---
title: Altium Develop Reviews
meta_title: 'Altium Develop Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 1009 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry
  to find out how Altium Develop works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 4.5
  review_count: 1009
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-06-22'
parent_category:
  name: CAD
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/cad
---

# Altium Develop Reviews
**Vendor:** Altium  
**Category:** [PCB Design Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/pcb-design)  
**Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 1,009
## About Altium Develop
Altium Develop is a collaborative platform for electronic product development that connects requirements management (via Requirements Portal), ECAD design, supply chain, and manufacturing into a single, unified environment. Built on Altium Designer® and Altium 365®, it enables real-time collaboration across engineering, design, and operations teams, reducing delays caused by disconnected tools and file-based workflows. Designed for electronics teams and organizations managing complex PCB and hardware development, Altium Develop supports cross-functional collaboration throughout the entire product lifecycle. Through Requirements Portal, stakeholders can contribute to and review requirements in a centralized workspace, helping ensure alignment from definition through design and delivery. Key capabilities include: • Real-time collaboration: Shared workspace for ECAD design, reviews, and project coordination • Component and supply chain visibility: Access to live component data, pricing, and availability • Requirements management (Requirements Portal): Capture, review, and link product requirements to design decisions for end-to-end traceability • BOM and workflow management: Manage bill of materials, sourcing, and change processes in one platform • ECAD-MCAD co-design: Enable collaboration between electrical and mechanical teams By centralizing design data, workflows, and collaboration, Altium Develop improves visibility, reduces rework, and helps teams bring electronic products to market faster. The platform is particularly well suited for organizations looking to streamline PCB design processes, enhance collaboration, and scale development across distributed teams. Altium Develop is used by teams evaluating alternatives to tools like Autodesk Fusion, KiCad, Cadence OrCAD, and SOLIDWORKS for PCB design and collaborative electronics development, including requirements management for hardware and electronics systems.



## Altium Develop Pros & Cons
**What users like:**

- Users appreciate the **intuitive ease of use** of Altium Develop, enhancing their PCB design experience significantly. (272 reviews)
- Users appreciate the **powerful collaboration features** of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and efficiency in project management. (218 reviews)
- Users value the **user-friendly interface** and seamless integration of Altium Designer for efficient PCB design work. (145 reviews)
- Users appreciate the **collaborative environment** of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and efficiency during design and testing. (136 reviews)
- Users value the **efficiency** of Altium Designer, noting significant boosts in productivity and streamlined workflows. (101 reviews)
- User Interface (92 reviews)
- Sharing (86 reviews)
- Customer Support (82 reviews)
- Users find Altium Develop to be incredibly **intuitive** , facilitating faster PCB design with helpful features and shortcuts. (82 reviews)
- Library Management (82 reviews)

**What users dislike:**

- Users face a **steep learning curve** , requiring significant time and effort to become proficient with Altium Develop. (93 reviews)
- Users find Altium Develop to be **expensive** , posing a barrier for hobbyists and new learners to engage with the tool. (91 reviews)
- Users find the **missing features** in Altium Develop limiting, especially for editing and task management capabilities. (65 reviews)
- Users find the **complex interface** challenging, requiring extensive knowledge to effectively utilize Altium Develop&#39;s features. (57 reviews)
- Users experience **slow performance** issues with Altium Develop, affecting productivity, especially with inadequate internet connections. (51 reviews)
- Users report **performance issues** with Altium Develop, including bugs, crashes, and slowdowns on large projects. (48 reviews)
- Learning Difficulty (46 reviews)
- Software Bugs (40 reviews)
- Lack of Features (36 reviews)
- Complexity (35 reviews)

## Altium Develop Reviews
  ### 1. Powerfull application for the hardware PCB designers

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Anuj J. | Senior Project Engineer, Computer Hardware, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 18, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

It's amazing and most powerful tool or application I have ever worked on for the CAD and PCB Designing.
I would say it has all the features for for end to emd development of hardware electronic board designing.

The features or upsides.of this tool that I personally found impressive are like it's editor, ability of tool to easily and perfectly fetch electronic or electrical components properties.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

No big flaws as such I observed personally but as always there is always room for some betterment and improvement.
File impot export takes long time sometimes.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Designing. and modelling of #components.

  ### 2. Long Time User of Altium (formerly Protel)

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Michel G. | Research Associate (Computer Engineering Technologist), Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 29, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

I've been using Altium, previously Protel, since the 1990's.  It has been fundamental to my electronic design work.  Working at a university allows me to access the software at a reasonable price.  I would definitely recommend Altium to my academic colleagues.  We also design our own enclosures, so I like the way I can export and import 3D models of parts.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

My only issue with Altium is the price for commercial users.  I think it's worth it for large companies, but I think it may be prohibitive for start-ups or small scale companies.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium allows me to design custom circuit boards with high precision.  It also enables me to integrate mechanical features in the design.

  ### 3. Altium designer software is very user friendly and advance

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Abhishek A. | PCB design engineer, Automotive, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 13, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Short keys, libarary, Altium training video also provided in there side, altium designer website

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

There is issue in cam document, when you import panel Gerber file there is issue generated

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Cam document

  ### 4. The best tool for PCB desigen

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Boris A. | Electronics engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 04, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

It is easy to use and offers a large number of options, extensions and design verifications.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The vast amount of features can be also a curse, some of the features do not work properly. Probably the development was not done till the end. For example, the layer stack needs an update. If you have an advanced PCB then you must create an additional document for PCB manufacturing. All that could be done in the layer stack manager.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

The PBC design can go really fast from the schematic to PCB and documentation export. File sharing is also great.

  ### 5. All rounder software for all kinds of electrical, electronics and even mechanical CB developments

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Hardware | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 16, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

It has impressed me with its integration with any ECAD or say MCAD.

I am playing around Few features and liking them - Circuit boards units power testing, analysis. Etc.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

high level of computer systems required to run the Altium products. But not dislike or disadvantage for us.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Streamlining our product design workflows.

  ### 6. Altium 365 enhances an already great product

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium 365 has been amazing for collaboratively working on projects with other engineers for schematic and printed circuit board design. It is a feature I found myself frequently using to share files and easily fit into my workflow as an experienced Altium Design user. As a user the integration was easy as an admin had already set it up and I was just using it as an extra tool or plugin almost to Altium.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

One of the downsides is the requirement to use Altium Designer. This can make sense if a project or team has alaready stnadardized to Altium but can be a hassle for bringing others onboard, especially newer Altium users.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It solves the problem of collaborating on a complex project while maintaining version control. Myself and other engineers can easily edit schematics and layouts in the same project without a fear of overwriting or not checking out work properly.

  ### 7. Streamlined PCB Design with Powerful Tools and Intuitive Interface

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium Designer's integrated environment is incredibly powerful, allowing for seamless transitions between schematic capture, PCB layout, and simulation. The extensive component libraries and advanced routing tools save a lot of time, and the 3D visualization is excellent for checking design accuracy before manufacturing.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

While Altium Designer is feature-rich, the learning curve can be steep for new users, and some of the more advanced features require a significant time investment to master. Additionally, the software can be resource-intensive, which might cause slower performance on older machines.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium Designer is solving the challenge of managing complex PCB designs by providing a unified platform that integrates all aspects of the design process, from schematic capture to layout and simulation. This integration reduces errors and design time, allowing me to complete tasks faster with greater confidence in their reliability. The ability to collaborate with fellow team members and track design changes also enhances productivity and ensures that the final product meets all specifications.

  ### 8. Best in Class Product.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Manufacturing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium has it all from simulation software to intricate Design rule checks. The complete customizability and advacned features that are offered make alitum the best CAD program for PCB design. Altium provides an easy to use interface. My favorite feature is the ability to add design constraints to my PCB layout to ensure I am within specification and never second guess my work. With proper setup, my layouts can be flawless. I use this software every day and still find new ways that altium helps elevate my designs. The cloud features are great and allow me to track any design updates as well as go back on revisions if i need to. The ease of implenting my designs and exporting them to manufucturers is great. I am able to integrate the manufacturer into altium which allows for easy access to my fab files.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Some of the menus within altium can be hard to navigate. My least favorite feature is the project releaser feature. While it has great functionality, I find it confusing and convoluded. I also dislike the the fact that I cannot change the name of my releases. Once you make your intiil release you are stuck with that name.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use Altium for all of my PCB designs. There is no reason to use anything else. Altium is in-depth and easy to use.

  ### 9. Altium Designer Review

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 13, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

I enjoyed learning Altium Designer and it was easy to learn with the amount of resources that are offered with Altium Education. I was able to learn the software and am able to distinguish myself from others with a certificate given in Altium Education.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I really like Altium Designer but I think it would be great if the rules menu was redone to make things a bit more clear. There are a lot of design rules and it is daunting to go through all of those. Maybe if there was more detail and explanation of the design rules it wouldn't be as tedious.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I really like that Altium Designer has incorporated automatic solvers in the software. Things like impedance match making or differential pairs when pcb designing.

  ### 10. Great CAD tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 27, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

What I like most about Altium is its intuitive interface, powerful design tools, and seamless integration for PCB design, which streamlines workflows and enhances productivity, making complex projects manageable and efficient to execute.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

What I dislike about Altium is that it does not allow modifying PCB library footprints directly from a design. It should enable opening the original logic symbol or footprint and updating it seamlessly.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Design all sort of modules

  ### 11. Great Way of collaborating and working with teams on projects

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Aayush P. | AVP Hardware Engineering, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 09, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium 365 gave us the ability to work in colabration with teams. It helped us to share projects at a single space, review schematics, mark changes and comments directly in the schematic space which gets updated at designer end in Altium Desktop. It also helped to keep files organised and manage project backups and releases.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

When using altium 365, we sometimes get a error message saying connecting at Altium Desktop app, and when that is happening the whole UI hangs and I am unable to do anything on desktop app.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It solved our problem for storage of project files and allowing us to view them from anywhere without the need of Altium Destop App.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Aayush. We're glad to hear that Altium 365 has been beneficial for collaborating with teams and managing project files. We appreciate your feedback about the error message and hanging UI. Our team is constantly working to improve the user experience, and we will investigate this issue further to ensure a smoother workflow for you.

  ### 12. Altium 365 Has its ups and downs, but overall is a Great product

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Dorian R. | Administrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

As an electronics engineer, Altium 365 is a great tool for me. Overall I like the program, I'd say it is the easiest ECAD tool I have used thus far. What I liked the most is that, it helps designers to collaborate in real time with other designers and mentors during the project phase, and also allows supervisors to give real time feedback for the designs being done.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

What I liked the least about Altium 365 is that it takes time to fully understand the features that Altium 365 provides. There aren't many online and free resources to learn the tool and we would like the opportunity to learn more about them.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

For us, we benifit from the large component database. It really saves us a lot of time from switching and finding alternatives. Altium was very useful during component shortages during covid, and allowed us to quickly and efficiently make design updates on the fly and we continue to use it still.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Dorian. It's great to hear that Altium 365's large component database has been beneficial for you, especially during component shortages. We're committed to providing valuable solutions for our users' design needs. Thank you for sharing your feedback.

  ### 13. Good experience with Altium

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Finding good example and help nad training  online

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Too many details that need to be understood

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Designing complicated multilayer PCB without any donflict

  ### 14. Altium is great for our robotics team!

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 06, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

I really love how everything in Altium is integrated with Altium 365. It makes it super easy for source control, and working with other people. Aditionally, the design rule checks as well as the other things that Altium does automatically is super helpful when designing a board to make sure that it is going to work when you order it. Our robotics team operates on a very tight schedule, and we often don't have time for a board to not work correctly. I have designed numerous boards in Altium, and none of them have ever failed due to all of the features Altium provides.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

What I dislike most about Altium is the cost. We are super lucky to have been sponsored by Altium in order to get a few licences for our team, as our annual budget is much less than a single seat! I understand that Altium is a very professional software, but even when working with the Altium support people we found it difficult to get more than one licence for our team. Much like how Dassault Systemes sponsors all FIRST Robotics Teams 40 Solidworks licences, it would be amazing if Altium would to the same so we can learn proffesional software before going into industry jobs.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Electronics modules that can be bough off-the-shelf for robots of our scale can be incredibly expensive, and Altium helps us build the individual components into our designs. We use Altium to design PCBs for sensors and LEDs, at a much lower cost than if we were to buy as many modules as we do components. FIRST Robotics is also education based, so the fact that we get to learn how to use industry tools in high school is really amazing!

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> We're thrilled to hear that Altium Designer has been a valuable tool for your robotics team! The integration with Altium 365 and the design rule checks are indeed powerful features for collaborative and error-free PCB design. We understand your concern about the cost, and we're continuously exploring ways to make our software more accessible to educational institutions and teams like yours. Thank you for sharing your experience with us!

  ### 15. Good tool for collaboration and live editing

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Insurance | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 14, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Better Collaboration between multiple teams on the project and quite useful for live editing 

Access flexibility and implementing a wide range of design rules which are checked accurately

Support capabilities to ERP systems through CSV component database import and streamlining pcb design processes.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

It can be challenging to get the hang of it, particularly with the interfaces. Required a time investment to fully understand.

Expensive and occasional tool Slowness

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Better collaboration between project teams and live editing

  ### 16. Switched from NI

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Logan W. | Chief of Security, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 02, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

We switched over from the NI Circuit Design suite a few years ago for a number of reasons, some of which are Altium's wider compatibility with other CAD, the large component database that continues to be updated, better simulation and more tools, and overall just a significantly more functional array of options.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The learning curve and complexity is very intimidating at first. Luckily, there is a large database of tutorials and instructions online. Unfortunately, half of the tutorials I have found are for an older version of Altium, and the link to the newer database often leads to a somewhat unrelated tutorial which doesn't answer my question. But there isn't anything I haven't been able to figure out a solution or workaround for yet!

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

The large component database saves a lot of time switching and finding alternatives. This was very useful during component shortages during covid, and allowed us to quickly and efficiently make design updates.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Logan. Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium 365. We appreciate your feedback about the learning curve and complexity, and we're committed to providing comprehensive and up-to-date tutorials to assist our users in navigating the platform more effectively. We're pleased to hear that the large component database has been beneficial to you, especially during component shortages.

  ### 17. Altium - User experience

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Łukasz K. | Battery Systems Mechanical Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium 365 allows for cooperation between electronic and mechanical teams in companies and student teams. It makes sharing necessary documentation like 3D models very easy and quickly accesible which allows for quicker integration of PCBs in mechanical projects. The possibility of having the whole documentation of electronic project in explorer allows for frequent check-ups. The new MCAD CoDesigner also makes sharing files much faster then before.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I'd like to see 3D harness module integrated in the Altium workspace to provide better quality documentation than in standard CAD harness aplications.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Sharing PCB CAD data between different teems

  ### 18. Altium Designer, The best PCB design software I have used.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium has some of the best features on the market, I have used many other alternatives but settled on Altium as it is the most intuitive to use. I use Altium pretty much every day.  The manufacturing part search is the most amazing feature I have used. Another amazing aspect of Altium is the huge library of useful plugins. Support is amazing when using Altium, when starting to use Altium you are presented with practically unlimited guides are resources on how to use it. Altium is also very easy so implement in a company thanks to its many management features.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

At times Altium can be slow and painful to use, especially on a slower internet connection. Altium can also be fairly hard to run on lower-end devices. The lack of support for macOS is very frustrating at times as I use both a mac and PC during my day.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium allows me to easily manage everyone else working on a project with me to make sure everything goes smoothly.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Thank you for your positive review of Altium Designer! We're glad to hear that you find it intuitive to use and appreciate the manufacturing part search and library of plugins. We're committed to enhancing the user experience and addressing compatibility issues. We're pleased to hear how Altium has helped you manage your project effectively.

  ### 19. Hands down the best collaborative ECAD system

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Kobey  R. | Avionics Vice Lead, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

With a team of 20-30 engineers, being able to work together simultaneously, give feedback, share common components and schematics and easily export for manufacturing, altium 365 offers the most well rounded solution to all of our ECAD problems

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

There are very few downsides, however we have occasionally experienced outages of our 365 workspace, and generally support were quick to help but there are times it was down for a longer period without help

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Prior to altium, we didn't use a proper system for managing version control, instead people would work locally and use a Git library of components. Now everything is integrated which ensures consistency across all projects

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Kobey. We're thrilled to hear that Altium 365 has been the best collaborative ECAD system for your team of engineers. We appreciate your feedback and are continuously working to improve our services.

  ### 20. Altium the tool of almost every job.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Zachary S. | Electrical & Computer Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium has the widest range of parts included in their library with the ability to easily add new ones. Easy to integrate into any workflow.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

When first using Altium, all the settings and functions are a little overwhelming and hard to use. With a few quick Google searches and Altium's tutorials I was able to master the program quickly.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium solves the problems of having to import every part you may come across into your project. Their giant library almost always has the part I'm looking at. Altium also allows for easy integration with 3D CAD software, making the design process for a full product that much easier.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Zachary. We're glad to hear that you find Altium 365's library extensive and easy to integrate into your workflow. We strive to provide a wide range of parts to make the design process more efficient for our users. Thank you for sharing your feedback!

  ### 21. Student

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Jake H. | Student, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 12, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Very easy to use, can collobate well with the team. Brilliant verisipn control, Easy to understand to troubleshoot.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Version control can break sometimes, cannot edit designs from the online viewer

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It allows effective design of pcbs to produce high quality products for formula student.

  ### 22. Awesome experience

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Luigi L. | Electronic engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 12, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

It's easy to use from the schematic to the layout

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Only the subdle changes from one version to the previous ones

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It's a very fast tool and it's very easy to get your PCB done in a relatively small amount of time.

  ### 23. Simple to use and all in one

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 27, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium allows me to easily bring the design files to a manufacturable product. The integration with Draftsman and the AutoBOM allow for manufacturing documents to be made with ease.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

There are times that the sheer amount of possibilites within altium can become confusing and difficult to utilize. It may be a training thing, but some menus are difficult to navigate.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Allows for us to build in house PCBA designs, integrating the schematic, pcb, and manufacturing files all in one.

  ### 24. Very intuitive workflow and comprehensive layout tools

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Aviation & Aerospace | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 27, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

The conversion from a schematic to a skeleton layout is very useful and allows me to come out with a layout before routing the PCB. I also value the use of simulation and BOM tools.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I prefer the original rules manager instead of the new constraint manager as I found the categories to be laid out more intuitively.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We are designing our own PCBs which require high power, high efficiency buck converter circuits and several PWM and power outputs at different voltages, which is a circuit not readily available online. Altium allows us to construct a single PCB which has all these functions and allows us to compare costs compared to sourcing these individual components commercially. We have saved money by integrating all functions into a single board.

  ### 25. A Complex Yet Powerful Tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Nicholas D. | Bartender, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 06, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Once you get the shortcuts down, moving through documents and working on designs is a breeze. There are countless ways for users to take advantage of what Altium has to offer under the surface.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

For new PCB designers, I would not recommend Altium due to the steep learning curve of the integrated tools. The software may feel clunky and slow for someone who doesn't know what they are looking for.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Working in an enterprise evnironment, I find the integrated cloud server features truly phenomenal and quite unique to Altium. It is easier than ever for my coworkers to collaborate on and review my work.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Nicholas. We're glad to hear that you find Altium Designer to be a powerful tool once you've mastered the shortcuts. We understand that the learning curve can be steep for new users, and we're continuously working to improve the user experience.

  ### 26. Modern software that makes PCB design fun

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Medical Devices | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 28, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

The modern UI, making it feel good to draw schematics and design PCBs, and the extensive online documentation

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The fact that it has become a bit slow as of late

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

High-quality PCB design with manufacturing files that we can trust

  ### 27. An all-in-one powerful software for PCB design

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andrea Z. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 03, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Me and my team use AD on a daily basis to design FPGA based complex design with DDR memories and up to 10Gbps high speed lines with little effort.

Integration of schematic and PCB design is well handled and very easy to understand. I like the fact that I had the possibility to visually check the changes made in component library compared with the actual design I'm working on and also the ability to exclude some of them from the update process (both PCB and schematic).

3D view is amazing and well suited to our needs. 

We often use rigid-flex boards, and this is also handled very well, both in stack up manager, rules and 3D view (bendings...).

We use database libraries made internally, with a little web based front end made by me. I think this is a nice solution if you want to have all the control possible on your components parameters. 
I find the parameter manager very handy when you want to see if some component lack of some mandatory information (like our company part number).

Regarding the PCB design, we often use IPC wizard to create new components footprints and 3D models since its quite accurate and shortens the development time.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The differential routing tool has several bugs and quirks, even if you enable the "ignore obstacle" option, which should be the most straightforward for the software. Especially when you need to edit existing tracks it often make unwanted loops or artifacts, forcing me to delete an entire section and make it again from scratch. This is very annoying when using length matched tracks in high speed designs.

Lack of support for staggered micro-vias (aka not stacked, but in a "ladder-like" configuration), which are better suited for most PCB manufacturer processes.

The PCB CRC check often gives false-positives about "boundary" rules, like when you have arcs in your board shape and polygon pours limited by those arcs or when you cross from a rigid to a flex part of the board with impedance controlled tracks (there's often a change of width, correct, which is marked as an error by AD).

Using component variants with same footprint/schematic but different 3d model was very frustrating since there was a bug in the PCB editor which created a lot of copies of the same component. Now it seems solved, but we were forced to re-make all the projects affected with the last version of AD.

The documentation of the scripting language (i used DelphiScript since I thought it was the most supported from AD, especially older versions...) is TERRIBLE. Very hard to navigate, lack a lot of information and is basically rubbish. I had to search for script made by others and with A LOT of trial and error managed to design some of them (we used them in order to export the BoM to our company ERP).

Customer support is quite responsive, but more than once didn't solve my issues with bugs in: multi-part components handling with variants and scripts in delphi.

When exporting with the Project Releaser, if you use the specific CurrentDate variable in the file name, this doesn't work. (e.g. [OutputPath][ProjectName][CurrentDate].zip generates a file like "mypath/myprojectname.zip" without the current date, which we need to enter manually every time)

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Me and my team use AD on a daily basis to design FPGA based complex design with DDR memories and up to 10Gbps high speed lines with little effort.
Basically we most use:
- components generation for database libraries
- schematic design
- PCB design (rigid-flex, HDI, # of layer between 6 and 16)
- PCB rule management
- stackup manager (I like a lot the Via management)
- high speed design (FPGA, 10G ethernet PHY's, high speed industrial image sensors)
- controlled impedence tracks
- Project Releaser
- variants
- 3d view to check for clearance with mechanical components (or export the model and check directly in SolidWorks)

  ### 28. Very Easy to Use and Comprehensive

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium Designer is amazing!
- The web viewer is very convenient when I want to quickly show my design to a colleague
- The software is incredibly optimized, it runs smoothly on my less-capable devices
- The schematic and PCB editors are very intuitive and easy to use

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

There are a few minor nitpicks:
- Creating library components is very repetitive and complicated, there are definitely ways to streamline the process
- There's no ability to replace "manufacturer part search" components, which makes me have to redo my layout and routing when I do need to replace them
- Some "manufacturer part search" components don't come with ECAD files when they are actually readily available online

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I'm using Altium Designer to collaboratively design my PCB boards. It is an industry-standard tool with a plethora of resources, making it easy to solve technical issues.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> We're glad to hear that you find Altium Designer easy to use and comprehensive! The web viewer and optimization are features we're proud of. We appreciate your feedback on creating library components and the ability to replace manufacturer part search components. We're constantly working to improve our software and will take your comments into consideration.

  ### 29. Altium Designer was very user-friendly, making PCB design smooth and efficient

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

It is easy to learn and it is very user friendly.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I had difficulty to find many components from Altium Library Loader V2.2.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I designed the PCB that I needed for the development of a device.

  ### 30. The Best Online Schematic and PCB Tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Rhys D. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

I love the ability to easily share designs with both colleagues and external businesses. The data management tools are great for controlling our design data in a way that's compliant with our quality system. The customer support team are usually excellent, often resolving issues within days of raising them. Our electronics design team use Altium 365 almost every day, and have never encountered any issues with their servers.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The increased cost of the "enterprise" license for the feature upgrades that are included with this level are impossible to justify to the business. As our Altium 365 admin, I'd like to make use of some of the enterprise features, but the jump in cost from "Pro" to "Enterprise" is unjustifiable for a business of our size.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium 365 allows us to manage PCB design data with ease, mainly through their release and lifecycle management tools. The design tool itself is the most effective schematic/PCB design tool I've used (having been doing electronics design for over 10 years), and massively reduces the time it takes me to complete design activities. I have implemented the lifecycle management tools in our workspace and this is now a part of our official internal design process, which makes it much easier to comply with our quality system.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Rhys! We're glad to hear that Altium 365 has been effective in managing your PCB design data and has made it easier to comply with your quality system. We're also pleased that our customer support team has been able to resolve your issues in a timely manner. We understand your concerns about cost and we appreciate your feedback on this matter. Thank you for sharing your experience!

  ### 31. Altium 365 is a game changer, in the everchanging electrification industry

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Husein K. | Power Electronics Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium 365 emerges as a true game-changer for the ever-evolving electrification industry. This cloud-based platform seamlessly integrates design, collaboration, and data management tools, empowering engineers and designers to meet the challenges of modern electronics development head-on

By offering real-time collaboration features, Altium 365 breaks down geographical barriers, allowing teams to work together efficiently regardless of their location. This is particularly crucial in today's global marketplace, where speed and agility are paramount.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I cannot seamlessly edit schematics with other contributers.

Altium not available on Apple Mac

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

PCB designj

  ### 32. Excellent software and support

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Alessandro A. | PHD Candidate, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 25, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium has a great interface that provides the user with all they need for PCB design. You can define your board however you want based on your needs and limits with just a few clicks. There is an automatic implementation of parts, where if you need a specific component you can just drag and drop it in the design. Great simulation tools and workspace environment. I love that no matter the level of experience, Altium provides you with all the tools to step by step learn PCB design.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Not much honestly. It takes sometime to learn but it provides all the tools to do so.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Designing boards quickly, producing BOM, quickly importing components in the design and simulating the overall circuit.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Alessandro. It's great to hear that Altium 365 is helping you design boards quickly, manage BOM, import components, and simulate circuits! We appreciate your feedback and are committed to continuously improving our software to meet your needs.

  ### 33. Altium is simple yet complex.

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Semiconductors | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 10, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium Designer is simple and effiecient to use. Adding notes, dimensions, arrows, etc. are all easy things to do. The complex libraries also allow for collorbation between users and even across sites.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

It can be difficult to edit title blocks and basic information in Altium. Some of my designs are simple assemblies and not schematics, yet Altium designates them all as schematics.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium helps me solve some of our documentations problems. Documents designs and assemblies in Altium beneifts the company for years to come.

  ### 34. Easy to share & use

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Ricardo N. | Coordenador de Hardware, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Provide access to major tools of Altium without the need of the software background in the PC. Easy to share with stakeholders that need access and providing an extra cloud / security server.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The idea to combine web-application and cloud repository is great, but could be more flexible, in our company we use the web-application benefits but the cloud and repository is still not plenty used. There is a big history in azure repositories and we do not want to lose it, so we are design in Azure and only in final releases we share in 365 plataform.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

A365 provide a web-client that is easy to use and help any non-skilled person of the PCB mainstream to use and access the data. In our company there are areas that can't share the same network access and before A365 we always have troubles with outside areas of the R&D find the updated information since we do not control how do they manage our files there. The webclient ambient with cloud service makes this easy to achieve.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Ricardo! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium 365. We're pleased to hear that it's helping you provide access to important tools without the need for extensive software background. We understand your feedback about the flexibility of the cloud repository and the integration with Azure repositories, and we will take this into consideration for future improvements.

  ### 35. PCB design software with every feature I need from start to finish

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Gustav J. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

I have been a user of Altium Designer for some time now, where during some periods I used it for long sessions  multiple times per day. 

I found Altium to be very capable, with every tool for the job along the design process. The design rules served both as a check that everything was right, but also guided the designs and placements according to these rules. The latter, although it may seem basic, is not something I have found implemented in software I have used for other purposes/industries before, so this was a pleasant suprise. 


The program was overwhelming at first due to the vastness of features and settings, but later on this vastness is something I appreciated as I didn't find myself limited by the program.

The online libary feature ("Manufacturer Part Search") is great and I have found that almost every commercially available component can be found here (that I have used), from many different suppliers. This helps a lot when searching for footprints, just select a component, instead of having to download files by searching on the web.

The walk-through tutorials both in video format and text have been of great use.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Creating your own component libary from the online libary is a bit clunky unless you are an Altium 365 workspace user, where it seems to be pretty seamless. 

I experienced soem minor bugs when updating the pcb from schematic, and when using the camtastic tool to export drill files. The teardrop fillet feature does also not consistently recognize all T-junctions so some had to be done manually.

The program is a bit slow sometimes on the systems I have tested it on, but this could possibly be attributed to not having access to high end hardware.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium makes us able to complete pcb-designs for manufacturing pcb's in our lab.

  ### 36. A great Tool for Everyone

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Nathan B. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 26, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

The Ability to view Project data online and share that data with Colleauges and Fabrication/Assembly houses is great. It allows for easy peer reviews from colleauges with out the need for additonal Altium licenses as they can view and comment on a project Via the Altium 365 website. 

Using the Altium 365 server for component libraries allows for live data on Component Stock, prices and Lifecycle status which is great for component selection and BOM Generation.

Customer Support has been great when dealing with Altium and Altium 365. Fast and Efficient Support with plenty of online documentation.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

We have encountered a few issues with the assembly function within Altium 365. Missing components and some visual Glitches. The Problem Projects were imported into Altium from a different Design system so the issues are likely from that.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium 365 is assisting in multiple areas of our business. 

It allows us to work with our mechanical team with the MCAD Co-designer tool. All that is required is for the Mechanical Team to create a Altium 365 Account and then PCB data can be pushed and pulled between Altium and the Maechanical Design System. We have used this function on multiple projects and it is seamless and easy to use feature.

The Altium 365 and Octopart partnership allows live data to be tracked for Component Stocks and Prices. This allows us to generate DLDMs and Estimated PCB Costs at the click of a button during Product feasibility.

We also build prototype PCBs inhouse. The Assembly assistant on Altium 365 allows our technicians to access the design data without using a Atlium License. They can access all PCB data required for a build and with Altium 365s assistant speeding up the build process.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Nathan. We're glad to hear that you are enjoying the ability to view and share project data online, as well as the live component library feature. We apologize for the issues you've encountered with the assembly function and missing components. Our team is constantly working to improve the platform, and we appreciate your feedback.

  ### 37. An EE Student's Perspective on Altium 365

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 29, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

I love the Manufacturer Parts Search. It is very convienient to filter out what parts I need and be able to import all the models without downloading anything. Plus, the links to the different suppliers are great too.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I dislike how counterproductive the UI is. I like to work on just my laptop, but I haven't figured out how to pan without using an external mouse.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It has a Git-like workflow to track changes to PCBs made by multiple collaborators.
It has support for many common PCB part models, and you can make custom footprints for unconventional parts.
As a student, I like using it because I know Altium 365 is used in industry, so it is preparing me for the real world.

  ### 38. design capturing phase of electric inverter system in automotive application

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Rodrigo D. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 19, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Valispace is very easy to use. Even the "admin" space is not that much of complexity. In the past, I used other requirement capturing tool which was way more complex.

The flexibility of Valispace is also a plus. I can have any field I require and can easily implent with "few" clicks.

I am working with hardware, and having an abstraction view using the components module makes the process of requirements capturing less painful.

Imports and exports to Excel-based documents is quite easy and straight forward.

Technical support is awsome.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

I am missing a straight forward way to use templates.

I am missing a simple way to have a FMEA implemented in the system.

Some modifications in my data requires a refresh of the broser after performing them. This is anoying and unrelyable.

I am missing a integration with FMEA/FuSa tools.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Valispace is integrating tools, location, files related with requirements in a single platform.

  ### 39. A centralized place to manage All your Projects.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Mohamed R. | Design Group Manager/ R&D Department, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 28, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Saving and managing Projects, in an easy, clean, and direct way.
Team Management, Tasks Management, 
One click and your project is saved to the cloud.
I am a huge fan of Assembly Assitant,
Great Customer Support.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

The only downside of Altium365 is the Naming scheme for Parts and footprints, using a special naming instead of the Component MPN is a bit confusing.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Integrating Both Mechanical and Electrical Sides in one Project is extremely helpful, it saved My team a huge amount of work and time.

  ### 40. Altium Designer is Perfect Tool for PCB Design Engineer

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Rahul P. | Research Assistant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 20, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Things Which I like About Altium 365 are Component Management, Amazing UI, Real Time Collaboration / Cloud Based Collabortion.
Altium 365 is very powerful and must have tool for PCB Design Engineer. It makes PCB Design Fun . Making Multilayer PCB starting from Schematic Capture, Making your own Components, Creating layout, Performing Design Checks, Placement and Routing whole process is fun and amazing with Altium 365.
Apart from this customer support is good as well.
Thank you

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

sometimes we face issue with updates. Apart from this its amazing tool

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I have Masters in Electrical Engineering. I am passionate about Design. As a self learner I have Designed Various multilayer PCB using Altium 365. Its complex yet amazing process and with Altium 365 learning is Fun.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Rahul. We're thrilled to hear that you're enjoying Altium 365's component management, UI, and real-time collaboration features. We appreciate your feedback and are glad to hear that our tool has made PCB design fun for you!

  ### 41. Altium is a very easy, intuitive and smart tool to use for creative PCBs

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** giuseppe t. | PCB Design Leader / RF designer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

platform with all tools integrated to fast PCB design and verification.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

there are some suggestions that I send to open ticket but nobody reply to me. Suggestion could be usefull to the PCB designer. It is important to take into account the suggestion of end user.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

there aren't problem solved. Instead there are a lot of PCBs made and designed without mistakes

  ### 42. 3 months user experience on Altium designer.

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

The fact that the components can be easily loaded into the schematics through samacsys,or snapEDA library loaders. Automatic calculation of width during impedance matching.(helped me during RF routing)

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

During placing of the components and routing for the layout of the PCB especially RF routing....I feel there can be more convenient way for help in RF routing.I am unable to add my co-workers to the workspace since a week...so that we can work together(Tried all ways but couldn't Crack it),any easy and convenient way for giving editing access(like in Google apps)would help.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It is more convenient and fully equipped software for designing and fabrication of PCB...hence its a great plus point for me to have knowledge about the software.

  ### 43. Altium: A Game-Changer for PCB Design

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Ricardo  A. | R&amp;D engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 19, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

What I like best about Altium Designer is how it combines a powerful set of tools with a user-friendly interface. It makes designing PCBs easier with features like real-time design rule checking and an intuitive layout editor.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

What I dislike about Altium Designer is that it can be quite pricey, which might be a stretch for smaller teams or individual users. Additionally, while it’s powerful, the software can be a bit complex and have a steep learning curve, especially if you’re new to PCB design.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium Designer solves the problem of having to juggle multiple tools for PCB design by providing an all-in-one solution. It integrates schematic capture, PCB layout, and simulation into a single platform, which simplifies the design process and keeps everything organized.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Ricardo. Thank you for highlighting the benefits of Altium Designer in simplifying the PCB design process. We aim to continue providing an integrated platform that streamlines the design workflow for our users. We appreciate your feedback!

  ### 44. An amazing but expensive piece of software

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 29, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium is in my experience the best EDA software. It has all the features you need while being extremely stable. I would recommend Altium to everyone. It may not be easy to navigate some menus due to amount of settings available but it is worth it in the end. Altium provides flexible and well-working solutions to all problems.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

It is not easy to learn. I feel like Altium Education and Documentation need improvement. It may be useful to add Interactive tutorials to the software. I find libraries problematic. While the built-in libraries cover most of the components the 3rd party addons for converting libraries to Altium's format are broken. I believe that Altium could use a better library import utility. Also pricing for Altium products is not flexible. Many companies choose other solutions due to high prices. I believe that Altium should have a more basic tier for small companies

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I have never worked at a company big enough to fully utilize Altium 365. Cloud-based PCB design is not useful for small companies/ small projects. If pricing was more flexible, smaller companies would be compelled to use more Altium products.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback on Altium 365. We are thrilled to hear that you find it to be the best EDA software with stable features. We appreciate your suggestions for improvement, especially regarding education, documentation, and library management. Your input is valuable to us as we strive to enhance the user experience. We will definitely consider your feedback for future updates. If you have any specific issues or questions, please feel free to reach out to our support team https://www.altium.com/support. We are here to assist you and ensure you have a positive experience with Altium 365. Thank you for choosing Altium!

  ### 45. Great tool for system engineering

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Jordan C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 10, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Valispace is a great tool for system engineering. It is easy to use and implement in your pipeline and is made according to industry standards. We use it daily mainly for our requirement management and as a single point of truth for our technical budgets. Those two features are great! The AI tool to help you redact requirements is also an asset as it help you spend less time on the redaction while focusing on the true value of the requirements.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

There is still work to be done on the user interface to make it user-friendly. It can be slow sometimes and not easy to handle, sometimes also too constraining. It could be improved by giving more freedom to the user. Even if they are great ideas, we are not using some features because of that like document writing and the test features. If it was more versatile and stable it could avoid us using other tools for the rest of our work.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Having a single point of truth for both requirement and MBSE that are linked together.

  ### 46. Great Solution

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Catherine C. | PCB Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium is a great resource. The number of features make it awesome when designing a PCB. It helps you without limiting the possibilites.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

It can be challenging to learn, especially for students or recent graduates.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It helps prevent potential issues in a PCB design with its in-depth rules check. This saves us time and money.

  ### 47. Feels difficult at first, but very complete software that becomes easy to use

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 13, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

There is a very rich feature set, and amazing documentation.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

It does not run natively on Macs with apple silicon. This is super unfortunate because i need to carry around a windows laptop to use the software. I know many of my friends feel the same way.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It allows me to make professional grade PCBs with ease.

  ### 48. A very good tool for professional PCB-Design

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 11, 2024

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Altium is rather easy to handle and the controls can all be managed through Shortcut-Keys. With design rules you can easily implement the first instance of a Project. Furthermore, the videos for the first use Customer Support are very handy. Even though there are very much videos and explanations, I am still missing the explanation videos for specific tools. The integration of the pcb to 3D-Model is a little more complicated due to the need to install a package for yourself but the rest is easy again.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

That there is no License for private use. Especially when you want to make own Project to keep the usage frequency at a certain level.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

First and foremost it is helping me understand the principles of PCB-Design and all the features that Altium Designer features.

  ### 49. 10/10 Platform.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 05, 2025

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

Upsides using Altium designer are many as per experience. The features that I found useful for our projects are 3d view of boards.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

Great support from team. 
All good.
Easy to use.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Simulation of newly designed circuits.

  ### 50. The best CAD package for any electronics team

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Will M. | Electronic Design Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 25, 2023

**What do you like best about Altium Develop?**

The power of the tool when designing higher speed with embedded PCBs allows for a far greater chance of right first time. The ability to automatically calculate signal propagation delay based on the PCB stack-up and create signal widths to target impedances saves huge amounts of time and potential errors when making these calculations by hand. The MCAD co-design features are brilliant for working and integrating with mechanical teams when validation and adjustments need to be made in order to satisfy mechanical constraints. Switching over from other CAD products was the easiest experience I have had with CAD products, the 365 library made implementing new designs very easy.

**What do you dislike about Altium Develop?**

As I use Altium most days at work there are a few issues that you sometimes notice, on one of the recent updates performance did take a hit. However, this was fixed quickly, as are most issues after opening support tickets.

**What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Altium is used for the design of all electronic products that are designed in-house. THe high-speed design features have allowed us to design products not only ourselves but also faster than before.


## Altium Develop Discussions
  - [How to import and convert the OrCAD (allegro) GERBER to Altium PCB file? (reverse OrCAD GERBER to Altium PCB )?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-to-import-and-convert-the-orcad-allegro-gerber-to-altium-pcb-file-reverse-orcad-gerber-to-altium-pcb) - 2 comments, 1 upvote
  - [How do I format symbol parameters from a database library?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-do-i-format-symbol-parameters-from-a-database-library) - 1 comment, 1 upvote
  - [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
  - [How do I write scripts for example..   transform a jpeg to a logo on a silk layer.](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13888-how-do-i-write-scripts-for-example-transform-a-jpeg-to-a-logo-on-a-silk-layer) - 2 comments, 1 upvote
  - [What is Altium 365 used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-altium-365-used-for) - 2 comments

- [View Altium Develop pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-develop/reviews?page=4&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-22+14%3A51%3A48+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=3e887902-2c2c-4428-bbc4-308604961bde&secure%5Btoken%5D=495580b81e29ff4c8125c814883fe1048b5266cf8b512fef47fb6119d34c0b4c&format=llm_user)
## Altium Develop Integrations
  - [Google Drive &amp; Docs for Confluence](https://www.g2.com/products/google-drive-docs-for-confluence/reviews)
  - [Jira](https://www.g2.com/products/jira/reviews)
  - [Know Your Customer](https://www.g2.com/products/know-your-customer/reviews)
  - [Microsoft Access](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-access/reviews)
  - [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews)
  - [Oracle Database](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-database/reviews)
  - [Power Analyzer](https://www.g2.com/products/power-analyzer/reviews)
  - [SAS/OR](https://www.g2.com/products/sas-or/reviews)

## Altium Develop Features
**Design**
- Drawing
- Modeling
- Visualize 
- Rendering

**Metadata**
- Repository

**Design**
- PCB layout editing
- Schematic editor

**Tools - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)**
- 3D/solid modeling Tools
- Rendering Tools
- Drawing Tools
- Editing Tools
- Text Editing Tools

**Requirements Authoring and Structure - Requirements Management**
- Structured Requirements Authoring
- Hierarchical Requirements Organization

**Compliance and Governance - Requirement Management**
- Regulated Industry Standards Support

**Edit**
- File Import 
- Push/Pull
- Views
- Grips 

**Data Management**
- Version Control

**Tools**
- 3D modeling tools
- Component placement

**Administration**
- Requirements Listing
- Centralized Information
- Traceability

**File Options - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)**
- Export Files
- Import Files
- File Interoperability
- Backwards compatibility
- File size

**Collaboration and Review - Requirements Management**
- Review and Approval Workflows
- Role-Based Access Control

**Collaboration**
- Annotate
- Documentation 
- Data Extract

**Library**
- Component libraries

**Communication**
- Stakeholder Communication
- Internal Communication Enablement

**Customization - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)**
- Custom Scripts
- Custom Menus
- Custom Interface

**Role-Based Access Co - Requirements Management**
- Baselining

**Platform**
- Board size
- Layers

**Procedural**
- Automated Creation & Testing

**Environment - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)**
- Hardware support
- Task-based interfaces
- Manage Multiple Profiles
- Command Clarity

**Traceability - Requirements Management**
- Bidirectional Traceability
- Impact Analysis
- Traceability Matrix Generation

**Customization**
- Custom interface

**AI Traceability - Requirements Management**
- Suspect Link Detection

**Integration - Requirements Management**
- ALM and Project Management Tool Integration

**Change Management and Version Control - Requirements Management**
- Complete Audit Trail

## Top Altium Develop Alternatives
  - [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (509 reviews)
  - [AutoCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/autocad/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (1,836 reviews)
  - [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (682 reviews)

