Altium Develop vs. PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) vs. SOLIDWORKS PCB Comparison Chart

Altium Develop is a multidisciplinary product creation platform that breaks down silos and empowers teams to design collaboratively without limits. Built on Altium Designer and Altium 365, it unifies electrical, mechanical, software, sourcing, and manufacturing teams in a shared environment. Every comment, change, and decision is captured in real time, giving collaborators visibility without the need for constant check-ins. The platform enhances project outcomes by aligning requirements, supply chain data, and design context in one ecosystem. Manufacturing engineers and suppliers can provide feedback early, avoiding costly rework and delays. By transforming collaboration into true co-creation, Altium Develop helps organizations innovate faster, smarter, and with greater alignment across disciplines.

SOLIDWORKS PCB enables the productivity you need to design Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) quickly along with unique, collaboration between electrical and 3D mechanical design teams. It offers a clear advantage where ECAD-MCAD collaboration is critical for overall success of electronic product design. Define rigid-flex regions, layers, and stack thicknesses enabling single board rigid-flex PCB design. The rigid-flex layer stack regions can be defined with bend lines and angles and validated with 3D folding and component clearance checking to ensure layout correctness. Manage project, design files and documentation with SOLIDWORKS PCB-PDM Connector and the SOLIDWORKS PDM-based design and data management workflow. Securely store and index design data for fast retrieval, eliminate concerns over version control and data loss, and collaborate on design data from multiple locations. Unmatched ECAD-MCAD integration and collaboration with SOLIDWORKS that unifies design data.