PCB / EDA Suites

The end-to-end electronics design tools that take you from schematic to fab-ready Gerbers. For SPICE-style analog simulation see Circuit Simulation; for code-driven schematic design see the hardware DSLs in Programmatic CAD; for downstream Gerber / ODB++ inspection see Gerber Viewers.

Open-source desktop suites

• ★ KiCad 9 / 10 — the dominant FOSS EDA tool. Full schematic capture + PCB layout + 3D viewer + Gerber output + integrated ngspice. Versions 8 (2024) and 9 (2025) brought multi-channel design, much-improved DRC, IPC-2581 export, and a usable CLI. GPL. The default for new hardware projects in 2026.
• LibrePCB 1.x — younger, opinionated FOSS suite (GPL). Cleaner data model than KiCad (UUID-based, designed from scratch for git workflows). Active and stabilizing; lighter feature set than KiCad — fine for small/medium boards.
• Horizon EDA — Linux-first FOSS EDA with a rigorous part/library model and pin compatibility tracking. GPL. Niche but loved by users who hit KiCad's library pain points.
• gEDA / Lepton EDA — venerable Unix EDA suite. Lepton is the maintained fork. Largely superseded by KiCad for new projects.
• pcb-rnd — fork of the original PCB tool, layout-focused. Niche.

Web-based / SaaS

• ★ EasyEDA Std + Pro — JLCPCB's free browser-based EDA. Std is the long-running free tier with deep JLC parts library integration; Pro is a more capable rewrite (still free for most users). Closed-source; lock-in to JLCPCB's ecosystem is real but the free tier is genuinely generous.
• Flux.ai — modern collaborative web EDA with AI assist (copilot, autocomplete-style schematic helpers). Free tier with public projects; paid for private. SaaS-only.
• CircuitMaker (Altium) — free, browser-installer, requires public projects (visible to community). Effectively Altium-Lite for hobbyists.
• Upverter (Altium) — free hosted EDA, less-developed than CircuitMaker; mostly maintenance mode.
• SnapMagic Studio (formerly SnapEDA Editor) — light browser EDA, mostly a vehicle for their library.

Commercial / paid (with free or hobbyist tiers)

• Altium Designer — industry-standard commercial EDA. Expensive subscription. Altium 365 Free Viewer lets anyone view (not edit) shared projects. CircuitStudio is discontinued.
• CircuitMaker — see above; free-but-public Altium tier.
• Eagle (Autodesk) — sunset June 2026; Autodesk has folded its features into Fusion Electronics. Free hobbyist tier still works for now but no future. Migrate to KiCad or Fusion.
• Fusion Electronics (Autodesk) — Eagle's successor inside Fusion 360. Free for personal use with revenue caps; paid for commercial. Tight 3D-MCAD-PCB integration if you're already in Fusion.
• OrCAD / Allegro (Cadence) — high-end; no free tier worth mentioning.
• PADS / Xpedition (Siemens) — same.
• DipTrace — affordable mid-tier commercial; free tier capped at 300 pins / 2 layers.
• Proteus — popular in education for its mixed-signal simulation; paid.

Code / DSL based (cross-link)

• See Programmatic CAD → hardware DSLs for Atopile, tscircuit, SKiDL, and edea, all of which target KiCad as their output.

Format / interop notes

• ★ KiCad's project format is plaintext S-expressions — diff-friendly, git-native. Works great in normal code-review flows.
• IPC-2581 — vendor-neutral fab interchange; KiCad 9 ships solid export; supported by JLCPCB, PCBWay, others.
• ODB++ — Mentor's fab format, more capable than Gerber but historically closed; KiCad 10 plans first-party export.
• Gerber X2 / X3 — modern Gerber with attributes; KiCad / LibrePCB / EasyEDA all emit it.
• Eagle .brd / .sch — KiCad imports these; one-shot migration from Eagle is well-trodden.
• Altium .PcbDoc / .SchDoc — closed; KiCad has growing import support but expect manual cleanup.

Pick this if…

• Default FOSS, full-featured, will scale to real boards: KiCad 9+.
• Browser-based, free, fine with JLC ecosystem: EasyEDA.
• Modern collaborative team in the cloud: Flux.ai (or KiCad + git for FOSS-purist teams).
• Tiny board, want a clean git-native FOSS workflow: LibrePCB.
• Already in Fusion 360 for the enclosure: Fusion Electronics.
• Migrating off Eagle before mid-2026 sunset: KiCad (the well-trodden path) or Fusion Electronics (least-friction Autodesk continuation).
• Hobby project you don't mind being public: CircuitMaker for Altium feel, or KiCad for FOSS.