Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Fritzing VS gEDA Project

Compare Fritzing VS gEDA Project and see what are their differences

Fritzing logo Fritzing

Fritzing is an open-source initiative to support designers, artists, researchers and hobbyists to...

gEDA Project logo gEDA Project

All about General Public License (GPL) and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software tools
  • Fritzing Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-12
  • gEDA Project Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-12-15

Fritzing features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Fritzing offers a highly intuitive and easy-to-use interface, which is particularly useful for beginners and hobbyists in electronics design. It provides a graphical environment that simplifies the layout and design process.
  • Breadboard View
    Fritzing includes a breadboard view that allows users to create and visualize breadboard circuits easily. This is advantageous for prototyping and testing circuits before designing a PCB.
  • Open Source
    Fritzing is an open-source tool, meaning it is free to use and the community can contribute to its development and improvement. This encourages collaboration and access to a wide range of user-generated components and examples.
  • Educational Tool
    Fritzing is widely used as an educational tool in schools and universities to teach electronics and circuit design. The visual representation of circuits helps students understand complex concepts more easily.
  • Library of Components
    Fritzing offers a comprehensive library of components, including both common and specialized electronic parts. Users can also create custom components if needed.

Possible disadvantages of Fritzing

  • Limited Advanced Features
    Fritzing lacks some advanced features found in professional-grade electronics design software (such as KiCad or Altium Designer). This might limit its utility for complex or industrial-level projects.
  • Performance Issues
    For more complex designs, Fritzing can experience performance lag, making it less suitable for large-scale or highly intricate projects.
  • Export Limitations
    While Fritzing can export to several formats (like Gerber files for PCB manufacturing), the export options and functionalities are somewhat limited compared to more sophisticated PCB design tools.
  • Community Support
    Although Fritzing has an open-source community, the level of community support and available documentation can sometimes fall short, particularly for troubleshooting specific issues or advanced usage scenarios.
  • Platform Dependency
    Fritzing is a standalone application and needs to be installed on a compatible operating system. This may be inconvenient compared to web-based tools that can be accessed from any device with a web browser.

gEDA Project features and specs

  • Open Source
    The gEDA Project is open-source software, meaning it's free to use, modify, and distribute. This can significantly reduce costs for individuals and organizations.
  • Community Support
    Being an open-source project, it has a vibrant community of users and developers who contribute to its improving functionality, fixing bugs, and providing support to new users.
  • Versatility
    gEDA can be used for a wide range of tasks including schematic capture, layout, simulation, and prototyping, making it a versatile choice for electronics design.
  • Linux Compatibility
    gEDA runs natively on Linux, making it an excellent choice for users of this operating system who need powerful electronic design tools.
  • Educational Use
    Due to its open-source nature, it provides an excellent learning platform for students and hobbyists who are keen to delve into the intricacies of electronic design.

Possible disadvantages of gEDA Project

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For those not familiar with electronic design or CAD software, gEDA may be challenging to learn due to its complex features and extensive options.
  • Limited Documentation
    While there is community support, the official documentation can be sparse or outdated, which can be a hindrance to new users trying to understand the software.
  • Interface
    The user interface of gEDA is not as polished or intuitive as some commercial electronic design automation (EDA) tools, which can affect usability.
  • Windows Compatibility
    gEDA is primarily designed for Linux, and while there are ways to run it on Windows, it is not natively supported, potentially causing issues for Windows users.
  • Fewer Advanced Features
    Compared to commercial EDA tools, gEDA may lack some of the more advanced features and functionalities, which could be a drawback for professional use.

Analysis of Fritzing

Overall verdict

  • Fritzing is generally considered a good tool for beginners and educational purposes.

Why this product is good

  • Fritzing offers an easy-to-use interface for designing circuit schematics and PCB layouts, making it accessible for beginners. It also provides a range of components and supports breadboard views, which are beneficial for those new to electronics. The open-source nature and active community are additional advantages.

Recommended for

  • Hobbyists
  • Educators and students in electronics
  • Beginners looking to learn circuit design
  • Small projects and prototypes

Analysis of gEDA Project

Overall verdict

  • Yes, the gEDA Project can be considered good for certain applications.

Why this product is good

  • The gEDA Project, hosted at gpleda.org, is an open-source suite of tools for electrical circuit design, simulation, and prototyping. It is well-regarded in the open-source community for being freely available and for providing a comprehensive set of tools suitable for a range of electronic design tasks. Users appreciate its modular design, support for schematic capture, and ability to simulate circuits effectively.

Recommended for

  • Hobbyists and students interested in electronics and circuit design.
  • Developers looking for a cost-effective (free) open-source alternative to commercial EDA tools.
  • Educators teaching courses in electronics who need a cross-platform schematic capture and simulation tool.

Fritzing videos

INVESTIGATING: The Best Schematic PCB Software (EasyEda, Fritzing, DesignSpark) With Demonstration

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Fritzing Tutorial - A Beginners Guide to Making Circuit & Wiring Diagrams
  • Tutorial - How to design PCB in fritzing and Export Gerber File

gEDA Project videos

No gEDA Project videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Fritzing and gEDA Project)
Simulation
82 82%
18% 18
Electronics
86 86%
14% 14
Design Tools
81 81%
19% 19
Computer Simulations
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Fritzing and gEDA Project

Fritzing Reviews

11 KiCad Alternatives
Fritzing is an all-in-one open-source hardware initiative that lets you use electronics as a creative medium. The program includes advanced and useful capabilities that enable users to create a creative environment in which they may document and share their prototypes. Designers and artists can increase productivity by experimenting with the prototype to create a more...

gEDA Project Reviews

We have no reviews of gEDA Project yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Fritzing seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 26 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Fritzing mentions (26)

  • Beginner IoT project: LED Web trigger
    References: Felipe Flop’s website https://www.filipeflop.com/blog/controle-monitoramento-iot-nodemcu-e-mqtt/ accessed on 01/27/2018. Eclipse server for MQTT Broker https://iot.eclipse.org/ accessed on 01/27/2018. Mosquitto https://mosquitto.org/ accessed on 01/27/2018. Cloud MQTT https://www.cloudmqtt.com/ accessed on 01/27/2018. DuckDNS https://www.duckdns.org/ accessed on 01/27/2018. Proftpd... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Jumperless: Breadboard Without Jumper
    Https://tinyurl.com/yr34sym6 https://wokwi.com/ is great for simple, digital only stuff. https://fritzing.org/ will kind of lay out the PCB for you, but it's kind of a pain in the ass. Wokwi and Fritzing are more "Breadboard Simulators" than real circuit simulators, but they do have their place. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • double sided perfboard options
    For designing them there are various tools out there. Personally I find https://easyeda.com/ and https://upverter.com/ easier to get started with. Other popular option (but with a much steeper learning curve) are kcad, but I have always found that to be clunky UI. https://fritzing.org/ is another local option that is easy to use but last time I tried it would crash on me all the time making it basically unusable -... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Recommendations for simple PCB design
    Fritzing - Opensource, a simpler tool but still fully capable. Though last time (many years ago) I tried to use it, despite quite liking it I found it to be very unstable to the point I could not use it without it crashing many times. Maybe that was just my system or maybe things have improved since then though. Might be worth a try. I quite liked it when it was not crashing. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Anyone know how to put this on breadboard?
    I'd recommend you check out the software called Fritzing! Source: over 2 years ago
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gEDA Project mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of gEDA Project yet. Tracking of gEDA Project recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Fritzing and gEDA Project, you can also consider the following products

KiCad - A Cross Platform and Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite

LibrePCB - LibrePCB is a free EDA software to develop printed circuit boards.

Virtual Breadboard - It is a circuit simulator on a virtual breadboard.

Proteus PCB design - Proteus PCB design combines the schematic capture and ARES PCB layout programs to provide a...

Circuit Simulator - Animated electronic circuit simulator using ideal components to visualize voltage and current.

EasyEDA - EasyEDA - Web-based EDA suite; runs in browser.