A standalone AutoCAD license costs $4,195.00. If you do not get the $1,250/year maintenance subscription, you will receive no major updates and no tech support from AutoCAD. A more common approach is to use AutoDesk's subscription service. A monthly subscription of AutoCAD costs $210/month, which is quite pricey. A yearly subscription costs $1,680, which is very reasonable. With a subscription license, you automatically get the latest software year version when it comes out.