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Altium Develop Pros and Cons: Top Advantages and Disadvantages

Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews

Generated from real user reviews

Users value the ease of use in Altium Develop, highlighting its intuitive interface and integrated features. (270 mentions)
Users value the integration of schematic and PCB design, enabling efficient FPGA and high-speed line projects with ease. (215 mentions)
Users appreciate the user-friendly PCB design of Altium Designer, especially for its seamless schematic integration and customization. (142 mentions)
Users value the real-time collaboration features of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and efficiency in design processes. (132 mentions)
Users commend Altium Develop for its efficiency, enhancing productivity and streamlining the electronic design process significantly. (96 mentions)
Users find Altium Develop to be incredibly intuitive, facilitating faster PCB design with helpful features and shortcuts. (81 mentions)
Users highlight the steep learning curve of Altium Designer, requiring significant time and effort to master. (90 mentions)
Users find Altium Develop to be expensive, especially when only a fraction of its features is utilized. (89 mentions)
Users express concern over the missing features in Altium Develop, particularly around limited libraries and clunky configurations. (62 mentions)
Users find the complex interface of Altium Designer challenging, contributing to a steep learning curve and confusion. (57 mentions)
Users find the slow performance of Altium Develop frustrating, especially when loading from the web and encountering bugs. (49 mentions)
Users report performance issues with Altium Develop, including bugs, crashes, and slowdowns on large projects. (44 mentions)

Top Pros or Advantages of Altium Develop

1. Ease of Use
Users value the ease of use in Altium Develop, highlighting its intuitive interface and integrated features.
See 270 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RM

Roger M.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Very powerful program but steep learning curve"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

Many features integrated between schematic and PCB layout. Powerful tools for creating BOMS. Easy to learn for drawing and routing traces

HAIMING G.
HG

HAIMING G.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"an electronic engineer"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

ease of use, frequency of use, customer support

2. Features
Users value the integration of schematic and PCB design, enabling efficient FPGA and high-speed line projects with ease.
See 215 mentions

See Related User Reviews

AZ

Andrea Z.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"An all-in-one powerful software for PCB design"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

Me and my team use AD on a daily basis to design FPGA based complex design with DDR memories and up to 10Gbps high speed lines with little effort.

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Smooth and professional"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

It has every tool needed to design efficiently and provides a very satisfying user experience. I expecially like all the compatibility features it has

3. PCB Design
Users appreciate the user-friendly PCB design of Altium Designer, especially for its seamless schematic integration and customization.
See 142 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RM

Roger M.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Very powerful program but steep learning curve"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

Many features integrated between schematic and PCB layout. Powerful tools for creating BOMS. Easy to learn for drawing and routing traces

MS

Mohammad S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Senior Power Electronics Engineer"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

It is very user friend for creating a customized library. It is easier to make schematic and therefore a PCB project.

4. Collaboration
Users value the real-time collaboration features of Altium Develop, enhancing teamwork and efficiency in design processes.
See 132 mentions

See Related User Reviews

AS

Aaditya s.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for Altium Designer"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

It offers an excellent combination of powerful features, a user-friendly interface, and an extensive library of components. Its real-time collaboratio

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Altium Designer and Altium365 are the best things for collaboration."

What do you like about Altium Develop?

The combination of Altium Designer and Altium 365 allows me and my team to work together a lot more effectivelty during the design stage and also when

5. Efficiency
Users commend Altium Develop for its efficiency, enhancing productivity and streamlining the electronic design process significantly.
See 96 mentions

See Related User Reviews

AS

Aaditya s.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for Altium Designer"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

It offers an excellent combination of powerful features, a user-friendly interface, and an extensive library of components. Its real-time collaboratio

MS

Mohammad S.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Senior Power Electronics Engineer"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

It is very user friend for creating a customized library. It is easier to make schematic and therefore a PCB project.

6. Intuitive
Users find Altium Develop to be incredibly intuitive, facilitating faster PCB design with helpful features and shortcuts.
See 81 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Altium Designer and Altium365 are the best things for collaboration."

What do you like about Altium Develop?

The combination of Altium Designer and Altium 365 allows me and my team to work together a lot more effectivelty during the design stage and also when

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"It's super friendly & Powerful tool for Electrical Engineers"

What do you like about Altium Develop?

Altium Designer is a user-friendly tool. It has a schematic Editor & PCB design software working in sync. Both the schematic & PCB files are s

Top Cons or Disadvantages of Altium Develop

1. Learning Curve
Users highlight the steep learning curve of Altium Designer, requiring significant time and effort to master.
See 90 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RM

Roger M.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Very powerful program but steep learning curve"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Project open should be under the project menu and not under file menu. Schematic drawing experience is different than other tools and takes some get

AS

Aaditya s.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Review for Altium Designer"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Altium Designer has many benefits but some users may find certain aspects of low appealing One common disadvantage is the software's steep learning cu

2. Expensive
Users find Altium Develop to be expensive, especially when only a fraction of its features is utilized.
See 89 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
I

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.0/5

"Excellent tool for the dedicated circuit designer"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

- If you don't use it everyday, it takes time to relearn some of integrated tools (b/c of total toolset scope) - Expensive

MY

mouayid y.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"I had a great experience using altium to design a nice FM transmitter PCB for my class project."

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Nothing to think of but maybe the subscription cost.

3. Missing Features
Users express concern over the missing features in Altium Develop, particularly around limited libraries and clunky configurations.
See 62 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Prithvi R.
PR

Prithvi R.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"PCB Design using Altium 365"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

I disliked the lack of a native library loader for Altium. I used the extension script library loader, but would love to have that feature in built so

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"The best PCB design software I have used!"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Steeper learning curve due to the configurability and feature set of the software. Creating the board layout can take a long time due to the limite

4. Complex Interface
Users find the complex interface of Altium Designer challenging, contributing to a steep learning curve and confusion.
See 57 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Speed up the time to market timeline providing a great user experience"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Configuration is convoluted, not intuitive

Farhad P.
FP

Farhad P.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Designing the Future: Altium Designer at Your Fingertips"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

The learning curve is steep: Altium Designer is a complex software with a lot of features. This can make it difficult to learn, especially for beginne

5. Slow Performance
Users find the slow performance of Altium Develop frustrating, especially when loading from the web and encountering bugs.
See 49 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"I am a student with moderate PCB design experience, and I'm loving Altium."

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

My customer support experience has not been the best, especially the live chat AI support. I had issues renewing my student license, and it took some

BA

Bob A.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Awesome Shared Design Platform"

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

It is somewhat slow to load from the web.

6. Performance Issues
Users report performance issues with Altium Develop, including bugs, crashes, and slowdowns on large projects.
See 44 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.0/5

"It is easy for most things. Things mostly just work. But not the most flexible experience."

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

The severs had few maintainence periods during my use which rendered the service completly useless. It was impossible for me to transfer the owners

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"A robust tool with real tradeoffs."

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

What I dislike about Altium 365 is its steep learning curve making it hard for beginners the high cost which can be a barrier for small teams and hobb

Altium Develop Reviews (954)

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Altium Develop Reviews (954)

View 2 Video Reviews
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Ram T.
RT
Student Intern, DBT Star College lab at University of Delhi (Deendayal Upadhyaya College)
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"The ease of collaboration seems top of the world."
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

Apart from the best features in Industry that altium offers, the ease of collaboration and working together is unmatched. I remember my time working on a project and my proffesor had some injuries due to which he couldn't be in person to guide us. Thanks to altium we were able to collaborate through Altium 365 workspace and there was no delay at all in finishing it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Come on, do I really have to answer this question. I mean, I got no dislikes most of the time. But one thing I would like to suggest to altium is to Introduce a version for linux based machines. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Alanna Jordan of Altium Develop

Hi Ram! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with Altium Designer. We're glad to hear that the ease of collaboration and the extensive libraries have been beneficial for your projects. We'll certainly take your suggestion for a Linux version into account for future improvements.

Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
UM
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Altium has proved to be a strong ECAD tool for electronics product development"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

The seamless integration between schematic, PCB, and version control tools. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Steep learning curve and occasional UI quirks slow down new users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer & Network Security
UC
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Best tool for designing and with great options in mechanical"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

It is an amazing software for working with PCB designs in real time. it is very easy in switching between design boards. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

The library has great options. However there are some Git errors while modifying PCB Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Consumer Electronics
UC
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Best PCB layout software"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

Altium is the best software I had used in my 10 years of experience as an electronic engineer. I use it daily in my projects due to its easy schematics drawing, footprint upload and pcb layout and routing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

I think the circuit simulator could be improved. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Automotive
UA
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Convenient, Organized, Useful, but at times, Limited."
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

It's great to have all the projects I'm working on in one place that anyone can access without having to have the software downloaded. Even though I have the software downloaded, I use it when referencing a design because it tends to be much faster than Altium is on my computer.

The Project compare feature is amazing and great for design reviews. My team is currently utilizing the Design Review Beta and its great that 365 can facilitate new features that easily.

I love being able to sort my colleagues into different groups like Librarians, engineers, etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

I really want more options when it comes to editing. I would love to edit parts in 365 or even export all the info about our library there. At the moment, that is quite limiting. As an Admin, the Admin settings feel confusing to use and also limited in their use.

Tasks doesn't feel there yet. It's just a To-Do list. I use what my team uses and no one really uses tasks in a meaningful way. We use comments, me specifically, all the time. But there aren't that many extra tools beyond. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
UE
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"A Game-Changer for PCB Design Collaboration and Cloud-Based Workflow"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

Altium 365 has transformed the way our team collaborates on PCB design projects. The cloud-based platform allows us to seamlessly share, view, and review designs from anywhere. The integration with Altium Designer is excellent, enabling real-time updates and comments, which has significantly streamlined our design workflow. The ability to access design data from any device without needing the full software installed is a huge advantage for quick design reviews and decision-making.

The version control feature is another standout, allowing us to track changes easily and ensure we’re always working with the latest version of the design. It’s also incredibly helpful to have the supply chain integration, providing live component availability and pricing information. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

While Altium 365 is an amazing platform, it can be a bit overwhelming for new users at first, especially those unfamiliar with cloud-based tools. The learning curve is steep, particularly when managing complex projects. Additionally, the pricing might be a bit high for smaller teams or freelancers, but it’s worth it for the extensive functionality. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Oil & Energy
AO
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Overall great but additional costs have me considering other options"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

The cloud feature (A365) has allowed me to include the entire company in the design process/workflow. From electrical, mechanical and software designers, to supply chain, component management and additional reviewers. It has also made collaboration between designers across multiple offices a breeze. Support from our account manager has always been fast and efficient. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Over the past year, Altium has added costs for things that were originally part of our subscription. An example is the Altium cloud (A365). One of the best features of Altium and what originally sold us on moving from Orcad to Altium was the free cloud feature. Now that we are using it and have all our designs in there, we are told that this is now going to be a paid feature. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

MB
Design Engineer - PCB Layout
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Altium 365: Powerful tool for PCB design and collaboration in cloud-based platform"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

The most helpful things are we can access from anywhere, online documentations for all the topics, large user community, user-friendly interface. The upsides are team collaboration, version control designs, neat and well integrated workflow, centralized library management, reusing the designs and speed up the development process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

The least helpful thing is, i can say nothing there from my side, I'm using it from 2020. The downsides are one is cost and another one is Internet depency since it's cloud based. Other than that, everything is top notch. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

BD
Test Engineering Supervisor
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Altium has expedited my design time and helped me improved overall signal integrity."
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

The high speed signal features (length tuning and xSignals) is incredibly helpful. The mCAD integration has also been a major key in designing successful test fixtures and product enclosures. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

Major revisions to a PCB can be hectic when intially updating the PCB. Parts will be get scattered around the board and placed in incorrect places. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Shawn P.
SP
Coding Instructor
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Extremely useful but slightly confusing"
What do you like best about Altium Develop?

I like how easy it is to make a PCB from a schematic sheet and how it then generates the Gerber file instantly without any other steps and it just works. I think the part manufacture selection is very useful but sometimes is lacking in the number of available parts for specific purposes but it is extremely useful instead of having to make each part by hand. The PCB design is quite intuitive and I would say well designed to edit each layer and also when adding anything needed onto it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Altium Develop?

I feel like a lot of the buttons that need to be pressed to do stuff are pretty poorly chosen which makes it confusing to figure out how to use it properly, I also wish there was like a key bind image that could show you a picture of the different shortcuts to help out since they are not that intuitive making it difficult to do a lot of things. I also feel like the amount of onboarding for the app is quite poor there are only a few YouTube videos that I could say are actually useful compared to the rest which don't really show what is actually needed and or aren't really geared towards beginners making the experience quite poor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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