Altium Designer® vs. KiCAD EDA®
The Ultimate Comparison Guide

Compare Altium Designer® vs. KiCAD EDA®

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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.

KiCAD EDA

An open-source platform built by a community of experienced developers. KiCAD is a popular first choice for newer ECAD software users and beginner engineers. Learn More

Schematic Capture

Schematic sheet limits

Unlimited

999

Hierarchical schematic capture with integrated analog mixed-signal simulation

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

PCB Layout

Board size limits

100 in. by 100 in.

84 in. by 84 in.

Signal and plane layer limits

32 signal + 16 plane + unlimited mechanical

32 layers total, signal or plane

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Advanced interactive routing features with built-in signal integrity tools

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Variant management tools for complex projects

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Realistic layer stacks and a modern field solver for accurate impedances

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Parts placement and routing in 3D

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

Visual DC power distribution analysis in the PCB layout

Requires additional Power Analyzer license

Not Available in KiCAD

Library Management & Sourcing

Built-in BOM management with real-time supply chain

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Advanced component data from IHS Markit®

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Outputs & Manufacturing

Built-in fabrication and assembly drawing generation tools

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Intuitive interface for manufacturing output creation

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Quickly generate ECOs, reports, and documentation

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Customizable document templates for drawings

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Centralized management for manufacturing packages and communications

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Product Design

Support for multi-board systems and assemblies

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Multi-board 3D product viewer from any web browser

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Built-in harness design tools

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Cloud Services

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Version control, templates, and component libraries stored in cloud

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Project history for every change made to a design

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Platform Integrations

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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 KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Multiple importer utilities to convert files from other ECAD platforms

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

Workflows & Processes

Configurable lifecycle management for design data and components

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Change notifications and change conflict prevention for design documents

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Maintenance & Support

Current version

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

Last Release October 2022
(active since 1992)

Backwards compatible with files from all previous releases

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in KiCAD

Live chat and support tickets

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Dedicated customer success manager check-ins and onboarding

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in KiCAD

Supported Platforms

Windows 10 and newer

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

MacOS 10.15 and newer

Not Available in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

Linux

Not Available in Altium Designer
Supported in KiCAD

Pricing

Price

Starting at USD 355 / month

Free

Time-based subscription

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Perpetual License options

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Multiple Subscription options

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in KiCAD

Altium Enables the Most Advanced Designs
via a Unified Design Environment Since 1985

  • Unify your entire PCB design environment via one platform
  • Enjoy the #1 PCB design solution in the world
  • Interact and collaborate with mechanical designers like never before
  • Access high speed design tools not found in free PCB design software
  • Route it your way, faster than ever
  • 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

About teaser:  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.

Leader-Summer-2024 Leader-Summer-2024 Leader-Summer-2024 best-pcb-software

Which is better: Altium Designer or KiCAD?

KiCAD was built to satisfy the needs of hobbyists, startup companies, students, and new designers interested in free PCB design software. However, it was built with the same disjointed architecture as many other open-source PCB design programs. Important design features are split into 5 different applications that isolate tasks and capabilities, and the KiCAD EDA suite misses many important features that are demanded by industry professionals. Altium’s mission in developing Altium Designer was to create the most powerful yet easiest to use PCB design application, where all professional design features are available in a single platform.

The biggest advantage Altium Designer offers over KiCAD is the ability to access all the essential PCB design features in a single program. Industry-standard capabilities like CAM tools, a layer stack editor with integrated field solver, high speed analysis features, and many powerful extensions are included in Altium Designers. Large teams and experienced professionals trust the powerful interface and complete set of design tools in Altium Designer for their projects:

  • Comprehensive multichannel, hierarchical schematic capture that supports multi-board assemblies
  • Altium Designer’s integrated analog mixed signal simulation engine includes SPICE capabilities and IBIS model support
  • Schematic capture tools give you access to comprehensive component libraries
  • Altium Designer’s layer stack calculator includes a built-in field solver for highly accurate impedance calculations
  • Altium Designer’s PCB routing tools provide greater automation than the routing features in KiCAD, which helps you stay more productive 
  • Access real-time sourcing data for your components and PCB libraries inside Altium Designer
  • Collaborate with your team and share design data through the Altium 365 platform

When you’re ready to move into the realm of professional PCB design, make sure your software helps you stay competitive and productive. Instead of using an outdated application structure in the free KiCAD EDA suite, use the advanced set of design and manufacturing tools found in Altium Designer. A professional interface and soft learning curve can help you elevate your design skills to the levels demanded by industry leaders and professional PCB designers.

Switching from KiCAD to Altium Designer?

Existing KiCAD users can easily make the switch to Altium Designer without losing their old projects. Altium Designer includes conversion tools for importing KiCAD projects and libraries into Altium’s file format with minimal effort, allowing you to start designing from Day 1. All Altium Designer users have access to a free online resource library so that they can learn more about Altium's leading-edge design tools, basic design principles, advanced layout and routing techniques, new platform capabilities, and much more.

If you’re comparing Altium Designer vs. open source KiCAD, invest in the best PCB design software package with advanced layout and project management features. Get access to the easiest to use and most powerful design software by making the switch to Altium Designer. 

Try Altium Designer Today!

#1 in Electronics Design