--- title: "Altium Develop Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Altium Develop the right Engineering CAD solution for you? Explore 181 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/175058/Altium-Designer/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- Altium Develop 4.6 (181) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated July 20th, 2026 # Reviews of Altium Develop Ease of use 4.3 Customer Service 4.2 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews DM Derese M Electronics Design EngineerElectrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “What I like the most is its interactive cloud based design showing feature, which avoids opening Altium Designer every time I want to open my designs.“ May 14, 2025 KA Karl A PCB Designer, Embedded Hardware EngineerComputer Hardware, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The fact that some readily available extensions, like PDN and SI Analyzer by Keysight, are NOT available to standard (perpetual license) customers like me.“ December 18, 2024 JD Jon D Configuration Systems EngineerElectrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Altium Designer is an intelligent and user-friendly PCB design platform that has enhanced my company's design capabilities tremendously.“ December 10, 2024 KA Kamal A Sales and Technical coordinatorAutomotive, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “The BOM files aren't updated according to the schematic, for instance by updating the BOM doc, you will face some troubles.“ December 18, 2024 AA Ashenafi A Technical Supervisor and Hardware EngineerElectrical/Electronic Manufacturing, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “It allows me to access my designs anytime through web based interactive interface.“ June 6, 2025 MB Maya B Design and EngineeringRenewables & Environment, Self-employedUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “Lack of generic symbol libraries and having to build up your own libraries before you actually can get down to your design.“ December 10, 2024 NA Nick A FounderAutomotive, Self-employedUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “As a small tech startup we don't have the resources and man power that a large company may have, yet Altium Designer has enabled us to move very quickly.“ December 17, 2024 PM Petros M Junior Technical EngineerTelecommunications, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “What I liked the least about Altium 365 is the learning curve, which is a little difficult for beginner designers“ June 25, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 181 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use H S Younes B. engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Discover the Power of Altium Designer: A Comprehensive PCB Design Solution " January 31, 2023 4.0 Pros The best quality of Altium Designer software is its comprehensive and integrated approach to PCB design. It offers a range of advanced features and capabilities, including:User-friendly interface and intuitive design flowAdvanced schematic capture and component managementHigh-performance, multi-layer PCB layoutRobust design verification and analysis toolsSeamless data management and collaboration with team membersExtensive libraries and components databasesIntegration with popular industry tools and standards.These features and capabilities make Altium Designer a highly effective and efficient solution for PCB design, delivering exceptional quality and reliability. Cons The worst thing about Altium Designer software is its high cost compared to some other similar products in the market. It is a premium solution and the pricing may not be attractive for organizations with limited budgets or for hobbyists and makers who are just starting with PCB design. Additionally, the software may have a steep learning curve for some users, especially those who are new to PCB design or electronics. Some users may also find the software to be resource-intensive, requiring a high-performance computer with ample memory and storage. Finally, some users may experience technical issues or compatibility problems with certain hardware or software platforms. Review Source FN Fatih N. Embedded hardware engineer Aviation & Aerospace Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Altium 365: A tool every hardware designer should know" June 5, 2025 5.0 Overall Altium 365 is a great tool and everyone in the field of hardware design should use it. It helped me starting from my academics projects and now for professional projects. Pros What I liked the most is that its feature of being able to share design files instantly with team members, view changes live, and comment on specific parts of the PCB layout saved us a lot of time and eliminated version control issues. It brought true cloud-based hardware design to our workflow. Cons What I liked the least about Altium 365 is that it is hard to learn the full functionalities. While the platform is powerful, setting up permissions and navigating between design, BOM, and documentation tools could feel overwhelming at first without proper training. Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) Since Altium 365 has a great web based collaboration feature, I shifted from KiCad EDA to Altium 365 for my designs. Review Source DM Doug M. Director of Engineering Industrial Automation Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "If they can solve tech support responsiveness issues, this is a great tool" December 10, 2024 3.0 All good except tech support is slower than I've ever experienced. Pros Industry acceptance, good integration, active BOM feature Cons Tech support responsiveness has been abysmal Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) Hoping to get something more industry-accepted, more capability for complex boards. Review Source MÇ Mahmut Ç. Senior electronic hardware design engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "What a great design tool: Altium 365" June 15, 2025 5.0 Overall Altium 365 is a greate cloud based collaborative design platform and it helped me throughout my career. I love this tool. Pros The thing I liked the most about Altium 365 is that its feature of online accessibility of designs and design collaboration features. Cons The thing I liked the least is that availability of free resources to learn the tool is not abundant Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) Because Altium 365 provides all in one features that are critical for designers Review Source BD Bethlehem D. Electronic Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Design together with Altium 365" May 29, 2025 5.0 Overall I'm good using Altium 365, starting from day one it helped me a lot through my professional projects. Pros I like its seamless cloud-based collaboration. Unlike traditional design environments that rely on file-based sharing and manual version control, Altium 365 allows real-time access and editing of PCB projects from anywhere. Cons The thing I don't like about Altium 365 is that the pricing for subscription is a little expensive. It could make it unaffordable to beginner designers. Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) To use Altium 365's feature of collaborative design. Review Source LT LIDYA T. Lead Electrical and Computer Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Altium 365 and its great features" March 13, 2025 5.0 I'm quite happy using it and hope it would be like this in the future too Pros The features are really great. Its collaboration feature along with being cloud based, it makes the tool very useful. Cons I like everything about this great tool , and there's nothing I could hate Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) This Altium 365 has all in one features that makes a project management easier Review Source BH Binyam H. Electromechanical Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Altium 365 and its use" May 20, 2025 5.0 I am good using it, I mean it helped me a lot since day one. It allowed me to collaborate with my team in a single workspace while doing projects. Pros I like Altium 365 feature of automatic Bill of Materials (BOM) generation, I also liked the interactive web based design viewing and storage capability of Altium 365 Cons Some of the features are hard to learn at first glance since there aren't plenty of free resourses to learn about it. So it might be hard to understand for beginners Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) Since Altium has great features to manage my projects well Review Source KA Karl A. PCB Designer, Embedded Hardware Engineer Computer Hardware Used the software for: 2+ years ### "KKR75's review" December 18, 2024 5.0 Using it every day, and would never consider any other alternative Pros The GUI ease of use, the software depth, breadth, and features Cons The fact that some readily available extensions, like PDN and SI Analyzer by Keysight, are NOT available to standard (perpetual license) customers like me. This should be DEFAULT !!!!! Alternatives considered [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/)[OrCAD X](https://www.capterra.com/p/10015795/OrCAD-X/) Reason for choosing Altium Develop Altium looked MUCH more polished than any other design software out there, from free to commercial. I tried OrCad and absolutely hated their GUI and installation Review Source MB Maya B. Design and Engineering Renewables & Environment Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "After my first six months of AD" December 10, 2024 4.0 Once over the learning curve, it's not bad. Everyone will have their opinions but at the end of the schematic and PCB tools are straightforward (usually) and nothing out of the ordinary from other tools out there. Pros Variants and document generators. They just save so much headache of different versions and the documentation that goes with it. To have it all spit out at the click of a button is great. Cons Lack of generic symbol libraries and having to build up your own libraries before you actually can get down to your design. For projects that don't have strict validation and supply chains, this forces a lot of up front decisions that aren't really necessary, like choosing which of 15 (or more) completely suitable capacitors you're going to commit to, and hope doesn't have supply issues or you get to choose again. The inconsistent mouse and keyboard shortcuts between the application and the Altium 365 web interface are occasionally infuriating. Make it the same please. Alternatives considered [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) Reason for choosing Altium Develop I was a project requirement from new client. Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) New client wanted to keep using Altium so AD it was. Review Source YK Yusuf K. Embedded Systems Engineer Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A tool everyone should know: Altium 365" June 20, 2025 5.0 Overall Altium 365 is a great tool, it makes most things easier. I have a good experience using it and for sure it continues this way Pros The thing I liked the most from the features of Altium 365 is that its ability to create a web based collaborative design workspace Cons The thing is that when the subscription period passed we couldn't have access to our workspace, so we shoud have an active subscription inorder that our data stays there Review Source MS Matiwos S. Electronics Engineeer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "A great tool for your projects, Altium 365" July 9, 2024 5.0 As an electronics engineering student Altium 365 is a great tool for me. I could do projects in collaboration with my colleagues and then my professor could provide me feedbacks. And that makes my learning easy and effective. Pros What I like the most about Altium 365 is the way it allows users to collaborate in a given project and give real time feedback. Cons Some of its features may not be beginner friendly and I found it a little complex to learn at first. So what I liked the least about Altium 365 is that its complexity to learn the tool. Switched from [KiCad EDA](https://www.capterra.com/p/10006638/KiCad-EDA/) Altium 365's feature of cloud based real time collaboration makes me to switch from KiCad EDA to Altium 365. Review Source TT Thomas T. DESIGNER Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Tuckers\_review" December 19, 2023 5.0 I generally like using Altium compaired to Allegro. Pros Everything is nicely integrated into a project which makes keeping track of everything easy. Cons No direct Solidworks output. Ecad/Mcad has to be done in the cloud. Review Source SB Sisay B. Hardware Engineer Computer Hardware Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "What a great tool, Altium 365" March 6, 2025 5.0 I have a good experience of using Altium 365 and it helped me a lot on my projects. Pros It has a great future on cloud based interactive interface for our designs. Cons Its interactive future and allowing team members on a project to collaborate joining the workspace. Review Source MH Mohamed H. Working Student Defense & Space Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "great experience for PCB designer" December 19, 2024 5.0 my Experience with altium was very beneficial . Pros the Platform has a lot of function which make the Design easier. Cons The Software requires a lot of Know how as a beginner and some previous knowledge Review Source TH Tam H. Research Engineer Internet Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Altium Designer for Engineer 2024" December 18, 2024 4.0 I'm happy with what Altium Designer offering right now. Pros Well integrated environment, very convenient to switch between schematic and layout, part search is very useful. Cons location of buttons, panels, etc, keep changing for every update version. could you just update the functionality and keep the user interface the same for all versions. Review Source DK Dev K. Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The Industry Gold Standard." December 26, 2023 4.0 I have been using Altium professionally for a long time and I trust it to help me get the projects complete and correct. Pros Altium is a full featured, industry standard tool to design electronics for product design, R&D, and academic environments. It has everything you need for rigid, flex, and other complex electronics assemblies, for design, layout, analysis, etc. Cons Altium is an industrial-strength tool and there is a learning curve. There are annoying quirks you have to learn to understand and work with or work around. Once you know about its internal structure most of these things make a certain sense. Reason for choosing Altium Develop I know Altium the best and I think it's the industry winner these days. Review Source DB Daniel B. Electrical design engineer Consumer Electronics Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A high end useful tool with a hefty pricetag." October 17, 2023 4.0 Very nice tool with loads of functionality.May have to restart the software a few times per day due to bugs, and god bless your soul if you don't have a strong gpu, but it has the potential to be absolutely amazing. Pros Security while designing by rigorous and strong rule setting.Loads of functions that are useful and solid.Ease of cooperation.Output job-files as a "template", although these need way more customization for general projects. Cons So many bugs.It's so slow compared to free softwares like kicad.It develops new features rather than perfecting old ones or solving bugs (looking at you output-job templates)Be more open even when not logged in. Just let people open documents and access the server even if they are out of a license. Reason for choosing Altium Develop Kinda is used for faster, small projects or one-shots.Allrum had more rigid rules and more functions and we trust the out-data more when designing high-end items. Review Source PC Paolo C. Design engineer Consumer Electronics Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A good tool for simple to complex tasks" April 20, 2023 4.0 My overall experience is very good; after some learning, you can be very proficient and the help system will help you to deal with things you still cannot do, making it very easy to learn new things. Pros The best thing about Altium is that there is very tight interaction between schematics and layout tools. The communication between the two environments allows you to easily implement modifications one way or the other, thus applying changes very effectively. Furthermore, the online help system is very effective, providing you an answer to almost all your questions. Cons There is room for improvement in track polishing, in the sense that too often pieces of tracks remain hidden underneath other tracks and make it more time consuming to clean up projects. I suggest a function which analyzes tracks and regenerates proper ones so that the outline of copper is maintained with the minimum number of elements.In addition, sometimes Altium does not seem to be able to understand at all what you are trying to do, both in schematics and in layout. Review Source SC Stephen C. Electrical Engineer Medical Devices Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy to get into for new users, but with many powerful features to get into as needed" April 19, 2023 4.0 It used to be that Protel/AD was not very well established, so recruitment of experienced people wasn't easy. Now it's pretty much the industry standard, which is great. I look forward to using AD, and actively enjoy using it. Pros Integration between schematic and PCB, MCAD integration and 3D, library management and online component data. Cons The price! Apart from that there is little that I don't like. Reason for choosing Altium Develop More powerful, easier to use, 'prettier'! Review Source TM Tigist M. Electrical engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "The Game Changer real time collaboration tool, Altium 365" July 21, 2024 5.0 Overall I am having a great experience using Altium 365. It's helping me in my academic projects and also in some industry level projects I do for my clients. It's making my professional journey as an electronics engineer really great. Pros What I like the most about Altium 365 is its real time collaboration features. As I am an electronics engineering student, I could make my projects in collaboration with my colleagues and then my professor could give me a real time feedbacks. And this makes my designs more efficient. Cons What makes me disappointed about Altium 365 is that its pricing isn't fair for beginner designers and academicians. So it would be great if it has some subscription plans with reduced pricing. Review Source AO Andre O. PCB Layout Engineer Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great tool" September 27, 2023 5.0 Pros What I like most about Altium 365 is its seamless collaboration and accessibility features. The platform provides an excellent environment for teams to work together on electronic design projects regardless of their physical location. The real-time collaboration tools make it easy to share and edit PCB designs, schematics, and other project files with colleagues or clients, fostering efficient teamwork. Additionally, Altium 365's cloud-based approach ensures that I can access and work on my projects from anywhere, which greatly enhances flexibility and productivity. Overall, Altium 365 is a game-changer for electronic design collaboration. Cons One of the few things that still leaves something to be desired is the fact that Active BOM shows stocks of components from American distributors and not from the country I work in (UK) even though prices are set in Pounds. Review Source JA Javier A. Senior PCB Designer Consumer Electronics Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Altium 365 - The Lord of EDA tools " September 26, 2023 5.0 Pros Because make easier and faster my PCB Designer job. Cons The point I think should be improved is the 2D CAD edition tools in PCB Editor. It should be more similar to nanoCAD, AutoCAD, or something like that. Reason for choosing Altium Develop We prefer Altium because is easier to use and it is easier for us to find engineering that work with Altium Review Source Abel A. Electrical and Computer Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Altium 365 and its great features" July 21, 2024 5.0 Overall I'm satisfied with with the features Altium 365 give and it really helped me in my projects and academic journey. Pros I like its feature of real time collaboration among team members in the project and supervisors and mentors could give a real time feedback. Cons Its subscription pricing is somehow unaffordable, so beginner designers and academicians might not be able to use this incredible tool. Review Source JC Joe C. Electronic Engineer Medical Devices Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Excellent implementation" January 17, 2023 5.0 Excellent, would recommend to anyone. Pros Excellent from start to finish. It makes designing, reviewing and publishing of electronic products so much easier than other software. From an admin side it's proved very useful to give people didn't privileges and roles in the process, managing libraries is made much easier and reviewing can be done on the internet from anywhere. The electronic and mechanical design are also top notch. Cons The vast capabilities of the software does lead to it being quite a lot of options which can be quite overwhelming. Reason for choosing Altium Develop Far superior and a better, more professional sales pitch Review Source JT Jaakko T. Senior electronics specialist Automotive Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Impressions after 4 months of using Altium after PADS" June 16, 2023 4.0 It does seem to give more than PADS even that I miss some functions in PADS. Pros Components can be imported directly from cloud and internet with loader. It has many configurations to adjust basically everything, but sometimes can be a bit confusing. Cons I have not been able to find how to highlight a net, so that it would be visible in both schematics and layout.Also when selecting a component in layout, it does not automatically go to correct schematic page, but I need to browse thru the pages to see, where the selected component is. Review Source ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. Talk to a Capterra advisor for free and get results within 15 minutes.