# Altium Develop Reviews **Vendor:** Altium **Category:** [PCB Design Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/pcb-design) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 996 ## About Altium Develop Altium Develop is a collaborative platform for electronic product development that connects requirements management, 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. Teams can work together in a shared workspace, ensuring that all stakeholders—from design to procurement—stay aligned with up-to-date project data. 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 and design integration: Link design decisions to project requirements for better 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. ## Altium Develop Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **ease of use** in Altium Develop, finding it intuitive and efficient for PCB design tasks. (272 reviews) - Users appreciate the **powerful collaboration features** and tools of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and design efficiency. (218 reviews) - Users value the **user-friendly interface and integration** of Altium Designer, making PCB design efficient and enjoyable. (145 reviews) - Users value the **collaborative environment** of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and design efficiency significantly. (136 reviews) - Users appreciate the **efficiency** of Altium Designer, enhancing productivity with streamlined workflows and powerful integration tools. (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 report a **steep learning curve** in Altium Develop, requiring significant time to gain proficiency with its features. (93 reviews) - Users find Altium Develop **expensive** , making it a barrier for hobbyists and preventing wider adoption and learning. (91 reviews) - Users note the **missing features** in Altium Develop, particularly in editing options and task utility, hindering productivity. (65 reviews) - Users find the **complex interface** challenging, requiring extensive knowledge for effective schematic and PCB design. (57 reviews) - Users experience **slow performance** with Altium Develop, particularly during project loading and component management. (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. PCB Design with Altium **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Charlie K. | Electrical Hardware Design Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 13, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Lots of features. Most of these do in turn have a sharp learning curve, however once they are mastered it makes designing a board very streamlined. For example, when working with a schematic and creating a PCB, being able to highlight specific groups of components and then locate them on the PCB is huge timesaver and helps with board layout. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The only issues I have ran into so far are crashes and the autosave function failing. At times, it will freeze up randomly even if there was no input into the program. Additionally, the autosave feature is not the greatest, as it doesn't always reconnect to the host server. I actually lost a small amount of work from yesterday due to this. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Altium allows me and my company to streamline our development process and integrate multiple different designs and boards in one program. Previously, we were using KiCad which didn't allow for multiboard design. Now, we are able to work with ease. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Charlie! It's great to hear that Altium has helped streamline your development process and enabled multiboard design for your company. We understand the importance of a reliable autosave function and stability in the software. Your feedback will be shared with our development team to continue improving the overall user experience. Thank you for your input! ### 3. Altium, can't live wtihout it... **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joe S. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** There are several things of liking, but my favorite is that it does everything in a clear and simple way. The ability to upload 3D step files and make custom parts is a breeze. I often render images of the designs to show them off at meetings. a picture is worth a thousands words. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** There are a couple of settings that don't use often and find myself having to look at the manual for a refresher. In example, changing units. I am also not a big fan of the subscription and am concerned about price over time. I also wish that the login was simpler. maybe assign a favorite machine and allow it to always be logged in unless you login somewhere else. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having used other software in that past, I would say that many of my engineering friends are visual thinkers and having a rendered image really helps them understand the PCB. It also seems that the PCB manufacturers are users of the software and have pointed out some complex design requirements that they have helped me optimize for production. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Joe. We're glad to hear that you find Altium Develop's 3D step file upload and custom part creation features helpful for your design process. We appreciate your feedback on the settings and subscription concerns, and we'll take them into consideration for future improvements. Your input on the login process is valuable, and we'll explore options for simplifying it. ### 4. Exceptional PCB Layout, Needs Better Wire Harness Design **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vazgen A. | Staff Electrical Engineer , Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 07, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I really like Altium Develop for its strong PCB layout toolkit. It supports challenging packages like BGA and is good for impedance matching and PCB trace length tuning. The setup of Altium Develop was very easy. I have experience designing PCBs with Altium in the past, and it’s a very good tool for that. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** I wish Altium Develop's wire harness design was as strong as its PCB layout design, so I could use one software for everything. Some commands don't work properly, like the total thickness command not returning the actual value. The number of colors I can select in the PCB stackup is limited to four. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Altium Develop mainly for PCB layout, schematic capture, and BOM generation. It supports challenging packages like BGA, making it good for impedance matching and PCB trace length tuning. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Vazgen. Thank you for your positive feedback on Altium Develop's PCB layout toolkit. We understand your concerns about the wire harness design and the limitations you've encountered. We are committed to improving our software and will take your comments into account as we continue to enhance our solutions. ### 5. Cheap, Powerful, and Perfect for Low-Volume PCB Design, easy to share design with colleagues **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Harald K. | Development Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 13, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Cheap and powerful, hit our needs when we do designs of only few PCBs a year. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It has more features as the Altium Standard Designer. But a very good internet connection is needed. When you do home office, maybe the internet connection is too slow and it takes a lot of time during the work. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Altium Designer was more expensive and it was always a problem to get needed budget. Now it was much more easy to get budget for Altium Develop. Additional more features makes my work easier and faster. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Harald. Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop! We're thrilled to hear that you find Altium Develop to be a cost-effective and powerful solution for your low-volume PCB design needs. We understand the importance of a stable internet connection and will pass along your feedback to our development team. If you encounter any issues with the software due to slow internet speeds, please reach out to our support team for assistance. We're committed to providing a seamless experience for our users and appreciate your valuable input. If you have any further questions or feedback, feel free to contact us. ### 6. I was previously an experienced Cadence Orcad user but found teh transition easy **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David T. | Design Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 20, 2024 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I found it easy to migrate from Cadence. Customer support was good when I needed it on one occasion. I use it most days and when I need to find out about a new feature tehre is plenty od on line help. It works well with my CAD package as it can import DXF and step files. I was up and running in a few days from cold. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** So far it has all been positive experience. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** As well as design tool we use its cloud storage which is a great benefit ### 7. Seamless Collaboration for Development **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jasper W. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 10, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I really like the Altium 365 web portal for collaboration. It makes it easy to share and collaborate on designs that are known to be up to date, so there's no need to worry about dealing with final XX (for real this time) versions on Google Drive. Altium Develop is a powerful tool that is more than capable of handling any challenge we can throw at it. I picked up in college and stuck with it The initial setup was very easy, the price is reasonable now with the new pricing. It also simplifies collaboration with outside collaborators since they use it too, making it easy to pull in their designs. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** I don't use the built-in simulation software yet as I still need to learn how to use it. I'm sure that it is capable but it's dense to learn from the poking that I've done so far. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** I find Altium Develop synchronizes our small team and simplifies collaboration across Hardware, Firmware, and Mechanical teams. The web portal Altium 365 makes sure that everyone is synchronized with the latest design making for with easy sharing and collaboration. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Jasper! We're thrilled to hear that you are enjoying the Altium 365 web portal for collaboration and that it has simplified the sharing and collaboration of designs for your team. We appreciate your feedback and are glad to hear that Altium Develop has been a powerful and capable tool for handling your design challenges. ### 8. Unified PCB Design with Powerful Tools, Component Management, and 3D Visualization **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It has very unified design environment and power pcb design tools. best thing about Altium Develop is strong component management like there are built in libraries and integration with supplier data allow designers to easily find. perfect 3D visualisation. it brings schematic design, PCB layout and documentation in one place to develop faster and without getting confused **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** When we start creating bigger PCB projects that time it feels little bit slow and sync issue are there. Initial setup and configuration is very complex and takes time to setup for the teams and also there are some third party integration limitation in this tool. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It solves the problem of managing and colloborating on complex electronic design projects across teams. it helps us to streamline the development workflow by ensuring that everyone on the team is working with the lastest files and designs. this reduces errors caused by outdated versions and improves collaboration between designers, engineers and other stakeholders **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your feedback on Altium Develop. We're thrilled to hear that you appreciate the unified design environment, powerful tools, and robust component management system. We understand your concerns about performance issues with larger projects and initial setup complexity. Our team is continuously working to enhance the software's performance and simplify the setup process. We value your input on third-party integrations and will explore ways to improve in that area. We're glad to hear that Altium Develop is helping you manage and collaborate on complex projects more efficiently. If you have any specific issues or need assistance, please feel free to reach out to our support team. Thank you for choosing Altium for your electronic design projects! ### 9. Efficient License Management That Scales Across Teams **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 05, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** What I appreciate most about Altium Develop is its license management system. For a small design and development team, it’s very convenient to manage and share a limited number of licenses efficiently, which makes it a cost-effective and flexible fit for our needs. We’re also planning to extend access to Altium Develop to our component purchasing team. That plan highlights how versatile the platform can be and how well it supports cross-functional use across different departments. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** We are still in the early stages and aren’t yet able to fully leverage all the capabilities of the Altium Develop platform and Altium Designer. Areas like design BOM management, purchasing BOMs, and managing alternative parts are still challenging for us to implement, most likely because our experience with the platform is limited so far. That said, we’re confident we’ll be able to deepen our understanding of these topics over time, especially with the help of the extensive documentation available. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** One major advantage is how easy and cost-effective it is to scale the number of licenses whenever we need to. That flexibility allows our team to grow without running into complicated or expensive licensing constraints. Another key benefit is the ability to grant access to users who don’t need a full Altium Designer license but still need to interact with project data as part of their work. For example, our purchasing department can view essential project information—such as the Bill of Materials and the 3D view of the assembled PCB—without requiring a full design license. This makes cross-team collaboration smoother and ensures all relevant stakeholders have the visibility they need to do their jobs effectively. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're glad to hear that you find our license management system convenient and cost-effective for your team's needs. It's great to know that you're planning to extend access to Altium Develop to your component purchasing team, showcasing its versatility and cross-functional support. Thank you for sharing your feedback! ### 10. Complete PCB Library That Speeds Up Team Collaboration **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 07, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It has a complete library for PCB designing, and it makes project development faster in our process. We use it with the whole team, which helps avoid misunderstandings and reduces any lack of communication. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** There are no pre-created basic templates, and the customization options are almost nonexistent. Pricing is also a big issue for us as we build larger projects, and sometimes it lags when handling connections. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were lacking in fast development and in tracking progress across our ongoing projects. With the help of this, we’re now able to use PCB design kits more effectively and speed up our development. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > It's great to hear that Altium Develop is helping you to track progress and speed up development. We understand the importance of pricing and performance, and we are continuously working to enhance these aspects of our product. Thank you for your feedback. ### 11. Great Features but Frustrating Usability **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Francois G. | Director of Operations, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 07, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I appreciate the integration of MCAD with ECAD and find the software to be robust with lots of functionality. I like that Git diff finally works. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Everything is cloud based, which means more manipulations. The seat assignments are atrocious; I always have to restart to refresh the seat availability. The initial setup wasn't great because I lost some beta features I was testing. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Altium Develop for integrating MCAD with ECAD, and I find it to be robust with lots of functionalities. The Git diff feature finally works well. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Francois. We're glad to hear that you appreciate the integration of MCAD with ECAD and the robust functionality of our software. We understand your frustration with the cloud-based system and seat assignments, and we are constantly working to improve the user experience. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the initial setup and the loss of beta features. Your feedback is valuable to us and will be taken into consideration for future improvements. ### 12. Best Digitalized PCB Platform with Rich Libraries That Speeds Up Project Builds **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Airlines/Aviation | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It is giving best digitalized PCB platform with lots of in built library and modules. After started using it we are building projects faster without any confusion and delay. From planning to final project it is helping us throughout in the documentation to building the project bit by bit **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** We tried this on large scale but some projects are not getting saved automatically because of heavy size of them. Also the integration part is not up to mark it is very lengthy **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Now we don't have to keep lots of documentation to track and build PCB projects just Altium develop is helping us in one place. Also PCB library has all versions and needed inbuilt library. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hello, thank you for sharing your review! We're glad to hear that Altium Develop has helped you speed up your project builds with its digitalized PCB platform and rich libraries. We appreciate your feedback and are continuously working to improve our integration and automatic saving features to better accommodate large-scale projects. Thank you again for sharing your experience. ### 13. Unified Design Environment with Real-Time Collaboration and Version Control **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It is unified design environment because it has a schematic capture to pcb layout and design verification happens in one place. It has real time collaboration and version control which makes it easy for teams to work together efficiently. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It is very costly and it is a barrier for long term and new startups. Sometimes it is resource intensive and occasionally slow when you work on large projects. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Problem of fragmented and complex pcb design workflows is solved by Altium Develop. It also addresses collaboration challenges by enabling real time framework and version control. It solves design accuracy and error reduction also. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your feedback on Altium Develop. We're happy to hear that you appreciate the unified design environment and real-time collaboration features. We understand your concerns about the cost and performance issues, and we are continuously working to enhance the product's efficiency and value. If you have any specific issues or suggestions for improvement, please feel free to reach out to our support team. We're here to assist you and ensure you have a positive experience with our solutions. ### 14. Excellent PCB Design Tool with a Simple UI and Smooth Collaboration **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** André G. | Hardware Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 09, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Altium Develop is an excellent tool for PCB design, it allows for several people to work on the same project. The UI is surprisingly simple for such a complicated software and the performance is also not that demanding which is good. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** I would say that the biggest downside of using Altium is the price. While it is a great program the cost makes it an enterprise only tool and not hobby tool. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Electrical, mechanical and software teams often work in separate environments, with Altium that is no longer necessary for the most part. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi André. Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop. We're glad to hear that you find the UI simple and the collaboration smooth. We appreciate your feedback! ### 15. 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. ### 16. Seamless Cloud Collaboration for Efficient PCB Project Management **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It helps us achieve seamless integration between design, collaboration, and version control, which makes managing complex PCB projects much more efficient. The cloud-based collaboration features allow the team to work together in real time, reducing miscommunication and keeping everyone aligned. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** For new users, there’s a learning curve. Some features and workflows aren’t very intuitive, and performance can also feel laggy on larger projects. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps us achieve faster development cycles, better coordination, and fewer design revisions. As a result, it saves us time and increases productivity. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Develop. We're committed to providing a collaborative and efficient PCB project management solution. We acknowledge the learning curve for new users and are actively working on enhancing the intuitiveness and performance of our platform. ### 17. Streamlines PCB Layout Tracking and Collaboration with Powerful Testing & Reports **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dnyan U. | Electrical Engineer, Consumer Electronics, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It helps me keep track of changes made to the layout, and I can add multiple collaborators as needed. I also like the added functionality for testing the layout and creating a report from it. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The UI feels a bit laggy. It would also be helpful to add an AI-based suggestion feature for how to lay out a PCB. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can review the layout more effectively now, and it helps me access parts life information in the Z2 data. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Dnyan. We're glad to hear that Altium Develop is helping you keep track of layout changes and collaborate effectively. We appreciate your feedback about the UI and the suggestion for an AI-based layout feature, and we'll definitely take that into consideration for future improvements. ### 18. Promising direction, but some features are unclear / missing **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Defense & Space | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I use it daily to design HDI and RF boards. The current pricing is very favorable for startups and small companies for the feature set it provides. As we had previous experience with the Altium Designer the switch to the Altium Develop was mostly seamless for us (minus missing managed templates). The unlimited A365 accounts make it easy for the entire team to collaborate with the designers and integrates into our workflow well. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Not all features are available. Some important ones, such as managed templates and project review, were presented during the trial but were removed after I subscribed to the software. Customer support is only done via forums and it is visible that the Altium team does not have clear narrative or knowledge what Altium Agile or Develop should provide or contain. A clear comparison table of the features available in both versions would be helpful. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It empowers us to design HDI and RF boards quickly and with ease. Collaboration and design reviews are seamless, making it straightforward to work together and validate designs as we go. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop. We understand the importance of managed templates and project review, and we are working to address these concerns. We will also consider providing a clear comparison table of features between versions to assist our users in making informed decisions. Thank you again for sharing your feedback. ### 19. Intuitive Interface and Sleek GUI That Make Tasks Quick **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** The interface is intuitive, and it only takes a few "clicks" to perform the action I want. I also like the look of the GUI, even though that doesn’t really affect my efficiency. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The roaming license has been removed, and using the site with a poor internet or cell phone connection can be challenging. I also have some difficulty understanding how plug-ins are purchased, including the cost and related details. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a small business, I find the Altium365 solution really helpful because it lets me easily share projects with customers and EMS. Altium Develop is also very fast to work with, especially compared to tools like Allegro or KiCAD. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're glad to hear that you find our interface intuitive and efficient. We understand the challenges with the roaming license removal and poor internet connection, and we are continuously working to improve the user experience in such situations. As for the plug-ins, we apologize for any confusion and will work on providing clearer information about their purchase and related details. ### 20. 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! ### 21. Centralized Solution for PCB Projects with Excellent Support **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** James K. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 07, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I like Altium Develop for its simplicity and the cost savings it offers with the full version of the application. I appreciate the easy license assignment between end users. The support is quick to respond and provides good follow-up, which made the initial setup easy with their help. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** nothing **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Altium Develop to centralize collaboration and improve design visibility and project coordination across multiple teams. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi James. We're thrilled to hear that you appreciate Altium Develop's simplicity and cost savings, as well as the ease of license assignment and quick support. We're glad we could make the initial setup easy for you. ### 22. Seamless Altium 365 Integration with Valuable Included Extensions **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Semiconductors | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 15, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Seamless integration with Altium 365 and inclusion of some of the extensions only available to higher tiers in previous options **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Any time that I have to save some project it seems that it wants to commit automatically to the altium 365 platform. Altium multi board support should have a net connection check. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Coworking in the same project. Revision control of the projects. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for your review. We're glad to hear that you are enjoying the seamless integration with Altium 365 and the valuable included extensions. We appreciate your feedback and we will share this with our development team for future consideration. ### 23. Perfect Platform for Organized Digital PCB Design and Development **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** A perfect platform for digital PCB designing and development for new projects. It keeps all components and project progress organized and manageable in one place. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It has very heavy system requirements, which may not be feasible for small companies. It’s also quite expensive. The biggest problem for me, though, is the limited integration features. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me manage complex PCB designs and reduces design errors. With it, we’re able to develop our projects faster and with fewer mistakes. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Develop. We're thrilled to hear that it's helping you keep your components and project progress organized. We understand your concerns about system requirements and cost, and we're continuously working to make our software more accessible to all users. Your feedback is valuable to us and will be taken into consideration for future improvements. ### 24. Powerful All-in-One PCB Design, but Resource-Heavy **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Karan S. | Group TA @ AceVector Ltd. | Snapdeal, Unicommerce, Shipway, Convertway, Stellaro Brands, Internet, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 08, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Altium Designer is an advanced PCB design platform that helps engineering teams design, collaborate, validate, and manufacture electronic hardware faster in one integrated environment. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** One downside of [Altium Designer](https://www.altium.com/altium-designer?utm_source=chatgpt.com) is that it can be expensive and resource-heavy, especially for smaller teams or individual developers. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Altium simplifies complex PCB design workflows by bringing design, collaboration, simulation, and manufacturing into one seamless platform for hardware teams. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Karan. We appreciate your feedback on Altium Develop. We understand the concern about the resource-heavy nature of the platform, especially for smaller teams. We are constantly working on optimizing performance and offering flexible pricing options to address these concerns and will take your feedback into consideration. Thank you for sharing your input. ### 25. Seamless All-in-One PCB Design That Saves Time and Reduces Errors **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Internet | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 06, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It is how seamlessly it brings the entire PCB design process into one single environment. Rather than juggling multiple tools, I can do capture, PCB layout, simulation, and documentation all in one place, which help saves a lot of time and helps reduce errors. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It’s very resource-intensive, and the licensing and subscription fees are very expensive. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me design faster and more accurately. It also improves collaboration between teams and helps reduce production errors and costs. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're glad to hear that you find Altium Develop's all-in-one environment helpful for your PCB design process. We understand your concern about the resource intensity and cost, and we are constantly working to improve performance and provide flexible pricing options. ### 26. Seamless Schematic-to-PCB Sync with Powerful Rule-Based Routing **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Airlines/Aviation | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 22, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** What I like most about Altium Designer is how smoothly it integrates schematics with the PCB layout. It keeps everything synchronized, so updates carry through cleanly, design changes are quicker to implement, and it’s easier to avoid mistakes. I also appreciate the rule-based design approach and the powerful routing tools, which make complex boards simpler to lay out and more reliable to build. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** What I dislike about Altium Designer is its high cost and steep learning curve. For new users, it can feel overwhelming at first, and on larger designs the performance can slow down noticeably. I also run into occasional bugs, and the frequent updates tend to disrupt my workflow more than they should. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Altium Designer addresses the problem of fragmented PCB design workflows by bringing schematics, PCB layout, design rules, and components together in a single integrated platform. This integration helps reduce errors, saves time during revisions, and makes it easier to manage complex designs. For me, that translates into better design accuracy and a faster overall development process. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your feedback on Altium Develop. We're thrilled to hear that you appreciate the seamless synchronization between schematics and PCB layout, as well as the rule-based routing tools. We understand your concerns about the cost, learning curve, performance issues on larger designs, and occasional bugs. Your insights are valuable to us, and we're continuously working to improve the user experience. We'd love to assist you further with any challenges you encounter and provide support to enhance your workflow. Please feel free to reach out to our support team for any assistance or to address any specific issues you may have. Thank you for choosing Altium! ### 27. Competitive price and quick launch: a nice improvement if long term **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Morgan. N. | Ingénieur conception électronique, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 13, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Compared to AD Classic, the price is more competitive and the launch is faster. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Loss of seat management functionality for everyone, and fairly frequent GIT management bugs. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** very good UI, keyboard shortcuts are numerous and very practical; the routing tools (xSignals, impedance matching, rules, and others) are quite comprehensive. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Morgan. We appreciate your positive comments about the competitive pricing and quick launch of Altium Develop. It's great to hear that you find the UI and routing tools comprehensive. We acknowledge your concerns about the seat management functionality and GIT management bugs, and we are committed to resolving these issues. Thanks again for your feedback! ### 28. Integrated Cloud Access That Streamlines Collaboration and Reviews **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Aviation & Aerospace | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 17, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Having integrated cloud access is a very useful feature for our daily workflow. We can track for versions, follow a systematic review process (using the requirements portal) and can collaborate with colleagues from other departments like manufacturing. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** There are sometimes issues with syncing. There are some bugs with the implementation where the software says that a licences is not available even though no seats are occupied. But overall it’s not bad **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps create a cloud based PCB design software. The ability to make multi pcb designs and harnesses is also great. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop! We're thrilled to hear that you find the integrated cloud access feature beneficial for your workflow and collaboration needs. We appreciate your feedback regarding the syncing issues and bugs you've encountered. Our team is constantly working on improving the software's performance and reliability. If you encounter any further issues or have suggestions for enhancement, please feel free to reach out to our support team. ### 29. Powerful Requirements Management with Strong Collaboration **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** It helps us to bring requirements, Collab, traceability for development team together in one place. We are able to track every link of designs, requirement, changes, discussions to make impact analysis. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It is very hard to work with version histories. And tough to collab for baselining and branching workflows when multiple teams are involved. Some time customisation is also a problem in ongoing project. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has one Data repository where everything can be stored based on project requirements. Shared workspaces with changes, comments, status for work and changes, Collab features **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We appreciate your positive feedback about Altium Develop's ability to track designs, requirements, changes, and discussions. We understand the challenges with version histories, collaboration for baselining and branching workflows, and customization, and we're actively working to enhance these aspects of the platform. Thank you for sharing your experience! ### 30. Altium 365: A Game-Changer for Seamless, Cost-Effective Team Setup **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Petros P. | Head of Electronics, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 17, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Altium 365 is a game changer. Now under the Develop umbrella, it’s easier (and cheaper) than ever to set up a new engineering team. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** No issues yet. It has been working seamlessly since we upgraded **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** An all-in-one solution that integrates library management , BOM management, design git server and easy cross-discipline reviews **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're thrilled to hear that Altium 365 has been a game changer for your team setup. Thank you for sharing your positive experience! ### 31. Cloud PCB helping us build faster. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 24, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Pro tools of this software is helping us to version control and real time team Collab, and helping us to bigger projects in lesser time. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It has very high cost for solo users and small teams around 10k $ dollar per year. That's very high for small companies. There are some sync lags during heavy sessions. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It removes the pain of slow designs and verification and poor team Collab by pcb design. It helped us to reduce errors through live comments and version controls. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're thrilled to hear that Altium Develop is helping you build faster and collaborate more efficiently! We understand your concern about the cost for solo users and small teams. We continuously strive to provide value for our customers and will take your feedback into consideration. Regarding the sync lags during heavy sessions, our team is actively working on optimizing performance to provide a smoother experience. We're glad to hear that Altium Develop is solving your design and collaboration challenges, reducing errors, and improving team collaboration. If you have any further feedback or need assistance, please feel free to reach out to us. Thank you for choosing Altium! ### 32. Easy Collaboration for Fast, Manufacturing-Ready PCBA Designs **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Arpad K. | Chief Technology Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 17, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Easy to collaborate with others and quickly create PCBA designs for manufacturing. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Learning curve for using Altium tools is high. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Altium Develop solves the problem of integrating multiple tools such as Development, Supply chain/sourcing, requirements setting, and manufacturing in one central tool for a good value. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop! We're thrilled to hear that you find the integrated cloud access feature beneficial for your workflow and collaboration needs. We appreciate your feedback regarding the syncing issues and bugs you've encountered. Our team is constantly working on improving the software's performance and reliability. If you encounter any further issues or have suggestions for enhancement, please feel free to reach out to our support team. ### 33. 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. ### 34. Simple, Clean Interface with Everything Right Where You Need It **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Amrit G. | Electronics Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 18, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** The simplicity of the user interface, clean and clear with everything right where you need it. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Sometimes the revision history can be a little tricky to navigate when saving and mixing files. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Impedance controlled signals, rigid flex design, delay tuning. Using multi-board assembly. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your feedback! We're thrilled to hear that you appreciate the simplicity and clean interface of Altium Develop. We understand that navigating the revision history can be challenging at times, and we appreciate your input on this matter. Our team is continuously working to improve user experience, and we will take your feedback into consideration for future updates. If you have any specific suggestions on how we can enhance the revision history feature, please feel free to share them with us. ### 35. Migration Promises Fell Short—Paying for Seats Without Being Able to Use It **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I haven't used it yet but longtime Altium user. I like Altium Develop's proposed licensing, much more affordable and flexible than Altium Designer. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Migration from our old workspace to the Develop workspace was promised to be a button click. In reality that didn't happen and I've had to open a ticket. As a result, we've paid for 2 seats and a workspace for the past 2.5 months and haven't been able to use it yet. No talk of extending our license renewal to compensate. So not a great start... **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were coming from Altium Designer licenses so there isn't much change for us, but the new licensing options with Develop are way more flexible and affordable for our use case. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced with the migration process. Our team is working diligently to resolve this issue and ensure a smoother transition for all users. We appreciate your patience and understanding. ### 36. Great Value: Pro Features Included at a Solid Price **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sam D. | Senior Electronics Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 13, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** The price and inclusion of certain Pro features. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The disabling of the roam feature for travel. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It drastically lowered the cost compared to Altium Standard, and added certain pro features such as multiboard design and revision control. For a small company that is helpful. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Sam. We're glad to hear that you appreciate the value and pro features included in Altium Develop. We understand your concern about the disabling of the roam feature and will take this feedback into consideration for future improvements. ### 37. Excellent Collaboration and Seamless 3D Integration **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gomez R. | QC Specialist, Building Materials, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 22, 2025 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** This tool promotes great collaboration among team members which helps ensures great and streamlined workflow leading to high productivity. It integrates well with other tools hence allows 3D visualization in real-time which helps us concentrate on the most important issues. It also very easy to use. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The tool has been efficient for us. I do not have any dislikes. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Through this tool we are able to prevent mechanical conflicts through 3D PCB modelling hence we are able to clear conflicts before they occur. ### 38. The setup time is worth the extra features **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** There's a lot of features so you can probably find exactly what you are looking for in this tool. Once things are set up for your use case, you can be very fast too. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** because of the flexibility, some features are very hard to find, so its common for my to work with a second window open for searching on the documentation **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use a lot of multi-board designs and the design checks are very helpful for handling that complexity. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your experience with Altium Develop. We're pleased to hear that the setup time is worth it for the extra features. We understand the importance of efficient multi-board design checks and are committed to providing a user-friendly experience for all our customers. ### 39. Smooth Project Setup, Schematics, and PCB Layout **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Miguel B. | Project Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Project configuration Schematics construction PCB layout Library configuration **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** License too expensive Different from other layout softwares 3D not really accurate **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Integration with other CAD softwares, like Solidworks Component lifecycle management Schematics revision management **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Hi Miguel, thank you for sharing your positive experience with the project setup and PCB layout features Altium Develop has to offer and we acknowledge your concerns about the license cost and the differences from other layout software. We are committed to enhancing our 3D accuracy and improving integration with other CAD software. We appreciate your feedback! ### 40. Great UI, easy to use, good for standardization **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 08, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** user interface, output jobs for generating standardized production files **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Altium changing commercial policies too often **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** easy to use compared with other low cost softwares **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Develop. We understand your concerns about changing commercial policies and will strive to provide more stability in this area. We appreciate your feedback. ### 41. 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. ### 42. A well rounded and complete software solution even to get started with no experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gianni F. | CEO and Lead Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2025 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Started using Altium when it was called DXP (Design Explorer) to complete a project at School. It was mostly self learned and did not received formal training and within a couple of weeks I was successfully capturing schematics and making PCB layouts. Altium is very intuitive and easy to use, but at the same time very powerful. The power and complexity doesn't get in the way of the interface and the ease of use. The library tools, to create schematic symbols and footprints is excellent, very easy to use. It gives me all the flexibility to design the footprint based on the application and manufacturing requirements. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** I can't think of any negative on the software itself. I would like to see a more seamless integration for footprint providers like Ultra-librarian or SnapEDA. The import of models can be a bit of a hassle sometimes. Overall, it's a great software. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a small business owner, I can't afford to outsource the design of certain components of our products so we design them in-house. Altium, easily allows us to capture the schematic and create a PCB that we can send out to manufacture. The generation of the Gerber files is quite powerful and easy to use. Making changes is very easy and straight forward. The ability of customize the design rules and the way the software highlights and adjust the PCB traces to fulfill the constraints is very helpful, it makes the design so much easier and we really value that feature. The Layer management is very good as well, as we do a QC at the end of the design to make sure everything is within spec, we can filter easily highlight the layers and work on the layers one at a time. The schematic to PCB cross probe is also amazing, highlighting the traces/nets on the PCB as they are selected in the Schematic. ### 43. Powerful Cloud‑Based PCB Collaboration with a Steep Learning Curve **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aarshon G. | Robotics & Autonomous Systems Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2025 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Real‑Time Collaboration: The cloud platform lets multiple designers and stakeholders review and comment on schematics and PCB layouts simultaneously, eliminating version‑mismatch headaches. Centralized Data Management: All design data—including libraries, version history, and supply‑chain information—is stored in one place. I never have to hunt down the latest file. Built‑In Supply‑Chain: Part availability, lead times, and cost tracking live right alongside the design, so I can catch procurement issues early. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Limited Offline Access: When I’m traveling without reliable internet, I can’t review or comment on designs unless I remember to export them beforehand. Initial Setup Complexity: Getting my team’s permissions and folder structure dialed in took longer than expected; the admin UI can feel overwhelming at first. Pricing: Some advanced collaboration features (e.g., enterprise analytics, fine‑grained user roles) are only available in higher‑cost plans. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Cross‑Discipline Collaboration (ECAD MCAD Firmware) Problem: My mechanical team and firmware developers need accurate board outlines, pin‑outs, and net lists to mount PCBs inside the robot chassis and assign GPIOs in code. Exchanging exported STEP and CSV files via email is error‑prone and slow. Benefit: With Altium 365’s unified project workspace, MCAD models and BOM data sync automatically with the latest board revision, while firmware teams can pull down up‑to‑date connector assignments straight from the cloud. This tight integration cuts days off our iteration cycles and avoids mis‑wiring bugs in the lab. Disparate Design Data & Version Control Problem: In a multi‑discipline robotics project, schematics, PCB layouts, firmware mappings and mechanical models often live in separate repos or file‑shares, leading to “which revision is the latest?” confusion. Benefit: Altium 365 enforces a single source of truth with built‑in versioning and branching for ECAD projects. I can instantly roll back to a previous board revision if a new change breaks my sensor interface ### 44. A Solid Tool That Delivers **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Defense & Space | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 15, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Once you know how to use it, it becomes a very powerful and reliable tool for PCB design. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It can be be a bit buggy from time to time **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me design PCBs (schatics and layout), and create harness specifications. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're glad to hear that you find Altium Develop to be a powerful and reliable tool for PCB design. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by occasional bugs and assure you that our team is constantly working to improve the software's stability. Thank you for sharing your feedback! ### 45. 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. ### 46. 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. ### 47. Flexible, Collaborative Workflow That Delivers **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 27, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** I really appreciate the flexibility and the collaborative way of working. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The way the component library is presented isn’t at the top. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using Altium Develop saves time during the development of new products. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're glad to hear that you appreciate the flexibility and collaborative features of Altium Develop. We understand the importance of an efficient component library and will take your feedback into consideration for future improvements. Thank you for sharing your insights! ### 48. Altium 365 importance in my work. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** lavit s. | Adminstration , Logistics and Supply Chain, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2025 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Altium 365 plays very important role in my work as i use this software to learn and implement my skills of how to make PCB, FOOTPRINTS, SCHEMATICS ,ETC and implement also its have many features like footprint wizard, 3D mode , etc . This software makes my work easy and helps me a lot . It is easy to use and reliable . and customer support is also good they provided me student license to use and learn . **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** Sometimes i get stuck in many place like in footprint makjng because in Altium some footprints are not available so i have to make them by myself **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Altium 365 is providing me a platform to learn and practice my PCB designing skills and it also provide learning portal to educate me and help me in any problem which occurs while using this software ### 49. Better Than KiCad **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Medical Devices | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 02, 2026 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Better than KiCad overall, with much better component management. The built-in Octopart integration is easily the nicest feature for me. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** It’s not clear what the difference is between the offers, and I’m still running into bugs. It’s also still too complicated to annotate a schematic. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating PCBs while collaborating with my coworkers is straightforward and works well. **Official Response from Alanna Jordan:** > We're glad to hear that you find Altium's component management and Octopart integration to be valuable features. We understand your concerns about the differences between offers and the complexity of annotating a schematic. We are continuously working to improve our software and address any bugs that may arise. Thank you for your feedback. ### 50. BEST software for PCB layout design **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Akash A. | Assembly Engineer and cam engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 16, 2019 **What do you like best about Altium Develop?** Altium is the best software for PCB layout. It supports most off all PCB layout software file conversion that will really helpful to switch to Altium software. the most likely 3D view of 3D components that will use to make enclosers and we can analyze the design. **What do you dislike about Altium Develop?** The software provides signal integrity but that is still some problem so please develop that part. still the cost is too high for purchase. **What problems is Altium Develop solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can design schematics, I can do placement add custom shape of PCB and do a layout to generate Gerber output for PCB manufacture. ## 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?qs=pros-and-cons§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-25+05%3A49%3A31+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=6fe52b25-1a6a-4557-8e4c-3aecf973609a&secure%5Btoken%5D=6ab463f5a992d4e185b47ed9b0d491e6f9a9fe95bfe23aa83b79fe34afe36625&format=llm_user) ## Altium Develop Integrations - [Google Drive & Docs for Confluence](https://www.g2.com/products/google-drive-docs-for-confluence/reviews) - [Jira](https://www.g2.com/products/jira/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 **Edit** - File Import - Push/Pull - Views - Grips **Data Management** - Version Control **Tools** - 3D modeling tools - Component placement **File Options - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - Export Files - Import Files - File Interoperability - Backwards compatibility - File size **Collaboration** - Annotate - Documentation - Data Extract **Library** - Component libraries **Customization - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - Custom Scripts - Custom Menus - Custom Interface **Platform** - Board size - Layers **Environment - Mechanical Computer-aided Design (MCAD)** - Hardware support - Task-based interfaces - Manage Multiple Profiles - Command Clarity **Customization** - Custom interface ## Top Altium Develop Alternatives - [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (509 reviews) - [AutoCAD](https://www.g2.com/products/autocad/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (1,829 reviews) - [Onshape](https://www.g2.com/products/onshape/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (682 reviews)