--- title: KiCad EDA Reviews meta_title: 'KiCad EDA Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 68 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how KiCad EDA works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.5 review_count: 68 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-06-24' parent_category: name: CAD url: https://www.g2.com/categories/cad --- # KiCad EDA Reviews **Vendor:** KiCad Project **Category:** [PCB Design Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/pcb-design) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 68 ## About KiCad EDA KiCad is an open source software suite for Electronic Design Automation (EDA). KiCad handles schematic capture, symbol and footprint library management, PCB Layout with Gerber output and 3d model generation. KiCad runs on Windows, Linux and macOS. KiCad is the most used EDA tool in the world. ## KiCad EDA Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users find KiCad EDA to be highly **easy to use** , facilitating quick prototyping and small pilot runs. (2 reviews) - Users find the **extensive library management** in KiCad EDA invaluable for rapid prototyping and updates. (2 reviews) - Users value the **cross-platform compatibility** of KiCad EDA, enabling seamless usage across different operating systems. (1 reviews) - Users value the **fast updates and extensive library support** provided by KiCad EDA for their design needs. (1 reviews) - Users find KiCad EDA to be a **very easy tool to learn** , making it ideal for beginners in prototyping. (1 reviews) - Features (1 reviews) - Updates (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find **cloud issues** troubling, particularly with larger projects and lacking cloud sync functionality. (1 reviews) - Users face **inefficient autorouting** methods in KiCad EDA, leading to frustrations with small bugs in the process. (1 reviews) - Users struggle with **library management challenges** when designs are shared across different stakeholders in KiCad EDA. (1 reviews) - Users find **limited customization** a drawback, particularly for larger projects and the absence of cloud sync functionality. (1 reviews) - Users find **limited features** in KiCad EDA compared to high-end tools, affecting overall usability and support. (1 reviews) - Users notice **limited options** in KiCad EDA, particularly lacking advanced features and commercial support compared to other tools. (1 reviews) - Limited Tools (1 reviews) - Software Bugs (1 reviews) ## KiCad EDA Reviews ### 1. Easy to Learn and Free, but Project Conversion and STL Export Need Work **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sawyer K. | Research and Development Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 14, 2026 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** It is very easy to learn and understand even for beginners. I also love that it is free. It is very easy to integrate and design your own footprint. The overall performance of Kicad is also quite good, I never ran into any problems until the newest update where you had to have the newest version if someone had already made a Project with V10. Other than that it is a very nice design software and its easy to get ai to help if you dont know something very well. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** It can be very difficult to convert other types of projects to KiCad projects. For example, if I had an Altium project, I find it difficult to do that and vice versa. It is also not intuitive to create a STL file, and you have to be very precise; otherwise, it will mess up the file, and you will have to redo it. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** i am not sure of any problems that are solved ### 2. All in one PCB design solution **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ajay A. | Embedded Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 25, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** What I like most about KiCad is that it offers professional PCB design tools at no cost, which gives great value for money. The UI is simple, and features like interactive routing and the integrated schematic-to-PCB workflow help me finish designs faster and reduce errors. Performance is solid even on larger projects, and it works well with external libraries. There’s also a strong community with a large number of tutorials, so support is great. I haven’t used any AI features yet. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** What I dislike about KiCad is that the library and footprint setup can sometimes feel confusing. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** With KiCad, I can handle the entire process from schematics to PCB design in one place, which saves both time and cost. The workflow feels much faster thanks to fewer tool switches, and the overall design experience is smooth and well integrated. ### 3. Easy-to-Use, Powerful All-in-One PCB Design with KiCad EDA **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 26, 2026 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I like KiCad EDA because it is easy to use, provides powerful PCB design tools, and supports schematic design, routing, and 3D visualization in one platform. Being open-source and free is also a big advantage. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Some advanced features in KiCad EDA can feel less polished compared to premium PCB design software. The interface can be slightly confusing for beginners, and certain large or complex designs may affect performance. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** KiCad EDA solves PCB design and schematic management challenges by providing a complete platform for circuit design, routing, and manufacturing file generation. It benefits me by reducing design errors, improving workflow efficiency, and helping complete projects faster with lower software costs. ### 4. Affordable with Excellent Support for Smaller Projects **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 09, 2026 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The absolute best thing is the low price and the support. Since it is free there are many tutorials online which makes it easy to learn. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The features and tools are not as refined and powerful as a paid software like Altium Designer. This makes it okay for smaller projects but not for massive ones. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Most EDA softwares need lincences which are really expensive (likie Altium Designer), the fact that this program is free helps a lot. ### 5. A Great Tool for Beginners—Easy to Learn and Prototype Anything **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abhishek K. | Co-Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 24, 2026 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** For beginners this is a god tool. You can design any type prototype, And also very easy to learn **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Not for bigger project also no cloud sync. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** When i started this was the easiest and open source tool for prototyping. ### 6. Easy to use for prototyping **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pere M. | Hw industrialization engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 11, 2025 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** VEry easy to launch a prototype or a small pilot run **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Library management when a design is shared among differnt stakeholders **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quick product launch ### 7. Design for Free **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bhanu Prakash N. | embedded Firmware engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 23, 2024 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** easy to use,Free of cost ,Basic understanding,Cross-Platform Support, File Format Transparency, Powerful Design Tools. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Lacks Advanced Features of High-End Tools,Less Integrated Manufacturing Support,Limited Commercial Support. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Customizability: Extensive library support for custom schematic symbols and footprints. Ability to create custom scripts using Python for automation and custom workflows. having a Professional-Grade Features. ### 8. Best Open Souce EDA **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Manish M. | Co-Founder and CTO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 25, 2024 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Fast Updates and vast number of libraries and support **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** No Auto Routing methods. Many small bugs. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helping in desingin pcb ### 9. KICAD, a review from an Altium User **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brunel B. | Jr. PCB Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 25, 2023 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Kicad is probably the best toll out there for hobbyist and those that cannot afford the exhorbitant prices of the likes of Altium, PADS or ORCAD. It's free, keeps being updated with features, has a huge community that uses it. It is quite easy to use and get accustomed to. For an everyday Altium and PADs use, I did not need to go through a single tutorial to figure out what I need to do. It is pretty well made and implemented. Most hobbyists have chose it as their every day CAD software of choice. It is something i would run to to quickly design a pretty good quality prototype. I can easily integrate it in my day to day activities. I like that their 3D view is so responsive. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The interface needs a bit of work. Something that Altium does better than anyone. Also, I could not figure out why I do not have a separate window for the schematic and everytime I double clicked on the schematic to open it, the software complains that it is already open when it clearly is not open. It wasnn't obvious right away what was the problem **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** KICAD provides a free tool for PCB design. Acquiring a very capable PCB design software is out of reach for a good portion of the population, KICAD solves that. I needed to design an Audio amp prototype, Kicad helped with that ### 10. Kicad, A great tool for your electrical designs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yibeltal M. | Content Creator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 09, 2024 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The great thing I like about kicad is it's user friendly and easy to use feature. also the price of subscription is fair for beginner designers, especially for students ans other academicians. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** When compared to other softwares, such as Altium Designer, it is not that much industry level design tool. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** KiCad EDA helped me to start my journey as an electronics designer, as it is beginner friendly and has low subscription fee. ### 11. KiCad EDA brief comment **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 04, 2024 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I think that best adventage of this program is it's free licensing, lot of guides and resources (like components databases, example of schematic etc.) online. It is easy to install and integrate, in comparision to other PCB desing utilities, it works on MacOS and Linux. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** GUI is not soo fresh, there is a lot of submenus. I would like to see refresh of the user interface. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** PCB design, schematic drawing, layout, fabrication files ### 12. It user Friendly. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Seshadri J. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 03, 2024 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Able design fastly for IOT products & user friedly. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Need to ugrade routing technology , Auto routing ,Component selectin Method. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** PCB design ### 13. "Free ECAD tool, to learn PCB Designing for Beginners" **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pushpavathi K. | PCB design Engineer , Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 24, 2023 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Kicad is a open source software for creation of electronic schematic drafting and pcb design. It is not complex, it is easy to learn for beginners and use friendly. setting constraints to design is not complex compare to other software. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Working on high speed boards in kicad is difficult, bcz options are less compare to other ECAD tools. We can view the gerber files and we can calculate the tracewidth in KICAD software in other software we dont have the option. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is open source software for schematic drafting and PCB design with gerber output. Kicad is available on winows, mac and linux.The standard footprints are already available on library loader. ### 14. Its the best EDA/PCB Design software out there that's free and OSS. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Anubhav M. | Electrical Engineer, Automotive, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 04, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Clean interface, perfect workflows, great toolkits and customizable hotkeys. The project manager is excellent and you can even interface it with git. So if you need a software to learn and develop a hardware project, and can't afford a professional tool & employee for it, this is great. Everyone can learn it, everyone can master it. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Nothing at all really. Well it does have a somewhat limited library and 3D models associated with the parts, but that's about it, otherwise perfect software. Also it doesn't have a great export into "formats" interface, so making BOMs or Pick and place files are a bit difficult. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** PCB Designs, Electronics designs. DIY parts integration. PCB designer has a netlist-assisted routing feature. It's fun to use & improve performance overall without extra cost. ### 15. Easy to use PCB designing tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pawan K. | Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 24, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** All the tools like Schematics, Symbol Editor, PCB Editor, Footprint Editor, Gerber View, and Image Converter and all under one tool in an integrated environment where a change in One file (For example Schematic) automatically updates the data in other files of the project. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Putting icons and images on PCB is quite complicated, as we need to make a footprint of the icon or the image first and then update the same in the library and then only it can be used on a PCB layout. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used KiCad to design a PCB of size 100mm x 100mm useful for converting the AC to DC. The benefit of using the KiCad is the footprint can be directly loaded through a Library Loader. ### 16. Awesome PCB designing tool **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aman G. | Web Developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 23, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Kicad Eda is a free open-source PCB designing software. It has a very good and large library which is very useful while designing a Printed circuit board. Its interface is very user-friendly for both beginners and professionals. It can design the multilayer pcb very efficiently. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Sometimes Kicad Eda works slowly in slow and low hardware. It is good to use only small projects, it is not made for big projects. Footprints are difficult to manage. While converting schematic to PCB it is generally not able to solve all the connections so we have to connect manually. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** As an electronics engineer, I have made many PCB designs using the Kicad Eda. It works very fine compared to other free and small software. It also provides a 3d view of a PCB design which looks very good. ### 17. KiCad is a good tool for beginners and professionals **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Wireless | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 03, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Easy to get started with, schematic and board layout are very intuitive and the 3D viewer is a great addition **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Compared to more expensive tools (like Altium), KiCad does not offer any good option for working on projects in a team. This includes building a library of parts that can be managed by a team of multiple engineers (using git is an option, but not the ideal tool in my opinion). **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** KiCad is a complete solution for schematic, layout and 3D visualizer. KiCad has (for example, compared to AutoDesk EAGLE) no limitation on design/board specifications. KiCad has become the new popular tool for makers. ### 18. One of the best EDA tools with room for improvement. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Akash P. | CTO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 24, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** It is Free and open source. Easy to get started. Since it's community driven, a lot of helpful plugins/ extensions are available. Support For Gnu-Linux based operating systems. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** There is no autorouter of anykind. Sometimes the 3D models disappear for no reason. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** The subscription/purchase fee of paid EDA software's is too high for small Startups. KiCad EDA solves this issue since it's free and open source. ### 19. Open-source and lightweight **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rishabh S. | Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 28, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Supports various output formats. Open-source and lightweight. Being open-source there's a lot of material online to learn PCB design with this software. Being open-source separates it from the competition. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** It could be a little intimidating at first, so not so beginner-friendly. Working with libraries may be a little confusing. With a little overhaul in the UI, this software can become the no. 1 choice. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used this software to learn PCB design, so far I'm a beginner in this field. But this software can sure be beginner level as well as professional level. Ready to build complex PCB designs. ### 20. Best open source EDA tool for students **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jatin S. | Graduate Engineering Trainee, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The best thing about KiCAD is that even though it is open source but still offers great functionalities. A very powerful tool for students who are trying to learn PCB designing. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Some libraries are difficult to import. For example, footprints of certain components are difficult to find. Also, it is not machine-independent. When I tried to open our project on another computer I faced issues. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I made my BTech minor project. Designed a custom PCB from scratch. Schematics, Routing, 3D modeling everything was quite easy to perform and I was able to create a quite impressive project. ### 21. Nice tool for your circuit & pcb design solutions **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Udit A. | Team Leader-PCB Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 07, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** If you are an Electronics Engineer and looking for a tool to draw a schematic, generate it's BOM, Design a pcb, Kikad is a very simple and nice tool to fulfill all your requirements. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The GUI and features of Kikad can be enhanced much as compared to professional design tools used for dense circuit and pcb design. High speed pcb design and with additional simulation tools. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** If you are a startup company or a student, Kikad is a nice tool to start with and gaining knowledge of how to design a basic circuit, pcb and to get use of the options used for such design tools. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Starting from drawing a block diagram, to designing a circuit diagram, to design a pcb, generating a Bill of material, Kikad provides full fledged solutions for all your design requirements. ### 22. Best EDA software for people starting out **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 23, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Simple UI with pretty much every feature one expect. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** It should provide more component library as current ones are pretty much outdated **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** For designing schematics and PCB design KiCAD is one the best if you are starting out ### 23. good choice for small projects **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alexander A. | electronics engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 13, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Cross platform. You can create and edit projects in both linux and windows. Large library of ready-made components. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** After upgrading from version to version, there may be problems with preinstalled component libraries. Often there are problems with the grid, because of which it is not possible to connect the components. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** This is a free tool that allows you to quickly and conveniently develop your PCB projects. ### 24. Printed circuit board designing software (KiCad) **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** aqsa a. | Assistant electronics Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 02, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** It's easy to design multi-layer pcbs by using kiCad. PDF files can also b generated easily. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** It isn't easy to manage its footprints and libraries. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I realized that KiCad is much faster than other software to save time, and It generates High-quality PCB prints. ### 25. Perfect choice for a beginer. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** arjeeta m. | Research Assistant & Inventory Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 15, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Mostly I like schematic drawing & symbol making using schematic layout editor & symbol library editor in Kicad. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Reviewing the PCB in 3D is not much impressive & user-friendly. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** If you are a beginner I strongly recommend kicad. You will be having plenty of shortcuts for making schematics & PCB. All kinds of PCBs up to 4 to 6 layers can be done very accurately using kicad. Kicad worked for me very well. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used to enter the schematic and then designing the PCB using kicad. It's Linux-based software so it's very lite to run on Computer. Accessing the tool are very easy & handy in Kicad schematic layout editor. ### 26. great free program for hobbyist **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pavel S. | electronics engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 23, 2022 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** normal simple program and most importantly free with Linux support **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** output files for production. limited functionality **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** normal free software **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** routing of small boards. good program for small projects ### 27. Great! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Arka M. | Student, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 19, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The 3D visualization is helpful. Also, the customized footprints can be designed with dexterity. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The adjustments of the "Add dimensions" are little inaccurate when the Grid scaling changes. All the 3D visualization experience could be enhanced. The scrolling of the board model in 3D is lacks some smoothness. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** A decent electronic PCB design automation software. And there have been several revisions, with the current 5. 1series release being major improvements over the previous 4.0 and the 5.0 series (I am currently using 5.1.8), especially with elevated levels of freedom and the scope of dexterity to the user, in designing customized models for educational, industrial, and research purposes. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I worked on a double sided PCB, and then worked on a single sided PCB for flexible board material. The design was completed with accuracy and ease, with the Gerber files generated at the end. Also, the custom footprint options enabled the design of a board according to the user requirement. ### 28. The best open source hardware development tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sebastian C. | VP Business Development at EU, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I have been using Kicad for more than 10 years. So far, it is one of the best tools I have ever use, also compared with advanced tools as Altium. I like it is easy to use, install, and maintain. I like it requires a small number of computing resources to work. Since the team from CERN was involved in the development, a lot of new features were added as library components updated automatically from GitHub or auto-routing. Also in a Linux environment, it is super easy to use, upgrade, and integrate with git and other tools. As a funny fact, I remember in the very very beginning of kicad more than 10 years ago, there were no undo option available, so you have to save every second, and if you made a mistake you had to close the program and open it again. This was solved around 2009, and it was a great improvement! **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** It has small bugs, for example: - when your local and global nets have the same name. It connects altogether. - when you turn off a layer, for example, footprint back, it does not turn off the bottom copper layer, so you have to turn it manually. This option was working fine in the past, but then it was changed. - I do not like there is not a middle option between turning on or turning off the radsnet. I would like to have on only the radnest of the component I am moving in a single time. - Sometimes the app crashes and closes. But luckily it has an autosave feature so I haven't lost any piece of work so far. The good news is all these small issues were fixed by the community, or it is going to be fixed soon. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** I recommend kicad, and the good thing is the more users are using it, the better the product becomes. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am not involved in the development either the improvement of any feature in kicad. ### 29. strong recommendation for hobbyists, students, and researcher **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ruoshi Z. | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I appreciate the simplicity most. KiCAD not only provides a very clear workflow of every step, but also within each workspace, the tools are very handy and they are all very useful tools! **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** sometimes I need to switch between classic and modern workflow, since I kind like some of the old tools. 3d part library has two file formats, if it can be chosen during software installation would be good. if you could add more 3d features would be awesome, like introducing some virtual part and assemble them together would be great. this feature doesn't have to be solidwork-like, but would be handy to demonstrate the design. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** give it a try, if you know how to use PCB tools already, this one will unbelievably easy to pick up. if you are from eagle, KiCAD is WAY BETTER. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am a researcher at university and I use KiCAD for students I mentor. I also use it by myself to work on projects. I benefit from its simplicity; I could fast prototype my board with it. ### 30. Hobby and small professional applications both apply **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Benjamin S. | Electrical Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I really like how flexible it is to create symbols in KiCAD, and how easy it is to link existing footprint libraries to it. Creating various ICs and Op-Amps is easy and doesn't take that long. I also like how it's very low level. It doesn't need to look too great to be useful (whereas Altium spends a decent amount of efforts on its looks). The fact that this is a free piece of software is crazy to me still, considering you can make a 4 layer PCB for industry settings with it and the documentation would all be useable. I really recommend using this for quick projects, especially in the maker space. I see a lot of protoboards that could easily be made with a piece of software like this. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** I've had issues with the footprint editor in the past, so I try to avoid it when possible. Filling out groundplanes can definitely be frustrating, and it's also sort of annoying to modify the via/trace sizes to really custom settings (not that it's a good practice to be doing so). **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** I'd recommend watching a few DIY videos to start out to get a basic idea, and go through a demo project to start. After that, start with basic transistor circuits and consider using a modeling piece of software (something else free like LTSpice). **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used KiCAD to do some basic Relay/button application work in the industry. I've also used it to create some basic laser drivers and DC to DC conversion. I also like using it for personal projects that benefit from having a PCB (purchasing the PCB and designing sometimes saves me a lot of time). ### 31. Very Easy to use, easy to get to grips with even with no prior PCB/schematic development experience **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joshua B. | Graduate Electronic Design and Development Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The generic library that comes with KICAD, a great starting point for simple projects. Gerber Exporting is really nice and simple, sometimes simple is best and this is definitely a case of that. Kicad was the first PCB and Schematic capture that I used and I'm still using it and recommending it to those who have never before mocked up PCBs. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Treating symbols and footprints separate rather than creating parts, leads to spending time generating netlists and assigning parts. In fairness creating parts does have it's downfalls as again you have to spend time to do that but it depends on the PCB software as well as personal taste. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mainly used it for personal use as well as mocking up prototypes quickly. Saves time being able to quickly turn around aboard and start testing rather than trying to breakout SMD components via a breadboard. ### 32. Three words: easy, free, efficient. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ioannis A. | Electronic Design Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 14, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** KiCad is excellent for beginners as well as professionals, because it is very easy to use, cross platform, and free for everyone. Unlike trial software or freeware, it provides all the main tools and functionality you would expect, even for advance projects. One of the features I like best is that it can instantly animate your PCB in 3D, and you can easily import libraries or create your own. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** KiCad is great, but still has some room for improvements. Currently it does not have autorouting built-in, so you need third-party software for this. A few other features could be improved, but otherwise works perfectly for me. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use KiCad both for work and for personal use, due to its versatility, efficiency and ease of use. Initially I chose this software for work because after trying different other applications KiCad was the easiest to use. Starting as a beginner it helped me learn fast which in turn accelerated my performance. Also I work in a small company, so it was necessary to find something affordable. In addition I am a strong supporter of Free and Open Source software, and at home I only use Linux, so KiCad's cross platform compatibility was ideal. ### 33. Good software. Could use more tips for beginners of electronic design. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Electronics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 11, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The schematic designer is easy to use and has plenty of features. I really appreciate that there is a schematic hierarchy, which gives me the chance to organise my schematic in a way I want. Adding in, or creating new components is generally easy as well. 3D viewer was very useful - I did not see that in other free PCB designer software that I tried using the in past. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The PCB designer seems a bit complicated at first and takes bit of time to get used to. Would be very nice to have a verified tutorial to show something being designed with plenty of examples. It takes some time to get used to the way KiCad works - things like shortcut keys could be very helpful. Please add a dark mode - I had to change the colours myself, but would be great of the software had it by default. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** If you are looking to start designing PCBs on a budget, then KiCAD is the best to use. I have found it easier than other free softwares. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Most of the work I did with KiCAD was for my own personal projects and self-knowledge. I am considering using KiCad for developing my own product as well. I tried several free PCB CAD software, but found KiCad to be the easiest to use of the lot. It's a lot simpler, even though it does take a while to get used to. ### 34. Best Easiest designing tool ever **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vipin v. | Embedded Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I like the features and tools which are very handy and easily usable, best thing I like most is 3D view which gives me a real experience. lot's of my kicad designed PCB are available in USA, UK, India and many more countries Now I received my professional PCB Designer tag. Thankyou Whole KiCAD Family **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** There should be Footprint size adjustable facility for logos and images. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** add multiple features like footprint size adjustable **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have designed professional PCB for my company. I have launched many products in market. ### 35. I am an electronics engineer and I use kicad for PCB layout designing. It is very easy to use. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Saddam G. | Electrical Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 14, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Kicad components library is very good and advanced. Most of the components are available. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Some of the options are keyboard control i. e. to open properties of a components. It should be mouse control. Some time during schematic designing component pins don't connect with trace. I have reinstalled it 2,3 times but same issue. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I design circuits schematic and PCB layout. The benefit of kicad is that it has most of the components in its libarary. I don't need to design symbols and footprints. ### 36. Easy to learn and use for beginners **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 29, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The GUI is really simple and it helps the beginners to learn easily. i myself started off with KiCAD without any knowledge of PCB design but i could finish my design within 2 weeks. So kudos for the GUI team. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Importing some more format files would help. Changine coordinate origin and designing could be improved. It is quite difficult. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** Best for beginners and faster and easier to navigate and learn by yourself **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I design all the boards using KiCAD. The option of 3D viewer is really nice. In our organisation we switched to KICAd just for this feature. ### 37. Best in open source **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pratik P. | Founding Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Wide variety of component selection. Its very helpful. 3d viewer is most amazing. It allows to reduce Developement time. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Libraries needs update, user interface could use an overhaul. Auto routing algorithms should be updated. Transition from circuit to pcb could made easier. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** Go for it without thinking, little bit of training is needed but in long run its wonderful. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Being open source it allows to reduce development costs. So that vendors could experiment with their desings all they want ### 38. I have been working with KICAD for 2 years. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sámuel K. | Embedded Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 14, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I love hot keys and simple user interface **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Sometimes gets SLOW when generating PCB. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** Much better EDA than other free products. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using it for my hobby projects. ### 39. I been using KiCad almost daily in the last two years. Its a great and easy tool. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 20, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** I like KiCad because it's free and there a ton of tutorials on the internet that can help you start your journey in a couple of hours. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** I would like it to be more industry-oriented other than it is targeted toward less experienced personals. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** In all businesses, time is money and KiCad EDA saves a lot of time, at least for me. ### 40. I would recommend KiCad EDA to my colleagues. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aleksa S. | Electrical Engineer in the construction service of electrical installation sector, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 12, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The application is user-friendly and simple to use. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** I have no much experience with KiCad so I cannot give my opinion on this matter yet. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** It is a very good and user-friendly application and you can easily convert your electronic circuit into a PCB design. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Designing of schematics for electronic circuits and their conversion to PCB design. ### 41. I use KiCad for various academic as well as professional projects. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The best things about KiCad is that it is open-source, easy to learn, and easy to find libraries for novel components. It supports Schematic, PCB, and 3d designing which makes it an all in one EDA software. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** 3d model of every component is not available in the libraries and the free ebook is not available which make learning difficult at advance levels. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** It is all in one EDA software which will probably make your designing easier **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Development of Solar power converter, power electronics converter, embedded system, UV sanitiser PCB, and Ventilator PCB ### 42. Easy to Learn **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The best thing about KiCad EDA is that it is highly interactive and you could also use Python to write automation. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The downside is that the download size is very huge. Also, unlike other EDA that I use, it doesn't have the best UX. A library of user-contributed footprints would make the application much better. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have been using KiCad EDA for building larger projects as well as in workshops. I have used it to build an auto-engine vehicle as well as voting machines for our university. ### 43. I used Kicad for my Thesis work and was a beginner then. It was quite easy and helpful. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Priyanka K. | Jobseeker, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 14, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The user friendly platform and step by step process. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The visuals for Pcb layout can become quite confusing and I felt that could be improved. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I basically used it for Pcb layout and designing. It has made the process quite simple and easy to handle. ### 44. Great experience using KiCad **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hamza K. | Not any, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 11, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** Its ease of use l, i.e. circuit designing, PCB designing etc. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** I found nothing to be disliked abou KiCad **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** KiCad has all the functionality to be all in one Electronics and Electrical design software **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** I found it very helpful in my PCB design work ### 45. KiCAD EDA review **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** DEVAJI P. | Graduate Engineering Trainee, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The interface is quite understandable and compared to other simulation tools, processing time is less. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Drag and drop option at time is troublesome. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Ive been solving Electrical and electronics simulations and have found it better than other softwares currently available ### 46. KiCAD pcb design software smart and effective **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Xuber I. | Research Associate, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 20, 2020 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The easy to use interface and the comprehensive component library made it a very effective one. All the components can be find online so no need to create a customized. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** The thing that to autoroute we have to integrate it with other software makes it difficult to import and export every time you make a simple change. **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** KiCAD is a powerful software and can provide a variety of design upto different level of pcb design. You donot need to worry about the library of the components because you can find it very easily online. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** PCB design related to effective control of actuators and sensors ### 47. Easy to use free PCB design tool and its 3D rendering is impressive **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kashif M. | Hardware Design Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 13, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** 3D rendering , easy to use nature of the tool , free **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** I did not properly understood custom library management **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** Kicad is future of PCB design **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Kicad help me to develop PCB for my clients ### 48. 2-4 layer boards **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Grigor G. | A&MS Layout Design Engr, II, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 14, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** fast load and easy to use on old comp, and my favorite its a calc **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** how to create and place 3d models, in Altium, for example, it's much easier **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** no need license ### 49. It's user interface is very friendly and easy to use. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** It's light weight as compared to other available softwares. Easy to learn. 3d visualization of PCB layout is my favorite part in this software. **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Need some optimization in assigning footprints for pcb layout. **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** Designing of PCBs for my projects with mid range hardware (PC). The software is so lightweights that and so well designed that it never crashed or stuck for me. ### 50. Kicad Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2021 **What do you like best about KiCad EDA?** The user interface, Easy Key binding, Free and open source **What do you dislike about KiCad EDA?** Absence of 3D interface like Altium, Menu Items in a separate pan **Recommendations to others considering KiCad EDA:** USe Kicad EDA, fulfills most of the requirements that paid EDA vendors provide **What problems is KiCad EDA solving and how is that benefiting you?** PCB design and schematic Capture from paid software to open source ## KiCad EDA Discussions - [How can I turn on only the radsnet of the component I am moving?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/36347-how-can-i-turn-on-only-the-radsnet-of-the-component-i-am-moving) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What is the best EDA software?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-eda-software) - 1 comment - [View KiCad EDA pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/kicad-eda/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-25+17%3A12%3A01+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=a64cf0d9-0781-4c86-b3cd-273826cba6ed&secure%5Btoken%5D=22a7db59cfe7986c1afbc625bb2fbcf2ae554ea7b381ec2879ea5da1a8ab4f1c&format=llm_user) ## KiCad EDA Integrations - [Altium Develop](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-develop/reviews) - [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) ## KiCad EDA Features **Design** - PCB layout editing - Schematic editor **Tools** - 3D modeling tools - Component placement **Library** - Component libraries **Platform** - Board size - Layers **Customization** - Custom commands ## Top KiCad EDA Alternatives - [Altium Develop](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-develop/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (989 reviews) - [Autodesk Fusion](https://www.g2.com/products/autodesk-fusion/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (509 reviews) - [Altium CircuitMaker](https://www.g2.com/products/altium-circuitmaker/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (110 reviews)