Altium Designer® vs. Siemens PADS®
The Ultimate Comparison Guide

Compare Altium Designer® vs. PADS®

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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.

Siemens Mentor PADS

PADS is an older commercial design program with a long track record of use by larger companies.

Schematic Capture

Schematic sheet limits

Unlimited

999

Hierarchical schematic capture with integrated analog mixed-signal simulation

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

PCB Layout

Board size limits

100 in. by 100 in.

Unlimited

Signal and plane layer limits

32 signal + 16 plane + unlimited mechanical

PADS Standard - 186 combined signal & plane + 64 mechanical

PADS Professional - Unlimited

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Advanced interactive routing features with built-in signal integrity tools

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

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

Supported in Altium Designer

Requires PADS Professional Premium license

Variant management tools for complex projects

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Realistic layer stacks and a modern field solver for accurate impedances

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Parts placement and routing in 3D

 

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Visual DC power distribution analysis in the PCB layout

Requires additional Power Analyzer license

Requires additional Siemens product (HyperLynx)

Library Management & Sourcing

Built-in BOM management with real-time supply chain

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

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

Supported in PADS

Advanced component data from IHS Markit®

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

Outputs & Manufacturing

Built-in fabrication and assembly drawing generation tools

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in PADS

Intuitive interface for manufacturing output creation

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Quickly generate ECOs, reports, and documentation

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Customizable document templates for drawings

Supported in Altium Designer

Requires additional Siemens product (Siemens NX)

Centralized management for manufacturing packages and communications

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Teamcenter)

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

Supported in Altium Designer
Not Available in PADS

Product Design

Support for multi-board systems and assemblies

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in PADS

Multi-board 3D product viewer from any web browser

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in PADS

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in PADS

Built-in harness design tools

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Solid Edge or VeSys)

Cloud Services

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

Version control, templates, and component libraries stored in cloud

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Connect)

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Teamcenter)

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in PADS

Project history for every change made to a design

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

Platform Integrations

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

SolidWorks, Catia, and Creo

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 PADS

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires 3rd party solution

Multiple importer utilities to convert files from other ECAD platforms

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Workflows & Processes

Configurable lifecycle management for design data and components

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Teamcenter)

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Teamcenter)

Change notifications and change conflict prevention for design documents

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in PADS

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Requires additional Siemens product (Teamcenter)

Maintenance & Support

Current version

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

16.0.1 (Released January 2022, active since 1992)

Backwards compatible with files from all previous releases

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

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

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

Live chat and support tickets

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Supported in PADS

Dedicated customer success manager check-ins and onboarding

Requires an Altium Designer Subscription

Not Available in PADS

Supported Platforms

Windows 10 and newer

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

MacOS 10.15 and newer

Not Available in Altium Designer
Not Available in PADS

Linux

Not Available in Altium Designer
Not Available in PADS

Pricing

Price

Starting at USD 355 / month

Starting at USD 2,999 / year

Time-based subscription

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Perpetual License options

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Multiple Subscription options

Supported in Altium Designer
Supported in PADS

Altium Has Been Enabling Engineers
To Unify Their 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
  • 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.

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

Which is better: Altium Designer or PADS?

The biggest advantage for Altium Designer users is the powerful electronics development features and the ability to access all the essential PCB design features in a single program. In contrast, PADS users must purchase licenses for multiple programs at high expense to have the same capabilities. Large teams and experienced professionals trust the intuitive interface and complete set of design tools in Altium Designer for their projects:

  • Comprehensive multichannel, hierarchical schematic capture
  • Altium Designer’s integrated analog mixed signal simulation engine includes SPICE capabilities and IBIS model support
  • Schematic entry tools give you access to comprehensive component libraries managed locally or in the cloud
  • Multiple features make project, file, and design reuse quick and easy.
  • Altium Designer’s layer stack calculator includes a built-in field solver for highly accurate impedance calculations
  • Altium Designer’s PCB routing tools are easier to use than PADS and will keep you productive 
  • Access aggregated real-time sourcing data with PCB library data inside Altium Designer
  • Collaborate with your team and share design data through the Altium 365 platform

Your PCB design software should help you stay competitive and productive, so you need everything to produce a new design and build in a single program. PADS still uses an outdated application structure, where important features are divided into separate programs and must be purchased piecemeal. Altium Designer is different, providing the same advanced tools found in PADS, but in a single application with a professional interface and easier learning curve. Don't pay more for fewer design tools in PADS, start using the software demanded by industry leaders and professional PCB designers.

Switching from PADS to Altium Designer?

If you're an existing PADS 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. Altium Designer is the only solution built by PCB designers for PCB designers.

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

 

* Siemens PADS®,PADS®, and logo are registered trademarks owned by Siemens Industry Software Inc.

Try Altium Designer Today!

#1 in Electronics Design