Altium Designer Reviews & Product Details

Altium Designer is the best designer tool I have used so far. It has an easy-to-use interface which makes PCB design a fun activity. The varied shortcuts Altium Designer has makes designing in Altium much more simpler and fast. I really love the interactive routing tool where the net selected is highlighted and optimized routing patterns and strategies are suggested. I adore that the new Altium Designer 25 comes with replicating PCB layout, more of git integration, advanced version control and MCAD integration. The customer support is really awesome and I love all the Altium webinars especially the ones with Zachariah Peterson. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I think Altium 365 could have more improvements. I really love working in my local machine but would also want to have the same experience working online (Altium 365). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is a ton of videos, explanation and the documentation is very done. The software is easy to use, I use on a weekly base doing review with a large team of engineer.

I love the home page and learning center section with easy access to the community and support. The educational videos are well made and the host Zach Peterson is great ! The implementation of the vault is pretty straight forward using the documentation and the 365 web access to share design between team is a must and the possibility to joint the PCB and mechanical in the same software is simply awesome. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Integrating part libraries from a different software can be difficult or from previous version and requires some work to be imported correctly without errors. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The company has upgraded from PADS to Altium and this feels like buying a Ferrari.

Differential pair routing and multi-layer board design using layer stack managet has helped us get through EMC testing.

ActiveBOM is a fantastic feature in assisting with REACH/RoHS requirements.

Tool is very esay to use and is intuitive, great integration with manufacturer part seach and schematic design.

There are lots of guide videos with good commentary.

I now use Altium pretty much every day and happy to continue doing so.

I like that there are frequent software updates. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

So far we have not seen any issues with Altium. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My favorite things about Altium designer is its intuitive platform and relatively easy to use features. From my experience of Altium, I would say that it has a relatively steep learning curve (compared to other software I have used). The curve is very rewarding however. If someone learning Altium takes the time to learn all of the keyboard shortcuts and hidden (but necassary) features, the time and effort that goes into PCB design can be cut in half.

I especially like the Altium 365 environment. It has enabled me and my team to work colaboratively together on many projects. My superiors are able to view and comment on my work remotely. This is very helpful for a team scenario.

I also really like the "Manufacturer Part Search" feature. With previous softwares I have used, every component needs to be loaded separately which creates a whole file management nightmare and takes a lot of time. The ability to have many common components already on altium is very refreshing and saves a bunch of time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One thing I would say that can be improved is adding more components to the "Manufacturer Part Search." Another thing, which may be a little niche for my scenario, is making the software somewhat easier to navigate without a mouse. I work a lot from my laptop and do not always have a mouse with me. Right clicking and dragging on a mouse pad is incredibly obnoxious (mostly the laptop designers fault not altium). My only other suggestion comes when defining board size. Recently I needed a board that was exactly 50mm x 50mm. It can be really hard to draw lines that are exactly a certain size. My solution was to set the grid size to 1mm and just figure it out. It could be cool to have a display of how long your line drawings are or the dimensions of the figure you have drawn. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

For me, the more valuable characteristic of Altium Designer is its user friendly interface. It makes complex PCB designs much more manageable and efficient. I’ve been using this software since my university days, back when it was called Protel 98. The integration of schematic capture, layout design, and simulation is another big plus. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The main downside is the high cost of the license, which might not be affordable for small businesses or individual users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Altium Designer comes with everything you need to get a design entered and laid out in one tool. You don't have to pay for additional functions - it's all there. Schematic integration with large part databases with pricing and availability and powerful manufacturing BOM generation is very slick. SPICE is there for analog simulation. Layout with Altium is great with support for matched length routing, controlled-impedance, differential pairs, guided manual and auto routing. It's a real time-saver once you learn how to use it. The way 3D mechanical models are integrated into the design and output for use in mechanical design is very helpful. Altium Designer is by far the best electronic design tool I've ever used. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The price can be high, but there are some attractive options to make it more affordable. When you consider what you would pay for other tools with similar features it's not unreasonable. The CAD world has been moving toward a subscription model for some time now and that can help to manage budgets. Customer support is not as fast as some others, but their staff is very knowledgable and helpful and there is a hugh user base to draw on for support. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Learning Altium designer is such a nice experience, I feel that many of the features that you feel like its nice to have, are already imlemented and getting to use them is also very easy with a couple of online searches, Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Only time I felt that Altium is missing something is schematic and erber compare integreated, But that has been done in the last two years and I can seemlessly compare designs from altium web view. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The Component Library Management which is a vast, cloud-integrated component library that simplifies part selection and version control. Also, it is connected to octopart and siliconexpert that provides a full control in terms of purchasing Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

On the other side, the great number of design features implies a deep know-ho of the program. Sometimes, a faster ticket resolution would be appreciated Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Altium provides all the tools needed to design complex PCBAs all in one package. I like how centralized all the features are and the interface. You can do part/library creation, schematic capture, and PCB layout all in one tool, which facilitates both design as well as other tasks, like board review or debugging a boad/bringup. I have used it for 10+ years and it is now my tool of choice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some of the licensing options are very complicated to understand. For example, Altium Nexus licenses can be very complicated, so much so that even the reps sometimes get confused! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It offers a wide range of tools for PCB design, simulation, and verification in a single platform. Also, it has an user-friendly interface with customizable workspaces that streamline the design process. Personally I like that it has an excellent integration with mechanical CAD tools, particularly SolidWorks, for ECAD-MCAD collaboration. Lastly, it is used in a wide variety of industries, which gives its users a high value in multiple industry domains. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Being a specialized software, Altium Designer can be complex and feature-rich, which may overwhelm beginners. Additionally, more complex designs require significant system resources, potentially leading to performance issues on less powerful machines. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.