Best PCB Design Software

Altium Develop is a cloud-based PCB design platform that enables electronics teams to design, review, and manage printed circuit boards in a connected development environment. Built on Altium Designer and Altium 365, it combines schematic capture, PCB layout, 3D visualization, BOM management, component library management, and engineering collaboration. Real-time design reviews, version control, requirements traceability, and supply chain visibility help teams reduce design iterations, improve product quality, and accelerate PCB development from concept through manufacturing.

OrCAD® X is a unified PCB design software platform that offers significant improvements in ease of use, performance, automation, data management, and collaboration. Our cloud-enabled product suite contains applications for schematic, simulation, and PCB layout. OrCAD X Capture is one of the most widely used schematic design solutions for the creation and documentation of electrical circuits. PSpice® is our virtual SPICE simulation environment integrated within Capture that allows you to prototype your designs using the industry-leading, native analog, mixed-signal, and advanced analysis engines to deliver a complete circuit simulation and verification solution. Our two PCB layout environments, OrCAD X PCB Editor and OrCAD X Presto, allow designers to easily collaborate between ECAD/MCAD teams and build better PCBs faster. OrCAD X Presto is a new user-friendly option offering a simpler interface for quick-turn PCB design.

𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗕𝗤𝗥’𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝟱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀: 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗧𝗠: streamlines PCB design with de-rating & MTBF prediction. 𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗸𝗧𝗠: verifies multi-PCB systems for errors & overstress. 𝗳𝗶𝗫𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀®: predicts component lifespan with de-rating, thermal & stress analysis. 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘®: assesses reliability, availability, maintainability & safety. 𝗮𝗽𝗺𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿®: optimizes maintenance & logistics.

CircuitMaker is not just a free EDA software tool from Altium, it’s also a community of creative people and design content, working together to invent circuits and electronics products for a better future. For turning great ideas into real products, you need design tools that won’t limit your imagination or hold you back. CircuitMaker has all the power you need to design high quality schematics and Printed Circuit Boards, with no artificial limits on layer counts or board area. Best of all it’s free. The CircuitMaker community is where you will find great reference designs, and be able to promote and rate other projects in the community. You can even set up teams for collaborative design efforts. We think you deserve better design tools, made specifically for you, to turn great ideas into reality. That’s why we’ve created CircuitMaker. Besides being a collaborative community for electronic design content, CircuitMaker is Schematic & PCB design software.

DipTrace is professional EDA software for schematic capture and PCB layout by Novarm Ltd, used by over 30,000 engineers in 50+ countries in aerospace, defense, medical, and industrial electronics. The PCB editor features interactive push-and-shove editing: moving a component on a routed board pushes surrounding traces and vias aside in real time, and an edited trace walks around pads and keepouts. Also included: shape-based autorouter, real-time DRC, differential pairs, length matching, 3D preview with STEP export, via stitching, panelizing, IPC-7351 pattern generator. The schematic editor supports hierarchical designs, ERC, and a Digital SPICE Simulator. DipTrace 5.3 adds a native XML project format suitable for version control, component search with Mouser integration, and SnapEDA access to 10M+ parts. Imports Altium, KiCad, Eagle, OrCAD, PADS. Exports Gerber X2, ODB++, IPC-2581, STEP. Windows, macOS, Linux. Perpetual license from $75, no subscription.

PCB123 is a full-feature design tool for Printed Circuit Board designers of all levels. Introduced as a free tool in 2002, PCB123 still operates on a risk-sharing business model: We don't get paid until you succeed at designing your PCB. And to help ensure your success, we staff our technical support department with professionals that can answer your questions. So what's to stop you? Easy-to-use, and professional-grade PCB CAD software that's free and fully supported. We don’t throttle our tool and charge you for a license to give you full functionality. We get paid when you order boards – it really is that simple. software developer’s kit, with programmatic access to the PCB123 database, you can expand the tool for your own purposes. Our PCB layout specialists are available to help you stretch your resource dollars & speed your PCB prototyping cycle. Submit basic design information to get a quote.

ProtoFlow is an AI-native desktop electronic design automation (EDA) tool for schematic capture and PCB design. Describe a circuit in plain language to create an editable first draft, search real electronic parts and footprints, inspect datasheets, clean up wiring, and continue manually in familiar schematic and board editors. ProtoFlow supports ERC/DRC review, 3D board inspection, Git-backed versioning and visual diffs, comments and collaboration, plus manufacturing outputs including Gerber, drill, BOM, and placement files. Designs remain normal editable geometry, and users should verify symbols, footprints, connections, and manufacturing data before production. ProtoFlow can read and write native KiCad files and export to established EDA workflows. A free plan is available without a credit card, with paid options for higher AI usage. It is built for hardware engineers, makers, students, educators, researchers, and electronics startups.

Break down the boundaries of your electrical design process with Design Force, a true innovation in system-level IC package and PCB design and analysis. As the process for designing a complete product continues to increase in complexity, it often includes technologies that have become difficult and sometimes impossible for most ECAD tools to manage and address. Design Force provides the ability for design teams to take system-level design information from as early as the conceptual and planning phase and layout each board in the product, simultaneously considering the entire system view. Design Force fully leverages the latest industry hardware and software capabilities, allowing users to design in a native 3D environment, obtaining optimal performance by utilizing native 64-bit, multi-threading, multi-core processors. Design Force supports multiple client-server implementations and includes the ability to work from your corporate cloud.

Flux is browser-based PCB design software (EDA) with an AI hardware design assistant. It combines schematic capture, PCB layout, routing, simulation, and design rule checks in one workspace. Describe a circuit in plain language to generate a schematic, then refine it in the editor. AI helps research parts, place components, route traces, and review designs. Engineers set constraints and approve the final board. Teams edit projects together in real time, share comments, manage permissions, and reuse community parts and designs. Live component pricing and availability support sourcing. Export Gerber, BOM, and pick-and-place files for manufacturing. Import Altium ASCII and Cadence EDIF schematics or KiCad component libraries; these imports do not include PCB layouts. Flux runs in a web browser without a desktop installation. A 14-day trial includes limited AI usage. Paid plans are required afterward for private-project editing/export and AI.