People look for an Altium Designer alternative when a yearly subscription per design author no longer fits, when a licence tied to a cloud workspace is awkward for their data policy, or when their boards are simple enough that a lighter tool will do. They move to open source editors for cost and file ownership, to perpetual-licence tools for a one-off payment, or to other professional suites for a different vendor relationship.
Short answer: Ranking order favours the challenger over the household name, so the best-known vendors begin at place 4 where the category allows it. For Altium Designer users, the top three picks from our PCB design software ranking are Pulsonix, DipTrace and TARGET 3001!. Pick Pulsonix if you want a mid-size European-style CAD vendor and accept a quotation process. The 11 entries that follow are all ranked in Best PCB Design Software in 2026; each one explains what sets it apart from Altium Designer.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Pricing: Annual subscription per author; 30-day access; extra author price published
Established in: United States
Built for: Product teams building rigid-flex or multi-board hardware with review workflows
Not for: Individuals wanting a one-off licence or an offline-only setup
01
Why buyers look past Altium Designer
01
Every author is a yearly line item
Altium sells Altium Designer inside Altium Develop, billed per year. Altium's move page gives $1,990 for the base licence and $995 for each extra author, up to five design authors in total. For a two person hardware team that renewal returns every year, and the tool stops being yours if you stop paying.
02
The cloud workspace comes with the licence
The pricing page lists one workspace for shared projects, libraries and collaboration in the package, with cloud storage described as optional on the move page. Firms that keep design data on their own servers, or that cannot send it to a vendor cloud, often want a desktop tool with local files.
03
Older licences do not carry over cleanly
Altium states that subscription services are no longer offered on legacy perpetual licences. Those licences keep working with versions up to the subscription end date but do not connect to the new Develop workspace. Owners of old licences face a choice between moving across and looking elsewhere.
your team needs enterprise-scale tooling and already deals with Siemens
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
Pulsonix
United Kingdom · On request
WestDev Ltd in the United Kingdom has built Pulsonix since 1997, and version 14.0 carries an autorouter, Spice simulation and flexi-board design. Prices are given only by quotation or through a distributor. The trial enables every feature but stops at 100 component pins, so it tests the workflow rather than a production board.
Switch from Altium Designer if you want a mid-size European-style CAD vendor and accept a quotation process.
DipTrace from Novarm Limited is a perpetual licence graded by pin and signal-layer limits, from Starter at 300 pins to a Full edition without limits. Updates within the 5.x line are included. A board that outgrows its edition costs the difference to upgrade. Windows and Mac builds exist, and a 30-day trial is offered.
Switch from Altium Designer if you would rather pay once than renew every year and your boards fit a pin tier.
Ing.-Büro Friedrich in Eichenzell, Germany, sells TARGET 3001! as perpetual editions counted in pins. Commercial work begins at smart, with 700 pins and two copper layers; four layers need economy. Prices climb steeply towards the unlimited professional edition, and the autorouter is a separate KONEKT plug-in.
Switch from Altium Designer if you want a German vendor and mostly build small two or four layer boards.
KiCad is community-run software under GPL v3 for Windows, Linux and macOS. No licence key, seat count or renewal exists, and Gerber and IPC-2581 output ship with it. Support comes from forums, documentation and listed service firms such as KiCad Services Corporation and KiCad Europe OÜ rather than from a contract.
Switch from Altium Designer if you want files that never depend on a subscription and can live without a vendor helpdesk.
Labcenter Electronics, based in North Yorkshire since 1988, pairs PCB layout with microcontroller simulation. Licences are perpetual and come in Enterprise, Platinum and custom module packages. The pricing page shows placeholders, so amounts need the configurator or a quote. The demo cannot save, and its simulation stops after 14 days.
Switch from Altium Designer if firmware and circuit simulation sit next to layout in your daily work.
Zuken Limited sells eCADSTAR in bundles from Engineer to Ultimate+, on perpetual or subscription terms. A 30-day evaluation has full features. Autorouting, signal integrity and thermal analysis are optional modules that add to the bundle price. Amounts are not shown on the pages we read; you ask for a quote or use the online store.
Switch from Altium Designer if you want to pick modules yourself and choose between buying and renting.
LibrePCB is a GPLv3 editor for Windows, Linux and macOS that its licence page allows for commercial projects, with libraries released under CC0. A Swiss founder now works on it full-time. The FAQ admits that hierarchical sheets and other advanced features are still missing, and help comes from the community.
Switch from Altium Designer if your boards are simple and you value a library manager over feature depth.
Horizon EDA is a GPL v3 package covering schematic entry through Gerber export, built around one editor for parts, packages and boards. It reuses KiCad's interactive router and includes hierarchical schematics and rule-based DRC. The README lists Linux and Windows builds only. A GitHub project and chat room stand in for a support desk.
Switch from Altium Designer if you work on Linux or Windows and like a strict part pool model.
EasyEDA runs in the browser and is published by JiaLiChuang (HongKong) Co., Limited, which states that core features are free forever, commercial use included. The free tier shows ads and holds 0.5GB. A paid individual tier at $19.9 a month on annual billing adds storage and faster part building. It connects to LCSC parts and JLCPCB fabrication.
Switch from Altium Designer if you order boards and parts from JLCPCB and LCSC anyway.
Flux is a browser editor whose AI assistant is metered in monthly units called ACUs: Explore holds 40, Build 120 and Pro 400, with extra units at $2 each. Individual plans start with a 7-day trial, and Teams begins at five seats with 600 pooled ACUs. The vendor names no country.
Switch from Altium Designer if you want an AI assistant inside a browser editor and can budget by usage.
Siemens offers Xpedition in four tiers, from PADS Pro Essentials for independent engineers to Xpedition Enterprise. Standard uses monthly pricing with add-ons, and signal integrity or rigid-flex come as token-based extras. No amounts show on the pages we read. Essentials support is community-led, only watched by Siemens staff.
Switch from Altium Designer if your team needs enterprise-scale tooling and already deals with Siemens.
KiCad: It is GPL v3 software for Windows, Linux and macOS, so there is no key or renewal, and Gerber and IPC-2581 output are included.
02
You would rather buy a licence once
DipTrace: Perpetual editions run from Starter at 300 pins to Full without limits, and a 30-day trial is offered.
03
You want a German vendor for simple boards
TARGET 3001!: Commercial use starts at smart with 700 pins and two copper layers, sold as perpetual editions.
04
You simulate microcontrollers beside the layout
Proteus: Layout and microcontroller simulation share one suite under a perpetual licence; the demo cannot save work.
05
You order boards from JLCPCB anyway
EasyEDA: The editor runs in the browser, core features are free, and it links to LCSC parts and JLCPCB fabrication.
04
When Altium Designer is still the right choice
Altium Designer is the stronger fit when several people design boards together and need shared libraries, review and comment tools, and ECAD-MCAD CoDesign in one package. The move page adds multi-board and harness design, and unlimited collaborators can view and comment without paying. If your team stays under five authors and uses those features, the yearly fee may cost less than the time lost to a lighter tool.
05
What moving off Altium Designer involves
01
Libraries take the longest
Symbols, footprints and 3D models need to be converted or rebuilt in the new tool, and part choices tied to your workspace must be exported first. Convert one finished board end to end, then check footprints against the datasheets before trusting the rest.
02
Keep the old licence readable
Altium files open only in Altium software, so keep an active licence or a perpetual one until live products are archived. Export Gerber, drill, pick-and-place and a bill of materials for every released revision, so production does not depend on opening old projects.
03
Check limits before you commit
Several alternatives cap pins, layers or storage, and some are sold by edition. Count pins and copper layers on your largest board and compare with the edition ladder before paying.
06
Questions about replacing Altium Designer
6 answers
How much does Altium Designer cost?
Altium's move page lists $1,990 USD for the base Altium Develop licence and $995 for each additional one. The pricing page shows only a per-year figure in the text we read, so check the live price before ordering.
Is there a free trial of Altium Designer?
The pricing page offers free 30-day access with no credit card required. New customers get that trial according to the move page.
Which Altium Designer alternatives are free?
KiCad, LibrePCB and Horizon EDA are free software under GPL licences. EasyEDA is free for individuals, with ads and 0.5GB of storage on the free tier.
Can I pay once instead of every year?
DipTrace, TARGET 3001!, Proteus and eCADSTAR all list perpetual licences, though eCADSTAR also sells subscriptions. Prices vary: DipTrace and TARGET 3001! publish them, Proteus and eCADSTAR work by quotation or configurator.
Do any alternatives run in a browser?
EasyEDA and Flux both run in the browser. Flux meters its AI assistant in monthly usage units, while EasyEDA ties into LCSC and JLCPCB.
Will my old Altium licence still work?
Altium says a perpetual licence stays yours and keeps access to versions through its subscription end date. It does not connect to the new Develop workspace, and subscription services are no longer sold for it.
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Sources
Checked 2 November 2026
Altium Develop pricing: One author and one workspace included, extra authors $995 a year up to four more, 30-day access without card, unlimited workspace users.
Move to Altium Develop: $1,990 base licence, $995 per extra licence, five concurrent authors, legacy perpetual licence terms, multi-board and harness design, optional cloud storage.
KiCad: GPL v3 community project for Windows, Linux and macOS.
DipTrace: Perpetual editions by pin and layer limits, 30-day trial.
TARGET 3001!: German vendor, perpetual editions by pin count.
Pulsonix: WestDev Ltd, version 14.0, quotation only, 100-pin trial.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Sebastiaan Smits wrote and checked this page, most recently on 2 November 2026. See how we review.
