UPDATED FEBRUARY 2022
This list has been compiled for anyone looking to download FREE Revit Families. Please let me know if any links no longer work and I will update 🙂
Looking to download FREE Revit Families? Start here:
We all need good content to populate our models, and if they are Free then even better! Sure the out-the-box Revit families do a great job, and of course we can always make our own. But creating families from scratch requires:
a)Â Family creation knowledge
and
b)Â A whole heap of free time!
Most of us work to tight deadlines and don’t have the required free hours in the day to build up our own Revit library. This is where online libraries can be so valuable. They can help you save time and dramatically increase your model options by downloading ready made content. A lot of the content available is manufacturer specific, meaning you can integrate ‘real-life’ products into your projects at an earlier stage, saving you modelling time and therefore $money$.
But there is a catch – Not all content is created equal. It can be hard to tell how a Family has been made, and how it will behave when brought into your model. A lot of Free Revit Families are Hit and miss, some are good, some are bad, and some are just plain crap! So beware of the families you download, you may end up spending significant time getting them up to your own standards.
In this blog post, I have compiled a list of popular BIM and Revit online libraries offering FREE content for you to download. Although they are numbered from 1 to 22, this is not a ‘rank’ list. Please check them out for yourself and let me know which ones you found the best.
BIMsmith is a great online resource with lots of Free Revit families to download. There is a good mix of products, but generally centered around Architectural families (lots of furniture, lighting, appliances etc.) which makes sense as the site and content is created by former architects.
They also have a cool tool called BIMsmith Forge,  which helps you create flooring, wall, ceiling, and roof assemblies layer-by-layer that can then be downloaded as a system (real cool!). On top of that is MyBIMsmith which features free, private cloud storage for any of these families so you can save your favorite families or configurations and come back to download them later. Well worth signing up for!
Another BIM Library with a huge range, you can find manufacturer specific content, as well as User created generic content. A helpful feature is you can search by Country, so you can find families that are relevant to your location/market.
3. NBS National BIM Library (UK)
In my opinion, this is one of the best sites to find FREE Revit Families. You can find a whole range of different families, both manufacturer specific and generic. The UK has been leading the way in BIM adoption and standards, and therefore all families available have been created to the NBS BIM Object Standard. This standardizes things like IFC and COBie parameters, meaning they contain a lot of data which is useful for interoperability.
Another great site from the UK. Similar to the NBS, BIMstore creates all FREE Revit Families according to the ‘BIM Store Bible’ which is a best practice family creation guide. Containing IFC and COBie parameters, with a wide range of content from UK Manufacturers – this is a great site to find content.
This content library focuses on Quality over quantity, featuring a range of Revit content such as plumbing fixtures, specialty equipment and lighting fixtures to name a few. Well set-out site with great filters and categories, definitely one to check out when looking for Revit/BIM content.
This site has a lot of SketchUp content – but also a whole heap of Revit families as well. A diverse range of products, with lots of Mechanical & Plumbing fixtures.
This is a great resource for manufacturer specific content from a huge range of product categories. They claim to have “the largest library of BIM content in the UK”, and the site is easy to navigate, search, and filter to find exactly what you’re looking for. All Revit families are supplied by the manufacturers, (not by SpecifiedBy) so content quality could vary from product to product. Nevertheless this is a great site if your’e after Free Revit content.
8. Familit
Heaps – I mean HEAPS of Free Revit families, from 2009, 2010 and 2011 format. A massive range of content, quality can be a bit iffy but try your luck.
9. Revit CityÂ
Similar to above – HEAPS of families for you to download (17096 at last check!). Created to no standard and by a lot of different users – quality is hit and miss but well worth a look.
10. Arcat
With lots of manufacturer specific and generic content, this site offers a good range of FREE Revit Families. I found it quite hard to browse for families however.
Another pretty good site with a large range, and easy to find Revit families. Both manufacturer specific and generic content, this is a great site to check out.
12. BIMetica (Spain)
Again, another BIM library with a large amount of Revit families. Some categories are empty however which can be annoying!
13. BIM Catalogs
A good place to find manufacturer specific content, a bit hard to navigate and find products without knowing the manufacturer first. Worth a look however.
14. Polantis (Euro)
This site offers a huge range of 3d content, however a lot of the Revit families are not “true” Revit familes, in the sense they have been created in other 3d programs and just imported and saved as a Revit Family file. Good site if your just after content for visualization purposes. UPDATE: Polantis assure me that most (if not all) 3D content is now made with Revit, so you should have no issues with them not being “true” Revit families.
15. BIMbox (UK)
Another great site from the UK, BIMbox have a decent amount of Revit content available for Free download. Most of the content is geared towards interiors (Sofas, Tables, Shelving etc.) and the site is well presented. Most Revit content is IFC compliant which is great.
BIM Object now hosts all of the Autodesk Seek’s BIM content, which means you can find a huge range of manufacturer specific content from all around the world. Easliy search by brand, catagory, materials, building types and functional spaces.
This a great site with a TON of free Revit families as well as sketchup content. They offer manufacturer specific content from a very diverse range of products. The site is easy to use and the quality of the Revit families are amazing – check it out!
ProdLib is a software where you can download and manage families from within Revit itself. They also provide a Free web Library where you can download BIM files and documents from a slect group of manufacturers. Well worth exploring.
There is a ton of Free Revit Content available here (over 10,000!), similar to RevitCity and Familit – you are bound to find something that you are after so well worth a look.
Diane Butterworth create Revit Families specifically for the workplace industry (Office furniture etc.). They host a range of Free Revit families from a small number of manufacturers, developed to a high standard. Worth a look if you are after some workspace content.
This site offers a free, curated collection of various Revit families. It’s a bit different in that you download the whole collection rather than individual families. Keep that in mind if you prefer to just download single families.
This is a great site run by Chris Alby which offers a large number of Revit families – all for Free! You will find a good selection of architecture and interiors families in easy to find sections.
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This is by no means a definitive list, and the opinions given are my own. Check them out for yourself and let me know which ones you found best.
-Talk soon
P.S – I’d love to connect with you on Twitter: here
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