Altium Designer® vs. EAGLE®
The Ultimate Comparison Guide

Compare Altium Designer® vs. Autodesk EAGLE®

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Provides advanced product design, collaboration, and PCB design tools required by large teams or professionals designing complex devices, yet easy to use for new designers and students.

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The simpler toolset makes EAGLE a good starter program for new engineers. It is useful in small design firms and startups, but it gets infrequent updates. Learn more

Schematic Capture

Schematic sheet limits

Unlimited

999

Hierarchical schematic capture with integrated analog mixed-signal simulation

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Built-in SPICE simulator with model library and migration support for LTSpice/PSpice

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

PCB Layout

Board size limits

100 in. by 100 in.

Premium: Unlimited
Standard: Up to 160 cm2
Basic: Up to 80 cm2

Signal and plane layer limits

32 signal + 16 plane + unlimited mechanical

16 signal or plane layers, 52 total layers

Rules-driven design for modern PCB (HDI, Rigid-flex, and Multiboard)

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Advanced interactive routing features with built-in signal integrity tools

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

High speed design and rigid-flex design features included in standard license

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Variant management tools for complex projects

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Realistic layer stacks and a modern field solver for accurate impedances

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Parts placement and routing in 3D

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Photo-realistic 3D viewer with real-time clearance checking

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Visual DC power distribution analysis in the PCB layout

Requires additional Power Analyzer license

Not Available in

Library Management & Sourcing

Built-in BOM management with real-time supply chain

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Unified libraries with symbols, footprints, simulation models, and distributor links

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Access to models, parameters, and lifecycle data for millions of components

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires PartQuest, may require additional license

Management of lifecycles, in-design validation, templates, and where-used for libraries

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Advanced component data from IHS Markit®

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Library health dashboard to monitor validity, quality, and risk issues

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Outputs & Manufacturing

Built-in fabrication and assembly drawing generation tools

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Intuitive interface for manufacturing output creation

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Quickly generate ECOs, reports, and documentation

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Customizable document templates for drawings

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Centralized management for manufacturing packages and communications

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Share and view Gerbers, ODB++ files, and assembly steps in a browser

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Product Design

Support for multi-board systems and assemblies

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Multi-board 3D product viewer from any web browser

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Multi-board mechanical integration for SOLIDWORKS® 2020, 2021, and 2022

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Built-in harness design tools

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Cloud Services

View and share renders of design files on any device with a web browser

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

These features may only be offered through Fusion 360.

Version control, templates, and component libraries stored in the cloud

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in

Built-in task management and commenting for design files and BOMs

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Managed design reuse for schematics, layer stacks, and design templates

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in

Project history for every change made to a design

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Platform Integrations

Integration with MCAD applications including SOLIDWORKS®, PTC Creo® Parametric, Autodesk Inventor®, Autodesk® Fusion 360, and Siemens NX

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Fusion 360 Only

Advanced integration with SOLIDWORKS® for MCAD component placement, copper geometry, enclosure exchange, and multi-board/rigid-flex sync

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

PLM integration with Arena® PLM, PTC Windchill, Aras PLM, Oracle Agile PLM, and Teamcenter®

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Multiple importer utilities to convert files from other ECAD platforms

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Workflows & Processes

Configurable lifecycle management for design data and components

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Managed workflows for part requests, design reviews, project creation/release, and lifecycle approvals

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

User, role, and group management with support for Single Sign-On (SSO)

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Change notifications and change conflict prevention for design documents

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Centralized control over design environments, document templates, and output files for every team member

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Maintenance & Support

Current version

Monthly releases since Nov 2021 (active since 2000, formerly Protel 1985-2000)

9.6.2 (Released February 2022, active since 1988)

Backwards compatible with files from all previous releases

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

On-demand training courses, knowledge base, and community forums

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in

Live chat and support tickets

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Support tickets only, no live chat

Dedicated customer success manager check-ins and onboarding

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in

Supported Platforms

Windows 10 and newer

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

MacOS 10.15 and newer

Not Available in Altium Designer
Supported in

Linux

Not Available in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Pricing

Price

Starting at USD 355 / month

All new subscriptions are bundled with Fusion 360 Electronics:
$1,635/paid every 3 years
$545/paid annually
$70/paid monthly

Time-based subscription

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Perpetual License options

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in

Multiple Subscription options

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in

Altium Has Been Enabling Engineers
To Unify Their Design Environment Since 1985

  • Unify your entire PCB design environment via one platform
  • Interact and collaborate with mechanical designers like never before
  • Enjoy the #1 PCB design solution in the world
  • Route it your way, faster than ever
  • Altium Designer includes all the critical design features hobbyists and professional designers need.
  • It’s easy to convert projects from other software into Altium’s file format.
  • Altium Designer sees the highest demand by employers and industry leaders.
  • A complete toolset helps users take products from concept to high-volume production.
  • Altium’s design features are the most intuitive and easiest-to-use.
  • Individual engineers and large enterprises look to Altium to help them stay at the cutting edge of technology.

Trusted by over 20,000 companies, including

About Altium

Since 1985, we have been developing, creating and selling award-winning electronic design tools (software and hardware) that help electronics designers harness the latest devices and technologies, manage their projects across broad design ‘ecosystems’, and create connected, intelligent designs.

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Which is better: Altium Designer or Eagle?

There are many reasons Altium Designer is a better choice than Autodesk Eagle. Altium Designer’s integrated set of PCB design and layout features is ideal for electronics engineers and PCB designers of any experience level. Some of the most important features that help Altium Designer rise above EAGLE in comparisons are found in the powerful routing, layout, and signal integrity tools:

  • Altium Designer’s PCB layout features are easier to use than EAGLE’s layout and CAD utilities
  • Auto-interactive routing features in Altium Designer keep users more productive than Eagle users
  • Altium users can access real-time supply chain data for components, while EAGLE users must manually create and update component databases
  • High-quality PCB fabrication and assembly drawings are easier to generate in Altium Designer vs. Autodesk Eagle thanks to Altium Designer’s built-in Draftsman utility
  • Altium Designer users can more easily automate many design reuse tasks using templates, reusable circuit blocks, and project management features
  • Altium’s Layer Stack Manager provides highly accurate real-time solver-based impedance calculations using a built-in Finite Element Analysis engine, while EAGLE users have to use an external program

Underneath the design features in Altium Designer is a design rules engine that unifies all of Altium’s PCB design, layout, and trace routing features into a single program. Unlike Autodesk’s Eagle users, Altium Designer users have everything needed to take an advanced design from concept to PCB fabrication for an assembled electronics product.

 

Why Switch from EAGLE to Altium Designer?
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Switching from Eagle to Altium Designer?

Switching to Altium Designer from Eagle might seem like a huge leap. If you're an existing EAGLE user, it's easy to make the switch and start designing from Day 1. Altium Designer includes conversion tools for importing your old libraries and projects into Altium’s file format with minimal effort. All Altium Designer users can take advantage of free online resources to learn more about Altium's leading-edge design tools, basic principles, advanced techniques, new capabilities, and everything in-between. Don’t fear the unknown; Altium is the only solution built by PCB designers for PCB designers.

* Autodesk EAGLE® and EAGLE® are registered trademarks owned by Autodesk Inc.

Try Altium Designer Today!

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