Altium®: The Undisputed Standard in PCB Design
Empowering Innovation. Streamlining Complexity. Unleashing Creativity.
For Over 35 Years Altium Has Been the First Choice For:
The #1 Choice for Electronics Design
When given a choice, why do Engineers and PCB Designers overwhelmingly choose Altium® over Cadence®?
See why we've earned the trust of over 100,000 professional engineers (and counting).
See independent third-party user reviews
All of Your Design Work in One Place
Do More With Less On a Unified Design Platform Open to Integration
- Elevate Your Creative Power: Our dedication lies in prioritizing your experience as a designer, providing design tools crafted to enhance your experience and stimulate creativity, pushing the boundaries of innovation
- Unlock Peak Productivity: Our commitment is to recognize the importance of a seamless and empowering design environment as the cornerstone of successful projects. For managers, we provide a platform crafted to meet technical needs while fostering collaborative and efficient workflows.
- Empower Your Entire Organization: Equipping your teams with tools designed to prioritize their experience not only unleashes creativity but also differentiates your products. This strategic approach improves timelines and concurrently reduces design and BOM costs, ensuring a competitive edge in the market.
Design Faster Together With Unmatched Collaboration Tools
- Streamline Design Integration: Encourage collaborative partnerships with MCAD counterparts, enhancing productivity through seamless integration of mechanical and electrical design processes within your design environment.
- Elevate Team Productivity: As design processes seamlessly integrate between mechanical and electrical domains, your team can work efficiently within their respective environments.
- Optimize Operational Efficiency: The seamless integration of design processes ensures improved productivity, reflecting positively on project timelines and overall business success.
Make Better Component Choices With Real-time Supply Chain Insights and Intuitive Library Management
- Maximize Design Innovation and Productivity: When component research integrates with your design process, our intuitive library management enhances creativity and effectiveness. This ensures that each design element is a well-informed decision that contributes to the overall innovation for a more productive design environment.
- Accelerate Design Workflows: Eliminate late-stage sourcing surprises with real-time supply chain visibility and intuitive library management during component selection. This approach not only accelerates design workflows but also streamlines the entire process, reducing iterations and preventing delays while maintaining focus on the core design responsibilities.
- Mitigate Supply Chain Risks: Reliable supply chain insights, coupled with intuitive library management, are crucial for optimizing costs, minimizing time-to-market, and mitigating risks. This approach facilitates informed strategic planning, positioning the organization for sustained success in a dynamic market.
Compare Altium Products vs Cadence
Provides advanced product design, collaboration, and PCB design tools required by large teams or professionals designing complex devices, yet easy to use for new designers.
OrCAD is a legacy program that has proven itself for a broad range of designs, making it a preferred tool for experienced designers and older companies. Learn More
A modern PCB design software ideal for mid-sized startups and companies. It's favored by experienced engineers familiar with the Cadence suite.
Schematic Capture
This product includes the maximum number of features. 
Schematic sheet limits
Unlimited
999
Unlimited
Hierarchical schematic capture with integrated analog mixed-signal simulation
Built-in SPICE simulator with model library and migration support for LTSpice/PSpice
PCB Layout
This product includes the maximum number of features. Board size limits
100 in. by 100 in.
40 in. by 30 in.
21.0 in. by 21.0 in.
Signal and plane layer limits
32 signal + 16 plane + unlimited mechanical
200 layers total, license level limits the size of your board workspace and layer count
Unlimited
Rules-driven design for modern PCB (HDI, Rigid-flex, and Multiboard)
Advanced interactive routing features with built-in signal integrity tools
High speed design and rigid-flex design features included in standard license
Variant management tools for complex projects
Realistic layer stacks and a modern field solver for accurate impedances
Parts placement and routing in 3D
Photo-realistic 3D viewer with real-time clearance checking
Visual DC power distribution analysis in the PCB layoutVisual DC power distribution analysis in the PCB layout
Requires additional Power Analyzer license
Requires additional Cadence product (Sigrity OprimizePI)
Library Management & Sourcing
This product includes the maximum number of features. 
Built-in BOM management with real-time supply chain
Unified libraries with symbols, footprints, simulation models, and distributor links
Access to models, parameters, and lifecycle data for millions of components
Requires additional Cadence product
Management of lifecycles, in-design validation, templates, and where-used for libraries
Advanced component data from IHS Markit®
Library health dashboard to monitor validity, quality, and risk issues
Outputs & Manufacturing
This product includes the maximum number of features. Built-in fabrication and assembly drawing generation tools
Intuitive interface for manufacturing output creation
Quickly generate ECOs, reports, and documentation
Customizable document templates for drawings
Centralized management for manufacturing packages and communications
Captures CIS Option, or OrCAD X Professional Cloud Features
Share and view Gerbers, ODB++ files, and assembly steps in a browser
Product Design
Support for multi-board systems and assemblies
Multi-board 3D product viewer from any web browser
Multi-board mechanical integration for SOLIDWORKS® 2020, 2021, and 2022
Built-in harness design tools
Cloud Services
This product includes the maximum number of features. View and share renders of design files on any device with a web browser
Version control, templates, and component libraries stored in cloud
Built-in task management and commenting for design files and BOMs
Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
Managed design reuse for schematics, layer stacks, and design templates
Project history for every change made to a design
Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
Platform Integrations
This product includes the maximum number of features. Integration with MCAD applications including SOLIDWORKS®, PTC Creo® Parametric™, Autodesk Inventor®, Autodesk® Fusion 360™, and Siemens NX
Advanced integration with SOLIDWORKS® for MCAD component placement, copper geometry, enclosure exchange, and multi-board/rigid-flex sync
PLM integration with Arena® PLM, PTC Windchill, Aras PLM, Oracle Agile PLM, and Teamcenter®
Unknown
Multiple importer utilities to convert files from other ECAD platforms
Workflows & Processes
This product includes the maximum number of features. Configurable lifecycle management for design data and components
Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
Managed workflows for part requests, design reviews, project creation/release, and lifecycle approvals
Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
User, role, and group management with support for Single Sign-On (SSO)
Change notifications and change conflict prevention for design documents
Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
Centralized control over design environments, document templates, and output files for every team member
Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
Maintenance & Support
This product includes the maximum number of features. Current version
Monthly releases since Nov 2021 (active since 2000, formerly Protel 1985-2000)
Last Release October 2020
(active since 1985)
Cadence OrCAD X Professional 23.1-2023-S001
Backwards compatible with files from all previous releases
On-demand training courses, knowledge base, and community forums
Live chat and support tickets
Support tickets only, no live chat
Dedicated customer success manager check-ins and onboarding
Supported Platforms
Windows 10 and newer
MacOS 10.15 and newer
Linux
*64 bit version requires libc.so.6 with subversion GLIBC_2.14 or higher
Explore the Possibilities
Get a complimentary, personalized demonstration at your convenience!
Trusted by over 20,000 companies, including:
Cloud-Powered Collaboration to Enhance Team Synergy
Accelerate the Design and Produce Boards from Ideation to Finished Products
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Unify Your Design Experience Effortlessly & Intuitively
- Design With The World's Most Trusted PCB Software
- Define Every Detail In Native 3D
- Easily Work Through Interactive Routing
Unite Your PCB Design, MCAD, Data Management & Teamwork
- Seamlessly connect directly from Altium Designer
- Access libraries and supply chain
- Get real-time component data
Unlimited Possibilities with Altium 365 Integration
Your creativity and innovation deserves better!
Explore the Possibilities
Get a complimentary, personalized demonstration at your convenience!
Request a Free Demo by an Altium Expert
- Tackle your most complex designs with our new constraint manager.
- Work simultaneously with multiple engineers on a single project with PCB CoDesign.
- Improve the accuracy of wiring assemblies with seamless harness design integration.
- Experience a game-changing digital bridge between Altium PCB and Ansys simulation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Existing design data can be imported from a number of other PCB design applications, including OrCAD. As long as OrCAD users have their original project files available, they can convert these into Altium Designer’s file format. Learn more about migrating from OrCAD to Altium Designer.
Altium offers a wide array of licensing and subscription options for various needs. We offer Perpetual and Term-based licensing as well as Standard, Pro, and Enterprise subscriptions. Learn more about our licensing options here and explore our subscription levels to choose a plan that works for you.
Perpetual licenses are truly perpetual, there are no recurring costs. Term-based licenses renew at the current renewal rate. If you choose a term-based license, or wish to add a maintenance subscription, there are ongoing costs. Learn more about Altium Designer licensing options.
Altium Designer does not require any specialized add-ons. In fact, the program includes many free plugins that expand the capabilities of Altium Designer beyond PCB design. The add-ons in Altium Designer are available for free. Some features, such as the integration with IHS Markit for real-time component data, are made available through Altium 365 and require a Pro license.
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