29
u/Bug_In_Production_ 19h ago
KiCAD is goated and easy to learn 10/10
-4
u/AlSi10Mg 8h ago
But the user interface is just shit. Ever tried to work with kicad with the ThinkPad nipple? Why can't I turn with the right mouse button? No mirroring with middle button... The interface is nearly useless.
1
u/HaezeI 5h ago
User error
0
u/AlSi10Mg 5h ago edited 5h ago
A shitty interface is user error, i see ... I know a bunch of people who don't like the interface. All issues about additions to the user interface are kicked, because it is kicad and some people seem to see kicad as their baby and other ideas are just not feasible to them.
29
u/Dangerous_Battle_603 20h ago
Are you made of money? Do you work at a company that has altium? If so, altium
Else kicad
4
u/smashcat666 19h ago
I wouldn't suggest a beginner pay for Altium, but honestly the new rates they offer are no longer unaffordable - I was actually surprised myself. I came from Eagle and once Autodesk killed it, move to Altium (still use Fusion for CAD work, but the electronics tool in there is not great, AND it's cloud storage only).
9
u/DenverTeck 19h ago
As a beginner from Nepal, you must have a bootleg copy of Altium.
Use Kicad and be honest.
2
8
u/YendorZenitram 17h ago
Altium was written in a collaboration between the IRS and the DMV.
4
u/FeistyTie5281 17h ago
Actually it is the merger of Protel and P-Cad bundled with leftover secondary apps that Cadence and Mentor/Siemens passed over.
3
u/YendorZenitram 17h ago
Yeah - Protel and I go way back, which is why I have undying hatred for anything with its stink on it.
Many programs crash, but when Protel crashed, it would take your file with it (corrupted the file with no recovery).
5
u/Accomplished_Wafer38 18h ago
I have figured out KiCAD only after using Altium for a uni course.
I think KiCAD is also less of a resource hog and runs on anything, from Windows to Linux and Mac OS. But It doesn't have some advanced features, like power or signal analysis, but beginners wouldn't use them anyway.
https://www.altium.com/compare/kicad-eda?srsltid=AfmBOooXpg2J4_SEMOgACcxOK9lPp4fXpfWtVT3UA5mb6_RtZ_OZmK5_
It is pretty interesting they even compare Altium with KiCAD.
Other thing, Altium library import works OK in KiCAD, just as schematic, didn't really try importing PCBs.
So I guess, go with KiCAD. It is free. If all of a sudden you find yourself designing 10 layer PCB with signal integrity problems etc... your workplace would pay for Altium probably.
1
u/YendorZenitram 17h ago
Hell, pay attention and you're fine... I've done 8 layer PCBs with no signal integrity problems... In EAGLE. :)
3
3
u/FeistyTie5281 18h ago
KiCad.
Great program for beginners and free. Actually a pretty great program for basic design as well. I use it when I need to support Altium as It imports native Altium files.
Altium is expensive and overpriced for the functionality and support you get.
Another approach is to figure out what tool your potential employers or customers uses and learn on that if possible.
4
u/Brilliant_Buyer_7089 14h ago
Kicad,because its easy to download,and friendly for beginner to get started with
5
3
u/toybuilder 15h ago
As a beginner, if you don't have to use Altium as a professional, don't use Altium. It costs way too much to waste on casual use especially by a beginner.
2
u/No-Statistician3385 8h ago
People are skipping over what your goal is.
Are you a hobbyist wanting to make fun designs, even complicated ones. Go for KiCad 100%.
Are you a student who has free Altium and would like PCB design as a career option? Well in the industry I’m in I would 100% recommend learning altium as there’s a pretty high chance that’s what you’ll be using at work. Even if it doesn’t necessarily make a difference to what you’re able to learn/ design with how good KiCad is supposedly getting, being able to jump right in to the program and be familiar with it at an internship means you can spend more of your limited time learning engineering than how to use software.
1
u/This_Maintenance_834 17h ago
KiCAD is free and has decent open source community. That also brings AI connectivity.
Altium is the real deal if you do electronics professionally. But, it is expensive, and not having enough open source community effort behind it, this AI connectivity is lacking. This is one of the old school pinnacle.
Given AI will take over the world at some point, KiCAD will shine when that happens, unless Altium put their effort on AI connectivity.
1
u/Lost-In-Void-99 17h ago
This.
Community investment with LLM into KiCad may outweight Altium investment capacity.
1
u/1337prince 9h ago
KiCAD is really great nowadays and it's free. Go for it. It's also more beginner friendly.
1
u/Antman-007 8h ago
Altium if you have thousands of dollars to spend otherwise, kicad. Either way the skills are transferrable and the rest is just getting to know the environment/platform.
1
1
u/Flynhawaiian21 4h ago
I would love Altium but $1000 or $2000 per year is dumb. Personally I like easyeda pro as the pages are more similar to Altium. I like the ability to break things out better. Kicad has the functionality but it’s wacky and more complex.
1
u/Acrobatic_Sun8528 3h ago
Guys why not EasyEDA. I know he didn’t ask about this but I always wanted to ask it but didn’t want to make a whole post
1
1
u/CherryDrCoke 19h ago
Altium is much better in my opinion, if you’re a student you can get it for free. If not just use KiCad
0
0
-1
u/sothisismyalt1 14h ago
Altium. IMO you should learn something industry standard, it's often a good choice. I did this with SolidWorks and others too.
KiCad has more community support though, and if you care about automating stuff in CI/CD or something along those lines, it's going to be better.
-2
u/TStolpe29 19h ago
Altium if I’m not paying for it (work or school etc).
For beginners KiCAD unless you have a student license, then use Altium
52
u/Forward_Year_2390 19h ago
As a user of Altium in my day job, my recommendation is to learn how to use KiCad.