PCB design tools are utilized to design and test virtual PCB circuits before you get them fabricated. Several free, online, paid, and web-based PCB design tools are available for PCB designers to create PCB design layouts and schematics.
PCB design tools also generate a BOM list, Gerber files, and other documents that help in PCB manufacturing, testing, and assembling. PCB design tools are most important when developing a new PCB design layout for newly developed electronic items.
Some famous PCB design tools are circuit maker, EasyEDA, Altium, Allegro, Eagle, etc. In this article, we will discuss the top ten PCB design tools that can help PCB designers, electronic engineers, researchers, hobbyists, students, and others to design reliable PCB circuits for manufacturing.
Allegro
Allegro is one of the best PCB design tools introduced by Cadence for PCB designing. As one of the innovative PCB design tools, Allegro can create powerful PCB design layouts. Like other impactful PCB design tools on this list, it can eliminate signal transmission issues from PCBs.
Allegro facilitates minimization and high-density connectivity in advanced PCB circuits. It is among the best licensed PCB design tools, and you must pay annually to use it. Microsoft Windows supports it, and at least 50 GB of space is required to use this design tool in your system.
PADS PCB
PADS PCB is one of the powerful PCB design tools introduced by Siemens in the electronic industry. It is a paid PCB and user-friendly design tool, and it is among the affordable PCB design tools that PCB designers, students, and engineers can use for designing and testing.
PADS is among the most robust PCB design tools that allow automatic routing, templates of PCB designs, create powerful planes and tracing areas, and help simplify complex PCB design for its users.
Fritzing
Fritzing is among the most popular PCB design tools in teaching and designing PCB circuits. It is one of the open-source PCB design tools that help fabricate prototypes for custom PCB circuits. It is supported by Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
It is one the best beginner-friendly PCB design tools that create reliable breadboards, schematics, and PCB design layouts.
Eagle
Eagle is among the versatile PCB design tools that are available in both paid and free versions. It is one of the most trusted PCB design tools used by researchers, students, PCB designers, and electronic manufacturers for PCB designing and testing.
It is one of the easy-to-use PCB design tools that create spontaneous PCB layouts using its editors, library resources, and other design features.
Circuit Maker
The circuit is one of the best free PCB design tools from Altium for PCB designing. It is one the popular PCB design tools that create PCB schematics and layouts without layers limit. It can easily collaborate with other Altium PCB design tools to produce robust PCB designs.
The circuit maker has a large and updated PCB component library for simple to complex PCB designs. You can use its cloud and on-premise version using the windows operating system.
EasyEDA
EasyEDA is one of the web-based PCB design tools. As a reliable design tool, it can create circuit simulations for testing, schematics, and layouts of PCBs. It is one of the most popular PCB design tools that PCB designers and engineers use to create online PCB designs.
As one of the most powerful PCB design tools, it can import PCB designs from PCB design tools like Altium, Eagle, KiCad, etc., to create reliable PCB designs. Its standard version is free, while the enterprise version is paid. You can easily store your data in its cloud.
KiCAD
KiCAD is among the popular open-source PCB design tools that create reliable PCB layouts. As one of the important PCB design tools, it can design up to 32 PCB layers layout. KiCAD even features a 3-dimensional PCB viewer with rotating features so consumers can check their PCB design.
It is one of the unique PCB design tools that contain an inbuilt Footprint editor, which improves PCB designs. It is one the best free PCB design tools that create professional PCB layouts and schematics.
OrCAD
OrCAD is one of the popular PCB design tools, with almost 40,000 PCB designers using it for PCB designing and layout. It is one the most preferred PCB design tools due to its integrated designing environment that helps in creating reliable PCB designs from schematic creation to final PCB circuit layout.
It is one of the essential PCB design tools used to create simple to mixed signal PCB simulation and design. It is one the most reliable PCB design tools, which help to create powerful schematics, layout, and BOM list for PCB manufacturing.
Mentor Graphics Xpedition
Mentor Graphics Xpedition is one of the leading PCB design tools due to its multi-board designing capabilities. It is one of the popular PCB design tools for virtual PCB prototyping and helps create reliable PCB circuits.
It facilitates PCB data processing by providing a unified approach to PCB designing and resource management. PCB designers can use this design tool for a faster PCB layout process.
Altium PCB
Altium PCB is one of the best cloud-based PCB design tools for creating high-speed PCB design, and it is one of the PCB design tools with more than 4000 PCB components library for PCB designing and testing. It is one of the most popular PCB design tools in the market for its 3D views.
As one of the versatile PCB design tools, it offers interactive routing, the best user interface, and error detection, which help to create the best PCB circuit layouts. Whether you are a new PCB designer or an experienced one, Altium PCB is your best all-rounder.
Final Words
This post discusses the top ten trending and best PCB design tools. Altium PCB is our ultimate favorite among these PCB design tools because of its cloud-based platform and amazing PCB designing and testing features.
If you are looking for a HDI PCB/Flex PCB designer that uses the best PCB design tools to design reliable custom PCBs for you, contact this PCB Manufacturer. They are experts in customized to quick-turn PCBs designing, fabrication, and assembling.
