Circuit design software list

What is the best free or cheap electronics design software? It is hard to say in this ever changing field. I some time ago mentioned some software examples in Top Free Electronics Design Tools posting and you can find a long comparison list at Wikipedia Comparison of EDA software page.

For the circuit design I would say that this list from  Mostly free engineering software article is a good list of free/cheap software I can agree:

  • KiCad seems the best known open-source EDA system.
  • gEDA looks very similar.
  • EAGLE is a commercial package with a free version that will handle small double-sided boards.
  • DesignSpark PCB is not open-source, but looks very capable given the cost ($0). It is adware

From has done some playing with KiCad and gEDA (years ago) but I felt that they were lacking something in easy to use (some improvement needed here I think). From those alternatives EAGLE feels the best for me.

Here are also some new on-line focused alternatives:

CircuitBee is an online platform that promises to allow you to share live versions of your circuit schematics on your websites, blogs or forums that I covered three years ago.

Digi-Key Corporation and Aspen Labs launched two years ago one-of-a-kind online ‘Scheme-it’ tool for drawing schematics.

HackEDA is an interesting looking new on-line electronics design tool introduced last year. The premise is simple: most electronic projects are just electronic Lego: You connect your microcontroller to a sensor, add in a battery, throw in a few caps and resistors for good measure, and hopefully everything will work.

circuits.io was promising looking free circuit editor in your browser introduced two years ago. I has browser based schematic and board layout. Anyone familiar with Autodesk knows they have a bit of a habit of taking over the world. Autodesk started with 123D modeling tool that is suitable for designing models for 3D printing. Now Autodesk has followed with 123D Circuits: Autodesk’s free design tool. 123D is web-based software, and using it requires account creation on the circuits.io website. Anything you design sits on the cloud: you can collaborate with others and even embed your circuit (with functioning simulation). All your work is public unless you pay. There are many things similar to Fritzing in this.

CircuitMaker from Altium posting that tells that Altium recently announced CircuitMaker, their entry into the free/low-cost PCB design tool market. They’re entering a big industry, with the likes of Eagle, KiCad, gEDA, and a host of other tool suites. CircuitMaker from Altium posting has introductory video on CircuitMaker and discussion on it. CircuitMaker’s website is pushing the collaboration aspect of the software. The software is still in pre-beta phase.

EasyEDA is an integrated tool for schematic capture, circuit simulation and PCB layout that you use with your web browser. Read more about it from my posting on EasyEDA.

 

Related links: Check my postings on electronics design software.

 

300 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/karan-gadhave-019143162_like-share-commet-activity-6752793639996534784-VKnh
    Different levels of abstraction in a circuit design flow shown. The horizontal axis indicates the sequence of design steps, while the vertical axis indicates the level of abstraction. Guys do are your thought on the Different levels of abstraction in a circuit design flow in the comments. #like #share #commet

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.multisim.com/

    Measuring the resistance of the resistor by a Multisim program version 14.1.Also,building the circuit of measuring the resistance.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edxyBS6Tb1Y

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLD7AgAYqwA

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCoBIedIsY&t=109s

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Circuit Impedance Calculations Without Cumbersome Simulations
    https://hackaday.com/2021/03/02/circuit-impedance-calculations-without-cumbersome-simulations/

    Using circuit simulating software like SPICE can be a powerful tool for modeling the behavior of a circuit in the real world. On the other hand, it’s not always necessary to have all of the features of SPICE available all the time, and these programs tend to be quite expensive as well. To that end, [Wes Hileman] noticed an opportunity for a specific, quick method for performing impedance calculations using python without bulky, expensive software and came up with a program which he calls fastZ.

    The software works on any network of passive components (resistors, capacitors, and inductors) and the user can specify parallel and series connections using special operators.

    https://github.com/whileman133/fastZ

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://hackaday.com/2021/04/03/playing-snake-on-a-pcb/

    Snake, as [VK5HSE ] writes, you can now play it in a PCB layout.

    The software in question is PCB-RND, a cross-platform open-source PCB CAD tool, and the game is achieved through the magic of user scripting. Simply download the script, run it in your favourite circuit board, and away you go!

    http://repo.hu/projects/pcb-rnd/
    http://repo.hu/cgi-bin/edakrill.cgi?cmd=show&krill=igor2/script/pcb-rnd/game_snake.krill

    https://vk5hse.blogspot.com/2021/03/how-to-play-snake-game-on-your-pcb.html

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Hacking The Classroom
    https://hackaday.com/2021/04/08/hacking-the-classroom/

    With so many students attending class virtually these days, how can you give kids — or adults — some hands on experience with electronics projects? [Ben Finio] says you can by moving your lab to the virtual world using — of all things — Tinkercad. [Ben] should know something about a classroom since he is a lecturer at Cornell.

    Of course, you could do this trick with any online simulator, but Tinkercad is nice because it is easy to use, looks real, and doesn’t cost the students a dime. [Ben] mentions there are some scenarios where it is especially useful like large classes or online classes. There are probably some cases where it doesn’t make sense, like teaching RF design, for example. Even then, maybe you just need a different tool.

    How to Teach an Online Circuits Class With Tinkercad
    https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Teach-an-Online-Circuits-Class-With-Tinkerc/

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/DIYAudio/permalink/4052565378142611/

    Hi guys
    I’m looking for a programm to design circuits, from the schematic to the gerber files. I’m a little overwhelmed by all the apps out there. Can you give me a good hint? Altium designer is a litte bit to expensice. I also tried easyEDA and I find it very very complicated in terms of finding the right component that you want to use.
    What do you use or what would you recommend?

    Thanks :)

    I’m using KiCAD. They all have a learning curve. I don’t think it makes gerber files, but programs like ExpressPCB will let you export something you can send off and make a PCB with. ExpressPCB.com

    kicad can export gerber files, drill and everything for production.

    yeah, it’s great, but has a learning curve. I started on ExpressPCB, and its pretty limited, but it does work and it is reliable. The company that makes pc boards from the program is reasonably priced, but I also found several other companies can import DXF files too, so there are options. It took me all of 20 minutes to make my first pc board on ExpressPCB.

    You can also print from Express PCB and export to a PDF. I just print mine to a transparency and expose a photosensitive PCB, developer and ferric chloride for a one-off.

    I find Diptrace quite intuitive to use. It’s free (with limited pins) but good.
    https://diptrace.com/

    Eagle.

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Printed Circuit Bling – An Open Source Art PCB Toolchain
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lomLQOFW8U

    Custom PCB scope labels and the world’s first PCB time lapse!

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Simulation software:

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/2494694997417025/permalink/2951305998422587/

    Vaikka Tina Ti

    Tina Ti:ssa mielestäni learning curve ok ja jos vaikka jotain Ti:n oparia oon simuloinu, niin sitä käyttäny. Nyt kaivoin pitkästä aikaa LTSpicen, sillä oon simuloinu geneerisiä kytkentöjä. Ainakin kaikille uusille komponenteille tuntuu löytyvän valmistajilta SPICE model, niin jokseenkin triviaali importoida niitä.

    Eipä ole kokemusta, ite simuloin aikanaan Atmelin AVR oheisrautaa paperilla, mutta ilmeisesti TinkerCadilla ovat jotkut tuotakin harrastaneet. Lyö “Arduino Simulator” Googleen.

    Multisim? Voi myös käyttää suoraan nettiselaimessa. https://www.multisim.com/

    https://www.falstad.com/circuit/

    Puhutko nyt simuloinnista?
    Microcap on nykyään ilmainen:
    http://www.spectrum-soft.com/index.shtm

    LTspice on myös hyvä ja ollut pitkään ilmainen
    https://www.analog.com/en/design-center/design-tools-and-calculators/ltspice-simulator.html

    Se on sitte oma juttunsa, et opit noita käyttämää.

    LTspice on ollut jo vuosia tärkein työvälineeni. Maailman suosituin, osaa jakaa laskennan kaikille suoritinytimille, ilmainen. Minulle tärkeitä ominaisuuksia: Puolijohteiden käyttäytyminen valitsemissani lämpötiloissa samaan graafiin. Graafien esistysmuodon tallennus (monta graafia, mitä käppyröitä mihinkin graafiin).

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    EasyEDA.com – runs in a browser or natively. There’s a Linux build of the native version available.

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    ASCII Schematic Diagrams
    https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/ascii-schematic-diagrams/

    We wondered recently about those crude ASCII schematics you see in some documentation — are there any dedicated schematic-focused tools to draw them, or are they just hand-crafted using various ASCII-art drawing tools? To our surprise, there is such a tool. It is called AACircuit and was developed by [Andreas Weber]. It has a history going back to 2001 when it was first introduced as ASCIIPaint.

    https://josoansi.de/aacircuit.php

    If you don’t want to wrestle with old and sketchy object-oriented Pascal code, you’re in luck. [Chaos Ordered] has made a Pythonized version which you can get from his GitHub repository.

    https://github.com/Blokkendoos/AACircuit

    Not exactly schematics, but [Duckman] has some Arduino pinout diagrams he made using ASCII-art. These could be useful when pasted into source code as comments, documenting the pinouts for your project.

    http://busyducks.com/wp_4_1/2015/11/16/ascii-art-arduino-pinouts/

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    This is a simulation of the 1972 Atari game Pong at a circuit level. The original Pong did not have any code or even a microprocessor. It was a circuit, implemented mostly using digital logic chips, with a few timers and other analog components.
    https://www.falstad.com/pong/vonly.html

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Applying the Laplace Transform in LTspice to Model Transfer Functions
    Oct. 5, 2021
    https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/analog/article/21177396/analog-devices-applying-the-laplace-transform-in-ltspice-to-model-transfer-functions?utm_source=EG%20ED%20Analog%20%26%20Power%20Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS210930010&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R

    Transfer functions analyze how system output changes depending on the input. This article details how to implement a transfer function in LTspice, comparing ideal vs. modeled responses and presenting example scenarios.

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    VHDL/Verilog to Discrete Logic Flow
    Work in progress: Flow to synthesize VHDL/Verilog code into a PCB
    https://hackaday.io/project/180839-vhdlverilog-to-discrete-logic-flow

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Digi-Key parantali ilmaista piirikaaviotyökaluaan
    https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12710-digikey-parantali-ilmaista-piirikaaviotyoekaluaan

    Elektroniikan komponenttien kaupan verkkojätteihin kuuluva Digi-Key tarjoaa asiakkailleen ilmaista, verkossa toimivaa piirikaavioiden työkalua. Nyt yhtiö on parannellut Scheme-it-työkaluaan uusilla ominaisuuksilla.

    Scheme-It on pilvipohjainen työkalu, joka on maailmanlaajuisesti käytettävissä sähköisten piirikaavioiden ja kaavioiden suunnitteluun ja jakamiseen. Äskettäin julkaistuja uusia ominaisuuksia ovat esimerkiksi Ultra Librarian -symbolien integrointi. Tämä ominaisuus tuo noin 2 miljoonaa Ultra Librarianin yksityiskohtaista symbolia ja kuvaa Digi-Keyn tuoteluettelosta.

    Symbolieditori 2.0 antaa käyttäjille mahdollisuuden luoda uusia symboleja, jotka eivät tällä hetkellä sisälly työkaluun. Scheme-itiin, ja tarjoaa loputtomia tapoja muokata malleja. LaTeX:n avulla käyttäjät voivat nyt muotoilla ja lisätä matemaattisia kaavoja ja laskelmia suoraan kaavioihin.

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Scheme-it!
    Online schematic tool

    Scheme-it is an online schematic and diagramming tool that allows anyone to design and share electronic circuit diagrams

    https://www.digikey.com/schemeit/home/?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=pressrelease#

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Electronic Component Search Engine
    Free access to schematic symbols, PCB footprints and 3D models
    https://componentsearchengine.com/?utm_source=hackaday&utm_medium=leaderboard&utm_campaign=CSE_1

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    POWERSTAGE-DESIGNER
    Power Stage Designer™ Tool of Most Commonly Used Switch-mode Power Supplies
    https://www.ti.com/tool/POWERSTAGE-DESIGNER?DCMP=powerstagedesigner&HQS=powerstagedesigner

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Using VHDL To Generate Discrete Logic PCB Designs
    https://hackaday.com/2021/11/13/using-vhdl-to-generate-discrete-logic-pcb-designs/

    VHDL and Verilog are hardware description languages, used to describe and define logic circuits. They’re typically used to design ASICs and to program FPGAs, essentially using software to define hardware. However, [Tim] has done something altogether quite creative, creating tools to take VHDL and Verilog and spit out PCB designs for discrete logic.

    Yes, you read that correctly. The basic idea is to take VHDL source code, and then make a PCB layout that implements the desired logic using resistor-transistor logic. From there, the PCB design files can be shipped off to a manufacturer for pick-and-place assembly at a fraction of the cost of producing a bespoke ASIC.

    https://hackaday.io/project/180839-vhdlverilog-to-discrete-logic-flow

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    5V Regulator design tutorial – How it works, how to design PCB altium
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-j0onzzuNQ

    Voltage regulator. Learn how to make a 5V regulator using capacitors, LM7805 regulator and Schottky diode, learn how the circuit works and also how to build your own PCB printed circuit board, how to order a PCB and how to solder the boards electronic components together.

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Second Worst CAD Package Ever
    https://hackaday.com/2021/12/17/the-second-worst-cad-package-ever/

    A while back, [Heavydeck] remembered stumbling across the worst CAD package ever, which is a schematic editor whose existence was purely intended for use to make quick circuit sketches for documentation, presentations and the like. All good. But, being based on low quality JPEG graphics, which when blown up to projector size on a big screen, they look really rough. After deciding that the original nasty, clunky interface was just nasty and clunky enough, [Heavydeck] then proceeded to reimplement the idea over the course of an afternoon, and came up with Kludge (possibly the second worst CAD package ever) making an actually useful tool even more useful.

    You see, whether you make website content, YouTube tutorials, or just need to write technical reports, if you’re in the electronics business, you’re going to need to make high-quality editable schematic images at some point, and Kludge might well solve some problems for you. Kludge lets you do so many things; you can save a schematic, you can load a schematic, you can even export it to an SVG file. Actually, that’s all you can do, but it is actually just enough.

    The Kludge schematic editor
    https://heavydeck.net/project/the-kludge-schematic-editor/

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Worst CAD Package Ever Is Still Handy
    https://hackaday.com/2015/10/05/the-worst-cad-package-ever-is-still-handy/

    But what about those times when you need a quick schematic to pop into a presentation? You are on some ancient conference room computer where you can’t install anything and it’s still running a browser that understands the tag? Try out the Klunky Schematic Editor. Your browser will need Javascript, but that’s about all. No HTML 5 or anything fancy.

    True to its name, the editor is klunky by almost any definition. Here’s how it works. The top half of your screen becomes a palette of schematic symbols. The lower half has an invisible grid of squares that are the same size as the symbols (37×37). You click on a symbol and then you click below to place the symbol in the grid. You can keep adding more of the same symbol until you pick another. You can see a simple schematic created with Klunky to the right.

    Erasing? Use the blank component (new components in a square overwrite the previous component). Wiring? There are wires that go across and through the corners of the squares. Rotating? Most components come in vertical and horizontal incarnations.

    Saving? Do a print screen and paste it into your favorite program for cropping and adding text.

    https://www.qsl.net/wd9eyb/klunky/framed.html

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    EEVblog #1129 – Creating a Nice Readable Schematic
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Ud-FxUw0g

    How to turn a horrible unorganised schematic into a nice readable modular schematic with proper signal flow.
    Tips on industry standard and expected layout techniques.

    9:28 LED configuration
    12:28 Single Page Vs Multi page schematics
    14:24 Net lines and bus lines
    25:25 Connection stuff
    36:32 Consistent component symbols
    37:29 Signal flow from left to right (schematic reorganisation part 1)
    44:15 The great nF debate
    46:18 Text designation (Part II)
    47:57 Net line Vs Port (for blocks)
    49:43 Description on blocks
    50:02 Signal f low from left to right (schematic reorganisation part 2)
    1:08:38 Don’t put junctions on line cross-overs (Don’t cross the streams)

    Using the open source Haasoscope oscilloscope as an example.
    https://github.com/drandyhaas/Haasoscope

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    If you’re an #Arduino fan who uses Digi-Key Electronics excellent Scheme-it tool for schematics and diagrams, you’ll be delighted to hear it now includes graphical symbols for a whole range of Arduino boards.

    Check it out!
    https://www.digikey.com/schemeit/

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kicad V6 First Impressions | Voltlog 399
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlUhXlaiFZw

    Timestamps
    1:16 File format changes
    2:14 UI selection behavior
    3:28 Copy & Paste
    4:43 General UI refresh
    5:06 Plugin and content manager
    6:15 3D viewer
    6:32 PCB editor layer visibility
    7:02 Drawing rectangles
    7:50 Rounded corner tracks

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Mixed-Signal Hardware Design Overview | Audio SoM | STM32 & Altium – Phil’s Lab #45
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kYJwosAz3Y

    Overview and guidelines for mixed-signal hardware and PCB design, looking at an audio processing ‘System-on-Module’ (SoM) containing an STM32H7 microcontroller, audio codec, and SD card.

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A PNG Based Circuit Simulator
    https://hackaday.com/2022/02/16/a-png-based-circuit-simulator/

    We’re sure thousands of hours have been spent in Minecraft implementing digital logic. Inspired by that, [lynnpepin] created a digital logic simulator named Reso that is based on pixels rather than voxels.

    There are a few clever things here. First, different colors represent different parts. There are three different colors of wire, output and input wires, XOR gates, and AND gates. OR gates are just output wires, which or all the input wires together. By implementing these gates, Reso is, by definition, Turing complete. Since it’s just a PNG, it is trivial to open it up in GIMP and copy and paste one bit of the circuit multiple times. The different color wires are mainly to help route in a 2d plane, as you don’t have vias. Currently, the image compiles into a graph that is executed. [Lynn] chose code readability and ease of prototyping over premature optimization, so the code isn’t particularly fast. But it is pretty fun, squinting at the pixels that make up the adders and clocks he has on his blog. After giving Reso your image, it outputs a series of images that enumerate the state for several states.

    Reso! My pixel-y circuit design language and simulator where the inputs and outputs are bitmap images
    https://lynndotpy.xyz/posts/reso_intro.html

    https://github.com/lynnpepin/reso

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Class A Amplifiers, Virtually
    https://hackaday.com/2022/03/09/class-a-amplifiers-virtually/

    If you didn’t know better, you might think the phrase “class A amplifier” was a marketing term to help sell amplifiers. But it is, of course, actually a technical description of an amplifier that doesn’t distort the input waveform because it doesn’t depend on multiple elements to handle different areas of the input waveform. Want to know more? [FesZ] has a new video covering the basics of class A amplifiers including some great simulations. You can see the video below.

    A class A amplifier uses a transistor that is always biased on. It never saturates or switches off. This is good for linearity, but not always the best for efficiency so there are other classes of amplifiers, too. However, for many applications, class A is the most common configuration.

    There are a number of trade-offs involved with each type of amplifier and [FesZ] covers them in detail. But the real interesting part is the simulations in Spice. Sure, you can build the circuits and look at everything with a meter or scope, but using Spice is much handier.

    The Class A amplifier – basics and simulation (1/2)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtFnkXar5JU

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Electronics Tutorial – Common Audio Amplifier Classes (A, B, AB, G, H and D)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR69btcolFc

    In this electronics tutorial video I take a look at the most common audio amplifier topologies used – the class A, class B, class AB, class G, class H and class D. What makes each of these amplifier classes different in regards to linearity and efficiency? And to show how such electronic circuits can look in a real circuit, I also simulate them using LTspice.

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19sV0b4Iip4t7th8UGLWJH547rTo3NAhv

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Cadsoft Eagle (. brd) to Gerber Conversion Guide
    https://hackaday.io/project/165630-cadsoft-eagle-brd-to-gerber-conversion-guide

    A short, little guide sheet on how to convert Cadsoft Eagle (. BRD) files to Gerber files in the Eagle software.

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    LTSpice Tips And A Long Tutorial
    https://hackaday.com/2022/06/07/ltspice-tips-and-a-long-tutorial/

    We always enjoy videos from [FesZ], so when we saw his latest about tips and tricks for LTSpice, we decided to put the 20 minutes in to watch it. But we noticed in the text that he has an entire series of video tutorials about LTSpice and that this is actually episode 30. So there’s plenty to watch.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjj2XXDhZRQ

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Antares
    A free, powerful platform for designing, simulating and explaining digital circuits.
    https://www.antarescircuit.io/

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    30 Free Circuit Simulators Lightly Reviewed
    https://hackaday.com/2022/08/04/30-free-circuit-simulators-lightly-reviewed/

    We live in a time where great software is available with the click of a mouse, often for free or — at least — low cost. But there’s a problem: how do you select from so many alternatives? We were interested in [Lee Teschler]’s review earlier this year of 30 free circuit simulators. If you are selecting one or don’t like the one you are currently using, it is well worth the time to review.

    There are several on the list that you’ve probably heard of before like GNUCap and LTspice. There are also some lesser-known products. Some of those are just trial or student versions of paid products. Some are branded versions of commercial products (like Tina) or were made free after selling for higher price tags (like MicroCap 12).

    https://www.designworldonline.com/best-free-analog-circuit-simulators/

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Top 5 Beginner PCB Design Mistakes (and how to fix them)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0X76Kbf8fQ

    Learn the most common beginner PCB design mistakes that can negatively impact EMI and SI, as well as how to fix them. Check out tips and tricks on trace widths, clearances, decoupling, vias, and more! Created by Philip Salmony, Tech Consultant for Altium and the mind behind Phil’s Lab.

    00:00 Introduction
    00:42 #1 Trace Spacing
    03:40 #2 Trace Widths
    06:01 #3 Via Sizing
    08:21 #4 Decoupling
    10:46 #5 Reference Planes

    Reply

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