Informatics tools are very important for project development in the civil engineering area. CAD – Computer Aided Design - tools are freely used in different project routines, but BIM – Building Information Modeling are gaining space to allow the development of objects with a larger number of parameters and permit a collaborative engineering. Besides, the PBL - Project Based Learning – tools can be effective for teaching, allowing students to combine prior knowledge and aggregates skills in a collaborative model in engineering area. The objective of the paper is analyzing software applications in a PBL activity focusing the results of CAD and BIM tools utilization in project development. The methodology adopted was a technical review and a case study of 21 PBL projects developed by students of a civil engineering graduation course. The results shows that PBL is a good strategy for project development, and BIM tools are more efficient when compared with CAD tools.