IFC Viewer Online · Back to the BIM & IFC blog
Tools & comparisons · 2026-06-30 · 10 min
Best IFC Model Checkers in 2026: 10 Tools Compared
Ten tools that check IFC models, compared on what their vendors publish: price, platform, rule checks, IDS and whether the file leaves your computer. With the cases where each one is the better choice.
An IFC model checker at work: a space with a missing floor area selected in 3D in IFC Viewer Online, with the Health Score and the issue list
The best IFC model checker depends on what you have to prove. To check a file now, free and without uploading it, use a browser checker: IFC Viewer Online or Flinker. To write your own rules and manage clashes, Solibri from its Advanced plan (€2,109 per licence per year). To show that a file conforms to the IFC standard, the buildingSMART validation service. To check IDS inside a script, IfcTester.
IFC model checkers compared
| Tool | Runs on | Published price | Rule checks | IDS | Where the file goes |
|---|
| IFC Viewer Online | Browser | Free; paid plans from €19 a month add server features | 44 fixed rules and a 0–100 score | Yes, IDS 1.0 | Stays in the browser |
| Solibri | Not stated on the pricing page | Starter €99, Essential €1,428, Advanced €2,109, Premium €2,772 per licence per year | Predefined rules from Essential, custom rules from Advanced | From Advanced | Not stated |
| buildingSMART validation service | Browser | Free, account required | STEP syntax, schema, normative rules, industry practices | Not mentioned | Uploaded, 256 MB at most |
| BIMcollab Zoom | Not stated on the product page | Platform plans €12.50, €18.75 and €25 per user per month, billed yearly | Clash management, Smart Views, lists | Yes | Not stated |
| Flinker | Browser; also SharePoint, Teams, Power BI, Excel, Windows | Community free; Enterprise on request | Not stated | Yes, IDS 1.0 | Stays in the browser |
| Open IFC Viewer (ODA) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free | Clash detection with BCF export, validations | Yes | Stays on the computer |
| IfcTester (IfcOpenShell) | Command line, web app, library | Free, open source | IDS only | Yes, authoring and validation | Runs where you run it |
| BIMvision with plugins | Windows 10 or newer | Viewer free; plugin prices could not be read | Clash Detection plugin | IDS Checker plugin | Stays on the computer |
| usBIM.checker (ACCA) | Online, inside usBIM | One month free, then a subscription; price not stated | Rule sets with validation reports | A separate usBIM app | Uploaded to usBIM |
| Simplebim | Desktop; a token-based cloud | Desktop €1,250 a year, single user; network €1,950 | Validation as part of cleaning and enriching data | Not stated | Not stated |
Read on 10 November 2026 from each vendor’s own pages (see the references). “Not stated” means the pages we read do not say; it does not mean no.Sources: Solibri [solibri-pricing][solibri-office], buildingSMART [bsi-validate], BIMcollab [bimcollab-zoom][bimcollab-plans], Flinker [flinker], Open Design Alliance [oda], IfcOpenShell [ifctester], BIMvision [bimvision][bimvision-plugins], ACCA [acca-checker], Simplebim [simplebim] and our own pricing page [ivo-pricing].
Which checker for which job
What do you need to check?
- A file I just received, right now
- A browser checker IFC Viewer Online gives a score and the issues to fix first with nothing uploaded; Flinker Community checks IDS the same way. How the check works, step by step
- Rules of my own: clearances, escape routes
- Solibri Advanced or Premium Custom rules start at the Advanced plan. No free tool in this list lets you write geometric rules.
- Clashes between disciplines
- Solibri, BIMcollab Zoom or the Open IFC Viewer The first two manage clashes as issues over the life of a project; the Open IFC Viewer detects them for free and exports BCF.
- Proof that the file conforms to the standard
- buildingSMART validation service It is the reference for syntax, schema and normative rules. It needs an account and an upload.
- IDS on every export, automatically
- IfcTester Open source, runs from the command line or as a library, and writes HTML, JSON or BCF reports.
- A check the whole company can run without installing
- A browser checker Nothing to deploy and no file leaves the computer, which matters under a confidentiality agreement.
The ten tools, one by one
IFC Viewer Online
Ours. It applies 44 fixed rules to IFC2x3, IFC4 and IFC4x3 files in the browser, gives a score from 0 to 100, shows each failing element in 3D with the fix for Revit, Archicad, Tekla or Allplan, and checks IDS 1.0. Reports export as JSON, CSV, BCF, a printable page and COBie. You cannot write your own rules beyond IDS, and a browser tab has less memory than a workstation application, so very large federated sets belong on the desktop.
What a check returns: issues grouped by rule, each with its elements and how to fix it.
Solibri
The best-known rule-based checker. It is sold as four plans: Starter (€99) is for visual inspection, Essential (€1,428) adds predefined rule checks, clash workflows and BCF, Advanced (€2,109) adds custom rules and IDS workflows, and Premium (€2,772) adds IDS management with compliance reporting. Prices are per licence per year. [solibri-pricing] Solibri Office, Anywhere, CheckPoint and Site are legacy offerings, no longer available to new customers. [solibri-office] Choose it when the project needs rules nobody else has written. When a browser check is enough instead of Solibri covers the other case.
buildingSMART validation service
The standard body’s own service. It checks four layers: STEP syntax, the IFC schema, normative rules and industry practices, on IFC2x3, IFC4 and IFC4.3 files. It is free, needs an account, takes files of up to 256 MB and has no 3D view. [bsi-validate] It answers “is this a correct IFC file?”, which no rule about property sets can answer. It does not tell you whether the model carries what your project asked for.
BIMcollab Zoom
Part of the BIMcollab platform, next to Nexus (issues) and Twin (documents). The product page lists clash management, Smart Properties, Smart Views, lists and IDS checking. [bimcollab-zoom] Platform plans cost €12.50, €18.75 and €25 per user per month billed yearly, with a trial and no free plan on that page. [bimcollab-plans] It fits teams that already track their issues in BIMcollab.
Flinker
A viewer that also runs inside SharePoint, Teams, Power BI and Excel. The Community edition is free, processes the file in the browser without an account, reads IFC 2x3, 4 and 4x3 and checks IDS 1.0 with pass and fail highlighting; BCF 2.1 and 3.0 are supported. Enterprise is priced per deployment. [flinker] The better choice when the organisation lives in Microsoft 365.
Open IFC Viewer
The free desktop viewer of the Open Design Alliance for Windows, macOS and Linux. It works locally, reads IFC 2x3 to 4x3, detects clashes and exports them as BCF, and runs validations including IDS. [oda] The free option when you need clash detection.
IfcTester and Bonsai
IfcTester, from the IfcOpenShell project, writes and reads IDS files, validates models against them and reports to the console, JSON, HTML, a spreadsheet or BCF. It runs from the command line, as a web app or as a library. [ifctester] Bonsai, the IFC authoring tool built on Blender, is free software. [bonsai] The choice for automation: reading IFC property sets in Python starts from the same library.
BIMvision
A freeware viewer for Windows, free for personal and commercial use, that reads IFC 2x3 and 4. [bimvision] Checking comes as plugins: IDS Checker, Clash Detection, IFC Comments with BCF 2.1 and Compare. [bimvision-plugins] The plugin store did not load on the day we read it, so no plugin price is given here.
usBIM.checker
ACCA describes it as a model checker for validating IFC data against project or contract requirements, with rule sets and validation reports. It runs inside the online usBIM platform, free for a month and then by subscription; the page gives no price. Clash, BCF and IDS are separate usBIM apps. [acca-checker]
Simplebim
A tool for cleaning, restructuring, enriching and validating the data of a model before it goes to the people who use it. The desktop licence rents for €1,250 a year for one user and €1,950 for a network licence. [simplebim] Choose it when the job is to repair the data, more than to report on it.
What a checker should give back
Whatever the tool, a check is useful when it returns three things: the elements that fail, each one findable in the model; what to change in the authoring tool; and a report the other party can open. These are the last two in ours.
An IDS run on a sample: the specifications that pass and fail, and how many elements were checked.
Viewers are not checkers
Trimble Connect, Dalux and Autodesk Viewer open IFC files and are good at sharing them, but their pages do not describe rule checks on the data of the model. They belong in the comparison of free IFC viewers. If what you need is the list of errors a check can return and how to correct each, see the IFC validation errors and fixes.
References
- Solibri pricing — Solibri. Plans and starting prices per licence per year, as published on 10 November 2026.
- Solibri Office — Solibri. States that Solibri Office, CheckPoint, Anywhere and Site are legacy offerings, no longer available for new customers.
- IFC Validation Service — buildingSMART International. What the service checks, the 256 MB limit, the account requirement and the schemas it accepts.
- BIMcollab Zoom — BIMcollab. Lists clash management, Smart Properties, Smart Views, Lists and IDS checking.
- BIMcollab platform plans — BIMcollab. Basic, Advanced and Enterprise prices per user per month.
- Flinker IFC viewer — Flinker. Community (free) and Enterprise editions, browser-side processing, IFC, BCF and IDS support.
- Open IFC Viewer — Open Design Alliance. Free desktop viewer for Windows, macOS and Linux with clash detection, BCF export and validations including IDS.
- IfcTester — IfcOpenShell. Open-source IDS authoring and validation from the command line, as a web app or as a library.
- Bonsai — IfcOpenShell. Free, open-source native IFC authoring built on Blender.
- BIMvision — Datacomp. Freeware IFC model viewer for personal and commercial use; IFC 2x3 and 4.
- BIMvision plugins — Datacomp. IDS Checker, Clash Detection, IFC Comments (BCF 2.1) and Compare are plugins.
- usBIM.checker — ACCA software. Rule sets and validation reports inside the online usBIM platform; one month free, then a subscription.
- Simplebim: buy — Simplebim. Desktop rental prices for twelve months.
- IFC Viewer Online pricing — IFC Viewer Online. What is free in the browser and what the paid plans add.
Best IFC Model Checkers in 2026: 10 Tools Compared