Which PCB Design Software is the Best?

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   Which PCB design software is the best?
This is a difficult question. PCB designs with more complex design requirements would benefit from using PCB software tools such as Altium, PADS, or Allegro. Simple designs can be done using free or lower cost software packages. Below are ten of the more common PCB layout software tools available.
Altium Designer
PADS Layout 
Allegro
OrCAD PCB Editor
Xpedition
Board Station
Fusion 360 (Eagle)
KiCad
ExpressPCB
DesignSpark PCB

1. Altium Designer
Altium Designer is a PCB and electronic design automation software package for printed circuit boards. It is developed by Renesas in Japan.
Altium Designer's suite encompasses four main functional areas: schematic capture, 3D PCB design, Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) development and release/data management. Noteworthy features referred to in the reviews include:
Integration with several component distributors allows search for components and access to manufacturer's data
Interactive 3D editing of the board and MCAD export to STEP
Cloud publishing of design and manufacturing data
Simulation and debugging of the FPGA can be achieved using the VHDL language and checking that for a given a set of input signals the expected output signals would be generated. FPGA soft processor software development tools (compiler, debugger, profiler) are available for selected embedded processors within an FPGA.
2. PADS Layout
PADS is a PCB and EDA software package developed by Siemens. There are two versions, Standard and Standard Plus.
PADS Standard
Geared toward PCB designers and engineers looking for high-value, production-proven tools, PADS Standard provides schematic design and layout capabilities in an intuitive and easy-to-use environment. PADS Standard is ideal for less complex board design, and where cost is a high priority.Features include:Schematic design
PADS AMS Cloud online circuit simulation
Layout
Component part selection and verification
Powerful search and filtering with component information management
Create custom, IPC-compliant land patterns 
PADS Standard Plus
Choose PADS Standard Plus if you require simulation and analysis, and advanced layout, to produce high-quality PCBs fast.
Includes all the capabilities of PADS Standard, plus:
Integrated constraint management
High-speed constraints and routing
Signal integrity analysis with crosstalk using HyperLynx®
Thermal and analog simulation
Centralized library
3. Allegro
The Cadence Allegro PCB Designer quickly takes simple and complex designs from concept to production in a constraint-driven design system to ensure functionality and manufacturability. Scalable technology allows designers to cost-effectively match all current and future technological and methodological needs for teams, organizations, and projects of all sizes and complexities.
The industry's latest bleeding-edge high-speed design, RF antenna, flex-circuitry, and design for manufacturing (DFM) technology in the Allegro PCB Designer gives you what you need to deliver the innovative products your customers demand. And the advanced design reuse and productivity features give you the advantage you need to beat your competitors to market.
Key Benefits
Speeds designs from placement and routing through to manufacturing
Includes powerful features such as design partitioning, RF design capabilities, and interconnect design planning
Production proven to increase productivity and help engineers quickly ramp up to volume production
TÜV SÜD "Fit for Purpose - TCL1" certified to meet ISO 26262 automotive functional safety requirements
4. OrCAD PCB Editor
OrCAD PCB Designer is a tiered, scalable PCB design solution that delivers advanced capabilities and highly integrated flows. The powerful, tightly integrated PCB design technologies include schematic capture, librarian tools, PCB editing and routing (PCB Editor), Constraint Manager, signal integrity (included in Professional), autorouting (included in Professional), and optional mixed-signal circuit simulation.
5. Xpedition
Xpedition Enterprise is the industry's most innovative PCB design flow, providing integration from system design definition to manufacturing execution. Its unique, patented technologies can reduce design cycles by 50 percent or more while significantly improving overall quality and resource efficiency. Developed by Siemens.
Multi-Board Systems DesignReplace inefficient paper and manual processes with an automated, fully integrated, collaborative workflow
PCB SimulationMaximize the benefits of PCB virtual prototyping resulting in higher quality products, faster
PCB LayoutCollaborative placement and routing of highly complex printed circuit boards
PCB Design CreationCapture, verify and communicate design intent throughout the PCB design flow
ECAD Data ManagementSingle, integrated solution for WIP design and library management
PCB New Product Introduction (NPI)
Optimize your PCB new product introduction process with integrated design for manufacturing and manufacturing product modeling
6. Board Station (Obsolete)
Tightly integrated in the overall design flow, Board Station XE combines the power of leading-edge auto-routing technology with interactive editing capabilities in a single, powerful and easy-to-use design environment.
By leveraging leading technology in PCB physical design, Board Station XE customers benefit from shorter design times, increased productivity, and unmatched design quality for even the most complex PCB designs.
There is no better way to add productivity and new technology to your Board Station flow than by deploying Board Station XE. And you don't have to give up your current flow to do it because the flows co-exist, leveraging the same licenses.
7. Fusion 360 (Eagle)
Fusion 360 (EAGLE) is a scriptable electronic design automation (EDA) application with schematic capture , printed circuit board (PCB) layout , auto-router and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) features. EAGLE stands for Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor ( German : Einfach Anzuwendender Grafischer Layout-Editor) and is developed by CadSoft Computer GmbH . The company was acquired by Autodesk Inc. in 2016.
Fusion 360 (EAGLE) contains a schematic editor, for designing circuit diagrams. Schematics are stored in files with .SCH extension, parts are defined in device libraries with .LBR extension. Parts can be placed on many sheets and connected together through ports.
The PCB layout editor stores board files with the extension .BRD. It allows back-annotation to the schematic and auto-routing to automatically connect traces based on the connections defined in the schematic.
Fusion 360 (EAGLE) saves Gerber and PostScript layout files as well as Excellon and Sieb & Meyer drill files. These are standard file formats accepted by PCB fabrication companies, but given EAGLE's typical user base of small design firms and hobbyists, many PCB fabricators and assembly shops also accept EAGLE board files (with extension .BRD) directly to export optimized production files and pick-and-place data themselves.
Fusion 360 (EAGLE) provides a multi-window graphical user interface and menu system for editing, project management and to customize the interface and design parameters. The system can be controlled via mouse, keyboard hotkeys or by entering specific commands at an embedded command line . Multiple repeating commands can be combined into script files (with file extension .SCR). It is also possible to explore design files utilizing an EAGLE-specific object-oriented programming language (with extension .ULP).
8. KiCad
KiCad is an open source EDA software for Windows, OSX and Linux. Create PCB circuits for free with the most advanced features.
Schematic CaptureWith the schematic editor you can create your design without limit; there are no paywalls to unlock features. An official library for schematic symbols and a built-in schematic symbol editor help you get started quickly with your designs.
PCB LayoutMake professional PCB layouts with up to 32 copper layers. KiCad now has a push and shove router which is capable of routing differential pairs and interactively tuning trace lengths.
3D Viewer
KiCad includes a 3D viewer which you can use to inspect your design in an interactive canvas. You can rotate and pan around to inspect details that are difficult to inspect on a 2D view. Multiple rendering options allow you to modify the aesthetic appearance of the board or to hide and show features for easier inspection.
9. ExpressPCB
ExpressPCB is a free PCB design tool provided by the PCB manufacturer ExpressPCB. You cannot export any files for manufacturing outside of ExpressPCB. Start by downloading their free CAD software ExpressPCB Plus! It includes ExpressSCH Classic for drawing schematics and ExpressPCB Plus for circuit board layout. Both programs are completely free, fully functional and easily installed with a single InstallShield setup program.  Learning to use their software is fast because of its standardized Windows user interface.
10. DesignSpark
DesignSpark PCB is a free electronics design software, (EDA software is a sub-class of computer-aided design (CAD) software.) Although there is no charge for the software, the user must register with the website to unlock the program and it displays advertisements which must be acknowledged before the user can begin working. DesignSpark resulted from a collaboration between electronics distributor RS Components and EDA software developer Number One Systems.
Original article about which PCB design software is the best. 

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911EDA Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List New User Joined: 13 Dec 2021 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote 911EDA Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Which PCB Design Software is the Best? Posted: 13 Dec 2021 at 12:46pm
	Which PCB design software is the best? This is a difficult question. PCB designs with more complex design requirements would benefit from using PCB software tools such as Altium, PADS, or Allegro. Simple designs can be done using free or lower cost software packages. Below are ten of the more common PCB layout software tools available. Altium Designer PADS Layout Allegro OrCAD PCB Editor Xpedition Board Station Fusion 360 (Eagle) KiCad ExpressPCB DesignSpark PCB 1. Altium Designer Altium Designer is a PCB and electronic design automation software package for printed circuit boards. It is developed by Renesas in Japan. Altium Designer's suite encompasses four main functional areas: schematic capture, 3D PCB design, Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) development and release/data management. Noteworthy features referred to in the reviews include: Integration with several component distributors allows search for components and access to manufacturer's data Interactive 3D editing of the board and MCAD export to STEP Cloud publishing of design and manufacturing data Simulation and debugging of the FPGA can be achieved using the VHDL language and checking that for a given a set of input signals the expected output signals would be generated. FPGA soft processor software development tools (compiler, debugger, profiler) are available for selected embedded processors within an FPGA. 2. PADS Layout PADS is a PCB and EDA software package developed by Siemens. There are two versions, Standard and Standard Plus. PADS Standard Geared toward PCB designers and engineers looking for high-value, production-proven tools, PADS Standard provides schematic design and layout capabilities in an intuitive and easy-to-use environment. PADS Standard is ideal for less complex board design, and where cost is a high priority. Features include: Schematic design PADS AMS Cloud online circuit simulation Layout Component part selection and verification Powerful search and filtering with component information management Create custom, IPC-compliant land patterns PADS Standard Plus Choose PADS Standard Plus if you require simulation and analysis, and advanced layout, to produce high-quality PCBs fast. Includes all the capabilities of PADS Standard, plus: Integrated constraint management High-speed constraints and routing Signal integrity analysis with crosstalk using HyperLynx® Thermal and analog simulation Centralized library 3. Allegro The Cadence Allegro PCB Designer quickly takes simple and complex designs from concept to production in a constraint-driven design system to ensure functionality and manufacturability. Scalable technology allows designers to cost-effectively match all current and future technological and methodological needs for teams, organizations, and projects of all sizes and complexities. The industry's latest bleeding-edge high-speed design, RF antenna, flex-circuitry, and design for manufacturing (DFM) technology in the Allegro PCB Designer gives you what you need to deliver the innovative products your customers demand. And the advanced design reuse and productivity features give you the advantage you need to beat your competitors to market. Key Benefits Speeds designs from placement and routing through to manufacturing Includes powerful features such as design partitioning, RF design capabilities, and interconnect design planning Production proven to increase productivity and help engineers quickly ramp up to volume production TÜV SÜD "Fit for Purpose - TCL1" certified to meet ISO 26262 automotive functional safety requirements 4. OrCAD PCB Editor OrCAD PCB Designer is a tiered, scalable PCB design solution that delivers advanced capabilities and highly integrated flows. The powerful, tightly integrated PCB design technologies include schematic capture, librarian tools, PCB editing and routing (PCB Editor), Constraint Manager, signal integrity (included in Professional), autorouting (included in Professional), and optional mixed-signal circuit simulation. 5. Xpedition Xpedition Enterprise is the industry's most innovative PCB design flow, providing integration from system design definition to manufacturing execution. Its unique, patented technologies can reduce design cycles by 50 percent or more while significantly improving overall quality and resource efficiency. Developed by Siemens. Multi-Board Systems Design Replace inefficient paper and manual processes with an automated, fully integrated, collaborative workflow PCB Simulation Maximize the benefits of PCB virtual prototyping resulting in higher quality products, faster PCB Layout Collaborative placement and routing of highly complex printed circuit boards PCB Design Creation Capture, verify and communicate design intent throughout the PCB design flow ECAD Data Management Single, integrated solution for WIP design and library management PCB New Product Introduction (NPI) Optimize your PCB new product introduction process with integrated design for manufacturing and manufacturing product modeling 6. Board Station (Obsolete) Tightly integrated in the overall design flow, Board Station XE combines the power of leading-edge auto-routing technology with interactive editing capabilities in a single, powerful and easy-to-use design environment. By leveraging leading technology in PCB physical design, Board Station XE customers benefit from shorter design times, increased productivity, and unmatched design quality for even the most complex PCB designs. There is no better way to add productivity and new technology to your Board Station flow than by deploying Board Station XE. And you don't have to give up your current flow to do it because the flows co-exist, leveraging the same licenses. 7. Fusion 360 (Eagle) Fusion 360 (EAGLE) is a scriptable electronic design automation (EDA) application with schematic capture , printed circuit board (PCB) layout , auto-router and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) features. EAGLE stands for Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor ( German : Einfach Anzuwendender Grafischer Layout-Editor) and is developed by CadSoft Computer GmbH . The company was acquired by Autodesk Inc. in 2016. Fusion 360 (EAGLE) contains a schematic editor, for designing circuit diagrams. Schematics are stored in files with .SCH extension, parts are defined in device libraries with .LBR extension. Parts can be placed on many sheets and connected together through ports. The PCB layout editor stores board files with the extension .BRD. It allows back-annotation to the schematic and auto-routing to automatically connect traces based on the connections defined in the schematic. Fusion 360 (EAGLE) saves Gerber and PostScript layout files as well as Excellon and Sieb & Meyer drill files. These are standard file formats accepted by PCB fabrication companies, but given EAGLE's typical user base of small design firms and hobbyists, many PCB fabricators and assembly shops also accept EAGLE board files (with extension .BRD) directly to export optimized production files and pick-and-place data themselves. Fusion 360 (EAGLE) provides a multi-window graphical user interface and menu system for editing, project management and to customize the interface and design parameters. The system can be controlled via mouse, keyboard hotkeys or by entering specific commands at an embedded command line . Multiple repeating commands can be combined into script files (with file extension .SCR). It is also possible to explore design files utilizing an EAGLE-specific object-oriented programming language (with extension .ULP). 8. KiCad KiCad is an open source EDA software for Windows, OSX and Linux. Create PCB circuits for free with the most advanced features. Schematic Capture With the schematic editor you can create your design without limit; there are no paywalls to unlock features. An official library for schematic symbols and a built-in schematic symbol editor help you get started quickly with your designs. PCB Layout Make professional PCB layouts with up to 32 copper layers. KiCad now has a push and shove router which is capable of routing differential pairs and interactively tuning trace lengths. 3D Viewer KiCad includes a 3D viewer which you can use to inspect your design in an interactive canvas. You can rotate and pan around to inspect details that are difficult to inspect on a 2D view. Multiple rendering options allow you to modify the aesthetic appearance of the board or to hide and show features for easier inspection. 9. ExpressPCB ExpressPCB is a free PCB design tool provided by the PCB manufacturer ExpressPCB. You cannot export any files for manufacturing outside of ExpressPCB. Start by downloading their free CAD software ExpressPCB Plus! It includes ExpressSCH Classic for drawing schematics and ExpressPCB Plus for circuit board layout. Both programs are completely free, fully functional and easily installed with a single InstallShield setup program. Learning to use their software is fast because of its standardized Windows user interface. 10. DesignSpark DesignSpark PCB is a free electronics design software, (EDA software is a sub-class of computer-aided design (CAD) software.) Although there is no charge for the software, the user must register with the website to unlock the program and it displays advertisements which must be acknowledged before the user can begin working. DesignSpark resulted from a collaboration between electronics distributor RS Components and EDA software developer Number One Systems. Original article about which PCB design software is the best.



circuits Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List New User Joined: 13 Aug 2024 Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote circuits Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10 Sep 2024 at 7:05am
	Hey There, I have written the article related to this topic you can checkout here - Best PCB Design Software In this guide, you will find the best PCB design softwares