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Alternative to Eagle PCB

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 12:15 pm
by lindula
Hello, the PCB design software Eagle has now gone to a Subscription Model where you must pay either $100/year. So, I'm looking for an alternative. I'm considering ExpressPCB, KiCad or DesignSpark. Could anyone suggest other PCB Cad tools?

Thanks,
Joe

Re: Alternative to Eagle PCB

Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 10:03 am
by Lenp
I use 'Easy-PC' by No. One Systems (UK & US) but it must be purchased.

Re: Alternative to Eagle PCB

Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:35 pm
by haklesup
how many layers do you want to support? How many nodes? There are student versions of NI - Ultiboard for example that are layer and node limited but if you have small projects, it would work for example. there are demo and basic versions of other tools as well. Some of these are one time purchase and should last for a couple OS upgrades at least without updates.

The subscription price model is growing, it helps balance the cash flow for software only companies and makes predicting income easier, otherwise its all boom and bust if you are a one product company. For larger companies with more product levels, you can still get one time buy prices including basic and student versions.