Best in class PCB design tool
Our business uses Altium Designer for designing circuit boards. It works well when you have multiple engineers working on the same design. …
Starting at $355 per month per seat
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What is Altium Designer?
Altium Designer is PCB design software for a variety of industries.
Recent Reviews
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
Monthly
$355
On Premise
per month per seat
Single Payment
$4,235
On Premise
one-time fee per seat
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.altium.com/altium-designer
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $355 per month per seat
Product Demos
Altium Designer Demonstration
resources.altium.com
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
What is Altium Designer?
Altium Designer is an end-to-end PCB design software for engineers and designers. Altium Designer aims to enable a unified design environment, uniting teams worldwide with every aspect of the PCB design process.
Altium Designer Features
- Supported: PCB CoDesign
- Supported: Constraint Manager
- Supported: Manufacturer Part Search
- Supported: Multi-Board System Design
- Supported: Schematic Capture
- Supported: Supply Chain Intelligence
- Supported: ActiveBOM®: Displays BOM cost and part availability
- Supported: Interactive Routing with a rules-based routing system
Altium Designer Screenshots
Altium Designer Video
Altium Designer's new features
Altium Designer Integrations
- XJTAG
- PDN Analyzer
- JTAG MAPS
Altium Designer Competitors
Altium Designer Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows |
| Mobile Application | No |
Altium Designer Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
Altium Designer is PCB design software for a variety of industries.
Altium Designer starts at $355.
Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 6.7.
The most common users of Altium Designer are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(45)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-2 of 2)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 07, 2024
The most frustrating software I use.
We use it for Schematics and Layout. The business problem it solves and the use case is designing boards.
- PCB placement
- In my opinion, frustrating users
- In my opinion, reducing usability over time
- Schematic design has many problems with schematic design GUI
- Libraries are excessively complex, particularly for low use count
- Reduction in usability over time. I have been using for 20 years, and like it less and less overtime
- In my opinion, seemingly continuing efforts to push users to use Altium's cloud features is obnoxious
- In my opinion, poor menu implementation is frustrating, such as menu items not being in alphabetical order
- Ongoing stabilities issues
- Seeming focus on fancy features vs. core functionality
- In my opinion, lack of online support for simple issues is frustrating
- Confusion on basic functions continue to slow design
- Frustration with tools makes it difficult to start and maintain engagements. I often throw up my hands and stop working due to frustration with tools
- Significant changes with prices, in my experience, with pushback resulting in drastic reductions in prices makes me trust your org less
- Reduction in usability over time
Poorly. As mentioned previously, in my experience, poor implementation of key functionality and bottom of the barrel library implementation results in significant schedule delays. Also reduced usability overtime.
In my opinion, it has hurt usability. Attempting to push 365 implementation over on prem negatively impacts core functionality and leads to confusion and frustration.
Altium Designer is overly complex, particularly for smaller organizations that don't have a dedicated library, schematic, and layout personnel. KiCAD is simple to use and free.
2
Engineering
- None
- None
No
- Other
Provides more advanced features vs. KiCAD, cheap compared to other options, but would prefer for better alternatives.
Try and find better, less confusing and frustrating options to focus on core functionality over flashy features.
- Implemented in-house
Yes
Focus on schematics and component implementation with, in my experience, extreme frustration
Placement
Design review
Routing
Placement
Design review
Routing
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation
Is not handled well within the tool, necessitating use of windows file explorer to use.
- See previous feedback
- High cliff for use for all phases of tool use
- Reduction in usability over time
- Only a good option because it is relatively cheap
No. Shouldn't need to, given small size of my organization.
Yes
Sometimes
- Basic placement
- Library
- Schematics
- Automated footprint tool
- Difficulty finding features
- The list goes on to the break of dawn
ALTIUM DESIGNER is the most appropriate tool for the design of electronic equipment, it covers all parts of the process, that is, from conceptual creation to mass production. We can use ALTIUM DESIGNER for the creation of electronic schematics and from there generate the PCB of components, finally, it allows us to generate a list of materials "BOM" for the acquisition of the electronic components.
- Generate the schematic design of the electronic circuit.
- Make the PCB motherboard based on the schematic design.
- The development environment can be intimidating for new users due to its complexity.
- I would prefer a more atomized user interface since some functions can be accessed from different menus generating unnecessary complexities.
- Facilitate the design process.
- Minimize development times.
- Although I am not currently using ALTIUM DESIGNER, it is only for the price of its license. However, the use of the platform reduces work times, generating a positive impact on the associated costs.
- When working with colleagues in other countries, ALTIUM DESIGNER is the tool taken as a reference, its use is very useful when exchanging information and files.
My relationship with ALTIUM DESIGNER is from the time I was a student of the Electronic Engineering career, at the university, it was the official tool to carry out the electronic practices and simulations of the circuits studied in class. Then I used ALTIUM DESIGNER as an independent consultant, however, at present I am using KiCad EDA as a design tool since it is free and open-source, although I have a high rating for KiCad EDA, it's a choice over ALTIUM DESIGNER is only because of its economic aspect.
2
The ALTIUM DESIGNER tool is used by our electronic engineering department for the development of new products. Furthermore, given its wide use in companies around the world, it allows us to easily request quotes supported by the generation of reports and BOM (Bill of Materials) lists. With ALTIUM DESIGNER our workflow is agile and efficient.
2
Our engineering department is small and compact. It is made up of 1 electronic engineer and several support technicians. However, we have third party vendors that use ALTIUM DESIGNER, which allows for an excellent workflow. ALTIUM DESIGNER is a reference tool in the field of electronic product design, so it should be the first option to consider for any company in the segment.
- Design of new products.
- Modifications to existing products.
- Modifications to existing products.
- The simulation capabilities were surprising.
- The multiplication of reports and lists has allowed us a better interaction with suppliers.
- 3D visualization tools allow you to see in advance what the electronic board would look like before being finalized.
- We hope that ALTIUM DESIGNER will allow us to interact through its reports with CHINA suppliers, eliminating ambiguities presented by the language barrier.
- We would like to access more global component suppliers using the BOM tool.
- Let's delve into the use of simulation tools.