---
title: Altium Develop Reviews
meta_title: 'Altium Develop Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 1050 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: 1050
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-08-12'
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:** 1,050
## 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 value the **intuitive ease of use** of Altium Develop, enhancing their PCB design efficiency and workflow. (272 reviews)
- Users love the **extensive collaboration features** of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and speeding up design processes. (218 reviews)
- Users appreciate the **user-friendly interface** of Altium Designer, praising its ease of use and seamless integration. (145 reviews)
- Users value the **collaborative environment** of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork during design and prototype testing. (136 reviews)
- Users praise Altium Develop for its **efficiency** , with streamlined workflows and quick project setup enhancing productivity. (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** with Altium Develop, requiring considerable time to gain proficiency. (93 reviews)
- Users find Altium Develop **expensive** , which hinders access for hobbyists and beginners trying to enter the ecosystem. (91 reviews)
- Users find Altium Develop's **missing features** frustrating, limiting options for editing and project management capabilities. (65 reviews)
- Users find the **complex interface** challenging, needing more intuitive menus and tutorials for better usability. (57 reviews)
- Users experience **slow performance** with Altium Develop, particularly during internet-dependent tasks and project loading times. (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. Streamlined Collaboration and Version Control Made Easy

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Efren Z. | Product Support and Design Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 18, 2026

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

What I consider the most helpful thing about Altium Develop is the built-in version control and structured collaboration it brings to hardware design. It makes it much easier to track changes, manage revisions, and see who modified what without relying on manual file naming or shared drives.

I don’t have to worry about losing changes, overwriting someone else’s work, or digging through old file versions to figure out what happened. Everything is tracked clearly, and collaboration feels more organized. Since it works directly within Altium Designer through Altium 365, it feels like a seamless part of the design process rather than an extra tool to maintain. Overall, it just makes teamwork smoother and reduces the friction that usually comes with managing complex PCB projects.

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

One thing I don’t like about Altium Designer is that it can feel heavy and complex, especially for new users. The learning curve is steep, and sometimes simple tasks take multiple steps if you’re not already familiar with the software.

Another downside is that bugs can sometimes appear with no clear way to fix them, and there isn’t much information or guidance available to resolve these issues.

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

Altium Develop helps eliminate version confusion and makes collaboration much easier. It keeps track of changes, so I can always see who did what, and it speeds up design reviews and the process of getting feedback. Overall, it makes working on PCB projects feel less stressful, more organized, and easier to manage.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Develop's version control and collaboration capabilities. We understand that the learning curve and occasional bugs can be challenging, and we are committed to enhancing the user experience and providing better support for issue resolution. Your feedback is important to us, and we are pleased to hear how Altium Develop has contributed to making your PCB projects more organized and manageable.

  ### 2. Seamless PCB Design and Collaboration, Though Some Workflows Feel Overly Complex

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Tony X. | engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 26, 2026

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

I like Altium Develop best for its seamless integration of design, collaboration, and automation tools that make complex PCB development feel fast and intuitive.

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

I dislike that Altium Develop can feel overly complex at times, making certain workflows slower than they need to be.

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

Altium Develop streamlines multi-discipline PCB workflows by unifying schematic, layout, real‑time collaboration, and automation into one environment, which saves me time, reduces handoff errors, and lets me iterate designs faster.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Tony. Thank you for sharing your feedback on Altium Develop. We're thrilled to hear that you appreciate the seamless integration of design, collaboration, and automation tools that make PCB development fast and intuitive. We understand your concerns about certain workflows feeling overly complex, and we are continuously working to enhance user experience and streamline processes. Your input is valuable in helping us improve our product. If you have any specific areas where you find the complexity challenging, please feel free to reach out to our support team for assistance. We are here to help and ensure you have a smooth experience with Altium Develop. Thank you for choosing Altium Develop for your PCB design needs.

  ### 3. One-Stop Circuit Design with Seamless Altium 365 and Version Control

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** February 17, 2026

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

Altium Develop is a one-stop solution for most of my circuit design needs. It integrates version control and provides centralized access to all my projects through Altium 365, which has been a great way for me to debug and develop my hardware designs.

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

It usually comes with too many options which are overwhelming for a beginner to get started, learning curve is little steep.

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

The ease of hardware development, providing manufacturer provided altium symbols & footprints is the best problem altium is solving and makes me want to use altium more & more. Eagle, kicad and other platforms don't have this so it's really hard to find perfect footprints.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop. We're thrilled to hear that you find it to be a one-stop solution for your circuit design needs and that the integration with Altium 365 has been beneficial for your projects. We understand that the abundance of options can be overwhelming for beginners, and we appreciate your feedback on the learning curve.

We are constantly working to improve user experience and provide resources to help users navigate the platform more efficiently. If you need any assistance with getting started or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our support team. We are here to help you make the most of Altium Develop and ensure a smooth design process. Thank you for choosing Altium!

  ### 4. Simplifies Complex PCB Development

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2026

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

It helped us at Renault to create design, collaboration, and data management at one platform. helping us to reduce time for our time for developing new projects.

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

simpler PCB to Altium PCB tools transition takes time to understand and performance got laggy and stuck when we do on large projects and connections.

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

basic PCB design to collaboration workflow everything is very easy to handle here. revisions are scattered across emails. we can manage PCB layout and version controls here.Sim

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> We're glad to hear that Altium has been helpful in streamlining your design, collaboration, and data management processes. We understand that transitioning from simpler PCB tools to Altium may take some time, and we appreciate your feedback on the performance issues with large projects. We are constantly working to improve our software and will take your comments into consideration for future updates.

  ### 5. Altium has a steep learning curve but very capable for mechanical design integration.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andy M. | Chief Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 06, 2025

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

The MCAD CoDesigner functionality has been very useful for integrating PCB designs into our mechanical 3D models in AutoDesk Inventor, and was a big reason we moved to Altium. The 3D views are very useful within Altium and creating PCB footprints and adding existing STEP files available from many component manufacturers is easy. The OutJob functionality is useful in exporting files. 

The Draftsman documents are very powerful and have saved a significant amount of time in creating and updating production documentation. The layout capability works very well with a lot of configurability.

The ActiveBOM functionality is useful is checking part status and availability and for rolling up BOM cost.

Overall, Altium was an enormous leap from Mentor Graphics PADS (which I used for the previous 15 years), although now there are a number of other alternatives, including at least one open-source alternative that also has impressive capability (I have not explored these in detail).

Electronic design (schematic capture and layout) only makes up 10% of my working hours according to my time logging  (among mechanical design, project planning, as well as customer, sales, and production support), but I am quite productive in Altium compared to my previous workflow. If this was my primary job function, I would be even more comfortable in the software as it is certainly designed with the "power user" in mind, but there are many things I don't remember or haven't needed.

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

The file management and revision control is complex and difficult for a simple file-based guy like me to understand (I only dabble in software so I am not very familiar with digital version control systems) so I'm probably doing it wrong. It's nice to have the online project viewing functionality to be able to share with coworkers who don't have a seat of Altium. 

I haven't figured out how to show manufacturer and MPN on a schematic, outside of the MPN assigned in the "Comment" field of a library component. It seems like this should be easy to pull from the part already set up in the "Part Choices" area.

PCB Outline editing capability is awkward. I usually end up importing from a 3D model but it's not intuitive (I end up needing to look up the process each time I do it). 

Draftsman, while powerful, has limited flexibility in some ways (for instance, I'd like to have control of opacity for hatched shapes so I can show a conformal coat masking area). It would be nice to be able to do some parametric drawing, but it is adequate for what I need. 

Import of files made in PADS (what we transitioned from) is quite difficult, mostly from a component library standpoint. I ended up starting over from scratch in some cases.

We recently added another seat for a new hire, and it was a chore to get him set up and the license assigned (I was confused between roles in the 365 project environment and Altium itself). Support was able to get this sorted out quickly.

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

Altium allows import of 3D models into our mechanical design software, which our previous software could not do. This has greatly improved our electromechanical design process (mechanical components moving past sensors mounted to the PCB, and avoiding collisions between moving parts and large PCB components).

The Draftsman feature has significantly improved our production documentation process.

  ### 6. Effortless Data Transfer from Altium to 3D Modelling Software

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Sawyer K. | Research and Development Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 26, 2026

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

The ease of transferring the data from Altium to a 3D modelling software

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

It is a little difficult and not very intuitive to use the import wizard

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

None that i know of at the moment

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Sawyer. We're glad to hear that you find the data transfer from Altium to 3D modelling software effortless. We appreciate your feedback about the import wizard and will work on improving its usability. 

  ### 7. Starting with Altium

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Mark A. | Embedded System Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2025

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

At first glance, Altium Designer can feel intimidating due to the sheer number of features packed into it. However, once you start exploring its capabilities, you quickly realize how powerful and indispensable it becomes in your workflow. From schematic capture to advanced PCB layout, Altium offers a level of integration and precision that significantly boosts productivity and design quality.

I use it almost every day, which makes it easier and more intuitive to pick up and work with. The interface becomes second nature with regular use, and the workflow feels streamlined once you're familiar with it.

The ease of integration was also a big plus—adding the component library plugin was both helpful and straightforward. Altium makes it easy to incorporate external libraries and resources into your designs, which speeds up development and keeps everything organized.

In terms of ease of use, once you understand the structure, navigating the environment and accessing the tools you need becomes fluid and efficient. And when it comes to implementation, setting up projects and getting started—whether it's a quick prototype or a complex multilayer board—is faster than you’d expect for such a feature-rich platform.

I highly recommend it to anyone serious about taking their PCB design career to the next level. Once you get past the initial learning curve, it becomes an essential part of your engineering toolkit.

I’d also like to highlight the excellent customer support I’ve received. I’ve worked with the Altium support team in Italy, and they’ve consistently responded quickly and professionally. Their assistance has truly made a difference and reflects well on Altium’s commitment to supporting its users.

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

That said, there are some drawbacks—particularly from the perspective of a freelancer. My projects tend to be complex but very focused, and I often only use a small subset of Altium’s full capabilities. Despite this, I still pay a premium for the entire suite, most of which goes unused. A more flexible, modular pricing model would be a huge improvement, especially for independent engineers who don't need every enterprise feature.

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

Altium 365 helps me streamline the entire PCB design process, especially when it comes to calculating track impedances and designing high-quality, professional-looking boards. The built-in tools and simulations save time and reduce guesswork, allowing me to focus more on functionality and design optimization. As a result, I can deliver cleaner layouts and more reliable designs, which ultimately benefits both my workflow and my clients.

  ### 8. Altium designer

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** May 23, 2025

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

I’ve been using Altium Designer for a while now, and honestly, it’s one of the most powerful PCB design tools I’ve worked with. The all-in-one workflow—from schematic to layout to generating manufacturing files—makes it really efficient once you get the hang of it.

What I really like is the intuitive routing tools and the 3D preview, which is super helpful for spotting mechanical issues before prototyping. The component libraries and integration with part suppliers also save a lot of time.

That said, it’s not perfect. The learning curve is steep—especially if you’re new to PCB design—and the software can be a bit heavy on system resources. Also, the price is definitely on the higher side, which might make it hard to justify for smaller projects or hobby use.

Overall, I think Altium is amazing if you’re working on serious or complex designs. It’s professional-grade, but it takes some time (and budget) to fully appreciate.

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

Beginners may find the interface overwhelming at first.

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

Altium 365 solves collaboration and version control issues by letting me share my BQ fuel gauge IC design with teammates in real-time, get feedback faster, and keep everything organized in one place.

  ### 9. A great assistant for PCB layout engineers

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** 玮 . | R&D Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 20, 2025

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

I mainly use Altium 365 to design the schematic and PCB of communication module products. For our platform based design, Altium 365 can quickly modify the schematic and export the PCB. We use it almost every day in our work. For complex designs, it can also be divided into different modules for design and is easy to integrate. Experienced engineers rarely make mistakes, which ensures the delivery of our products to customers. Even if there are problems encountered during use, customer service personnel can patiently help solve them。

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

It's also related to my own software usage ability. I think setting PCB routing rules is quite complex and involves some programming, which may not be very user-friendly for beginners. However, after learning and proficiently using it, it will be much better. Of course, I still need to strengthen my practice

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

We mainly use Altium 365 for the schematic design and PCB layout of our products, as well as the output of design and processing files. It is an indispensable part of our product development and production

  ### 10. A tool which works, fast

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Dmitry I. | Hardware Electronics Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** December 13, 2024

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

PCB layout process is especially smooth for me. It's hard to summarise such a complex process, but I will try to list a few processes which I find especially satysfying when using Altium ( I am using version 25)
- Amazing support for .step 3D bodies. Visualising the fit of components is extremely easy on tight boards. Never having to worry about having an "exceedingly complex" step file - the speed of rendering is great. Positioning even the most awkward 3D bodies is easy using the "snap points" feature.
- "Work guides" feature makes positioning pads within a footprint easier. For some reason, footprint drawings in the datasheets seem to be drawn by people who never had to create one. Why give dimensions to the edge of the pad, not the centre? Pads are always placed by the centre. Anyhow, work guides go a long way towards solving this issue, as it's easy to visually alight the edge of a newly placed pad to the work guide. Presto.
- Draftsman tool makes generating quality assembly drawings a breeze. It takes a few clicks, and it looks great. Get massive kudos from manufacturing colleages who are used to old-skool documentation generated from Gerber layers
- Routing is generally very smooth, including differential pairs. Push-and-shove is brilliant. xSignals are really valuable too for complex, impedance- and length-controlled designs.
- The repeatable output generation using Output jobs is a massive time saver. The degree of customisation of the output leaves not much to be desired
- Custom queiries in Design Rules allow almost infinite degree of precision when specifying pretty much every aspect of the design
- Powerful library model allows each company to find a level of complexity/simplicity of library organisation which suits their size and style of working, from simple file-based to database-based

There will be lost of other positives, these are just the ones which stand out. The quality of documentation is generally brilliant, which makes it fast and easy to upskill and become productive, fast.

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

It mostly "just works", however there are some small niggles (as with any products). The ones I specifially came across are:
- Sometimes the design rules don't seem to work quite right with custom queries. For example, trying to create a rule to ignore supposedly interfering components don't always work. Specifically, if one creates a "Component clearance" rule, "where the first object matches" X and "where the second matches" Y, and set the minimum vertical and horisontal clearances to 0, it's meant to be a canonical way of ignoring a collision. However, it's a guess whether the "collision" will actually be igonored - more often than not I find the rule just does not work unfortunately, even with the priority set right.
- Another example of seemingly awkward/unworkable rule seems trying to ignore an unconnected class  of polygons. I have a design where I have a few unconnected (no net) polygons underneath the switching  inductors to prevent magnetic field from coupling onto the rest of the place. Altium correctly marks them as  an "un-routed net", however I've not found a way to create a rule under "un-routed net" category to ignore them. Further on that point, the same query, "InPolygonClass('L3_unconnected')" works in PCB filter but does not work in the rule dialog. More consistency would be great.
One can always waive the resulting violations, but that does not convey the design intent as well.
- My colleagues and I found that sometimes the track length calculation ignores small segments of the track on a certain layer. This is potentially a big problem when trying to precisely tune/match track length.
-Very occasionally, Altium hangs with a memory violation error or some such error. I guess it's mostly inevitable for a product of such complexity, but it's still a bug!

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

Producing quality PCB's fast. Drafsman tool in conjuction with Variants is very useful for any real-life product which need correct production variant management and quality assembly instructions.

  ### 11. New Altium finds abilities user coming from KiCad

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Timothy W. | Test Engineering Technician, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2025

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

The collaborative nature of Altium 365 has be well thought out. Mostly I'm working alone, therefore many features are yet undiscovered. It's been invaluable sharing with the design engineers as I implement their ideas into multilayer PCBs.

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

The complexity makes training essential, and the manuals are difficult to find the correct information. Often, it's been trial and error which may not be the most efficient way of doing things.

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

Altium is used throughout the corporation which helps facilitate information exchanges about our PCB designs.

  ### 12. This tool is user friendly and easy to learn

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Darshan B. | Design Engnier, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2023

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

easy to genarat gerber and here we can anylisis the CAM it is very use full and tool is very feiller to leare and simulation is good all options are esay to access

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

length match is difficult making of highe seep desigan is very complicaed but making scrit is difficult and intrtfaceds res tio diu incresss and decredsds to making all the types

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

Scripting langvage is not easy

  ### 13. Functional with small annoyances

**Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** May 06, 2025

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

It's an all-in-one design package that gets the job done. The built-in manufacturer part search is sometimes useful. I like the ease of switching between 2D and 3D PCB view.

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

Needs a simple, global override function for font choice. I've set mine to Arial everything I can possibly find but half the time things still show up as Times New Roman and have to be changed manually.

Off-page location referecnes (whatever they're called) frequently generate upside-down and have to be fixed manually. Waste of time.

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

Simple all-in one ECAD solution.

  ### 14. A great product for beginners.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** March 07, 2025

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

I like the amount of tips and tricks that are given to newcomers. It’s very extensive and you give many scenarios for the types of layout and board designs.
In terms of software, I appreciate that the errors are explained in a way that you can search them and find good solutions.

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

I feel that for some wording, it might be complicated to understand. Especially when looking for certain tabs to do things to the pcb.  Sometimes I can’t find certain tabs because google tells me something different from what’s on the actual software.

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

I’m creating PCB and it’s helping understand how to properly do it.

  ### 15. Excellent Beginner Experience

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Juan M. | Biomedical Engineer Internship, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 27, 2024

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

It offers a wide range of tools for PCB design, simulation, and verification in a single platform. Also, it has an user-friendly interface with customizable workspaces that streamline the design process. Personally I like that it has an excellent integration with mechanical CAD tools, particularly SolidWorks, for ECAD-MCAD collaboration. Lastly, it is used in a wide variety of industries, which gives its users a high value in multiple industry domains.

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

Being a specialized software, Altium Designer can be complex and feature-rich, which may overwhelm beginners. Additionally, more complex designs require significant system resources, potentially leading to performance issues on less powerful machines.

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

Altium Designer's integration with Molded Interconnect Devices (MID) technology enables me to create 3D circuit carriers that combine mechanical and electronic functions in a single component. Although integrating mechanical design and PCB can sometimes be time-consuming, this feature helps reduce both the time and complexity of production.

MID integration also breaks the constraints of traditional 2D PCB design, allowing greater flexibility in component placement and routing, even though it is still a niche technology.

Regarding the PCB design process, the schematic capture with hierarchical design capabilities helps me organize and manage complex or modular designs much more effectively. Without these capabilities, such designs would otherwise be a headache to work with.

When working on complex projects, it can be easy to overlook design rules necessary for correct PCB manufacturing. The automation of this process with Design Rule Checking (DRC) ensures that the PCB complies with manufacturing standards, avoiding costly mistakes in the production stage.

  ### 16. Altium Designer, THE GOOD ECAD

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Genaro S. | Electrical/Computer Engineering Intern, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 08, 2024

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

Altium Designer is hands down one of the best tools out there for PCB design. The way it keeps adding new features and tools just makes life so much easier. The whole design experience is smooth, and the ERC (Electrical Rule Check) is like having a buddy who catches your mistakes before they turn into big problems. I really love using harnesses—they make connecting everything so much cleaner and more straightforward.

One of my favorite things is how you can create libraries straight from existing schematics. It saves so much time and hassle, cutting out a lot of repetitive work. The multilayer interface is also super easy to work with, letting you manage complex designs without losing your mind. Altium Designer just gives you that feeling of control, making it easier to get your projects right the first time.

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

As much as I love Altium Designer, it's not all sunshine and roses. The learning curve can be pretty brutal, especially when you're just starting out. The massive UI, while packed with tools, can feel overwhelming at first. I think having more informative tooltips as a default would be a huge help for new users. It would make navigating the software a lot easier and save people from constantly hunting for what they need.

Another thing that could be improved is the design check process. It’s powerful, but it’s not the most user-friendly. For someone new to ECAD, it can be tough to figure out all the tools at your disposal, and that can lead to wasted time and a lot of frustration. Making this process more intuitive would go a long way in keeping users sane as they get up to speed.

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

Altium Designer is solving the problem of complexity in PCB design. Whenever I think of something that could make my design process easier, Altium already seems to have a tool or feature ready to go. It's like they’ve anticipated every potential roadblock. When I start researching how to tackle a specific issue, Altium often has a solution that transforms what could have been a chaotic mess into a neat, organized circuit diagram.

This benefit is huge for me because it takes the stress out of designing. Instead of getting lost in the weeds of endless options and potential mistakes, I can rely on Altium to simplify the process. It turns what could have been a disaster into something straightforward and manageable, saving me time and a lot of headaches.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Genaro. We're thrilled to hear that Altium Designer has been such a valuable tool for your PCB design needs! It's great to know that the features like ERC, harnesses, library creation, and multilayer interface have made your design experience smoother and more efficient. Thank you for sharing your feedback!

  ### 17. Extremely useful but slightly confusing

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Shawn P. | Coding Instructor, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 03, 2024

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

I like how easy it is to make a PCB from a schematic sheet and how it then generates the Gerber file instantly without any other steps and it just works. I think the part manufacture selection is very useful but sometimes is lacking in the number of available parts for specific purposes but it is extremely useful instead of having to make each part by hand. The PCB design is quite intuitive and I would say well designed to edit each layer and also when adding anything needed onto it.

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

I feel like a lot of the buttons that need to be pressed to do stuff are pretty poorly chosen which makes it confusing to figure out how to use it properly, I also wish there was like a key bind image that could show you a picture of the different shortcuts to help out since they are not that intuitive making it difficult to do a lot of things. I also feel like the amount of onboarding for the app is quite poor there are only a few YouTube videos that I could say are actually useful compared to the rest which don't really show what is actually needed and or aren't really geared towards beginners making the experience quite poor.

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

Altium designer is helping me make electrical schematics that I can then turn into PCB's, it has become quite an integral part of my workflow since I'm a student in an engineering college doing comp sci and electrical meaning I have a lot of needs in having a good all in one electrical and PCB designing app. Specifically due to my need for robotics and stuff within comp sci and electrical, it was very useful due to all of the available parts and all of the systems that exist to help expedite the process of making an electrical system and a PCB. I think the biggest thing is the fact that the schematic instantly transfers over to the PCB which I find very useful and is something that I would dread if I had to do it fully on my own.

  ### 18. High quality, comprehensive PCB design tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Grace N. | Professor of Engineering, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2024

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

It's an industry standard PCB design tool rather than tools for hobbiest. Teaching Altium Designer to my engineering students showcase the rigor and quality of our new BS-Engineering program. It will help students in finding internship and employment.
The Altium Education curriculum is well-designed. Free student accounts and free access to the curriculum including a project are valuable to university engineering education.

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

Steep learning curve. So many menu items, options, hot keys, etc. It takes a long time to become experienced.

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

I teach Altium Designer to engineering students in a Computer Aided Engineering Design course.

  ### 19. Easy to use software with excellent interface.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** April 23, 2025

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

Component library is customisable and very easy to use.

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

Switching between PCB layers can be a bit confusing/annoying, especially when using vias.

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

Makes PCB design very fast and helps find errors that may occur in manufacturing.

  ### 20. 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.

  ### 21. 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

  ### 22. 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.

  ### 23. 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!

  ### 24. 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.

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

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Ricardo  A. | R&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!

  ### 26. Altium a great tool to design products with easy collaborations

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Bhavya M. | hobbyist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 05, 2024

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

easy access to component lists.
can collab easily and share your designs with others.
great customer support .
easy to manage member collaborating in the project.

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

steep learning curve.
ammount of options can be overwelming.

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

it helpedto move away from jugglin apps arround while designing a circuit to a single unified app

  ### 27. As it is the best software for pcb design i have ever used.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Aadarsh K. | Student., Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2024

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

In altium designer the auto routing which is easy to use and ease to implement it.

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

The complex structure of the altium designer is the worst i have ever seen.

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

it is very helpfull to design a PCB for me compared to others with quality.

  ### 28. A User’s Perspective: Reviewing Altium’s Design Software

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Roland L. | Senior Electronics Hardware Design Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 10, 2024

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

The interface offers a neatly integrated environment where all the functions are easily accessible.
The constraint manager makes it very straightforward to handle rules in one place.
Updating the layout after a schematic change is very straightforward.
The generation of manufacturing data is made really easy, as are the 3D functions of visualization, case model integration.
Learning to use the software is quite easy with a large amount of training material available.
A lot of effort was put into customer support.
But most of all it allows to concentrate of the important thing, schematic and PCB design.

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

Some of the functions are overly complex, such as the interactive BOM.

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

It allows to design PCBs with a straightforward design flow and concentrate on the aspects that matter most.

  ### 29. Review by a new junior engineer.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Achille R. | Junior Engeneering, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2024

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

I was really surprised of the shortcut and the cleaning controls. One of the upside is the f1 button, really comfortable. It's a really powerful software that allows you to do everything regarding the pcb design.

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

The thing that i disliked the most is the user interface, sometimes I struggle to find a function.

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

I develpoed electronic board and I think is the best software to do it.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Hi Achille! We're thrilled to hear that Altium Designer has been instrumental in your electronic board development. We understand the importance of a user-friendly interface and are committed to making improvements to enhance your experience. Thank you for sharing your feedback.

  ### 30. Highly capable program for PCBA design, but with a substantial learning curve

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Thomas E. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 26, 2024

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

All in one end to end functionality, including parts library database, schematic entry, detailed rule assignments, good support for hierarchial designs, built-in line impedance calculator and signal analysis, flexible PCB parameters.

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

it can be very difficult to find certain functions, and I still have not found a clean way of doing batch/ global operations to for instance lock all entities on a PCB (I typically use the PCB tab and lock the items by category), reconcile all part instances in a design with the libararies, re-assigning component IDs on the fly (and updating the SCH accordingly), and the confusing operation of the Pad & Via Templates library (and the way vias are handled as a whole:   no convenient way to update vias on the PCB with vias in the Pad & Via Templates library, no way to specifiy stacked microvias, etc.).

Also the on-line documentation is written from a top down perspective, which makes it exceedly difficult to resolve issues encountered while running the program.   There needs to be a solid, well maintained help portal which aggregates solutions for the many issues users encounter.

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

We need a fully integrated package for complex PCB design, and it serves this purpose.

  ### 31. Easy to use with lots of resources available.

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Brian Z. | Avionics Member, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 29, 2024

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

Sleek design, lots of resources/support, intuitive.

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

random UI changes creates issues, the price is too high - would not use unless sponsored by company.

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

Allows my team to create custom solutions for aero applications. Allows teammates to share and collaborate on projects easily.

  ### 32. Experience in Altium in senior year of computer engineering BaS

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Elias M. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2024

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

The responsiveness, compared to other similar hardware I've used throughout college,Altium just felt the highest quality to use. Within 3 months I went from having no experience in PCB design to designing my very own board, things are easy to find and there is no slowdown, everything just seems to work and work well.

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

The obscurity of keybinds, this may be due to my own incompetence but I had difficulty in finding keybinds. I found myself looking up the key binds myself

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

Designing a PCB, it benefited me especially as a beginner with tools such as the error reports, and rules to import from my chosen PCB printer. Everything came out just right and the only errors i ever encountered in my own board were my own errors from a design standpoint, but never a fault of Altium

  ### 33. Not super beginner friendly but very powerful, and can be learnt independently with enough effort.

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2024

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

Lots of resources online that discuss the diffreent tools availalbe.

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

Very powerful but not super easy to use for first time PCB designers, sometimes making simple boards seem overly complicated and requires lots of research for the first time.

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

Lots of tools available for convinience in PCB design, such as the IPC footprint wizard.

  ### 34. Altium for Small Businesses - All your basics but Managed

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Henry C. | Team Member, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2024

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

- Component management system; 
- Their interpretation of version control and revision control/comments is top notch; 
- All the basics (schmatic, layout, adding traces) and automations on the final pcb polishes (stitching, shielding, board cutoms)
- good integration with solidworks and fusion360 and other mcads; 
- templates in pro version are super handy
- technical bug support is quality!
- smooth install and setup; works on low-grade machines as well

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

- UI is clunky and slow even on decent computers however, you generally learn to deal with it the longer you play; 
- not compatible with macos;
- component management is a clunky progress that slows down component changes;

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

component management and preventing messups when selecting parts for prototyping early on in the design process;

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Designer, especially regarding the component management system and technical bug support. We understand your concerns about the UI and compatibility, and we're committed to addressing these issues to enhance your overall experience.

  ### 35. An Excellent PCB Design Software

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2024

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

I enjoy using Altium Designer for building multi-layer PCBs. Its built-in hierarchical sheets make schematic annotation very straightforward even for complex designs. Moreover, Altium 365 makes collaboration very easy when working on projects with multiple team members. It also has advanced PCB design tools for flex PCBs, etc that are not found in other platforms.

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

The UI can be a bit overwhelming for a beginner but it is made up for by Altium's free PCB Basic Design course for students.

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

Altium Designer has been used for designing Payload PCBs by the Notre Dame Rocketry Team. Primarily, this software was chosen because it allows easy collaboration and version control when multiple people are working on the same project thanks to Altium 365 workspaces.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Designer! We're thrilled to hear that you find the hierarchical sheets and collaboration features helpful for your PCB designs. We understand that the UI may seem overwhelming at first, but we're glad to hear that our free PCB Basic Design course has been beneficial.

We appreciate your feedback and are constantly working to improve user experience. If you have any specific suggestions or further feedback, please feel free to reach out https://www.altium.com/support. We're here to support you in any way we can. Thank you for choosing Altium Designer for your PCB design needs!

  ### 36. R&D Hardware Engineer

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Aitor S. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 14, 2023

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

I really appreciate how Altium 365 makes collaboration a breeze for our team at Technica Electronics. The real-time collaboration features allow us to work together seamlessly, no matter where we are. It's been a game-changer for our productivity. Plus, the cloud-based platform gives us easy access to design files from anywhere, which is incredibly convenient for our on-the-go work and collaborations with partners. Overall, Altium 365's collaboration tools and accessibility have made our R&D work at Technica Electronics much smoother and more efficient.

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

I've noticed that the user interface can be somewhat complex and overwhelming at times. It took a bit of time for our team to fully grasp all the functionalities, and some colleagues found it less intuitive than they would have liked. Simplifying the interface or providing more user-friendly guidance could help address this issue.

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

Altium 365 simplifies project tracking, task assignment, and timeline monitoring, boosting overall organization and It enables secure sharing of design data with external partners, enhancing our supply chain efficiency.

  ### 37. Designing the Future: Altium Designer at Your Fingertips

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Farhad P. | Senior Embedded Hardware Engineer, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 13, 2023

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

I like the following things best about Altium Designer:

Unified design environment: Altium Designer is a unified design environment, which means that all aspects of the PCB design process can be done within the same software. This makes it easy to keep track of your design and to make changes as needed.
Powerful routing tools: Altium Designer has powerful routing tools that make it easy to create high-quality PCB layouts. These tools include push-and-shove routing, auto-routing, and interactive routing.
3D design capabilities: Altium Designer has 3D design capabilities that allow you to visualize your PCB design in 3D. This can be helpful for checking clearances and for troubleshooting problems.
Design reuse: Altium Designer has powerful design reuse features that allow you to save and reuse components, schematics, and layouts. This can save you time and effort when designing new PCBs.
Collaboration tools: Altium Designer has collaboration tools that allow you to share your designs with others. This can be helpful for getting feedback on your designs or for working with other engineers on a project.
Overall, I think Altium Designer is a powerful and versatile PCB design software. It has a wide range of features that can be used to create high-quality PCB layouts. I would recommend Altium Designer to any PCB designer who is looking for a powerful and easy-to-use software solution.

Here are some other features of Altium Designer that I like:

Schematic capture: Altium Designer has a powerful schematic capture tool that makes it easy to create and edit schematics.
Simulation: Altium Designer has a built-in simulation tool that can be used to verify the functionality of your design before you start routing.
Documentation: Altium Designer has a built-in documentation tool that can be used to create manufacturing documentation for your design.
Manufacturing: Altium Designer has built-in tools for generating manufacturing files for your design.
I think Altium Designer is a great choice for PCB designers of all levels of experience. It is a powerful and versatile software that can be used to create high-quality PCB layouts.

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

The learning curve is steep: Altium Designer is a complex software with a lot of features. This can make it difficult to learn, especially for beginners.
The software can be slow: Altium Designer can be slow, especially on older computers. This can be a problem when working on large or complex designs.
The documentation is not always clear: The documentation for Altium Designer can be difficult to understand. This can make it difficult to learn how to use the software.
The price is high: Altium Designer is a very expensive software. This can be a barrier for some users.
The subscription model can be restrictive: Altium Designer is subscription-based software. This means that you have to pay a monthly or annual fee to use the software. This can be restrictive for users who only need to use the software occasionally.
Overall, I think Altium Designer is a powerful and versatile PCB design software. However, it is not without its flaws. The learning curve is steep, the software can be slow, and the documentation is not always clear. The price is also high, and the subscription model can be restrictive.

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

Streamlined PCB Design Process: Altium Designer provides a comprehensive suite of tools for schematic capture, component placement, routing, and verification. This streamlines the entire PCB design process, making it more efficient and less error-prone.

Unified Design Environment: One of Altium Designer's key benefits is its unified design environment, where both schematic and PCB layout design can occur seamlessly. This integration reduces the chances of design inconsistencies and errors.

High-Quality PCB Layouts: Altium Designer helps engineers and designers create high-quality PCB layouts. It offers features like interactive routing, differential pair routing, and intelligent design rule checks to ensure signal integrity and manufacturability.

Component Management: Altium Designer provides extensive component management capabilities, including access to a vast component library and tools for creating and managing custom components. This simplifies component selection and helps ensure the availability of the required components for your designs.

Simulation and Analysis: The software allows for SPICE simulation, signal integrity analysis, and thermal analysis. These tools help in identifying and addressing potential issues in the design before production, reducing costly design iterations.

Collaboration and Documentation: Altium Designer facilitates collaboration among team members and with external partners. It also generates comprehensive design documentation, such as BOMs (Bill of Materials) and assembly drawings, which are essential for manufacturing.

Design for Manufacturing (DFM): Altium Designer assists in designing for manufacturing by providing DFM checks that help identify and resolve manufacturability issues early in the design process, saving time and reducing production costs.

Multi-Board and FPGA Design: For complex projects, Altium Designer supports multi-board design and FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) development, allowing engineers to manage interconnected systems and integrate programmable logic into their designs.

Version Control and Design Reuse: Altium Designer includes version control features, which are crucial for tracking design revisions and enabling design reuse. This helps in maintaining a consistent design methodology and improving efficiency.

ECAD-MCAD Integration: Altium Designer offers integration with mechanical CAD (MCAD) software, enabling collaboration between electronic and mechanical design teams. This ensures that PCBs fit correctly within their enclosures.

  ### 38. Powerful tool for the PCB simulation and designer

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2024

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

I found it Complex interface and library management system.
Impressed by its amazing feature called schematic capture. 
Helping me in creating and editing circuits.
It's ability that help me create collaboration with other and multiple projects within my organisation.

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

Cost per user
Complex ui
And Complex installation

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

Better from its alternative like Autodek.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> We're glad to hear that you find Altium Designer to be a powerful tool for PCB simulation and design, and that you are impressed by its schematic capture feature. We understand that the complex interface and library management system can be challenging, and we are continuously working to improve user experience. We appreciate your feedback about the cost per user, UI complexity, and installation process, and we will take this into consideration for future updates. Thank you for choosing Altium Designer for your PCB design needs.

  ### 39. Seamless Cloud Storage

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Michael D. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 31, 2023

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

I used to use version control using github for my altium projects. It worked but not very well, and making any changes required manual pushes and viewing any actual changes to schematics or the pcb required opening the altium app. With 365 I like the ability to view everything in browser and see the 3D views. I also like the seamless integration into the altium app itself, allowing changes to be pushed just by pressing one button. Finally, I like the ability to share design files with teammates without them having to install altium, especially useful for those who have macbooks.

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

I do not have many complaints except that some of the features seem overwhelming to learn. For example, opening the component tab overwhelms me and I just chose to avoid using it.

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

Altium 365 allows me to have seamless cloud storage and backups without having to manually think about backing up files everytime I make some changes. The ability to share design files with team members who have macs (cannot run altium) or those who do not want to install an entire app is very useful. We also occasionally use altium 365 to share design files with suppliers.

  ### 40. My Bachelor's Thesis

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Jiahao Y. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 01, 2024

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

It is very good for the education system, it really helps a lot in pcb design

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

Need more tutorials and try to make the menu more intuitive to select options when designing the schematic and pcb.

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

It helps me to design the footprints, to improve the pcb design, to have a clear perspective before sending it to manufacture.

  ### 41. Slightly clunky at times, difficult to get started with, but once your used to it, very smooth

**Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Hamaad M. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 20, 2024

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

I liked the element of auto-wiring, which made it easy to connect all the ciruitry together.

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

Not all the parts I needed were readily available to use and to rotate objects, the UI proved to be annoying and clunky

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

I primarily use altium for PCB design in university

  ### 42. A full featured professional PCB design software

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

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

**Reviewed Date:** March 12, 2024

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

Integration of schematic capture and layout tools, multiboard integration, many components available online, sourcing tools and BOM creation.

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

Complexity can be daunting when first learning to use the software, particularly when attempting to setup design rules.

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

In my organization, I am responsible for all phases of PCB design, from block diagramming, to schematic capture, to layout, simulation, fabrication and testing. Altium provides tools to accomplish all of these discrete stages in a single integrated package.

**Official Response from Alanna Jordan:**

> It's fantastic to hear that Altium Designer is benefiting your organization by providing tools for all phases of PCB design in a single integrated package! We appreciate your feedback and are committed to continuously enhancing the software to meet your needs.

  ### 43. Experience using Altium365

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Ahmed K. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 05, 2023

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

It provides alot of features that helps me achieve what i desire in an easier and more efficient fashion. Cloud based which allows working in a team much easier. Customer support replies in a good time.

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

Hard to be implemented at first due to complex design ans steep learning curve

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

Exlporing this software allowed me to achieve a better understanding of hardware design thanks to the options available. It also allowed me to more easily work with people, sharing our projects on a workspace and easily accessing and commenting on our projects.

  ### 44. Seamless experience with PCB designing

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Sanmeet H. | Electronics Design Head, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2022

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

The user interface is easy to use. On top of this there are many communities and blogs that can be referred to for doing advanced actions. The PCB making process is very quick.
Definitely best option among all options out there.

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

Occasionally selecting and dragging elements in PCB design is difficult as undesired parts get selected. Also, occasionally, the software crashes and we have to start over again from the last saved design.
The software can be overwhelming for a new user.
Pricing is high for Annual support/ maintenance (Upgrading service)

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

Inspite of the user interace being user-friendly, designer has access to advanced functions that can be used to perform advanced PCB designs. The 3D view is especially helpful too.

  ### 45. Overall good but a few changes possible

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Aman V. | Secretary, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 12, 2023

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

1. Vast diversity of options.
2. Spice model integration.
3. Cloud space to easily work across team.
4. Regular software updates and bug fixes.
5. Unlimited potential and high-frequency use.
6. Fast response time from customer support over mails.

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

1. Updates shuffles options very frequently.
2. Interface is quite complicated for a beginner.

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

Being connected to the PCB design domain as a university student,  Altium is a beneficial tool for PCB design, schematics, CAD, simulation and eventually for making gerber files.

  ### 46. Good Schematic/PCB tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Anton  V. | Senior Radio Board Designer, Telecommunications, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 17, 2023

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

It is simple to make a schematic and layout in Altium.
In Altium 365, handling components on the server's library is easier. Usage of the same symbol for many RLC components gave needed uniformity.
Short Help videos are good.
Versioning and release comments in 365 improve development process.
Templates in 365 are convenient.

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

If you touch a Variant in a project just to look at the schematic, then your project is "changed", and it is impossible to undo the non-existing change. It is quite disturbing.
Re-Use block functionality is not developed properly. 
Making a mistake during the Import from the Schematic to PCB creates future problems. Getting rid of the "imaginary nets or connections" is a challenge.
Cross Probe or Zoom-In on potential changes during the Import to PCB does not normally work for the PCB side.
Strange focus on having the 1st pin of a component at the exact position still affects older projects - the shifts should be corrected manually (after implementing uniform symbols). Otherwise, a physical shift in the schematic as well as variants misalignment forces engineers to spend time on the fixes.
In general, Help is not always fruitful.
It is not obvious where to find a needed feature. Sometimes it is a quest.

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

Creation of components, schematic, layout and output job files for Production cover most needs for radio board design.

  ### 47. From zero to pro in two weeks

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Luca S. | HW Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 14, 2023

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

You can manage the complet project development from design to production and maintenance, share always aligned documentation with different roles, easy BOM cost estimation.

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

As the majority of CAD tools, you have a lot of settings, they give you flexibilty, but this requires a deep knoledge of the methodology and a deep knowlegde of the tool

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

Easy way to find component library, easy way to estimate BOM cost, easy way to have 3D model, easy way to generate production documentation. This save a lot of time compared other CAD tools I've used in the past.

  ### 48. Altium Designer Review

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Darshit C. | Embedded Design Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 28, 2023

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

Altium is used to design Printed circuit boards and many other electronic devices. It has a user-friendly interface, advanced design features, and real-time collaboration capabilities. Designers create high-quality PCB designs efficiently.

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

Altium Designer is a complex software with many features and capabilities. Differential pair length tuning is complex in Altium compared to other software. The highspeed signal constant seat is difficult.
And a powerful computer and a high-speed internet connection are used to run smoothly and efficiently.

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

Electronic devices have complex, and the design requirements for PCB have become more intricate. Altium Designer helps designers meet these complex design requirements by providing advanced design tools, such as differential pair routing, length tuning, and high-speed design features. 
As designs become more complex, the ability to visualize and verify the procedure becomes more critical. Altium Designer provides advanced visualization tools, such as 3D visualization and clearance checking, that help designers identify and resolve potential mechanical conflicts and clearance issues.

  ### 49. Very professional tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Martino R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 13, 2023

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

The mechanical and electrical interfaces together

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

The complessity of simple commands and actions

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

The mechanical aspects sharing with mechanical engineer

  ### 50. Designing complex PCBs with endless possibilities

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Alexander R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2023

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

It gives the user the option to change and adapt every setting to your own user preference. This really shortens the time to develop and design a PCB. It offers the most options and give the most design possibilities.

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

Some settings are hidden behind specific hotkeys. The beginning is a bit difficult when you only need to design a small project/PCB. I had problems finding the right option that fit me as there are too many different options.

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

Designing PCBs for different projects in the automotive field and ToF field. It offered options to filter for specific parts which I would have needed to search for a longer time otherwise.


## 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?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1764951&qs=pros-and-cons&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-14+04%3A20%3A05+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=f4dbacaa-0545-456c-87c5-0505d418dc46&secure%5Btoken%5D=1879a3b247f6c08db5856f38b4ce0f90202e0c036337ec160162ec3014fdc1aa&format=llm_user)
## Altium Develop Integrations
  - [Autodesk EAGLE](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-eagle/reviews)
  - [FreeCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/freecad/reviews)
  - [Google Drive & 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

**Generative AI**
- Generative AI

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

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

**Additional Functionality**
- Document Automation
- Revision History
- Audit Trail
- Data Visualization
- File Management
- Supplier Management
- Customizable Templates
- Compliance Management
- Search/Filter
- Activity Dashboard
- Workflow Management
- Data Synchronization
- Collaboration Tools
- Performance Metrics
- Third-Party Integrations
- AI Copilot
- Document Management
- Customizable Branding
- Multi-Language
- Bills of Material
- Configuration Management
- Template Management
- Parts Management
- Catalog Management
- Drag & Drop
- File Sharing
- Change Management
- Reporting & Statistics
- Multi-CAD editing
- For Manufacturers
- Data Storage Management
- Design Management
- Content Management
- Data Import/Export
- API
- Access Controls/Permissions
- Product Lifecycle Management
- Document Classification
- Multi-Channel Management
- Metadata Management
- Cost Tracking
- Requirements Management
- Commenting/Notes

**Additional Functionality**
- API
- Image Editing
- Activity Dashboard
- Animation
- Reference Management
- Secure Data Storage
- Third-Party Integrations
- Configuration Management
- Annotations
- Drag & Drop
- Data Synchronization
- For 3D Printing
- Customizable Templates
- Modeling & Simulation
- For Manufacturers
- Multiple Format Support
- Workflow Management
- Version Control
- Document Management
- Sketching and Annotation Tools
- Multiple Projects
- For Architects
- Content Library
- Bill of Materials Management
- Collaboration Tools
- Design Management
- Rules-Based Workflow
- Reporting/Analytics
- Data Visualization
- Generative AI
- Data Capture and Transfer
- Projections
- AI Copilot
- Real Time Comparisons
- Document Generation
- Component Library
- Compliance Management
- Customizable Branding
- File Management
- Real-Time Updates
- Configurable Workflow

**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

**Additional Functionality**
- Document Management
- Requirements Review
- Data Visualization
- File Management
- Stakeholder Defined Attributes
- AI Copilot
- Access Controls/Permissions
- Lifecycle Management
- Document Storage
- Communication Management
- Compliance Management
- Application Management
- Collaboration Tools
- Real-Time Data
- Version Control
- Status Tracking
- Commenting/Notes
- Customizable Fields
- Task Progress Tracking
- Projections
- Real-Time Updates
- Bug Tracking
- Project Workflow
- Activity Tracking
- Workflow Management
- Prioritization
- Project Tracking
- To-Do List
- API
- Activity Dashboard
- Customizable Templates
- Assessment Management
- Generative AI
- Change Management
- Configurable Workflow
- Agile Methodologies
- Customizable Reports
- Reporting/Analytics
- Budgeting/Forecasting
- Third-Party Integrations
- Task Management
- Template Management
- @mentions
- Task Planning
- Drag & Drop
- Progress Tracking
- Project Planning
- Multiple Projects
- Data Import/Export

## Top Altium Develop Alternatives
  - [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (510 reviews)
  - [AutoCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/autocad/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (1,841 reviews)
  - [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (712 reviews)