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

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

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

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

What I like most about Altium Develop is its ability to streamline the entire electronics product development lifecycle by bringing the engineering, design, and manufacturing teams together in one environment. The platform improves visibility into project progress, makes requirement management easier, and helps us reduce communication gaps, which leads to faster and more efficient product delivery. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

In larger PCB projects, the current layout settings feel restrictive. There are only a handful of configuration options, and the workflow and reporting customization could be far more flexible. Right now, the interface and the overall customization experience feel limiting, making it harder than it should be to tailor the setup to our needs. When we use the PCB interface—especially for larger project setups—it still feels constrained and doesn’t adapt as well as we need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Strong features to accomplish job. Octopart is a great feature that allows me to get some components with ease and use them, along with auto linking BOM information to ensure the part is stocked and current. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The being tied into a cloud only based library that prevents adding footprints or others who are using enterprise or pro versions of the tool from having me hand off the design and do layout where I did schematic design is a major frustration. Component selection and maintinance is a nightmare where each source of component schematics and footprint have include part numbers and manufacturers in an inconsistent way with no mature/maintained/valid working scripting interface that AI can even figure out how to get to work to maintain those inconsestencies is a major issue. When sourcing design elements from other designs if they where not generated with the cloud based library mine seems to be locked into, the components are orphaned. Missing key functions to validate component values for resistors/capacitors/inductors against part number and rules like smt only shown aged and non-modern capabilities. System is always loosing connection to server, lags out, is extremely show for many operations. Things that should take 1-2 minutes end up taking hours. Always fighting with network lag issues, crashes, and failed operations due to network issues. No other tool on my network has these problems. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I use Altium Develop for electronic circuit design and project management with my colleagues, and I particularly appreciate the sharing tools and the use of Git. Real-time project synchronization with my colleagues is very valuable. Synchronization via Git is easy, just by pressing a button for the push, my colleagues quickly have the latest version of the project. I also like the creation of a workspace connected to the software on PC. The initial installation of Altium Develop was easy, smooth, and intuitive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find that the inability to make adjustments to the routing in the online workspace is somewhat limiting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like Altium Develop for its organized structure, cloud and version control, and the overall ease of use. It really helps that I can ask my colleague to review my board and add comments, and the way schematics and BOM are planned is really clear. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The price of Altium Develop is high for personal use and side projects. I use KiCad for my personal projects instead. Another issue is the annotation process. Sometimes when you change a component, add something, or reset the annotation, it messes with the PCB and moves the parts. Also, making a custom template takes time, as well as setting up the first design rule and using draftsman. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Online sharing for reviews is great, as is the online BOM integration. Final output generation is pretty good, I like the outjobs. Layout is also pretty good in the way that it reacts to moving traces around and such Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Altium is kind of a clunky mess. Not super performant, and the general UI is very bloated and unintuitive. Making new components and managing libraries is a total PITA and unintuitive. It's also windows only. TBH, I far prefer working in KiCAD for most things. Pricing is acceptable, much better than the previous pricing, in which case we probably would have ditched Altium. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The GUI itself is highly refined with highlighting features that surpass the competition. Dynamic integration between schematic and layout is also well done (with a few caveats). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Several drafting anomalies are frustrating (complicated process of mitering corners, no separation between traces and lines or reference designators and other text objects, and ever changing menu command locations...). And of course the lack of perpetual licensing - this is a show stopper for contractors trying to make a living. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I really like its Cloud tools, and being able to quickly pull up a PCB and look at signal lines and the like. The UI for getting around is very useful and the cloud integration is strong. Onboarding is a little tricky of having to collact a bunch of separate files bit after that things are smooth. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Primary downside is the onboarding on documentation, especially when transitioning outside of Altium into it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the fact that every time I have a complicated constraint, I usually find it. Not necessarily easily, but I always find it. I also appreciate the depths of the software where I can always find a way to do complicated things such as completely gated ground stitching or dealing with ground pores. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find the drawing tools in Altium Develop very cumbersome, especially compared to SolidWorks, which I also heavily use. When I draw a footprint, I'd prefer to do it like in SolidWorks, where I can pull a datasheet, draw a quick hand sketch, and apply constraints directly. I wish Altium could interpret a rough sketch and convert it into a proper footprint, just like SolidWorks does. Another frustration is the seat availability issue, which occasionally prevents me from saving my project. This has happened a couple of times and is quite frustrating, as it leads to losing work when the seat isn't available, and I can't save. Moreover, it happened a few times when I forgot to close it, causing me to lose my work by not being able to save. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.