Altair Inspire vs. KiCad EDA

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Altair Inspire
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Altair Inspire, developed by SolidThinking which was acquired by Altair, is software for Generative Design/Topology Optimization, and rapid simulation solution for design engineers. It is designed to enhance the concept development process by enabling simulation-driven design to increase a product’s efficiency, strength and manufacturability. This can lead to reduced costs, development time, material consumption, and product weight.N/A
KiCad EDA
Score 6.5 out of 10
N/A
KiCad EDA is a Cross Platform and Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite. KiCad's PCB Editor is built to be approachable enough to make the first PCB design easy, and powerful enough for complex modern designs. Its interactive router and improved visualization and selection tools make layout tasks easier.N/A
Pricing
Altair InspireKiCad EDA
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Altair InspireKiCad EDA
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Altair InspireKiCad EDA
Best Alternatives
Altair InspireKiCad EDA
Small Businesses
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.6 out of 10
SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Onshape
Onshape
Score 7.6 out of 10
SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Rhino
Rhino
Score 8.3 out of 10
Autodesk Fusion
Autodesk Fusion
Score 8.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Altair InspireKiCad EDA
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(2 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Altair InspireKiCad EDA
Likelihood to Recommend
Altair Engineering, Inc.
This software is incredibly intuitive and really does provide a great finished product. The software runs relatively quickly and will usually throw an error right away, which is a nice feature. I didn't use the geometry editing parts of the software, but it looks promising to be able to edit files directly in the program.
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Open Source
KiCad is great for learning and getting started with Hardware design because its open source and easy to work with. Besides this its interface is simple and easy to understand. I have used KiCad personally for simple projects as more complex projects are harder to do in KiCad. The simplicity allows to me to do my work quick
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Pros
Altair Engineering, Inc.
  • Defining the actuators, pin joints, sliding joints is very easy.
  • Defining a motion sequence is straightforward.
  • The UI tends to make you follow a sequence of steps to be successful in doing a motion simulation and finite element analysis study on a design.
  • The motion simulation results are automatically transferred to the FEA solver.
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Open Source
  • User Interface
  • Open source
  • Component import
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Cons
Altair Engineering, Inc.
  • I think the tools to create CAD are a bit difficult to use. Consequently, it is now easier to develop the part in other software, which is bad since we need to use more than one tool at a time.
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Open Source
  • Design rules
  • Limited libraries
  • Large custom libraries
  • Version control
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Usability
Altair Engineering, Inc.
No answers on this topic
Open Source
KiCad is great for learning and getting started with Hardware design because its open source and easy to work with. Besides this its interface is simple and easy to understand. I have used KiCad personally for simple projects as more complex projects are harder to do in KiCad. The simplicity allows to me to do my work quick.
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Support Rating
Altair Engineering, Inc.
When I needed clarification on how do use a feature or best way to define the constraints for a design problem, the response was quick and solved my needs.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Altair Engineering, Inc.
Working Model, MathCad, Dynamic Designer, Algor, and Mathlab had poor UI's and poor ways to define actuator and motor motion profiles. The force results and vectors were not easy to input into the FEA software. SOLIDWORKS Motion does not have an excellent way to define a linear actuator or its motion profile. Altair provides a UI that guides you through defining your linear actuator or motor's motion profile quickly.
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Open Source
I use nowadays mainly ALTIUM because of its advanced features for complex projects. Altium has many more benefits but on the other hand it depends on the complexity. For simple project I recommend KiCad because its open-source, easy to learn and work with. Therefore I would recommend KiCad is more then sufficient for easy less complex projects
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Return on Investment
Altair Engineering, Inc.
  • In my personal opinion, we think that this product does not have any negative aspect that makes us feel very uncomfortable.
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Open Source
  • PCB Client Projects
  • More Electronic designers
  • Open source
  • Missing advanced features for complex projects
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ScreenShots