KiCad vs Altium isn’t really a fight between a hobbyist tool and a professional one anymore — KiCad 10 handles genuine commercial PCB work. Both are covered in more depth in the EDA software guide. The real question is narrower: does your specific design need the high-speed, rigid-flex, and supply-chain tooling Altium builds in, or does KiCad’s free, open-source toolset already cover what you’re building.
KiCad vs Altium — the quick answer:
- KiCad costs $0, licensed under GPL-3.0, with full commercial use permitted and no seat limits of any kind.
- Altium splits into two very different tiers. Altium Develop starts at $1,990/year (a $995 workspace plus one $995 Author seat). The flagship Altium Designer costs far more, though Altium doesn’t publish an official figure — third-party estimates spread roughly $3,850–$7,500 per seat per year.
- Altium’s real edge is high-speed and rigid-flex design — xSignals, integrated impedance-aware stackup management, and native ECAD-MCAD collaboration through Altium 365.
- KiCad handles moderate complexity well (4–6 layer boards, USB 2.0 High-Speed, 100Mbit Ethernet) but needs more manual setup or external tools once a design pushes into multi-gigabit interfaces or complex rigid-flex.
KiCad vs Altium pricing
KiCad is free, full stop. It’s licensed under GPL-3.0, confirmed directly on KiCad’s own official licensing page, with commercial use explicitly permitted and no restriction on seat count, board complexity, or company size. KiCad’s library data carries its own license exception specifically ensuring designs made with it face zero commercial restriction.
Altium’s pricing genuinely depends on which product you mean. Conflating the two tiers is a real, common mistake. Altium Develop, the newer entry-level tier, starts at $995/year for the workspace subscription plus $995/year per Author seat — $1,990/year realistic minimum for one active designer, confirmed across multiple independent pricing trackers. The flagship Altium Designer is a different product entirely, and its subscription price is genuinely harder to pin to one figure. Altium doesn’t publish official pricing for it, so every number available comes from third-party estimates. Those estimates spread widely, from roughly $3,850 up to $7,500 per seat per year depending on the source, tier, and negotiated terms. Treat any single figure in that range as a rough planning number, not a quote — get an actual quote from Altium directly before budgeting. A perpetual license may also be available depending on your account and region. Sources genuinely disagree on this too — some describe perpetual purchases as discontinued, others still list perpetual prices in the $6,000–$12,000 range plus annual maintenance. Confirm directly with Altium whether a perpetual option is actually on the table before budgeting around one.
KiCad vs Altium: what’s the real capability gap?
The gap isn’t in basic PCB design — it’s specifically in high-speed and rigid-flex work. Altium’s xSignals tool is built for a specific problem: keeping a high-speed signal’s timing and impedance consistent as it threads through multiple connected components, not just one net at a time. KiCad has no direct equivalent for that kind of cross-component constraint tracking. Altium’s stackup manager ties impedance calculations directly into the day-to-day design rules, updating trace-width requirements automatically as the stackup changes. KiCad has its own built-in PCB Calculator with transmission-line and impedance tools, plus a stackup-level “Impedance Control” setting that can auto-calculate trace width for a target impedance. It’s a real, native capability, not an external dependency. The gap is narrower than a simple “has it or doesn’t” framing. KiCad’s calculator handles general and single-ended impedance work well, but for differential-pair-specific calculations especially, users commonly still reach for a dedicated external tool like Saturn PCB Toolkit, since that connection is less automated than Altium’s. For rigid-flex and HDI stackups specifically, Altium treats these as standard, rule-driven features, while KiCad’s support is more limited and typically needs more manual work.
This gap is real, but it’s narrower than it sounds. KiCad 10 handles 4-to-6 layer boards with standard high-speed interfaces like USB 2.0 High-Speed or 100Mbit Ethernet competently. Its manual differential-pair router has become genuinely capable in recent releases, with real length-tuning and skew-matching tools built in. The gap widens specifically at multi-gigabit interfaces — including USB 3.0 and faster — and complex rigid-flex construction. Fine-pitch BGA work (0.4mm and below) is worth a separate note: it’s a genuinely hard challenge industry-wide, requiring HDI techniques like via-in-pad regardless of which software produces the layout — KiCad users do successfully route these with the right technique, so this specific case is more about manufacturing complexity than a software gap between the two tools.
Altium also connects design work to two things KiCad doesn’t reach on its own. One is live part-availability data pulled directly from suppliers as you design. The other is a direct line to mechanical CAD software, so a mechanical engineer can check clearances against the board without anyone exporting and re-importing files by hand. KiCad’s own BOM tooling is genuinely solid — native export with custom MPN and distributor fields, plus a plugin ecosystem for JLCPCB and similar formats — it just checks stock through external sites rather than live, in-editor data the way Altium 365 does. KiCad still produces standard STEP exports that get the same mechanical data to a collaborator — it just isn’t the same always-connected link.
KiCad vs Altium: which should you get?
If you’re building 2-to-6 layer boards without heavy rigid-flex or multi-gigabit requirements, get KiCad. It costs nothing and handles the work competently. Autodesk’s EAGLE shutdown in June 2026 has pushed even more of that user base toward it as the natural free alternative.
If your work genuinely involves high-speed digital, RF, HDI, or rigid-flex construction as a regular part of the job, get Altium. Start with Altium Develop at $1,990/year rather than assuming you need the full Designer tier. Confirm which specific features your work actually requires before paying for the higher tier.
Common mistakes to avoid
Comparing KiCad’s price against “Altium” without specifying which tier. Altium Develop at $1,990/year and Altium Designer at $3,850+/year (third-party estimates, since Altium doesn’t publish this figure) are genuinely different products — a comparison that doesn’t name which one isn’t a real comparison.
Assuming KiCad can’t handle any commercial work. KiCad 10 is fully viable for commercial 2-to-6 layer products. The GPL-3.0 license explicitly permits selling boards designed in it.
Buying Altium Designer for a project that only needs Altium Develop’s feature set. The gap between the two tiers is substantial in both price and capability. Confirm which specific Altium features (xSignals, advanced stackup management) a project actually needs before committing to the more expensive tier.
Not checking whether your specific high-speed requirement is one KiCad’s manual tools can actually handle. KiCad’s differential-pair router now handles USB 2.0 High-Speed and similar interfaces well. The real gap opens up at multi-gigabit speeds — including USB 3.0 — and dense HDI work, not at every “high-speed” design.
FAQ
Is KiCad good enough for professional commercial PCB design? Yes, for a real share of professional work. KiCad 10 is fully viable for commercial products in the 2-to-6 layer range, and its GPL-3.0 license explicitly permits selling designs made with it.
What’s the actual difference between Altium Develop and Altium Designer? They’re different products with very different prices. Develop is the newer entry tier at $1,990/year realistic minimum, a figure Altium does confirm through its own pricing structure. Designer is the flagship product, and Altium doesn’t publish an official price for it. Third-party estimates spread roughly $3,850–$7,500+ per seat per year, so get a direct quote rather than relying on any single published figure.
Can KiCad handle rigid-flex PCB design? To a degree, but with more manual effort than Altium requires. Altium treats rigid-flex and HDI stackups as standard, rule-driven features; KiCad’s support exists but needs more hands-on setup for the same result.
Does the Autodesk EAGLE shutdown affect this comparison? Indirectly, yes. Autodesk stopped selling and supporting EAGLE as of June 7, 2026, with its licensing servers shut down entirely. Former EAGLE users evaluating a replacement are, in practice, largely choosing between KiCad and Altium now.
Is KiCad’s high-speed routing actually usable, or just theoretically possible? It’s genuinely usable, not just theoretical, for a real range of designs. KiCad’s manual differential-pair router handles interfaces like USB 2.0 High-Speed and 100Mbit Ethernet competently on 4-to-6 layer boards. The practical limit is multi-gigabit interfaces (including USB 3.0) and dense HDI work, not high-speed design in general.