Best PCB Design Software

Compare the Top PCB Design Software as of April 2025

What is PCB Design Software?

PCB design software is software used for designing and laying out circuit boards. It allows users to quickly create and modify electrical components, as well as simulate potential designs. In addition, the software can be used to generate models and images of PCBs that can be shared with colleagues or printed for physical hardware manufacture. PCB design software offers an intuitive graphical user interface which makes it easy to learn even for non-technical users. Some of the features include auto-routers, track editing tools, control over component placement, 3D visualizations, and fabrication output formats. Compare and read user reviews of the best PCB Design software currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

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    BQR

    BQR

    BQR Reliability Engineering

    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.
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  • 2
    Altium Designer
    Altium Designer® offers a unified design environment backed by over 35 years of innovation and development. From schematic to PCB layout and interactive differential pair routing, to design documentation and a seamless ECAD/MCAD integration, Altium Designer empowers engineers with a single view of every aspect of the PCB design process. By accessing all design tools in one place, engineers can complete their entire design process within the same intuitive environment and deliver high-quality products quickly. With the addition of Altium 365, users can choose between accessing the program online and on-premises.
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    Starting Price: $355 USD/month
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  • 3
    OrCAD X

    OrCAD X

    Cadence Design Systems

    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.
    Starting Price: $107 USD/month
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    Altium 365
    Design, share and manufacture, all in the same space without the need to install or configure anything at all. Connect to the platform directly from Altium Designer, without changing the way you design electronics. Altium 365 does not require additional licenses, and it is included in your subscription plan. Bring higher-quality products to market faster than your competitors, thanks to transparency in reviews and design sharing. Share, in real time and without having to leave your design space, the status of projects with team members, manufacturers, and even clients, who can review and comment on your designs. Anyone with Internet access can view, search, contrast and comment on your projects from a browser and without the need to purchase additional Altium Designer licenses. Make mechanical and electronic collaboration challenges a competitive advantage by working seamlessly across domains, without losing sight of purpose or time.
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    CircuitMaker
    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.
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    PCB123

    PCB123

    Sunstone Circuits

    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.
    Starting Price: $0
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    FloWare

    FloWare

    FlowCAD

    FloWare is a bunch of useful tool enhancements which increase productivity in CAD Flow and PCB Design with OrCAD and Allegro. These enhancements have been created to meet the specific needs of customers in the fields of Setup, Display, Edit, Draft, Shapes, Check/Review, Documentation, etc. Installation of FloWare modules is a simple process and does not require any expert knowledge. Installation process includes a wizard and guides you through the FloWare installation process. Menu structures are automatically recognized by PCB Editor and shown in the tool bar. Simply choose from the available modules according to your needs and increase PCB design productivity. The license is distributed by e-mail and is valid for the site of your company location. Each module provides a detailed documentation.
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    CR-8000 Design Force
    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.
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