What CFD Direct does

CFD Direct is the commercial steward and primary developer of OpenFOAM, the leading open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software distributed free under the GNU General Public License (GPL) on behalf of the OpenFOAM Foundation. The company was founded in 2015 by Henry Weller, the original creator and architect of OpenFOAM, and co-founder Chris Greenshields, with the mandate to manage, maintain, develop, and produce the software. OpenFOAM comprises approximately 250 applications built on more than 100 software libraries and includes technically significant innovations developed by CFD Direct such as modular solvers (an object-oriented replacement for traditional application solvers introduced in OpenFOAM v10 and v11), Non-Conformal Coupling (NCC) for rotating geometry, a redesigned dynamic mesh framework, and Field Functions for flexible non-uniform field initialization.

The company's product and service portfolio spans four revenue streams: OpenFOAM training (Essential CFD, Applied CFD, Productive CFD, and Programming CFD courses delivered as scheduled virtual classes, on-site sessions, and in-person courses in Cologne, Chicago, and Houston), CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC) — a pay-as-you-go cloud CFD platform distributed via AWS Marketplace in Standard, Web, and Arm variants supporting up to 192 cores per instance with HPC clustering beyond 1,000 cores, technical support and consultancy engagements, and custom OpenFOAM development projects executed by the core development team. Pricing for training courses ranges from approximately $1,250 to $4,050 per attendee with multi-course bundle discounts of 10-15%, while cloud services use AWS's pay-as-you-go model.

CFD Direct serves engineering companies in automotive, chemical, marine, aerospace, energy, and insurance sectors, as well as universities and research institutions, with a stated value proposition of eliminating commercial CFD license costs (described as multiples of $10,000 per year) while providing training and support from the original architects of the software. The go-to-market relies on open-source community building through free documentation (User Guide, C++ Source Guides, the published 'Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles'), the CFD Tips YouTube channel, and a monthly newsletter, with monetization captured at the cloud compute, training, support, and custom development layers.

Name

CFD Direct

Legal name

CFD Direct Ltd

Website

https://cfd.direct

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CFD Direct manages and develops OpenFOAM, the leading open-source CFD software, on behalf of the OpenFOAM Foundation. It monetizes the open-source platform via training courses, AWS Marketplace cloud compute (CFDDFC), support, and custom development for engineering and academic customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. OpenFOAM Training Courses: Instructor-led training courses including Essential CFD, Applied CFD, Productive CFD, and Programming CFD delivered as scheduled virtual classes, on-site training, and in-person sessions in Cologne, Germany and Chicago/Houston, USA. Pricing varies by currency (GBP, EUR, USD) with discounts for multiple course bookings.
2. CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC): Cloud CFD platform running OpenFOAM on AWS EC2, available as pay-as-you-go images on AWS Marketplace. Provides configured environment with OpenFOAM, ParaView, FreeCAD, and supporting software. Reduces cost with pay-as-you-go model accommodating fluctuating CFD demand.
3. OpenFOAM Support and Consultancy: Technical support and consultancy services covering software deployment, case configuration, CFD practice, and code customisation for leading organisations worldwide.
4. OpenFOAM Development: Custom development projects for customers requiring new capabilities within OpenFOAM software, undertaken by the core development team.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

CFD Direct manages, maintains, develops and produces OpenFOAM, the leading open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, on behalf of the OpenFOAM Foundation under GPL. The company monetizes OpenFOAM through four complementary offerings: instructor-led training courses (Essential, Applied, Productive, Programming CFD), CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC) pay-as-you-go cloud platform on AWS Marketplace, technical support and consultancy services, and custom OpenFOAM development projects.

Product overview

CFD Direct operates as the primary developer and maintainer of OpenFOAM, the leading open-source CFD software, on behalf of the OpenFOAM Foundation. The product portfolio centers on OpenFOAM as the core technology, supplemented by CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC) cloud platform available in three variants (Standard, Web CFDDFC, and CFDDFC Arm) on AWS Marketplace. The company provides a comprehensive training ecosystem including Essential CFD, Applied CFD, Productive CFD, and Programming CFD courses, plus development and consultancy services. Documentation offerings include the OpenFOAM User Guide, C++ Source Guides, and the published book 'Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles'. Additional resources include the CFD Tips video channel and a CLI tool for cloud instance management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC): Cloud computing platform for running OpenFOAM on AWS, providing configured environment with pay-as-you-go pricing.
• CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC)

Products and services

• OpenFOAM Leading open source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software licensed free and open source under GPL by the OpenFOAM Foundation. Managed, maintained, developed and produced by CFD Direct on behalf of the Foundation. Used by engineers and researchers for CFD simulation, product/process design, forecasting, and academic research.
• CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC) Leading cloud CFD solution providing a configured environment with OpenFOAM. Available on AWS Marketplace in Standard CFDDFC, Web CFDDFC (browser-based), and CFDDFC (Arm) variants. Pay-as-you-go pricing accommodates fluctuating CFD demand. Single instance can run on up to 96 cores (x86) or 192 cores (Arm), with clustering for 1000+ cores.
• Essential CFD Training Accelerated introduction course providing essential skills to create CFD simulations using OpenFOAM. Delivered as scheduled virtual instructor-led classes, on-site training, and in-person sessions. Single course priced at GBP 1,250 / EUR 1,450 / USD 1,600.
• Applied CFD Training Advanced course providing further tools and processes to extend CFD simulations to more complex applications. Covers meshing workflow, feature capturing, baffles, and multi-region meshing. Delivered as virtual instructor-led classes and on-site training.
• Productive CFD Training Course providing critical knowledge for CFD including canonical cases, control volume analysis, governing equations, and empirical/analytical solutions. Delivered in-person in Cologne, Germany and Chicago/Houston, USA.
• Programming CFD Training Programming techniques course to develop maintainable customized tools with C++ in OpenFOAM. Covers solver customization, boundary conditions, and function objects. Delivered in-person in Cologne and Chicago/Houston.
• OpenFOAM Development Services Custom development services for customers requiring new capabilities within OpenFOAM software. CFD Direct undertakes development projects for customers and contributes to the public development repository. Delivered by the core OpenFOAM development team.
• OpenFOAM Support and Consultancy Support and consultancy services covering software deployment and operation, case configuration, CFD practice, and code customization for leading organizations across process/chemical, automotive, marine and energy sectors.
• CFDDFC Command Line Interface CLI tool for managing CFDDFC instances including launching, configuring, transferring CFD cases, running OpenFOAM applications, and connecting to browser desktop. Supports instance listing by region availability.

Quantifiable outcome

• Users can set up a CFD problem in OpenFOAM v4 in less than half the time compared to OpenFOAM v2.x.x
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or IntegrationCFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC) is distributed as products on AWS Marketplace, providing OpenFOAM cloud computing on AWS EC2 instances. The partnership enables users to run OpenFOAM simulations on AWS cloud infrastructure with pay-as-you-go pricing. CFDDFC supports various AWS instance types including C6i, C7i, C6a, C7g, and HPC-optimized instances.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• ANSYS: Dominant commercial CFD vendor (Fluent, CFX) serving overlapping enterprise and academic customers in automotive, aerospace, and energy. The primary proprietary competitor to OpenFOAM in the CFD market.
• Siemens Digital Industries Software (Siemens Simcenter): Owner of STAR-CCM+, a leading commercial CFD platform. Competes with OpenFOAM in enterprise simulation workflows, particularly in automotive, marine, and energy.
• Dassault Systèmes (SIMULIA): Provides SIMULIA XFlow and PowerFLOW for CFD, plus Abaqus for multiphysics. Competes with OpenFOAM in enterprise simulation and integrates CFD into broader PLM platforms.
• COMSOL: Multiphysics simulation platform widely used in academia and industry, including CFD. Overlaps with OpenFOAM in academic and engineering research markets.
• Cadence Design Systems (Numeca): Acquired Numeca (octree-based meshing for CFD/FINE/Marine) and offers CFD as part of a broader EDA/multiphysics portfolio. Competes with OpenFOAM in marine and industrial CFD.
• Altair Engineering: Offers ultraFluidX and AcuSolve CFD tools as part of its simulation suite, with broad overlap in automotive and aerospace customers served by OpenFOAM.

Direct peers

• Convergent Science: Developer of CONVERGE, a commercial CFD software with proprietary meshing. Directly competes with OpenFOAM in engine/combustion and multiphysics applications, including similar customer segments.
• SimScale: Cloud-based CFD and FEA platform that is built in part on OpenFOAM technology. Direct competitor in the cloud CFD space where CFDDFC operates, targeting engineers who want browser-based simulation.
• Flow Science: Developer of FLOW-3D, a commercial CFD product for free-surface and multiphase flows. Competes with OpenFOAM in hydraulics, manufacturing, and other engineering CFD applications.

Emerging players

• Rescale: Cloud HPC platform that supports OpenFOAM alongside other simulation tools. Competes with CFDDFC for engineers who want cloud-based CFD compute, though Rescale is a broader multi-physics platform.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CFDdirect
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cfd-direct-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CFD Direct