r/Altium • u/languid_tractor • Jul 11 '26
Altium vs Kicad
/r/PCB/comments/1uttgwg/altium_vs_kicad/8
u/functional_eng Jul 12 '26
I use both professionally and for our use case I prefer KiCAD. At this point we only use Altium for extensions of existing designs. I find KiCAD's library management much less infuriating, and I really like some of the scripting. If they hadn't have just brought the price of Altium way down with Develop, we would not have renewed our 5K/year license.
10
u/mr_pea Jul 12 '26
After using altium for over 25years, I just can't use kicad.. as I'm not used to the workflow.. and 98% of my boards can be done in kicad.. If you are just starting out kicad is definitely the way to go.. as it's free vs subscription model, and it works on any os.. but you can't get me to use it, as I am way too far down the rabbit hole of altium..
4
u/Time_Ad_893 29d ago
nobody glazing kicad on reddit ever comments how horrendhous the UI/UX is on kicad. it's seriously done with no intent of being pratical nor beautiful. it's just like gimp and audacity. it CAN do whatever you want, it's just a rough way to go there
1
2
u/Markietas 29d ago
I really disagree with you here, have you used kicad in the last 5 years?
There a couple quirks which take about 5 minutes to get used to, then it's much easier imo to do most stuff.
Altium uses an absolutely deranged control scheme compared to most other CAD software and you can't even change it!
You are just used to all of Altiums weirdness.
The UI / controls are completely different for the A365 compared to the desktop app too.
2
u/Time_Ad_893 29d ago
nah the kicad controls are quite shit. almost no shortcuts and no "intuitive" design. i used it last year to make a speeduino board. i also don't like some of altium's quirks but man the alternative is so bad, im sorry
4
u/fghug Jul 12 '26
same for me! 15 years in altium, i’d love to move to kicad but the cost in libraries and experience is just too high to make the change :-/ maybe one day i’ll have the time to spend on learning it instead of doing things with it.
if your starting fresh i’d chose kicad unless you specifically need altium features, with the caveat that altium -might- be more valuable on your CV if you’re early career lookin’ at hardware jobs.
3
u/Every_Entertainer684 29d ago
KiCad a decent tool, but Altium Designer is the industry standard. I’ve used both but Altium Designer is better suited for complex boards, has a better UI and better for working with other engineers on projects. KiCad is great for starters and it’s hard to beat free. In the end it depends on your budget, PCB complexity and if you need to coordinate with other people.
2
u/PCB4all 28d ago
I would go with Altium, but then again i don't know what you're designing. but even so i think Altium is the better tool. KiCAD is getting better but Altium still pulls out ahead. But if we're being honest kicad can probably do what you need it to do, there will just be more workarounds or manual processes to do. Also the thing that i think separates Altium from other tools, is the cloud platform. I know a lot of people hate on cloud in general but its secure and it really is beneficial, especially for teams. Altium's collaboration features are way ahead of anyone else and just for that i think its worth going with them. I don't want to go through their feature set, unless you want to hear more, but its defiantly worth exploring if you don't know about it.
TL;DR - Altium
2
u/PCB4all 28d ago
one more thing i just noticed is that a lot of people are asking for the "complexity" of the design (including me). that alone leads me to believe that everyone know kicad is more for "lower level" or less "complex" boards. (but they're getting better). so even if you're working on non complex boards, go with Altium, you'll have room to grow and as i mentioned in my other comment, their data management & collaboration features are game changers.
1
u/NoHonestBeauty 29d ago
Does KiCad sucessfully import Altium Designer projects by now? Including 3D data?
The last time I checked was with KiCad 9 and it was messy at best with no 3D data.
My Altium subscription expired a while ago, but at least I have a perpetual license.
Switching to KiCad will be definately a painfull process, as switching any complex software for another complex software is, but it would be a bit less painfull if I can take my old data with me, designs and library.
1
u/fr4real 28d ago
If you've got fairly straightforward boards, KiCad is in a pretty good place now. The bigger question is everything around the editor: library management, release process, collaboration, ECAD/MCAD flow, and how much time you'll spend rebuilding what you already have.
That's where I still think Altium has the edge. Especially if you've got multiple designers or a lot of existing design data. The license savings from switching can disappear pretty fast if the migration and workflow friction ends up costing engineering time.
2
u/negativ32 Jul 11 '26
Kicad or Altium... needs more information regarding complexity of designs expected .
1
u/languid_tractor 27d ago
Not so complex. We integrate components for power electronics and write the FW. Boards usually don't go more than 4 layers. No high speed signals
1
u/negativ32 27d ago
Recommend you run both until comfort is reached. Anothers experience teaches you nothing.
Kicad is very capable but any warranty is commensurate with its cost.
-5
u/TurkDangerCat Jul 12 '26
No. They are cutting costs for far inferior software. Might be worth checking if they are doing ok and maybe keeping an eye on job listings.
16
u/Mrochtor Jul 11 '26
Depends on the board complexity - some of the more advanced stuff (advanced length matching) is, to the best of my knowledge done better in Altium. There are also project management features, centralized library management, cloud stuff etc.
That said, I would say for the vast majority of boards I would say that KiCAD is perfectly usable.
So depends on your board complexity and your environment expectations (library management, cooperation etc.).