The conversation around Revit 2026 vs 2025 is already the talking point on project floors across AEC industry. As we all know, each Revit release brings something new, but the real question is: what’s worth your time and investment?
Released in April 2025, Revit 2026 promises to refine workflows and boost productivity. As BIM deliverables tighten and clients demand ever‑cleaner models, the smallest productivity bump can snowball into real fee savings. That’s why our team at the software licensing department has unpacked the release head‑to‑head.
We’ve sifted through the marketing gloss to spot practical wins and hidden caveats. So, don’t rush to download Revit 2026. Let’s check the review below. All to make you gauge which version aligns with your deadlines, hardware, and team bandwidth.
What Is the Difference Between Revit 2026 and 2025?
The main difference between Revit 2026 and 2025 lies in refinement and usability.
Revit 2025 introduced sweeping changes, Dark Theme, the first cut of Toposolids, fresh icons, but left many users juggling work‑arounds. The 2026 new features update doubles down on stability, speed, and documentation.
A Tech‑Preview graphics engine finally pushes heavy 3D views onto the GPU. This trimming lag haunted 2025 on complex federated models. Toposolids now accept negative depths, making road and trench cut‑outs straightforward. Documentation sees a quality‑of‑life leap with view‑to‑sheet positioning, sheet collections in schedules, and in‑canvas spell‑check.
For us, 2026 tidies the loose threads left by its predecessor while sneaking in time‑saving extras. So, let’s break down the main difference between Revit 2026 vs 2025, which has been a hot topic recently.
Performance & Visualisation
To differentiate it from the 2025 version, Revit 2026 launches an Accelerated Graphics (Tech Preview) toggle that redirects panning and orbiting to the GPU. Early tests suggest navigation speeds could improve by 4x to 5x in 3D views.
This feature supports visual styles like Wireframe, Hidden Line, and Shaded. Of course, these make geometry rendering smoother and more responsive. So, is Revit 2026 faster than 2025? We believe there is no single answer.
The problem is that Tech Preview is still in development, so don’t expect perfection just yet. Limitations include no lineweight display or support for Realistic mode. Plus, using it across many views might eat up more computer memory (RAM). But even in its current state, it’s a promising step forward.
Streamlined Site Design: Refining Toposolids
Remember the Toposolid tools that replaced the old Toposurfaces in Revit 2024? Remember how they got some tweaks in the Revit 2025 new feature list? Now, Revit 2026 brings quite a few improvements based on user feedback.
For example, negative depth values are now supported. This helps you to model recessed areas like roads or paved surfaces accurately. Also, sub-divisions are now proper subcategories, which will give you independent control over visibility and scheduling. Plus, interoperability with Civil 3D has improved, ensuring better accuracy when integrating civil design data
For those collaborating with civil engineers, the way Revit 2026 handles linked Civil 3D data is reportedly more accurate. Other handy bits include being able to copy and paste shape editing points, which saves heaps of time on complex surfaces. This allows more points for detailed terrains (up to 20,000 by default, even 50,000 if you tweak a setting). Plus, it is a general improvement to stability and how cut/fill volumes are calculated.
Smarter Documentation & Sheet Management
Documentation can be a slog on 2025 edition, but Revit 2026 new features make it easier. The star might be the new View to Sheet Positioning tools. Save a view position once, re‑apply it across every drawing set, and align elevations by anchor or origin in seconds. Sheet Collections now support custom parameters and live edits in schedules, handy when the client asks for ISO paper late in the game. A simple in‑canvas spell‑checker spares those last‑minute PDF re‑issues.
Do you remember how Revit 2025 showed “As indicated” for scale if you had multiple view scales on a sheet, and you couldn’t change it? Now you can override that with your own text. Reference labels on things like callouts are also more flexible; they’re back to being instance-based, so you don’t need to create endless types just for different labels. You can even add custom shared parameters inside view markers like section heads now.
Improved Modeling Workflow & Flexibility
Beyond the big headlines, Revit 2026 brings practical tweaks to everyday modelling. There’s a handy ‘Create Walls by Room/Segment’ tool. Pick a room, click, and walls appear along the boundary. Compound structures can now live without a designated core, so a lightweight stud wall no longer needs phantom layers.
A new Priority column lets you override join clean‑ups, which is ideal when finishes must win over substrates. Duplicate layers and point‑to‑point steel placement round out a more forgiving modelling toolkit.
Key Architectural, Structural & MEP Updates: A Discipline‑Specific Tweaks
While the main themes are performance, site, docs, and modelling, Revit 2026 doesn’t forget discipline-specific needs. Many of these are direct responses to “Community Ideas,” which is great to see. For structural engineers, there are:
- An easier modelling of cranked rebar to avoid clashes
- More precise point-to-point placement for steel elements
- Better ways to modify custom steel connections
- A sensible default material is applied to new steel plates.
MEP engineers get improvements too. There are:
- More customisable configurations for electrical conductors and cables
- Easier ways to create system zones for analysis (by selecting spaces or sketching)
- Better organisation options for Panel Schedules in the Project Browser.
Generally, linking IFC files should be faster and more accurate. And for the coders and automators, Dynamo gets updated with better performance monitoring and other tweaks. These specific Revit 2026 new features show ongoing refinement across the board, which is vital for smooth multidisciplinary projects.
For reference; if you need a refresher on how to update Revit, we’ve got you covered with a handy tutorial.
Revit 2026 vs 2025: Feature Comparison Table
For a quick overview, this table summarizes some key distinctions discussed in our Revit 2026 vs 2025 comparison.
| Feature | Revit 2025 Capability/Limitation | Revit 2026 Enhancement | Benefits for Users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance (3D Nav) | Primarily CPU-bound, potentially slow | Accelerated Graphics Tech Preview (utilises GPU) | Potentially much smoother, faster model navigation |
| Site Modeling (Sub-divisions) | No negative depth; separate category lacking | Negative depth enabled; Now a subcategory | Model roads/recessed areas; Better V/G/Scheduling |
| Sheet View Placemen | Manual alignment required | Save/Apply View Positions; View Anchor alignment | Faster, consistent sheet setup; Less manual work |
| Compound Layer Control | ‘Core’ layer mandatory; Join priority tied to Function | Core layer optional; Custom ‘Priority’ independent of Function | More flexible composition; Finer control over joins |
| Reference View Labels | Type-based (needed new types for labels) | Instance-based ‘Reference Label’; Shared Parameter support | Unique labels per instance without extra types |
| Imported CAD Management | Not visible in Manage Links dialog | Now listed in Manage Links dialog | Easier tracking of all external CAD data |
| Documentation Consistency | Manual spell check; “As indicated” scale was fixed | In-canvas spell check; Custom override for “As indicated” | Improved text accuracy; Customisable scale notation |
| Wall Creation | Manual placement | Create Walls by Room/Segment tool | Faster creation of boundary walls (e.g., finishes) |
| IFC Linking | Standard performance/placement | Performance and placement accuracy greatly improved | Better interoperability with IFC |
Your Next Steps
So, after looking at the Revit 2026 vs 2025 picture, what’s the verdict for your Australian AEC firm? Many Australian firms wait for the 2026.1 patch before rolling out deskside, while power users jump early to bank the GPU boost.
Need a no‑stress path? Interscale’s software licensing team is ready to help. We’re here to help you weigh the pros and cons, ensuring your move to Revit 2026 is seamless. If you need this kind of help, you can book a free discussion session with our Revit specialist here.
