Altium Develop Reviews & Product Details

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mature software and an industry standard, with a wide user base. Tried and true. Its actually pretty reasonable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Library management is lacking. Setting up library standards are too hard, though I understand how powerful they can be. Altium came loaded with some library content to start, but that clutters up the beginning of a good system. I'd rather have a clean empty library than one full of mediocre parts. I want better ways to handle jelly-bean symbols and footprints. I want Altium supported libraries that are free to use on the cloud. I want to be able to search for a single component across all local libraries. Libraries are a mess and are the worst part about Altium. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It makes collaborative PCB development much more streamlined by bringing design, collaboration, project management, and version control into one connected workflow. The ability to work with shared design data, review changes, and collaborate with other engineers helps reduce communication gaps and keeps everyone aligned throughout the hardware development process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It has a learning curve, especially for teams moving from traditional desktop-based PCB workflows. Some of the more advanced collaboration and project management features can also take time to configure properly, and I’d like more granular controls for customizing workflows and permissions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like Altium Develop's footprint wizard and how it links to supplier websites for parts availability, making creating the BOM easier. It's also beneficial for my career as it provides experience with an industry standard tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish there were more standard footprints. I hate using different footprints for the same type of footprint. It drives me crazy that a sheet entry on the sheet symbol does not left justify correctly if you have the sheet entry on the right side of the sheet symbol. This may have to do with my font. I have found other issues with this font as well with the port name and net name in the schematic. It was a long learning process to fully grasp how to use Altium. It was also very hard to switch from a normal altium license to the develop license. I was unable to get a 100% licenese cost inclrease and could not justify spending $10k/year on altium. The sales person did not mention develop as an option. I had to find the option on my own. Then when I tried to bring it up , the sales person started ignoring me. I had to figure it all out on my own. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about Altium Designer is its unified design environment, which completely eliminates the synchronisation friction often found when moving between disparate software suites. Having used it for years across high-complexity professional projects and personal builds, the seamless link between schematic capture, active component management, and PCB layout is unmatched.

The interface is intuitive and professional. Instead of wrestling with netlist exports, features like Design Synchroniser (ECO) allow me to push schematic changes to the layout instantly. The integrated 3D PCB editor is an incredible asset; being able to visualize the physical clearance of multi-board assemblies and export accurate STEP files directly to mechanical teams saves hours of back-and-forth design iterations.

The platform’s integration with Altium 365 and real-time manufacturer lifecycles changes how hardware is engineered. With the ActiveBOM feature, component availability, pricing, and lifecycle data are updated live within the project. This makes sourcing components risk-free by flagging obsolete parts long before the design hits production. Collaborating with assembly partners and external engineers is entirely painless via cloud-based design sharing and version-controlled workspaces.

From a performance standpoint, the 64-bit multi-threaded engine handles massive, high-density interconnect (HDI) layouts with thousands of components smoothly. Complex copper pours and interactive routing modes (like walkaround, push, and hug) remain responsive without lagging. Furthermore, the platform's rule-driven constraint manager acts as an intelligent supervisor, enforcing high-speed design rules (like length tuning and differential pair matching) automatically as you route.

While the licensing costs represent a premium investment, the return on investment is clear. It scales beautifully from solo passion projects to large-scale enterprise deployments. By drastically reducing the likelihood of a bad spin through strict design rule checking (DRC) and accurate 3D modeling, it consistently minimizes board revision cycles, easily saving more in prototyping costs and time-to-market than the license fee itself. It remains the definitive industry standard for a reason. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One of the primary challenges of using Altium Designer is the steep learning curve driven by the software's vast, enterprise-grade feature set. For newcomers or junior team members transitioning from simpler tools, the sheer density of the environment is initially overwhelming. Mastering the intricate configuration of the universal Design Rules Check (DRC) matrix, managing multi-layer stackups, or setting up complex high-speed design constraints requires a massive initial time investment. Navigating deep, nested dialog menus for everyday tasks, such as modifying component footprints, configuring panelisation, or setting up customised output job files (OutJob), frequently stalls momentum early on. Because the platform packs every conceivable hardware engineering tool into a single interface, it takes months of dedicated training before a new user can fully grasp the advanced workflows and match the rapid deployment speed of an experienced team.

This onboarding friction is further intensified by the complexity of its underlying database management and cloud-hosted project integration. Learning how to properly sync local design changes with Altium 365 workspaces, manage version control histories, and handle collaborative library components without causing library conflict errors introduces a layer of software overhead that demands rigorous discipline. While the system's performance is incredibly robust once mastered, the initial experience of managing massive, multi-sheet schematics and dense multi-board layouts can feel remarkably daunting. Minor missteps in assigning net classes or setting up differential pairs early in the schematic capture phase can lead to a cascade of complex validation errors during layout routing. Consequently, while the platform's unparalleled depth ultimately guarantees immense engineering capability, the initial cost of training and the time required to achieve true operational proficiency remain a significant barrier for teams onboarding new talent.

Regarding the platform's newer intelligence capabilities, I do not use the AI features integrated into Altium Designer. While automated placement assistance or AI-driven routing suggestions might offer utility for certain workflows, my projects demand a level of precision and strict adherence to specific constraint parameters that require complete manual control. Relying on custom-defined design rules and traditional interactive routing methods ensures that every layout choice is intentional, predictable, and fully optimised for our exact manufacturing requirements without the unpredictability of automated assistance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I’ve recently moved from using EAGLE to Altium, and I already find that it’s speeding up my workflow. Although it took some adapting, I can see myself using the shortcut key sequences more and more as I get comfortable.

The active BOM is a massive time-saver for me. Being able to link parts with manufacturers and distributors, and to see the cost of parts at a glance, makes a real difference.

I also love the MCAD integration - works amazingly.

It works well in my 5 year old PCB without any performance issues.

The main reason that triggered the switch to Altium was the recent introduction of Altium Develop, which comes with a much cheaper subscription than what we were quoted when we inquired in the past. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My main issue right now is that, more often than not, the app logs me out whenever my PC wakes up from sleep. There’s also no way to reclaim the seat from within the app, so I always have to restart it.

The other thing thats a minor annoyance is that the whenever I import components from websites or manufacturers they layers don't match my layers and colors. I have to individually modify the layer list for each component. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I appreciate Altium Develop for its visually appealing and user-friendly interface. It's packed with aided features that are integrated with tools to help design for various goals, such as signal integrity and EMI reduction, including a length matching calculator. I love the smooth integration with tools like SolidWorks, allowing ECAD to seamlessly integrate with MCAD. This is particularly useful when designing for size, form, and harnessing needs. When rules are defined correctly, it simplifies the engineer's job significantly after completing schematics and defining PCB shape and component placement. I also found setting up Altium Develop to be easy once the license is paid, and the ability to create users for visualization is a great benefit of the Develop license. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes wrong rules, or the complexity of the rules equations (inclusions and exclusions). The rules are a make or break for the design after all. I've been struggling lately with grids in schematics, something happens during a design that the grids get off, and I'm struggling to match components to traces. It would be good to have almost an automated or suggested pin type and direction assessment done on the schematics to have the proper rule-check when driving pins and wrongly connected or antennas are created. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The main functions for designing a PCB didn’t change when moving to Altium Designer Pro, while the pricing went lower, so I didn’t need to learn the software controls all over again. The most useful tool for me is Altium 365 because it lets coworkers without a license view the schematic and PCB easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We store our Altium files on a local network drive so everyone can access them. However, I think the network connection impacts Altium’s performance heavily, and thus the performance has been very disappointing. Also, the option to add a managed OutJob was removed when moving to Altium Develop. On top of that, the support during our prior active subscription was disappointing as well, because it took over a month to migrate our Altium 365 server to Develop. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UI/UX, simplicity, universality, visual aspect Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The obligation to switch to a subscription tool, whereas we had a perpetual license. The new way of managing the license with the browser that works poorly. The lack of performance (not utilizing all the computer's cores). The new evolutions that are often not features that standard users need. Poor management of evolutions (rules vs constrained design).... Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Easy way to store,share, have revision control, compare revs of projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It was difficult to find the correct process to migrate from Github to A365. I kept getting errors. It turned out that the folder structure I was using was too deep. I had to setup the folders to load my projects from closer to my root C: drive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.