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List of EDA packages

List of EDA packages

These packages include schematic "capture" and PCB layout. Some include autorouters. The commercial packages also include autorouters, simulation, and other features.

Web-based (run in browser):

123D Circuitshttp://www.123dapp.com/circuits -
Upverterhttp://www.upverter.com Free for publically visible designs
EasyEDAhttp://easyeda.com -

Free and budget:

AutoTRAX DEX 2020http://www.dex2020.com/ Free trial; full price USD 49; not related to Protel Autotrax
DesignSpark PCBhttp://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/page/designspark-pcb-home-page or http://www.designspark.com/eng/page/designspark-pcb-home-page Free (non-commercial and commercial); affiliated with RS Components. Anon: Requires (free) registration; buggy; requires constant internet connection with cookies enabled. Supercap2F: Too hard to use; schematics look terrible; supports large sizes and many layers; has 3D PCB view.
DIYLChttps://code.google.com/p/diy-layout-creator/ Java. For drawing schematics, board/chassis layouts, guitar wiring diagrams, or anything.
FreePCBhttp://www.freepcb.com/ Anon: Not maintained since 2011. Supercap2F: I did not like it
Fritzinghttp://fritzing.org/ Schematics, PCBs, breadboard and stripboard layouts. Anon: "a toy".
gEDA suitehttp://www.geda-project.org/ Posix/Linux and Mac OSX; GPL
KiCADhttp://www.kicad-pcb.org/ Open source. Windows/Mac/Linux. Anon: buggy to the point of being unusable. Supercap2F: Easy to figure out, but slow to use.
Open Circuit Designhttp://opencircuitdesign.com/ Linux only
PCBwebhttp://www.pcbweb.com/ Windows only. Schematic and PCB. Has some Digi-Key catalog references. 2014-11-08 supercap2F: Very poor UI; very slow; requires Internet access during use; definitely not recommended.
Protel Autotrax and EasyTraxhttp://techdocs.altium.com/display/ALEG/Freeware downloads MS-DOS - use DOSBox (http://www.dosbox.com) under Windows
Storm DIY layout creatorhttp://www.storm-software.com/software/freeware.html Open-source; PCB, perfboard and stripboard. KrisBlueNZ: Didn't run properly under Win7/64
TinyCADhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/tinycad/ For schematics (includes netlist export) and line diagrams. Anon: Library is extremely limited - there are only 11 microcontrollers. Good reviews on sourceforge.
VeeCADhttp://veecad.com/ Only for stripboard and prototyping boards. Free and cheap versions available.

Free limited versions of professional packages:

Bartels AutoEngineerhttp://www.bartels.de/bae/bae_en.htm Windows, Linux, X11/Unix. Schematic is free; PCB has a free demo version
Cadstarhttp://www.zuken.com/en 300 pads and 50 components
CometCADhttp://www.cometcad.com/ 10x10 cm and 2 layers
DipTracehttp://www.diptrace.com/ Windows/Mac/Linux. 300 pads and 2 layers. KrisBlueNZ: Produces very nice-looking schematics. Supercap2F: Highly recommended. Huge parts library; 3D PCB view; very easy to use; very well documented.
Eaglehttp://www.cadsoftusa.com/ 8×10 cm and 2 layers. Windows/Linux/Mac. Widely used.
Layo1http://www.baas.nl/layo1pcb/uk/downloads.htm 200 pads
OrCAD PCB Designer Litehttp://www.cadence.com/products/orcad/pages/downloads_verify.aspx -
OsmondCocoahttp://www.osmondpcb.com/index.html Mac only. 700 pins. Supercap2F: PCB only. Very easy to use.
PCB Elegancehttp://www.viewplot.com/pcbe_index.html 200 pads
Target 3001http://ibfriedrich.com/ 250 pads and 2 layers
VUTRAXhttp://www.vutrax.co.uk/index.htm -
ZenitPCBhttp://www.zenitpcb.com/ 800 pads and 2 layers. Supercap2F: Could be good if it had better documentation

PCB-vendor-locked (can only be used with one PCB manufacturer):

ExpressSCH, ExpressPCBhttp://expresspcb.com Windows only. Anon: Very difficult and cumbersome to use; moving a component requires manual realignment of all connections to it; very limited library. Supercap2F: Great program, easy to use, produces really nice schematics, but cannot export boards to send to manufacturers other than ExpressPCB.
Pad2Padhttp://www.pad2pad.com/download/free-download.htm -
PCB123http://www.sunstone.com/pcb-products/pcb123 Windows only
PCB Artisthttp://www.4pcb.com/free-pcb-layout-software/ Windows only
PCB Creatorhttp://bayareacircuits.com/pcb-creator/ Windows only
Target 3001 PCB-POOL editionhttps://www.pcb-pool.com/ppus/service_downloads.html Windows only

Professional without free or cheap versions:

Altium-Formerly Protel
Boardmakerhttp://www.tsien.info/ 3D viewer. KrisBlueNZ: Looks expensive!
CIRCADhttp://www.holophase.com/index.html -
EasyPChttp://www.numberone.com/ Free version can’t save nor generate output
EDWinXPhttp://www.visionics.a.se/ Evaluation period is 14 days
Mentor Graphicshttp://www.digikey.com/product-sear...-BNDL-ND&WT.z_slp_buy=MentorGraphics_Designer and http://www.mentor.com/ Slightly limited schematic USD 200 and PCB USD 400
Multisimhttp://www.ni.com/multisim/ Schematic capture and SPICE simulation; see Ultiboard
OrCADhttp://www.orcad.com/ -
PADS--
Proteuswww.labcenter.com/ -
Pulsonixhttp://www.pulsonix.com/ -
Sprint-Layouthttp://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/sprint-layout.html Inexpensive
Ultiboardhttp://www.ni.com/ultiboard/ PCB option for Multisim

If you have personal experience with any (or preferably, several) of these packages, and can provide feedback on their usability, please PM KrisBlueNZ or add a comment in the resource discussion tab. Thanks!
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