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I am familiar with Altium PCB design software in my workplace. But thats an expensive suite to maintain. Is there any decent enough free software which I can use at home for my pet projects? I have tried ExpressPCB but not satisfied with it. Any suggestions are much appreciated. I usually design upto 4 layers of PCB for my home projects.

Brian Carlton
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scorpiokid
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    Eagle is very well regarded by people who use it. At least one very experienced contributor to this site pays for multi user licences of the top version. Pricing proceeds through a number of levels and the cheaper for-money versions are still very modestly priced by general standards. You can start with the free version and upgrade as you run up against its limitations. – Russell McMahon Oct 22 '11 at 07:23
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    See also http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/1222/what-are-low-cost-circuit-and-pcb-design-software – starblue Oct 22 '11 at 07:25

10 Answers10

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Looking for a good freeware/open source PCB design software equivalent to Altium.

I'm unfamiliar with Altium Designer, sorry, but for what I could read I think you're not going to find such a complex software for free.

Is there any decent enough free software which I can use at home for my pet projects?

I'm not sure what are your requirements or if you need all the advanced stuffs Altium provides (like FPGA design or the signal integrity analysis), but if you just need a good PCB designer I recommend you KiCAD. It's a very very good EDA software package, Free/Libre Software and multiplatform (GNU/Linux, MacOSX and Windows).

KiCAD is composed of 4 main programs: the schematic creator, the parts linker (logical - physical), the PCB creator and the Gerbers viewer (it's ok, but gerbv from GEDA is better).

KiCAD format is plain text and well documented, so it plays nice with version control systems, scripts and even user edition (like moving a part from one library to another). Also, the logic parts are not attached to their physical parts (like in Eagle), so you put a resistor in the schematic and you don't need to worry about if it is a SMD 0805 or a PTH, etc, you specify that later on the workflow, and that's awesome!

With KiCAD you can handle up to 16 layers, it has 3D view, SVG export, BOM export, design rules checker, filled zones, multiple export formats and some other very cool features.

You can download KiCAD from: http://kicad.sourceforge.net/

This is a good guide: http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/kicad

I use KiCAD for all my PCBs and never had problems with anything (though I have only needed to create two-layer PCBs). If you want to see a project made with KiCAD you can check Ubertooth One (4 layers, fine pitch components): project page and where to buy.

Eagle is not an option for you I think, the freeware version is too limited for the advanced use you want.

Personally I prefer KiCAD over GEDA, but both are very good.

Havok
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  • I really suggest at least checking what Altium is more closely before responding to a question regarding something similar to Altium. Also, those suggestions are nowhere near what the user is referring to as "software equivalent to Altium". I won't down vote since you provided the best opensource PCB options out there currently though, better than nothing I suppose. – hak8or Oct 23 '11 at 00:55
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    I was answering the "PCB design software.. [...]. Is there any decent enough free software which I can use at home for my pet projects?", but you're right, thanks for the advice. I've changed my answer a little bit, I hope the message is more clear now. – Havok Oct 23 '11 at 08:48
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    After re reading my comment, it seems too aggressive, I hope I did not offend you, if I did, my apologies! :( – hak8or Oct 24 '11 at 23:31
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    Another vote for KiCAD. If you look at some of the bigger Open-Hardware projects out there, a lot of them have been done in KiCAD ([See some here.](http://www.kicad-pcb.org/display/KICAD/Made+with+KiCad)). Some are done in Altium (Novena, iMX6 Rex). KiCAD’s development appears to be trying to add a lot of higher-end features (3D visualization, signal integrity, etc.). Beyond using KiCAD for some of their own OHWR work, [CERN actively contributes to KiCAD](http://www.ohwr.org/projects/cern-kicad/wiki), which is a huge boon moving forward. – Logan Kaminski Jul 24 '14 at 01:59
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I think you'll find a theme here; people who know free software well won't be familiar with the extreme end of non-free software such as Altium. If you want a package of that type, you're going to have to work on it.

In particular, Altium designer does not only board schematics and layouts, but RTL and software editing (some in schematic form, I believe), simulation, large component libraries including drivers, and so on.

If all you're looking for is PCB design, there are varying paths. I know of three free software suites of note, gEDA, KiCad and Fritzing, which won't have artificial limits. Restricted offerings such as Eagle (linked to Farnell) and ExpressPCB will have larger companies backing them, to provide convenient hooks like ordering components or PCBs from them, but the price jump once you outgrow the restrictions tend to be notable.

All of them have in common that they're clumsy, in somewhat varying manners. It takes some time to get used to any CAD software, and Altium may well have set workflow expectations that just aren't matched (whether for good or bad). For instance, KiCad lacks a good pinswap operation, although it does have separate gate symbols for some logic series. It's up to the symbol creator, and you'll find that's you a lot more often when there's no large component library to help out. Sometimes features are around in separate packages, such as Kicadocaml, a PCB layout tool for Kicad that adds push routing and has a digikey ordering script.

Yann Vernier
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  • ALtium has a full-blown SPICE (they use xspice) implementation tied into it's GUI. I wouldn't call it "limited". – Connor Wolf Oct 22 '11 at 10:59
  • The simulation module being not as polished as the other stuff was something I'd heard from an Altium engineer - it could be out of date. Just goes to show I don't know Altium myself. – Yann Vernier Oct 22 '11 at 20:22
  • I agree with above. You will not find something with that much polish and features while remaining open source. At least, not yet. – hak8or Oct 23 '11 at 00:47
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    Altium is not the "extreme end", that's for sure. Also... even with Altium you're going to have to make your own components most of the time. The libraries are large, but they never seem to cover what YOU'RE using. – darron Oct 23 '11 at 21:23
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KICAD is a very good open source package, and has plenty of support available on it's mailing list. It can handle up to 16 layers IIRC, even has a (very good) 3D view and some (recently introduced) microwave tools.

Oli Glaser
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There's also designspark PCB. Not seen much feedback on it but it is derived from a commercial product

mikeselectricstuff
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  • I tried the first couple of releases - it certainly has promise and it seems there is plenty of activity development wise. However it's still early days and it's (well was a few months ago) still lacking a few features (e.g. things like buses, buried vias IIRC), though not bad at all for an initial release. I would also be a bit wary of how long it will remain free, whatever RS are saying now :-) – Oli Glaser Oct 24 '11 at 23:15
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I personally like DipTrace. It has freeware version that is limited only by pad count and it has fantastic user interface.

stevenvh
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Josip Medved
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  • An update, it now only allows max 2-layer PCBs in the freeware version (and cannot be used for commercial purposes). – Warpspace Jan 13 '17 at 13:03
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Others here have mentioned EAGLE, along with saying the freeware EAGLE Light Edition may be too limited for you. However they may not be aware that CadSoft how has a heavily discounted (83% off regular price) Non-profit/Hobbyist version of EAGLE, that enables all the features of the EAGLE Standard Edition (up to six signal layers and 160x100mm routing area) with all three modules (Layout+Schematic+Autorouter). All you have to do is fill out a PDF form saying you will only be using it for non-commercial work.

tcrosley
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  • It's a discounted version, not free. For EU customers it's 105 euros + VAT. – stevenvh Oct 23 '11 at 12:50
  • @stevenh, thanks for the correction. I have edited my answer. – tcrosley Oct 23 '11 at 15:11
  • Eagle's board size limit is way too small and the interface is horrible. I can't believe how little space you get to work with on a PCB without paying $1200ish USD. 4in x 6in for a paid version is a total joke... especially when you consider how many clicks it takes to do anything useful. – Matthew Whited Feb 27 '14 at 05:13
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Altium is supposedly working on a "free" version that might be worth keeping your eye on. Seems to have been in beta for awhile now, so time will tell.

http://www.circuitmaker.com/#why_circuitmaker

user472970
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EAGLE or GEDA (which is true open source; GEDA = GNU Electronic Design Assistant) are worth checking out.

You can use EAGLE for free for small designs but many users run into the limitations of its freeware version.

Even if you use EAGLE or another package, I think GEDA's Gerber viewer (gerbv) is a good tool to get familiar with.

John Miles
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One thing the sales guy told me is that it's possible to have a roaming license for Atium, so that you can also use it at home, or while travelling. You might try asking your company if they would allow this.

Rocketmagnet
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  • Hmm... last I knew with Altium it was okay to install a license on say both a work PC and a laptop. (As long as they were never used at the same time). You'd need to check with them to make sure, however. It's licensed to your company and not you, though... so don't talk to much about 'pet projects'. Still... with the typical employee contract these days your company will typically own anything you do so it's not even breaking the license. – darron Oct 23 '11 at 21:29
  • Also... I've heard roaming licenses can be a pain if you maybe don't check the license back in from home, say... – darron Oct 23 '11 at 21:31
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I use PCB Artist that I downloaded from advancedcircuits.com. Free and easy to use.

lyassa
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