Open Source Altium Designer AlternativesTop CAD Software and other similar apps like Altium Designer

The best open source alternative to Altium Designer is KiCad. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Altium Designer and 15 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Altium Designer are Fritzing, QUCS, LibrePCB and PipeWalker.

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Altium Designer alternatives are mainly Circuit Simulators but may also be Electronic Design Automation Tools or CAD Software. Other popular filters includes Windows + Free. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Altium Designer.

Altium Designer

CAD Software
Paid • Proprietary

Altium Designer software is for PCB design. From schematic capture to PCB design as well as FPGA Programmation, signal integrity check, mixed analog/digital simulation, this software is what you need when it comes to PCB...

More about Altium Designer

Altium Designer alternatives page was last updated Oct 23, 2023

KiCad
KiCad is an open source software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) - designing schematics of electronic circuits and printed circuit boards (PCB). KiCad is developed by Jean-Pierre Charras. And features an integrated environment between schematic capture, bill of...
58 KiCad alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
- Circuit Simulator
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
+5
KiCad Features
1. Multiplatform
2. 3D Renderer
3. Lightweight
4. Portable
5. Wast library
6. 3d sketching
Show all NaN KiCad features ▾
KiCad VS Altium Designer
Is KiCad a good alternative to Altium Designer?
Comments about KiCad as an Alternative to Altium Designer

Michal D.
It's free and provide very good possibilities for circuit and PCB boards design
Positive comment •Jun 28, 2021
0
Guest
Ease of schematic and pcb creating. BOM creation is not very good as excel templates cannot be used so this becomes a largely manual process. Most of the add-on tools cannot be added regardless of what the instructions say. Following the instructions usually ends in some sort of crash. Import/translation tools never install regardless of the instructions. But, with all of that said KiCad is still the best free alternative to Altium Designer.
Positive comment •Jan 3, 2021
0
- Most users think KiCad is a great Altium Designer alternative.
- KiCad is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Altium Designer.
- KiCad is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Altium Designer.
- KiCad is Free and Open SourceAltium Designer is Paid and Proprietary
- KiCad is LightweightAltium Designer is not according to our users

Fritzing
Fritzing is a very-very handy a tool, very complex but very simple to use, to design circuits, as well as so called "layouts", be it PCB or stripboard or breadboard.
55 Fritzing alternatives
License model
- Paid • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- AppImageHub
- Flathub
Fritzing Features
Create UI Components
Arduino
Show all NaN Fritzing features ▾
Fritzing VS Altium Designer
Is Fritzing a good alternative to Altium Designer?
Comments about Fritzing as an Alternative to Altium Designer

Guest
That's a good scheme creator for arduino developpement, but it's not an alternative for professional designer software.
Negative comment •Aug 1, 2020
1
Guest
fritzinf doesnt allow simulation
Negative comment •Feb 7, 2016
0
- Some users think Fritzing is a great Altium Designer alternative, some don't.
- Fritzing is the most popular commercial alternative to Altium Designer.
- Fritzing is Paid and Open SourceAltium Designer is Paid and Proprietary

QUCS
The Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (QUCS) is an integrated circuit simulator allowing the simulation and graphical presentation of results of large-signal, small-signal and noise behavior in circuits.
38 QUCS alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
+2
QUCS VS Altium Designer
Is QUCS a good alternative to Altium Designer?

LibrePCB
LibrePCB is a free EDA software to develop printed circuit boards. It’s currently under heavy development to bring out first stable releases as soon as possible.
51 LibrePCB alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
LibrePCB Features
Lightweight
Ad-free
3d sketching
Show all NaN LibrePCB features ▾
+2
LibrePCB VS Altium Designer
Is LibrePCB a good alternative to Altium Designer?
Comments about LibrePCB as an Alternative to Altium Designer

dbrgn
The project is still fresh, but very promising. The developers have spent a lot of time thinking about proper a library file format that avoids problems of current open source EDA suites and will make creating and sharing comprehensive parts libraries easier. It is also much better regarding usability than current alternatives like KiCAD.
Positive comment •May 14, 2018
0
- LibrePCB is Free and Open SourceAltium Designer is Paid and Proprietary
- LibrePCB is LightweightAltium Designer is not according to our users

PipeWalker
This is a puzzle game in which you need to combine the components into a single circuit: connect all computers to a network server, bring water to the taps, etc.
38 PipeWalker alternatives
+3
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
PipeWalker Features
Portable
Show all NaN PipeWalker features ▾
PipeWalker VS Altium Designer
Is PipeWalker a good alternative to Altium Designer?

gEDA Project
The gEDA project has produced and continues working on a full GPL'd suite and toolkit of Electronic Design Automation tools. These tools are used for electrical circuit design, schematic capture, simulation, prototyping, and production.
56 gEDA Project alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Mac
- Linux
+3
gEDA Project VS Altium Designer
Is gEDA Project a good alternative to Altium Designer?

Ngspice
Ngspice is a mixed-level/mixed-signal circuit simulator. Its code is based on three open source software packages: Spice3f5, Cider1b1 and Xspice. Ngspice is part of gEDA project, a full GPL'd suite of Electronic Design Automation tools.
39 Ngspice alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Ngspice VS Altium Designer
Is Ngspice a good alternative to Altium Designer?

Horizon EDA
Horizon is a free EDA package. Contribute to carrotIndustries/horizon development by creating an account on GitHub.
13 Horizon EDA alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
Horizon EDA Features
Schema editor
PCB editor
Show all NaN Horizon EDA features ▾
Horizon EDA VS Altium Designer
Is Horizon EDA a good alternative to Altium Designer?

Circuit Diagram
Circuit Diagram is a free application for making electronic circuit diagrams and exporting them as images. Design circuits online in your browser or using the desktop application.
35 Circuit Diagram alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Circuit Designer
Platforms
- Windows
- Online
Circuit Diagram VS Altium Designer
Is Circuit Diagram a good alternative to Altium Designer?

Oregano
oregano - An electrical engineering tool for GNOME

oregano is an application for schematic capture and simulation of electronic circuits. The actual simulation is performed by Berkeley Spice, or GNUcap or the new generation ngspice which is required for simulation, but not neces.
36 Oregano alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Linux
Discontinued
The last version is from December 2015.
Oregano VS Altium Designer
Is Oregano a good alternative to Altium Designer?

TinyCAD
TinyCAD is an open source schematic capture program for MS Windows. Use TinyCAD to produce professional circuit diagrams and export net list information to PCB applications.
33 TinyCAD alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Windows
TinyCAD VS Altium Designer
Is TinyCAD a good alternative to Altium Designer?

Qucs-S
Qucs-S is a spin-off of the Qucs cross-platform circuit simulator. "S" letter indicates SPICE. The purpose of the Qucs-S subproject is to use free SPICE circuit simulation kernels with the Qucs GUI.
33 Qucs-S alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Circuit Simulator
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
Platforms
- Linux
Qucs-S VS Altium Designer
Is Qucs-S a good alternative to Altium Designer?