Naviate Cloud Manager vs HUDA for Autodesk Forma user management

Naviate Cloud Manager and HUDA both solve the same headache: adding and managing users across many Autodesk Forma (formerly Autodesk Construction Cloud) projects without clicking through them one at a time. They come at it from different directions. Naviate is a broad automation suite, its own page calls it “bulk project setup, simplified member management and automated data management tasks,” with Revit integration and scheduling. HUDA is a focused Forma user-management tool with one job: the day-to-day membership and permission work, done safely.

Let’s be straight about it up front. Naviate is the more powerful, broader product. HUDA is narrower on purpose. What HUDA gives you in return is that it’s free, it stores none of your data, and you can try it on your own account this afternoon. For an admin evaluating tools, that means trying HUDA costs you nothing and risks nothing.

We’re a certified Autodesk Platform Services partner. Both tools sit on the same public APS APIs, so this isn’t about access. It’s about what each one is shaped to do. Here’s the honest comparison, with Naviate’s claims taken from their Cloud Manager product page as of August 2026.

Side by side

“Not advertised” means Naviate’s public Cloud Manager page (checked August 2026) doesn’t mention it, not that the product can’t do it. If any of those rows matter to you, confirm directly with Naviate.

What Naviate Cloud Manager is

Naviate Cloud Manager (from Symetri) is a mature admin suite for BIM 360 and ACC admins running many projects at once. Its own tagline: “Automate Revit, Autodesk Construction Cloud and BIM 360 Project Management with bulk project setup, simplified member management and automated data management tasks.”

In practice that’s a broad tool. It does bulk project creation, bulk member addition across multiple projects with role and company assignment, bulk file uploads and archive snapshots, and local and cloud asset browsing. The Pro version adds scheduled publishing, uploading and downloading, and auto-generation of PDFs and NWC files, plus tighter Revit integration through Naviate Accelerate.

If you’re provisioning whole projects and want member setup, file automation, and Revit workflows under one roof, that breadth is the point. Member management is one capability inside a much larger data-and-project automation platform. It’s a genuinely capable suite, and for the right buyer it’s worth paying for.

What HUDA is

HUDA is a wizard-style web app we shipped on the Autodesk App Store. It doesn’t try to automate Revit or provision projects. It does the day-to-day membership and permission work an admin actually spends time on, and it does it safely.

What it folds into one flow:

• Creates the users who don’t exist yet. Before anyone goes on a project they need an Autodesk identity, normally a separate trip to Account Admin. HUDA detects which emails have none, creates them in bulk, and sends invites, in the same flow as the assignment.
• Add, update, and remove across projects. Each row is one operation with a per-row role. Same person onto ten projects? Duplicate the row and change the project. It reads like editing a spreadsheet inside the app, with email autocomplete and inline validation.
• Folder-level permissions. Grant viewer, downloader, uploader, editor, or manager rights on a specific folder with a visual folder-tree picker, the granular access external consultants and subcontractors need.

Before anything runs, a dry-run preview shows the full diff of what gets added, updated, or removed across every project, so you can check the blast radius. Then a queue executes each change with per-row success and error badges, you retry failed rows one at a time, and you can download a rollback CSV to undo the whole run.

Free, and it stores none of your data

This is the part that makes HUDA easy to try. Two things:

It’s free. No seat pricing, no contact-sales gate, no trial clock. Install it from the Autodesk App Store and run it against your own account today. If it saves you an afternoon, keep using it. If it doesn’t fit, you’ve spent nothing.

It stores none of your account data. HUDA runs in your browser and talks straight to the Autodesk APIs: it reads what it needs while you work and writes your changes back through them. There’s no server-side database, so it never keeps a copy of your users, your projects, your permissions, or your folder structure. When you close the tab, there’s no HUDA-held record of your account to worry about. For a security or IT reviewer signing off on a new tool, that’s a short conversation: HUDA isn’t another place your member data lives.

Put those together and evaluating HUDA is close to zero-cost and zero-risk. That’s the trade for it being narrower than a full suite. You give up breadth; you get a free, no-data-retained tool you can test on a live portfolio without a procurement cycle.

And narrower doesn’t have to mean fixed. Naviate is the bigger tool out of the box, but HUDA is our own codebase, so if you need it to do more, reach a workflow it doesn’t cover, or fit your own conventions, we can extend it. Just talk to the team through our contact page.

The real difference: breadth vs a focused, safe, free tool

Naviate’s member management centers on bulk adding members, with role and company, as part of standing up projects. HUDA is built for the whole membership lifecycle: adding, yes, but also changing roles across a portfolio and removing people when they leave, per user, per project, as rows you can see and check. And it leads with safety: see the full diff before it runs, undo it after.

The honest way to frame it: if you need the broad suite, Naviate is more powerful and worth evaluating. If your job is ongoing membership and permission churn, HUDA does that specific job well, for free, without holding your data, and you can confirm that yourself today instead of taking our word for it.

Where Naviate is the better fit

Be honest about this. Naviate wins when your problem is bigger than membership:

• You’re creating and provisioning projects in bulk, not just moving people.
• You want file and data automation: scheduled publishing, uploads, downloads, auto PDF / NWC generation (Cloud Manager Pro).
• You live in Revit and want cloud admin and Revit workflows from one vendor.
• You want a mature, broad suite from an established Autodesk partner and are fine with the member tool being one part of it.

If that’s you, Naviate’s breadth beats a focused tool.

Where HUDA is the better fit

HUDA isn’t a purchase, it’s free, so you can try it before any paid option and see whether it covers your case. It fits when membership is the job and you want to do it without cost or risk:

• You add, change, and remove people across a portfolio constantly (high contractor churn, frequent role changes).
• You need to create users who don’t have an Autodesk identity yet without a separate trip to Account Admin.
• You manage granular folder permissions for external consultants and subcontractors.
• You want to see every change before it runs and undo it if something’s off.
• You want to try before you commit: it’s free, it stores none of your data, and it installs from the App Store, so you can prove it out on your own account today.
• You might later need a custom build: HUDA is our own codebase, a reasonable base to extend into HR / ERP sync or cross-plane reconciliation. That’s a Forma software development engagement we can take on.

How to choose

• Provisioning whole projects, files, and Revit workflows: Naviate Cloud Manager.
• Ongoing membership churn, folder permissions, and a dry-run / rollback safety net, for free: HUDA.
• Not sure: HUDA is free and stores none of your data, so the cheapest way to decide is to install it and run one real onboarding through it. Then you’ll know.

For the underlying gap both tools fill, and the native limits that created this market, see our walkthrough on bulk user management for Forma and ACC.

FAQ

Naviate Cloud Manager vs HUDA, what’s the difference?

Naviate Cloud Manager is a broad automation suite: bulk project creation, member addition with role and company, file and data automation, scheduling, and Revit integration. HUDA is a focused, free tool for membership and folder permissions, with per-row add / update / remove, user creation in the same flow, and a dry-run diff plus rollback. It stores none of your account data. Pick Naviate for project-and-data breadth, HUDA for safe, ongoing membership management you can try at no cost.

Is HUDA a Naviate Cloud Manager alternative?

For user and permission management, yes. If your need is specifically bulk-adding and updating members across projects, creating missing users, and folder permissions, HUDA covers that as a focused tool with a preview and undo, for free. If you also need bulk project creation, scheduling, and Revit automation, that’s Naviate’s broader territory.

Is HUDA really free?

Yes. HUDA is free to install from the Autodesk App Store and run against your account. There’s no trial clock or contact-sales gate to evaluate it.

Does HUDA store my user or project data?

No. HUDA runs in your browser and talks directly to the Autodesk APIs while you work, retaining none of your account data afterward. There’s no server-side database, so there’s no HUDA-side copy of your users, projects, or permissions.

Can both add a user to multiple ACC / Forma projects at once?

Yes. Naviate advertises adding multiple members to multiple projects with role and company. HUDA does it row by row (list the user once per project) and shows a dry-run of the full change before it runs. Native Forma can’t do this, it’s per-project.

Does either do folder-level permissions?

HUDA does, with a visual folder-tree picker for viewer / downloader / uploader / editor / manager rights. Naviate’s Cloud Manager page doesn’t advertise folder-level permissions as of August 2026; confirm with them if you need it.

Which one has a preview or undo?

HUDA leads with a dry-run diff (see every add / update / remove before it runs) and a rollback CSV to undo a run. Naviate’s page doesn’t advertise a dry-run or rollback; ask them directly if that matters.

Do they work with BIM 360 as well as Forma / ACC?

Both support BIM 360 and ACC / Forma. HUDA reaches any hub on the APS Data Management API and includes a hub selector; note the APS project-user write endpoints target Forma projects, not BIM 360.

Try HUDA, or build the integration

HUDA is on the Autodesk App Store, free. If you’re on Autodesk Forma or ACC and managing more than a handful of projects, it turns per-project clicking into a single bulk run, with a dry-run and rollback so you can trust it on a live portfolio, and it holds none of your data. The lowest-risk way to compare it to anything else is to install it and run one real onboarding.

Need more than an off-the-shelf tool, a version wired into your own systems, or a white-labeled build for your clients? HUDA’s codebase is a starting point, and Forma integrations are a core part of what we do. Get in touch.

Lagarsoft is a certified Autodesk Platform Services partner specializing in AEC software integrations, BIM data pipelines, and custom construction technology. Based in Uruguay, working with AEC firms across the US, Canada, and Europe.