Altium Develop vs. DesignSpark PCB Comparison


Altium Develop Altium	DesignSpark PCB DesignSpark	+	+
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About Altium Develop is a collaborative electronics product development platform that connects requirements management, PCB design, engineering collaboration, supply chain visibility, and manufacturing workflows in a single environment. Built on Altium Designer®, Altium 365®, and Requirements Portal, Altium Develop helps electronics teams manage the entire hardware development lifecycle—from requirements definition and design reviews to BOM management, sourcing, and production readiness. Designed for organizations developing complex electronic products, Altium Develop enables engineering, systems, manufacturing, and product teams to collaborate in real time while maintaining end-to-end visibility and traceability across projects. Key Capabilities: • Real-time collaboration for PCB and hardware development teams • ECAD-MCAD collaboration and design review workflows • Component, BOM, and supply chain management • Change management and project coordination • Centralized design data and product lifecycle visibility • Cloud-based collaboration for distributed engineering teams • Requirements management and traceability through Requirements Portal Ideal for: • Electronics manufacturers • PCB design teams • Systems engineering organizations • Product development teams • Enterprise hardware development programs Organizations evaluating alternatives to Autodesk Fusion Electronics, KiCad, Cadence OrCAD, Xpedition, Allegro X, and SOLIDWORKS PCB use Altium Develop to improve collaboration, reduce rework, accelerate product development, and strengthen requirements-driven hardware development processes.		About Our free DesignSpark PCB is here to help your company explore more design options, leading to increased innovation. At the core of this unique software is a powerful software engine that enables you to capture schematics and design PCB boards and layouts. Our range of free-of-charge design tools and resources take your brightest ideas all the way through to final production. Whether you're looking for a design alone tool, a range of technical information, a complete design ecosystem, our complete suite can be integrated seamlessly into your existing design workflow. Be free when creating your schematic, there is no limitation on your schematic size or number of your schematic sheets. Feel free to use as many layers as you need on your next PCB design. There are no limits on the maximum number of nodes or pads and no restriction on the number of connections. The maximum size your PCB can be is 1m X 1m.
Platforms Supported Windows Mac Linux Cloud On-Premises iPhone iPad Android Chromebook		Platforms Supported Windows Mac Linux Cloud On-Premises iPhone iPad Android Chromebook
Audience Altium Develop is designed for electronics engineers, PCB designers, engineering managers, and product development teams responsible for designing, reviewing, and delivering electronic products. Built on Altium Designer and Altium 365, the platform combines PCB design, engineering collaboration, BOM management, requirements traceability, and design data management in a shared cloud workspace. Organizations use Altium Develop to improve cross-functional collaboration, manage electronics product development workflows, maintain product traceability, and accelerate PCB development from concept through manufacturing.		Audience Companies interested in a free PCB solution to capture schematics and design PCB boards and layouts
Support Phone Support 24/7 Live Support Online		Support Phone Support 24/7 Live Support Online
API Offers API		API Offers API
Screenshots and Videos View more images or videos		Screenshots and Videos View more images or videos
Pricing $1990/year Altium Develop is offered as an annual subscription starting at $1,990 per year, which includes one Altium Designer ECAD Design Author and a shared workspace for projects, libraries, and collaboration. The subscription provides unlimited workspace users at no additional cost, enabling broad participation in reviews, commenting, task management, BOM access, and change workflows. Teams can add up to four additional Altium Designer ECAD Design Authors for $995 per Author per year, allowing organizations to scale active design capacity while keeping contributors and collaborators included at no extra charge. Free Version Free Trial		Pricing No information available. Free Version Free Trial
Reviews/Ratings Overall 4.7 / 5 ease 4.3 / 5 features 4.6 / 5 design 4.7 / 5 support 4.4 / 5 Read all reviews		Reviews/Ratings Overall 4.0 / 5 ease 5.0 / 5 features 4.0 / 5 design 4.0 / 5 support 3.0 / 5 Read all reviews
Pros from Real Users Pros The main advantage of Altium Develop is its completeness. It provides a very wide range of tools for schematic design, PCB layout, routing, design rules and overall project management, all within the same environment. The integration between the different stages of the design process makes the workflow efficient and helps reduce the need to switch between different tools. I also appreciate the depth of the features available, which makes the software suitable not only for simple boards but also for more complex professional and industrial projects. For an engineer working with PCB design on a daily basis, having such a comprehensive toolset available is a significant benefit. Altium Develop is the next generation of Altium PCB design software. The integration with Altium 365 makes version control and collaboration easy. New pricing structure is transparent and makes it easy for smaller teams to get started and scale up. It works fine and has fixed some of bugs that previously existed. Better collaboration tools for cross discipline reviewing. Everything is in one program. Schematic, board layout, parts library, BOM. I'm not jumping between three tools and hoping nothing gets lost in between. Drawing traces feels good once you learn the shortcuts, and the tool pushes other traces out of the way instead of just blocking you. It also warns me when a part is going out of production before I send the board out, which has saved me from having to redo a design. The 3D view makes it easy to check the board fits the enclosure. The price of the Altium Designer Develop seat is better than an Altium Designer seat alone and includes a wealth of useful features. The BOM health assessment and adaptive cost estimator has been particularly useful to our org. The integration with Altium 365 cloud infrastructure has also been really nice when moving between workstations There are a lot of features that really help with design built-in cross probing hierarchy design cost for add ons like PDN and SI are not expensive differential pair analyses It has many useful features, like the manufacturing part database, the harness design, and the variation. It improves my work and documentation significantly. The best thing about this software is its all in one quality, like you do not have to go to 10 different apps just to build one PCB its all in one and that the reason its famous in industry level manufacturing or in other areas as well. really liked it. As a beginner, this is great to learn because of the course Altium provides with this. The cloud support is genuinely great to use and having version control is amazing as well. Component libraries and manufacturer parts search means we can find the components we need with manufacturer approved footprints and have them in our design in seconds. ActiveBOM is also an excellent tool for helping us pinpoint which components are facing obsolescence or shortages so we can plan accordingly		Pros & Cons from Real Users Pros DS PCB came from EasyPC, an already established EDA development company. The product was commercialized and rapidly improved over time, primarily targeting hobbyists and small businesses. The transition to RS Components as a "freeware" version and "PRO" offering (<$500 USD perpetual license) is seamless, as are integration features with Designspark Mech and Electrical packages. Exporting 3D files and importing into other RS Component applications is what I like most. DS PCB has EDA power for low to mid range development applications. If computational/algorithmic power is needed (high end signal analysis, simulation, thermal FSA) using 3rd party software is an option. 16 layer, blind vias, enhanced DRC, onboard signal analysis calculators also come with the package. The UI and menu organization has been simplified, easy steps to create parts and libraries, or importing from a global components database exists, the navigation of the product is easy to remember and use. Bugs, design improvements, fixes are seamless to the use, since this product is commercialized, a team of developers/programmers maintain this product regularly. Cons Autorouting for any EDA (I also use Altium) is a bear and not as computationally smart as I would like. Not too many option s for quick key short cuts for various menu items, but not an issue if one is more visually connected to their work. No integration to SPICE simulation programs. No integration to computational FSA tools. Lack of multi user collaboration tools.
Training Documentation Webinars Live Online In Person		Training Documentation Webinars Live Online In Person
Company Information Altium Founded: 1985 Australia altium.com		Company Information DesignSpark Founded: 2010 United Kingdom www.rs-online.com/designspark/pcb-software
Alternatives OrCAD X Cadence Design Systems		Alternatives Autodesk EAGLE Autodesk
Allegro X Design Platform Cadence Design Systems		KiCad EDA
DipTrace Novarm Ltd		CircuitMaker Altium
Requirements Portal Altium		PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) Keysight Technologies
Onshape PTC View All		OrCAD X Cadence Design Systems View All
Categories CAD Altium Develop is a cloud-connected CAD platform for electronics product development, built on Altium Designer and Altium 365. It combines PCB design, design data management, BOM management, requirements traceability, and engineering collaboration in a unified environment. Teams can manage schematics, PCB layouts, component libraries, project history, and manufacturing data from a secure shared workspace. By connecting design, sourcing, manufacturing, and quality teams around a single source of truth, Altium Develop helps organizations improve visibility, reduce rework, and accelerate product development from concept through production. Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Altium Develop is an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) platform that combines advanced PCB design capabilities with cloud-based collaboration and design data management. Built on Altium Designer and Altium 365, it provides schematic capture, PCB layout, component library management, BOM management, requirements traceability, and version control in a single environment. Engineering teams can collaborate on designs, track revisions, manage product data, and access supply chain intelligence while maintaining traceability throughout the development process. The platform streamlines electronics development from design through manufacturing. Engineering Altium Develop helps engineering teams collaborate across the entire electronics development lifecycle. Built on Altium Designer and Altium 365, the platform combines PCB design, requirements management, BOM management, version control, and engineering collaboration in a shared cloud workspace. Teams can connect design decisions, project history, component data, supply chain insights, and manufacturing information to improve traceability and decision-making. Altium Develop enables engineers to design, review, manage, and release products more efficiently while maintaining visibility across cross-functional development processes. PCB Design Altium Develop is a cloud-based PCB design platform that enables electronics teams to design, review, and manage printed circuit boards in a connected development environment. Built on Altium Designer and Altium 365, it combines schematic capture, PCB layout, 3D visualization, BOM management, component library management, and engineering collaboration. Real-time design reviews, version control, requirements traceability, and supply chain visibility help teams reduce design iterations, improve product quality, and accelerate PCB development from concept through manufacturing. Product Design Altium Develop supports product design by connecting engineering, sourcing, manufacturing, and quality teams throughout the electronics development lifecycle. The platform combines PCB design, design data management, requirements traceability, BOM management, and collaboration within a unified cloud workspace. Teams can manage product requirements, track decisions, review designs, monitor component availability, and prepare products for manufacturing while maintaining complete visibility into project information. Altium Develop helps organizations bring electronic products to market faster with greater alignment across disciplines.		Categories Electronic Design Automation (EDA) PCB Design
PCB Design Features 3D Visualization Autorouting Collaboration Tools Component Library Design Rule Check Differential Pair Routing Schematic Editor Show More Features CAD Features 2 1/2-Axis Milling 2D Drawing 3-Axis Milling 3D Modeling 4-Axis Milling 5-Axis Milling Civil Collaboration Database Connectivity Design Analysis Design Export Document Management Electrical Hole Making Mechanical Mechatronics Presentation Tools Simulate Cycles Spiral Output Structural Engineering Toolpath Simulation User Defined Cycles Engineering Features 2D Drawing 3D Modeling Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Collaboration Design Analysis Design Export Document Management Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Mechatronics Presentation Tools Structural Engineering
Integrations Keysight Power Analyzer PDN Analyzer Requirements Portal View All 3 Integrations		Integrations Keysight Power Analyzer PDN Analyzer Requirements Portal
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