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It looks friendly. But honestly, I can't imagine anything other than recommending KiCAD right now. Not least of all because for a hobbiest and a professional,

It looks friendly. But honestly, I can't imagine anything other than recommending KiCAD right now. Not least of all because for a hobbiest and a professional, it's a massive time saver to go to someplace like SnapEDA or UltraLibrarian and get working schematic component, footprint and 3D model right away. I disliked KiCAD up until v6 which went with a more logical less-classic-linux UI (see InkScape) and v7 has been nice except for occasional crashes. I'm glad to see more options, but almost would prefer these people worked on KiCAD instead.

Always42 3y ago
KICAD is incredible, can't believe its free. this is coming from an altium daily driver. Kicad definitely won't hold up during high speed memory routing or something but its still great.
- ostenning 3y ago
  Totally, but for how long? KiCad keeps getting significantly better, and there are no insane licensing requirements. KiCads open format is much better for small business, freelancers and startups and while Altium is industry standard, I can’t imagine it will be for much longer
  - guenthert 3y ago
    > Totally, but for how long? Since it's published with the GPL-3 license, I don't expect that to change. Even if there were interest to change the license and all copyright holder agree (which is generally not feasible in a long running FOSS project), there surely would be a fork, if the software is then still popular.
    - mid-kid 3y ago
      Why would the license need to change? It doesn't apply to the things you make with the program, only to your modifications of the program itself. And even then, the license doesn't matter if you don't publish a modified copy of kicad.
    - stavros 3y ago
      I think the GP meant "for how long will Altium be better than KiCAD".
      - guenthert 3y ago
        Yeah, having had my coffee, I see that so as well now.
  - rcxdude 3y ago
    KiCAD has been steadily catching up with Altium for a long time, while Altium has functionally stagnated as they pursue various business strategies. For a huge proportion of designs Altium is no longer worth their license cost, and I hope KiCAD will be able to close the gap for 99% of cases and at the very least give Altium a kick up the arse to compete if not replace it.
- amelius 3y ago
  Out of interest, why exactly wouldn't KiCAD suffice for high speed memory routing?

Always42 3y ago

KICAD is incredible, can't believe its free. this is coming from an altium daily driver. Kicad definitely won't hold up during high speed memory routing or something but its still great.

ostenning 3y ago
Totally, but for how long? KiCad keeps getting significantly better, and there are no insane licensing requirements. KiCads open format is much better for small business, freelancers and startups and while Altium is industry standard, I can’t imagine it will be for much longer
- guenthert 3y ago
  > Totally, but for how long? Since it's published with the GPL-3 license, I don't expect that to change. Even if there were interest to change the license and all copyright holder agree (which is generally not feasible in a long running FOSS project), there surely would be a fork, if the software is then still popular.
  - mid-kid 3y ago
    Why would the license need to change? It doesn't apply to the things you make with the program, only to your modifications of the program itself. And even then, the license doesn't matter if you don't publish a modified copy of kicad.
  - stavros 3y ago
    I think the GP meant "for how long will Altium be better than KiCAD".
    - guenthert 3y ago
      Yeah, having had my coffee, I see that so as well now.
- rcxdude 3y ago
  KiCAD has been steadily catching up with Altium for a long time, while Altium has functionally stagnated as they pursue various business strategies. For a huge proportion of designs Altium is no longer worth their license cost, and I hope KiCAD will be able to close the gap for 99% of cases and at the very least give Altium a kick up the arse to compete if not replace it.
amelius 3y ago
Out of interest, why exactly wouldn't KiCAD suffice for high speed memory routing?