Software Alternatives & Reviews

KiCad VS Altium Designer

Compare KiCad VS Altium Designer and see what are their differences

KiCad logo KiCad

A Cross Platform and Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite

Altium Designer logo Altium Designer

PCB Design Software
  • KiCad Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12
  • Altium Designer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-11

KiCad

Categories
  • Design Tools
  • CAD
  • Electronics
  • Simulation
  • Computer Simulations
  • Automation
Website kicad.org
Pricing URL-

Altium Designer

Categories
  • Electronics
  • Simulation
  • Design Tools
  • CAD
Website altium.com
Pricing URL Official Altium Designer Pricing

KiCad videos

eevBLAB #62 - PCB Wars - The Rise Of KiCAD

More videos:

  • Review - Quickstart Intro to Kicad - Design a board in 5 minutes
  • Review - #132 Using EasyEDA and KiCAD for Improved PCB (dog deterrent)

Altium Designer videos

Introduction to Altium Designer

More videos:

  • Review - Design Review - Altium Designer + Altium 365

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to KiCad and Altium Designer)
Simulation
72 72%
28% 28
Electronics
73 73%
27% 27
Computer Simulations
100 100%
0% 0
IDE
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare KiCad and Altium Designer

KiCad Reviews

11 KiCad Alternatives
KiCad is cross-platform, open-source CAD software that is specifically built for the Electronic Design Automation Suite. It is a complete solution that comes with a simple interface that is packed with extensive features. You may quickly access all of the tools and create any type of electrical automation design.
Comparing the Top 5 CAD Software for Electronics Design Development
The KiCAD software interfaceKiCAD is a free software that runs on a number of platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS. Due to its open-source nature, KiCAD is widely used by hobbyists and beginners.
Source: hackernoon.com
Our Top 10 printed circuit design software programmes
KiCad is an open source, free printed circuit design software suite. It was developed by Jean-Pierre Charras from the Grenoble IUT in France in 1992. This design software includes diagram management, PCB routing and 3D modelling possibilities for electronics engineers.
9 Free CAD Software to Download
Want to design your next Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and don’t know where to start? Check out KiCAD. KiCAD is a free and open source PCB design tool that includes a project manager and 4 main software such as schematic editor, printed circuit board editor, GERBER file viewer and footprint selector for component association.

Altium Designer Reviews

Comparing the Top 5 CAD Software for Electronics Design Development
Altium Designer gain its popularity in the design community and it is used by professional electronics engineers for creating complex and complicated PCB designs. It is mostly appreciated by engineers who work on IoT and industrial solutions.
Source: hackernoon.com
Our Top 10 printed circuit design software programmes
Some people still use Protel, the former version of Altium Designer. The reasons vary from one user to the other and, as seen above, software assessments can be very subjective:

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Altium Designer seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time 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.

KiCad mentions (0)

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

Altium Designer mentions (1)

  • Biden invokes Defense Production Act for printed circuit board production
    Check out Altium’s website (altium.com. A lot of free resources that might help. They also have a YouTube channel. Good luck. Source: about 1 year ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing KiCad and Altium Designer, you can also consider the following products

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

Autodesk EAGLE - Autodesk EAGLE is an electronic design automation (EDA) software.

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

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

LTspice - LTspice® is a high performance SPICE simulation software, schematic capture and waveform viewer with enhancements and models for easing the simulation of analog circuits.

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