--- title: Altium CircuitMaker Reviews meta\_title: 'Altium CircuitMaker Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 110 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Altium CircuitMaker works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.3 review\_count: 110 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-09' parent\_category: name: CAD url: https://www.g2.com/categories/cad --- # Altium CircuitMaker Reviews & Product Details Visit Website Altium CircuitMaker is the best free-to-use schematic and PCB design tool for the Open Source Hardware community of designers, makers, hobbyists, students and professionals. CircuitMaker delivers powerful autorouting capabilities, hierarchical schematic entry, and Native 3D™ technology that's easily accessible and free to use. * * * Product Website Altium CircuitMaker Seller [Altium](https://www.g2.com/sellers/altium-caf10713-ff96-44ab-90af-cc9c6c9ef346) Discussions [Altium CircuitMaker Community](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/discuss) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Overview by Nupur Agrawal Show More ## Pricing Pricing provided by Altium CircuitMaker. ### CircuitMaker Free [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/pricing) Altium Solutions (1) See how Altium products can work together to solve real problems. [ ![Solution Avatar Image](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Solution Avatar Image") End-to-End Electronic Product Creation SolutionBy Altium ](/sellers/altium-caf10713-ff96-44ab-90af-cc9c6c9ef346/solutions/end-to-end-electronic-product-creation) Show More ![Yann H.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Yann H.") YH Yann H. 5G features test engineer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 3/16/2023 "Powerful PCB maker" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? Very powerful PCB maker. To me the very best for free. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? It's sometimes difficult to find help about circuit Maker. It's often redirected to Altium. Autorouter inefficient to me. I also don't like the link with Altium365 which is now mandatory. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? PCB design Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 6/11/2026 Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite on behalf of seller ![Om B.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Om B.") OB Om B. Avionics Engineer Aviation & Aerospace Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5/1/2025 "CircuitMaker is perfect for beginners!" 5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? The user interface is intuitive, and anyone can start hands-on with a minimal learning curve. The tools are great for even some industrial projects. It's a perfect step to start the journey to Professional PCB design, as it is built on the foundation of Altium Designer. It inherits the robust features of Schematic capture, PCB Layout, 3D visualisation. One of the greatest strengths is its active and supportive community forum, which has helped me enhance my learning and troubleshooting experience. For its no-cost entry point, we have quite frequently opted for CircuitMaker to train interns and students just getting started, and the projects that are created can be easily migrated and integrated with Altium Professional. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? CircuitMaker’s reliance on cloud storage and mandatory project sharing limits its appeal for users needing privacy or offline access. The lack of advanced features like hierarchical schematics and limited third-party integration can hinder complex designs. Improved onboarding for beginners and more flexible project management options would significantly enhance its usability. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? Rapid Prototyping, Training of Interns and Beginners in PCB Designing Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Nick W.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Nick W.") NW Nick W. Retail PowerSports Professional. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4/22/2025 "Easy to use and Love the 3D Viewer" 5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? The 3D viewer is awesome and makes it super easy to visualize how and what your product is going to physically look like. The Part assembly assistant is great too! It helps guide me through assembling your PCB by picking the parts and showing me where they go on my board. The Whole User Interface is nice to use. Easy to understand, controls and components aren't confusing. I have also found the rule checker to be super good! I find it easy to check by design rules and or normal rules, and it helps me identify anything out of the ordinary. I'm a student in engineering and have used KiCad and other various programs, but liked this one the best for the above, plus the libraries for parts, though I wish some components were updated more and had a footprint, and for how easy it is to learn the software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? I like cloud saving, but hate it at the same time. What I mean by this is that there is no good, easy way to save my projects locally on the software without downloading them from the cloud. I wish there were a save button with the option for the cloud or the option for local only. This is my only gripe so far, getting to know the software is pretty easy, but does take a minute to get used to the software,e just like any other software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? It helps me solve the lackluster handful of other free programs that lack the features of CircuitMaker with out needing to pay premiums for high-end software. As a student this is huge! I wish my collage would switch to this software for some of its classes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 4/24/2025 Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing") UE Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5/20/2025 "Capable, but component libraries are difficult and support forum is clogged with spammers." 1/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? This is a cut-down version of Altium's higher end products. As such, it has several powerful tools for PCB layout. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? The component library is probably its worst and most difficult feature. You can't place a generic component such as a plain resistor, then assign it a package, like I have done in just about any other EDA program I have used. Instead, you have to specify the part number ahead of time - makes sense for an integrated circuit, but not if you want a generic 1K resistor. Then the footprint library is all over the map; some are accurate and some are absolute garbage. Editing the footprints is also harder than in other EDA packages. The second worst feature is the customer support. I can understand that a free program would have a community-based support forum. But the problem is that there's no moderation and Altium has completely neglected the forum. Predictably, it's been taken over by spammers who drown out any real conversation. The second most common thing you'll find on the forum is a bunch of user complaints that they have been requesting features for years and never received any response. Unlike mechanical CAD packages, which have usually been following some attempt at a standard user interface, there's not much about the UI that this one has in common with other EDA packages, and so very little will carry over from other EDA software if you've learned elsewhere. But this seems to be true regardless of what EDA solution you pick - they all have wildly different UI. This product is intended to get entry level users who Altium hopes will move on to their higher end products. Unfortunately, Altium has neglected this product enough that instead it's likely to drive entry level users who try this product on to use KiCAD. While KiCAD also uses a community design library and support forum, these are at least moderated properly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? I have been using it to design circuit boards. Putting together a good quality library of electrical components from a community sourced project is a difficult problem - and one CircuitMaker seriously fails at solving. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing") AE Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5/8/2025 "All in one PCB designer for professionals" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? So, I have a startup and initially altium gave me a good discount to use the software. Apart from it Main pros that i see is ease of use, very powerful layout designing tools and each file like step, gerber, schematic, production file, assembly file can be generated from one place. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? Two things that i want to point out are 1. Very difficult for beginners but it is understood for software tool of this level. 2. It takes time to resolve any bug or issue of software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? I have multiple PCB designs going on at the same time. In altium, 2 of my developers work on the same PCB at the same time on different layouts. It increases the productivity. Also after it got synced to cloud, a reviewer can input comments at the same time.Also each files required for production can be downloaded from it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Defense & Space](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Defense & Space") UD Verified User in Defense & Space Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4/29/2025 "New to ECAD, wanted something similar to Altium" 3/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? I am a total noobie to ECAD but work with some professionals who use Altium Designer. The overlaps between Designer and CircuitMaker are quite helpful because they can help me when I have issues, and occasionally I can help them. It also makes the transition between the two different software packages easier. For example, if I want to start using ECAD professionally, Designer won't be a completely new and unfamiliar tool. I also really like the integration to 365, as I often use 365 for importing and reviewing designs produced in Designer or other ECAD tools. Having all that data, as well as my work in CircuitMaker, in a single location is really useful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? The documentation is really lacking. Seaching anything with CircuitMaker in google often yields answers related to Designer. In some cases the answer is sufficient, but I think the limitations/restrictions of CircuitMaker are not well documented enough to know if you are just doing something wrong, or if the feature is unavailable. The application is also painfully slow to load on initial start up. I use a lot of engineering software packages (SolidWorks, ANSYS, COMSOL, etc.) and all of them are much faster and more responsive than CircuitMaker. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? I am a mechanical engineer working closely with electrical engineers. I need to be able to understand the design language they speak, and the challenges they face. Having a free, accessible tool to explore PCB design and ECAD for my own learning and understanding has been incredibly valuable. It is only made more valuable by how similar it is to Altium Designer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Industrial Automation](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Industrial Automation") UI Verified User in Industrial Automation Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4/23/2025 "Essencial and easy tool, only a few headaches away from perfection" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? I really enjoy the wide range of features Altium offers for PCB design. The schematic view is intuitive, and sheet symbols make project organization much easier. I also appreciate how simple it is to access component properties and modify them to fit your needs, not only manufacturer parts but internal libraries too. The routing tools are excellent, every aspect of them works perfectly. It just took me only 2 weeks to learn almost everything in the software to start my own projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? The unit conversion system is frustrating and easily the least practical part of the software. The multiple tabs don’t interact smoothly, often causing me to accidentally close one or spend too much time switching between them. Another issue is the polygon pour colors, they’re overly intense and strain my eyes, yet I still haven’t found an option to change them Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? Altium integrate the PCB design process for our autonomous robotics competition team by addressing critical workflow challenges. Its integrated component libraries and easy access to datasheets save us hours of manual research. Then, the real-time design rule checks help us catch errors early, which is essential because we (I mean my robotic team) don't have the resources to reprint a PCB to correct tiny mistakes on the design. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite CG Christian G. Engineer & Supervisor Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 5/31/2025 "Intuitive Circuit Design" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? Allium CircuitMaker is the most intuitive and straightforward circuit design solution that I have tried so far. For the most part, everything just works and is easy to get set up. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? Creating new/custom components can feel a little buggy, and if you import a component that was made with a different grid spacing, circuit design can end up a little cumbersome. The only other area of friction is having everything saved through the cloud which can be an issue if I’m working away from my desk and internet connection. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? Due to the streamlined layout, CircuitMaker has been the fastest way for me to prototype circuits and tweak designs. Time is valuable and any time saved not having to work around clunky programs is well appreciated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") UI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 5/25/2025 "Too good to be true" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? I have been using this for my CIrcuit club, and it had helped me discover my love for hardware and embedded systems - how to design, how does circuits work and how we can effectively use it. I love many features of it, such as joint monitoring,or have the server version updated. Not to mention the version histories we can truncate and edit on demand :) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? Took me a bit to make use of the tools, but in all honesty, that is a little laid out study that one would have to do when digging in. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? Designed my first PCB model (albeit I did actually mess up with the Gerber files, but learnt an important lesson) and planning to use it for more complex designs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering") UM Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3/27/2025 "Best open source tool for schematic and PCB" 4/5 What do you like best about Altium CircuitMaker? We have been using Circuitmaker along side Altium 365, This has helped me in created layouts using the library for schematics, Our recent project requiring curcuit boards alongside electical engineers has been going great with the use of circuitmaker. Circuitmaker has both dark and light mode which is very much helpful in preferences. We have integrated this with all our other mcad tools like fusion 360, altium and codedesigner. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Altium CircuitMaker? There is not much to dislike here, the only drawback it the footprint takes a lot of time to load. Also there are no packages for a few circuits in schematic like 74hc245 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Altium CircuitMaker solving and how is that benefiting you? It is helping me in creating PCB designs while working on varius projects Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ## Questions about Altium CircuitMaker? Ask real users or explore answers from the community Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights. [ Ask about Altium CircuitMaker ](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/discussions/new) GU Guest User • Last activity over 3 years ago What does Altium software do? 0 Upvotes 1 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/altium-circuitmaker-what-does-altium-software-do) GU Guest User • Last activity over 3 years ago What does Altium software do? 0 Upvotes 1 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-does-altium-software-do) [ View all Discussions ](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/discuss) ## Pricing Options Pricing provided by Altium CircuitMaker. ### CircuitMaker Free [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/pricing) Altium CircuitMaker Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_7f62e936e184242294b0a75aa09a6095/altium-develop.png "Product Avatar Image") Altium Develop 4.5/5(1,050) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/altium-circuitmaker-vs-altium-develop) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_0083c3f1038c4b1af5d567ecab9dba70/kicad-eda.png "Product Avatar Image") KiCad EDA 4.5/5(69) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/altium-circuitmaker-vs-kicad-eda) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_068775cb495a74abb09de055d82e9360/easyeda.png "Product Avatar Image") EasyEDA 4.4/5(20) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/altium-circuitmaker-vs-easyeda) ##### ##### Altium CircuitMaker Features Design PCB layout editing Schematic editor Tools 3D modeling tools Component placement Library Component libraries Platform Board size Layers [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/features) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![KiCad EDA](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "KiCad EDA") KiCad EDA 4.5/5(69) ](https://www.g2.com/products/kicad-eda/reviews) [ ![EasyEDA](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "EasyEDA") EasyEDA 4.4/5(20) ](https://www.g2.com/products/easyeda/reviews) [ ![Autodesk Fusion](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Autodesk Fusion") Autodesk Fusion 4.5/5(520) ](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/competitors/alternatives) ##### Categories on G2 [PCB Design](https://www.g2.com/categories/pcb-design) ##### Explore More [Is Canva actually good enough for brand-consistent marketing collateral, or do desktop publishing tools like Marq and Visme give teams more control without the complexity of InDesign?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-canva-actually-good-enough-for-brand-consistent-marketing-collateral-or-do-desktop-publishing-tools-like-marq-and-visme-give-teams-more-control-without-the-complexity-of-indesign)[What is the most secure MFA solution for regulated industries?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-most-secure-mfa-solution-for-regulated-industries)[Which inspection management platforms work offline and sync back to the system automatically when field teams get connectivity again?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-inspection-management-platforms-work-offline-and-sync-back-to-the-system-automatically-when-field-teams-get-connectivity-again) [Which project management app is rated highest by medium businesses](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-project-management-app-is-rated-highest-by-medium-businesses)[What are the most trusted library management systems by library operations managers based on user reviews?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-most-trusted-library-management-systems-by-library-operations-managers-based-on-user-reviews)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)