Altium Develop is a platform that unifies multidisciplinary teams across engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing to support seamless co-creation. It provides real-time visibility into designs, requirements, and supply chain data, enabling contributors to work together concurrently rather than in silos.
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SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.4 out of 10
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Dassault Systemes offers SOLIDWORKS, a computer-aided design (CAD) system for education and manufacturing supporting 2D or 3D design, electrical design, simulations, and product development with collaboration tools.
The advantage of KiCAD and EasyEDA versus Altium Designer is that KiCAD and EasyEDA are free. Even so, Altium Designer is more powerful than competitors in terms of integrability, easy of use and powerful tools. For example, in Siemens EDA software there is no tool for …
Other tools are open source and free to use, which often means its easier to use but has limited abilities. With using Altium Designer compared to the other tools I have found the review process a lot better and its workspace environment a big plus because I can find …
Altium Designer is a more mature, feature complete product. However, in 2025 it has become EXTERMELY expensive. KiCAD is quickly catching up and focusing on the core PCB design tools. We are likely to switch over in 2-3 years if things progress like they have.
For some reason Autodesk Eagle wasn't showing up, but personally the cross team aspect of Altium Designer is much better, as well as the schematic editing and PCB editing, especially on a board level with placing constraints and editing layers. Fusion360 with its new schematic …
I used Eagle for a long time, then switched to Altium Designer around 2014. Eagle was rather basic comparatively, but also comparatively dirt cheap and capable for modestly complex designs. But the future was clear - Altium Designer was required for stepping up my design game.
OrCAD was used at our company for years before we switched over to Altium Designer. Usually, moving all projects from one software can be a pain and time-consuming. Altium Designer made it very streamline to move all projects over, including all component libraries. In …
Altium offers much better features and usability over Proteus. Proteus also has certain limitations in what it can achieve, so that leaves it behind. Same with KiCad, while it is easier to use, and quite an amazing software for a freeware, it lacks certain features which makes …
The opensource nature of the library system works better than Altium. The libraries being text based means that version control with github is a natural fit. I don't see Altium having an advantage here even if it has tied into external api's like Octopart.
KiCad is easier to learn and the performance is fine, but BOMs, Footpring-Management, all that had to be done manually With Altium and 365 everything is just built-in
Altium Designer is a CAD tool like the others. In comparison, Altium is chosen for its ability to make electrical circuits, its wide capacity, and its shared mode, which facilitates configuration and improves work time on projects.
We originally used EAGLE cad, I could not find the tool in the above menu. Altium Designer is miles better than EAGLE with a much better user interface and the ability to select parts intelligently with filters that greatly speed up the design process. The error checking and …
We had two licenses, purchased at a time when Altium Designer products were affordably priced. I can't remember how much they were, but they were not at a price where we even had to think about it at all. We wished to purchase a 3rd license a couple of years ago, actually, …
Overall Altium Designer is in another league compared to KiCad, especially the older versions. The whole design process works better in Altium Designer. The only thing I miss from KiCad is the disjointedness between symbols and footprints. Whilst less appropriate for …
SOLIDWORKS is actually used by major corporations to design and create products for wide release, whereas AutoDesk Inventor is usually only seen as an instructional tool to teach students the basics of 3d modeling so that they can adapt to more complex software with less effort …
Creo is basically focusing on pure solid 3D modeling, while on the other hand the SOLIDWORKS' modeling approach is more parametric type and it is suiting for my purpose of use. Easy to use interface of SOLIDWORKS as compared to Creo. Features are easy to use. Just one click …
SOLIDWORKS is the best suited for the beginners,as it provides the simplest interface and simulation procedure. With SOLIDWORKS every simulation can be done easily and no professional training is required. SOLIDWORKS also has a drawing tab, which we can use to make General …
SOLIDWORKS is easier to use with just enough useful features to work with, the designing process is fluid like regular flow of design thinking. The other two software are very similar to SOLIDWORKS, Inventor and Solid Edge are more advanced in certain areas of application, …
Our team in China uses Siemens NX for the same reason our U.S. counterparts use SOLIDWORKS. Siemens provides similar features as SOLIDWORKS from the 3D CAD usage and Injection Molding Analysis.
Onshape is a direct competitor. It has great entry level pricing and it is easy to access with no installation required. Being a web based app there is sometime some lag being based in NZ. Management also have concerns over where the data is stored on the cloud. With SW we can …
We have chosen SOLIDWORKS for its diffusion (many of our partners use it), for its ease of use, for its great experience in the development of sheet metal, and for its excellent after-sales service.
SOLIDWORKS is way less complicated and easier to use, overall if you have had any computer training anyone can easily sit down and be trained within a minimal time to be able to use it efficiently and effectively. One of my employees went so far as to teach his 10-year-old …
We use both actually. SW is great for 3D, but given we do not design products, just tooling/processing to make products, we use SW to convert 3D into 2D then do all the work in DraftSight.
I have not used alternatives to SOLIDWORKS. I've used SOLIDWORKS for the past 7 years as it was the standard in my past job. It has many more capabilities than 2D software and is a staple of our engineering department. I plan to continue to use SOLIDWORKS for many years to …
Draftsight is the 2-d equivalent of SOLIDWORKS. Its main competitor is AutoCad by Autodesk, however I find Draftsight to be more user friendly. AutoDesk also makes Inventor, a 3-d software more similar to SOLIDWORKS however my experience with it was only limited to high …
SOLIDWORKS is simple to use and new users become proficient in a short amount of time. Operation is intuitive and with the aid of the built-in tutorials, most of the skills required for day-to-day use become second nature. The ability to collaborate and communicate ideas to …
In many scenarios, SolidWorks and Inventor actually compare fairly evenly to each other. However, I believe that where SolidWorks really stands out is the fact that it was designed from the start as a 3D parametric solid modeling application whereas Inventor comes from a …
I have previously worked with AutoDesk Inventor for designing very complex door mechanisms and large assemblies of drilling machines. I did not face any stability or performance issues
I only used Inventor for the 30-day free trial, which admittedly is not enough time to really give it a fair shot, especially since I had almost no 3D drawing experience before I used Inventor. There were two main things that pushed us toward SOLIDWORKS. First was the support …
SOLIDWORKS provides not only aesthetic appearance of a product but also provides the capability to analyze behavior of structural and material components.
AutoCAD, in many ways, still looks and feels like you are designing something in the 1980's. It definitely caters more to the generation of people who are used to drafting. SOLIDWORKS is much more visually appealing, which counts for a lot when you will have lots of engineers …
Creo offers easier design for surface modeling. Inventor is simpler to use, however, it is much more limited in modeling. Overall, I find SOLIDWORKS has a good balance of simplicity and completeness at the same time.
I chose SOLIDWORKS after trying a few open-source solutions. They were great, however sometimes lacked in a few vital areas, in a way that a commercial, well-funded product shouldn't. Given my previous familiarity and confidence with SOLIDWORKS, I didn't bother looking any …
Originally my company was using Onshape for CAD but many of our engineers were not familiar with the program and found it more difficult and less intuitive to use. SOLIDWORKS PDM vault works well so the cloud-based aspect of Onshape wasn't that unique.
Altium 365 is fantastic for students learning about PCB design and for large team-based PCB projects. Because this product is relatively easier to use than other ECAD software and it enables collaboration, students and professional engineers would greatly benefit from having this software in their skill set. In other words, Altium 365 is great for academic and industry purposes.
As a mechanical engineer, it is one of the best tools to just start modeling and engineering with. The UI tools are intuitive and engineering analysis such Mold Analysis, FEA, are great! Other 3D CAD modeling tools have a longer learning curve to master. All in all, if you're not planning to design an entire airplane with large assembly files, then Solidworks is your tool!
The collaborative work environment is a cool and useful feature where groups of people can work on the same model at the same time, and SOLIDWORKS ensures that you don't overwrite each other's work.
The ease and amount of customization options are very useful for creating a personalized and intuitive user interface, whether SOLIDWORKS is your native CAD package or not.
It is very easy to quickly edit a model you have already created. The software allows sketch and feature editing without having to take the time to actually enter the sketch/feature environment.
The use of configurations and configurations-specific dimensions in the same sketch is very useful for creating different forms of the same part
To date, the baked in surfacing tools lack power compared to dedicated surfacing software.
In a similar vein, the core modeling kernel is not owned by SOLIDWORKS themselves and so there exists limitations with regards to implementing certain modeling/math.
SOLIDWORKS is playing catchup to other online vendors of CAD (notable OnShape); instead of being the once leader, they are being forced to compare themselves. This, however, may work to their advantage and in turn allow them to produce a better on-line CAD tool.
ALTIUM DESIGNER is the reference tool in the electronic circuit design sector, its use is widespread worldwide. Although there are other alternatives, some of them free do not rival ALTIUM DESIGNER in terms of features and reliability. It is also very practical to request quotes with ALTIUM DESIGNER BOM reports since all suppliers are accustomed to using the tool.
Like any complicated program, it will always need some room for improvement. For example, it would be nicer to have other shortcuts than just the numpad Asterisk as the layer shift shortcut, or easy to shift layers via other ways. Some programs use a space bar instead, or similar. It would also be nice to manipulate or make 3D items better
I have been using SOLIDWORKS for around 12 years as of writing this review, so have learned where most things are and how they work. When first starting out it was quite daunting, but the interface is well laid out with like functions near each other which made finding new functions relatively easy.
I use the educational Program. And so far is the best technical support. Every time that I need one or I have a question. They respond so far and with excellent advice.
We have an unusual arrangement. We don’t pay for support, but we’re partnered with a VAR for second-tier support.
I work with other users if I have questions but when we’ve had to ask the VAR, they always have answers. It appears that all of the VARs have access to a support platform from DS SOLIDWORKS that helps them answer most questions.
OrCAD was used at our company for years before we switched over to Altium Designer. Usually, moving all projects from one software can be a pain and time-consuming. Altium Designer made it very streamline to move all projects over, including all component libraries. In addition, on the Mechanical Engineering side of things, Altium Designer has wonderful integration with SOLIDWORKS, so all parts can be 3D modeled and brought over.
Onshape is a direct competitor. It has great entry level pricing and it is easy to access with no installation required. Being a web based app there is sometime some lag being based in NZ. Management also have concerns over where the data is stored on the cloud. With SW we can control where it is stored
Hard to answer directly. Given our customer's needs, we absolutely have to have SW to open their file types.
Given the relatively limited use we need at our company, it would be useful to have a cheaper option that was more stripped down but still had some capabilities. Something in-between SW and eDrawings, for example. SW is very capable and expensive, eDrawings is free and super limited. Would be nice to have a middle option.
