# Altium Develop vs ExpressPCB Plus Comparison
---
## AI Generated Summary
- **G2 reviewers report** that Altium Develop excels in providing a unified design environment, allowing users to seamlessly transition from schematic capture to PCB layout. This integration is enhanced by features like real-time collaboration and version control, which users find invaluable for team projects.
- **Users say** that ExpressPCB Plus offers a very friendly interface, making PCB layout construction straightforward and quick. Many appreciate the simplicity of the design process, which is highlighted by feedback on its ease of use and fast construction capabilities.
- **Reviewers mention** that Altium Develop's extensive built-in libraries and modules significantly speed up project development. Users have noted that this feature helps them build projects faster and with less confusion, streamlining the entire design process from planning to documentation.
- **According to verified reviews** , while Altium Develop has a higher overall satisfaction score, ExpressPCB Plus shines in user-friendliness, with many users praising its intuitive interface and the ability to easily reroute designs according to EMC and EMI norms.
- **G2 reviewers highlight** that Altium Develop's collaboration tools, particularly the Altium 365 web portal, facilitate easy sharing and ensure that teams are always working with the most up-to-date designs, reducing the risk of version control issues.
- **Users report** that while Altium Develop has a steeper entry-level price, its comprehensive features and high-quality support justify the investment for many, whereas ExpressPCB Plus, despite its lower cost, may not meet the advanced needs of users looking for more robust design capabilities.



| | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Star Rating** | 4.5 out of 5 | 4.4 out of 5 | 
| **Total Reviews** | 1,008 | 29 | 
| **Largest Market Segment** | Small-Business (58.3% of reviews) | Small-Business (51.9% of reviews) | 
| **Entry Level Price** | Starting at $1,990.00 Per Year | No pricing available | 

---
## Top Pros & Cons

### Altium Develop

Pros:
- Ease of Use (272 reviews)
- Features (218 reviews)

Cons:
- Learning Curve (93 reviews)
- Expensive (91 reviews)

### ExpressPCB Plus

**Not enough data**

---
## Ratings Comparison
| Rating | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
  | **Meets Requirements** | 8.9 (828 reviews) | 8.5 (21 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Use** | 8.1 (846 reviews) | 9.4 (21 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Setup** | 8.3 (384 reviews) | Not enough data | 
  | **Ease of Admin** | 8.3 (137 reviews) | Not enough data | 
  | **Quality of Support** | 8.3 (739 reviews) | 8.8 (20 reviews) | 
  | **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?** | 8.5 (131 reviews) | Not enough data | 
  | **Product Direction (% positive)** | 8.8 (807 reviews) | 7.8 (21 reviews) | 

---
## Pricing

### Altium Develop

#### Entry-Level Pricing

Plan: Altium Develop Pricing

Price: Starting at $1,990.00 Per Year

Description: Altium Develop offers subscription-based pricing starting at $1,990 per year per workspace, which includes one ECAD Design Author seat and a shared collaboration workspace for projects, libraries, and design data. Additional ECAD Design Author seats can be added for $995 per user per year, with support for up to four additional authors per workspace. The platform also includes unlimited free collaborator access for review, commenting, task management, and BOM visibility at no extra cost. This pricing model is designed to help teams scale design capacity through a per-seat subscription while enabling broad cross-functional collaboration without increasing overall costs.

Key Features:
- Unified Workspace & Collaboration: Cloud-based platform (Altium 365) for PCB design, schematics, MCAD models, and BOMs with real-time collaboration across teams
- Component & Library Management: Centralized component libraries with traceability, lifecycle management, and part request workflows
- Advanced PCB Design: Support for high-speed PCB design, HDI, rigid-flex, and 3D-MID using Altium Designer

[Learn more about Altium Develop](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-develop/reviews)

#### Free Trial

Yes

### ExpressPCB Plus

#### Entry-Level Pricing

No pricing available

#### Free Trial

No information available

---
## Features Comparison By Category

### General-Purpose CAD

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Altium Develop** | 8.4/10 | 82 |
| **ExpressPCB Plus** | N/A | N/A |

#### Design

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Drawing** | 8.5 (75 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Modeling** | 8.3 (72 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Visualize ** | 8.6 (73 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Rendering** | 8.2 (71 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Edit

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **File Import ** | 8.0 (71 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Push/Pull** | 8.1 (65 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Views** | 8.8 (69 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Grips ** | 8.0 (63 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Collaboration

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Annotate** | 8.7 (67 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Documentation ** | 8.5 (68 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Extract** | 8.2 (64 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Product Data Management (PDM)

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Altium Develop** | 8.5/10 | 44 |
| **ExpressPCB Plus** | N/A | N/A |

#### Metadata

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Repository** | 8.4 (39 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Taxonomy** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 
| **Types** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 

#### Data Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Version Control** | 8.5 (43 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Alignment** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 
| **Workflows** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 
| **Lifecycle** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 

#### Generative AI

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **AI Text Summarization** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 
| **AI Image-to-Text** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 

### PCB Design

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Altium Develop** | 8.7/10 | 735 |
| **ExpressPCB Plus** | 7.9/10 | 22 |

#### Design

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **PCB layout editing** | 9.1 (688 reviews) | 8.9 (19 reviews) | 
| **Schematic editor** | 9.2 (682 reviews) | 8.5 (19 reviews) | 

#### Tools

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **3D modeling tools** | 7.6 (633 reviews) | 6.9 (16 reviews) | 
| **Component placement** | 8.9 (664 reviews) | 7.7 (19 reviews) | 

#### Library

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Component libraries** | 8.3 (685 reviews) | 7.5 (19 reviews) | 

#### Platform

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Board size** | 9.1 (664 reviews) | 8.1 (18 reviews) | 
| **Layers** | 9.2 (668 reviews) | 8.0 (18 reviews) | 

#### Customization

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Custom commands** | Feature Not Available | 7.8 (15 reviews) | 
| **Custom interface** | 7.8 (585 reviews) | 7.8 (16 reviews) | 

### Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Altium Develop** | 8.0/10 | 23 |
| **ExpressPCB Plus** | N/A | N/A |

#### Tools - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **3D/solid modeling Tools** | 8.3 (20 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Rendering Tools** | 8.1 (19 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Drawing Tools** | 8.7 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Editing Tools** | 8.4 (18 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Text Editing Tools** | 7.7 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### File Options - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Export Files** | 8.4 (18 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Import Files** | 8.2 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **File Interoperability** | 8.0 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Backwards compatibility** | 8.5 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **File size** | 9.2 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Customization - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Custom Commands** | Feature Not Available | Not enough data | 
| **Custom Scripts** | 7.2 (15 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Custom Menus** | 7.4 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Custom Interface** | 7.6 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Environment - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Hardware support** | 8.3 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Task-based interfaces** | 8.2 (15 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Manage Multiple Profiles** | 8.2 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Command Clarity** | 8.8 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Requirements Management

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **Altium Develop** | 7.4/10 | 30 |
| **ExpressPCB Plus** | N/A | N/A |

#### Requirements Authoring and Structure - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Structured Requirements Authoring** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Hierarchical Requirements Organization** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Compliance and Governance - Requirement Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Regulated Industry Standards Support** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Administration

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Requirements Listing** | 8.7 (29 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Centralized Information** | 8.4 (28 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Traceability** | 8.0 (28 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Collaboration and Review - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Review and Approval Workflows** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Role-Based Access Control** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Communication

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Stakeholder Communication** | 6.3 (28 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Internal Communication Enablement** | 7.0 (27 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Role-Based Access Co - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Baselining** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Procedural

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Automated Creation & Testing** | 5.6 (23 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Traceability - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Bidirectional Traceability** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Impact Analysis** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Traceability Matrix Generation** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### AI Traceability - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Suspect Link Detection** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Integration - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **ALM and Project Management Tool Integration** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Change Management and Version Control - Requirements Management

| Feature | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Complete Audit Trail** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

---
## Categories
**Shared Categories (1):** [PCB Design Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/pcb-design)

**Unique to Altium Develop (4):** [General-Purpose CAD Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/general-purpose-cad), [Product Data Management (PDM) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/product-data-management-pdm), [Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/mechanical-computer-aided-design-mcad), [Requirements Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/requirements-management)



---
## Reviewer Demographics

### By Company Size

| Segment | Altium Develop | ExpressPCB Plus | 
|---|---|---|
| **Small-Business** | 58.3% | 51.9% | 
| **Mid-Market** | 29.4% | 29.6% | 
| **Enterprise** | 12.3% | 18.5% | 

### By Industry

#### Altium Develop

- **Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing:** 22.0%
- **Automotive:** 10.9%
- **Consumer Electronics:** 10.1%
- **Medical Devices:** 6.3%
- **Aviation & Aerospace:** 6.3%
- **Industrial Automation:** 4.1%
- **Research:** 3.4%
- **Higher Education:** 3.2%
- **Computer Hardware:** 3.0%
- **Design:** 2.5%
- **Other:** 28.3%

#### ExpressPCB Plus

- **Education Management:** 25.9%
- **Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing:** 22.2%
- **Higher Education:** 11.1%
- **Wireless:** 3.7%
- **Research:** 3.7%
- **Professional Training & Coaching:** 3.7%
- **Mechanical or Industrial Engineering:** 3.7%
- **Information Technology and Services:** 3.7%
- **Industrial Automation:** 3.7%
- **Hospital & Health Care:** 3.7%
- **Other:** 14.8%

---
## Alternatives

### Alternatives to Altium Develop

- [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (519 reviews)
- [AutoCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/autocad/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (1936 reviews)
- [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews) — 4.7/5 stars (695 reviews)
- [SOLIDWORKS](https://www.g2.com/products/solidworks/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (644 reviews)
- [Designcenter Solid Edge](https://www.g2.com/products/designcenter-solid-edge/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (606 reviews)
- [Designcenter](https://www.g2.com/products/designcenter/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (600 reviews)
- [Inventor](https://www.g2.com/products/inventor/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (440 reviews)
- [SketchUp](https://www.g2.com/products/sketchup/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (1326 reviews)
- [ZWCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/zwcad/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (350 reviews)
- [MicroStation](https://www.g2.com/products/microstation/reviews) — 4.0/5 stars (416 reviews)

### Alternatives to ExpressPCB Plus

- [KiCad EDA](https://www.g2.com/products/kicad-eda/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (68 reviews)
- [Autodesk EAGLE](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-eagle/reviews) — 4.0/5 stars (77 reviews)
- [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (519 reviews)
- [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews) — 4.7/5 stars (695 reviews)
- [SOLIDWORKS](https://www.g2.com/products/solidworks/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (644 reviews)
- [DipTrace](https://www.g2.com/products/diptrace/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (45 reviews)
- [Altium CircuitMaker](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (110 reviews)
- [OrCAD Capture](https://www.g2.com/products/orcad-capture/reviews) — 4.2/5 stars (34 reviews)
- [EasyEDA](https://www.g2.com/products/easyeda/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (20 reviews)
- [NI Multisim](https://www.g2.com/products/ni-multisim/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (42 reviews)

---
## Top Discussions

### Altium Develop

- Title: [Who uses Altium?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/who-uses-altium) — 3 comments *(includes official response)*
  > **Top comment:** "Altium Designer is used mainly by those who create and work with printed circuit boards or PCBs. All electrical products, computers, toasters, remotes, and..."
- Title: [Is Altium Designer free?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-altium-designer-free) — 3 comments
  > **Top comment:** "No, Altium Designer is not free but there is a free viewer that can be downloaded. "
- Title: [What is Altium Designer used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-altium-designer-used-for) — 3 comments
  > **Top comment:** "Altium Desinger is a complete PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design software package, which includes Schematic Capture, PCB Layout, Libraries, Manufacturing..."
- Title: [Is there a way to modelize in 3D the Pcb designs?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/36429-is-there-a-way-to-modelize-in-3d-the-pcb-designs) — 3 comments, 1 upvote
  > **Top comment:** "No or Yes, you can only place 3D bodies for components in PCB and get 3D view of your design. I think by placing components are your will. yes you can..."
- Title: [What is Altium 365 used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-altium-365-used-for) — 2 comments
  > **Top comment:** "Create circuit design & PCB Design"

### ExpressPCB Plus

- Title: [When the next update of the site will be released?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/49926-when-the-next-update-of-the-site-will-be-released) — 1 comment, 1 upvote
  > **Top comment:** "Best in class!!!"
- Title: [does this integrate with arduino](https://www.g2.com/discussions/does-this-integrate-with-arduino) — 1 comment, 1 upvote
  > **Top comment:** "It is PCB drawing software, and you can integrate with whatever board you want, but I am doubtful you will get the board PCB in library..!"

---
**Source:** [G2.com](https://www.g2.com) | [Comparison Page](https://www.g2.com/compare/altium-develop-vs-expresspcb-plus)