with us a comment goes to the drawing office as a report, linked to the part it concerns. No clash detection, no presentation tool and no hardware. | Graphisoft attributes clash detection to ArchiCAD, not to BIMx. A list of what BIMx explicitly does not do is not there. |
BIMx does things we do not do, and on an ArchiCAD project it does them by the shortest route.
A hyper-model is made straight from the project, with the layouts and the information per element inside it. If your architect works in ArchiCAD, that is the shortest route from drawing to screen, with no format in between.
With BIMx Issues you mark up 2D and 3D views and document that to the BCF standard, so a comment ends up with the design team. Field-Viewer sends a report to the drawing office, linked to the part it concerns, but does not work with BCF and does not address itself to the design team.
Graphisoft describes BIMx explicitly for presentations, including letting a client look around the model themselves. Field-Viewer is not a presentation tool and is not becoming one.
BIMx runs on Windows, Mac, iOS, iPadOS and Android and has a viewer in the browser. You share a hyper-model and the person receiving it sorts out the rest themselves.
The difference is not in the model, but in what happens with that model on the floor.
A fixed view per workstation, big buttons and generous tap zones, so working it does not ask anyone to take their gloves off first.
If the drawing office draws in Vertex BD or Revit, or if an IFC simply comes in, the shortest route of BIMx falls away. Field-Viewer starts from what actually arrives.
An IFC from the engineering office and a pdf from a supplier next to the publication from your own drawing office, without anyone converting anything first.
Tap two points and the dimension is there, in the same place where the work happens and without anyone having to ring the office.
We did not find that on an official Graphisoft page. What is there: a hyper-model is made from an ArchiCAD project, and according to the app description also from MEP Designer and DDScad. If your team mostly receives IFC files, that is the first thing to check.
Graphisoft writes that you download the app on desktop or mobile, or view the model in the browser, and that most former Pro features become available with a free Graphisoft account. The more far-reaching collaboration features come with a running ArchiCAD subscription. For the current terms, look at Graphisoft's own page.
No. A hyper-model is a format of Graphisoft's own. We work with what the drawing office publishes, with an IFC or a pdf beside it. If your model comes out of ArchiCAD, it travels through an export and not through a .bimx.
BIMx and ArchiCAD are products of Graphisoft. This comparison is based on publicly available information as of 7 September 2026. If something is wrong, email us.
Sources
Would you rather see your own project on screen than an example of ours? Email us a publication from Vertex BD or an IFC file, with the pdf drawings alongside if you have them, to info@field-viewer.com. Too big for an email? Send a WeTransfer link instead.
Within two working days we set up a short demo in which you see your own model in the viewer: your elements, your dimensions, your drawings beside them.
We use what you send only to prepare that demo. We share your files with no one and we delete them afterwards.
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