2D Drafting

2D-only drafting tools — for floor plans, technical drawings, panel cutouts, and laser/plotter source files. For 3D parts that drop 2D drawings see Mechanical CAD; for vector illustration see general design tools (Inkscape, Affinity Designer).

Open-source 2D CAD

• ★ LibreCAD — open-source 2D CAD; lightweight, AutoCAD-DWG/DXF-compatible workflow. GPL.
• ★ QCAD Community Edition — dual-licensed; the free CE is GPL and very capable, the Pro adds DWG read/write and ECMAScript scripting. Often the most polished free 2D CAD on Mac.
• Inkscape — vector editor, not strict CAD, but widely used for laser-cutter / vinyl-cutter source files (it speaks DXF and SVG cleanly). GPL.
• Solvespace 2D mode — Solvespace's constraint-based sketcher works for 2D layouts too.

Web-based / SaaS

• Onshape Drawing — Onshape's drawing module is solid for 2D drawings derived from a 3D model; free with public-doc caveat.
• Vectary, Figma + DXF plugins — usable for laser cutting if you don't need engineering tolerances.

Architectural / floor plan

• Sweet Home 3D — free, open source, oriented at home/floor plans; outputs 3D too. GPL.
• LibreCAD — also fine for floor plans.
• QCAD — used in some architectural workflows.

Commercial / paid (mention only)

• AutoCAD LT — Autodesk's 2D-only flagship; subscription-only, expensive.
• DraftSight — Dassault's AutoCAD-alike; previously had a free tier, removed; now paid only.
• BricsCAD — perpetual-license alternative to AutoCAD.

File formats / interop

• ★ DXF — the universal 2D interchange. Every tool here reads/writes it; CAM and laser drivers consume it.
• DWG — AutoCAD's native; closed format. Teigha / ODA libraries decode it; QCAD Pro and LibreCAD-via-libdxfrw / dwg2dxf handle it.
• SVG — works fine for laser-cutter pipelines; some controllers ingest it directly.

Pick this if…

• Default FOSS 2D CAD on Linux: LibreCAD.
• Most polished free 2D CAD on Mac: QCAD CE.
• Laser-cutter / vinyl source files: Inkscape (or QCAD if you need real dimensions).
• Need DWG read/write without paying Autodesk: QCAD Professional.
• Floor plans: Sweet Home 3D.
• 2D drawings derived from a 3D part: stay in your Mechanical CAD tool's drawing workbench.