IES VE
Whole-building simulation suite covering thermal, HVAC, daylighting, CFD, and compliance for LEED, BREEAM, and Passivhaus.
AI WashingHidden Pricing
3.8 /5 composite score
Industry-standard for rigorous compliance simulation -- 75,000+ projects/year, LEED/BREEAM/Passivhaus certified workflows; quote-only pricing and a steep learning curve make it a harder sell for a solo architect who needs quick design-stage answers.
Overkill for one
Rubric Scorecard
| Criterion | Score | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Maturity | 5/5 | Established product with decades of commercial deployment; used by major engineering consultancies and referenced in EU BUILD UP portal; student license available at ~$70/year. |
| AEC Specificity | 5/5 | Covers thermal, HVAC, daylighting, CFD, and compliance in a single environment; no meaningful gaps for full building performance work. |
| Integration | 3/5 | BIM and CAD import supported; Windows desktop; no cloud-native workflow; interoperability is solid but not plug-and-play. |
| Value / Pricing | 2/5 | Professional pricing is quote-only; no published tiers for commercial seats; score capped at 2 per hidden-pricing rule. |
| Evidence | 4/5 | EU BUILD UP portal listing; aec+tech directory; Building Energy Software Tools directory; referenced in engineering curricula and standards bodies. |
How we verified this: we checked IES VE against its live site and an independent source — build-up.ec.europa.eu. Nothing on this page is listed from memory. See how we review. Verified 2026-06-29.
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