Comparison of EDA software

Comparison of Electronic design automation (EDA) software

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)

Name	Architecture	License	Autorouter	Comment
ChipVault		GPL		Terminal based vi wrapper for HDL
Electric	*BSD, Java	GPL	Yes	VLSI circuit design tool with connectivity at all levels. Can also be used for schematic entry and PCB design.
FreePCB	w32	GPL	Yes	A printed circuit board design program for Microsoft Windows. FreePCB allows for up to 16 copper layers, both metric and English units, and export of designs in Gerber format. Boards can be partially or fully autorouted with the FreeRouting autorouter by using the FpcROUTE Specctra DSN file translator.
Icarus Verilog	*BSD, Linux, Mac	GPL		Verilog simulator
KTechLab	Linux	GPL	n/a	KTechLab is a schematic capture and simulator. It is specifically geared toward mixed signal simulation of analog components and small digital processors.
Magic	Linux	BSD license	no	a popular very-large-scale integration layout tool
Oregano		GPL	no	schematic capture + spice simulation
Quite Universal Circuit Simulator	Linux, Solaris, Mac, NetBSD, FreeBSD, w32	GPL		Schematic capture + Verilog + VHDL + simulation
Verilator	Posix	GPL		Verilator is the fastest free Verilog HDL simulator. It compiles synthesizable Verilog into cycle accurate C++ or SystemC code following 2-state synthesis (zero delay) semantics. Benchmarks reported on its website suggest it is several times faster than commercial event driven simulators such as ModelSim, NC-Verilog and VCS, while not quite as fast as commercial cycle accurate modeling tools such as Carbon ModelStudio and ARC VTOC.
XCircuit	Unix	GPL		Used to produce netlists and publish high-quality drawings.

Comparison of EDA packages

Application and developer	Latest version/release + date	Schematic?	Simulation?	PCB editing?	Runs on POSIX style systems?	Runs on Windows?	Other platforms?	Open source?	User Interface Language(s)	Imports	Exports	Scripting support
Advanced Design System by Agilent EEsof EDA	2011.05 2011-05	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Linux, Solaris	No	en	HSPICE, SPICE, Spectre netlists; Gerber/drill, ODB++, artwork; more	HSPICE, SPICE, Spectre netlists; Gerber/drill, ODB++, artwork; more
Active-HDL by Aldec	2011-10 9.1	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	en	EDIF, Viewlogic, more	PDF, HTML, Verilog, VHDL, EDIF, Zuken, more
Altium Designer (former Protel) and PCAD by Altium	2013-02-13 Release 2013	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Multilingual	OrCAD, Allegro, PADS Logic, PADS PCB, Expedition, DxDesigner, EAGLE, Gerber, STEP, IDF, more	PDF, Gerber/drill, ODB++, DXF, STEP, OrCAD, more	Delphi, JS, VB
AutoTRAX DEX by DEX 2020	2012-10-05 1.11.37	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Various	EAGLE, P-CAD, PADS, OrCAD, Gerber, DXF	Gerber/drill, DXF, P-CAD, PADS, OrCAD
CADSTAR, Board Designer, and Visula by Zuken	2011-11-08 13	Yes	Yes, Spice	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	PADS, OrCAD, P-CAD, Protel, DXF, IDF	PDF, Gerber/drill, ODB++, DXF, IDF more
CircuitLogix by Logic Design Inc.	2013-01 Release 9.1	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	SPICE, Gerber, DXF	SPICE, PDF, Gerber, DXF,
CR-5000 by Zuken	2011-05-17 13	Yes	Yes, SI & PI	Yes	Yes	Yes	UNIX, Linux	No	en, jp	EDIF, DXF, IGES, IDF, BSDL, STEP, ACIS, Gerber/drill, more	PDF, Gerber/drill, ODB++ (must request), DXF, STEP, IPC D-356, IPC-2581, EPS, ACIS
DipTrace by Novarm	2014-07-21 2.4.0.2	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Mac, Wine	No	18 languages	EAGLE, P-CAD, PADS, OrCAD, Gerber, DXF	Gerber/drill, DXF, P-CAD, PADS, OrCAD
DesignSpark PCB from RS Components	2014-11-24 7.0.0	Yes	Yes, Spice	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Various	EAGLE, DXF, EDIF	Gerber/drill, ODB++, IDF, PDF, more
EAGLE by CadSoft Computer	2014-11-27 7.2.0	Yes	LTspice	Yes	Yes	Yes	Linux, Mac	No	de, en, zh, hu	EAGLE (XML), ACCEL (P-CAD, Altium, Protel), ULTIBOARD, Netlists, BMP, Custom	EAGLE (XML), Protel, Netlists, Images, PDF, Gerber, Excellon, Sieb&Meyer, HPGL, PostScript/EPS, PDF, Images, HyperLynx, Custom	Proprietary User Language Programming (ULP)
Easy-PC, by Number One Systems	2013-07-20 Version 17	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	Board Maker, Eagle, Ultiboard	PDF, Gerber/drill, ODB++, DXF, IDF more
EDWinXP from Visionics	2010-02 1.90	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en, jp	ODB++	ODB++
Fritzing	2014-07-14 0.9.0b	Yes, + breadboard	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Linux, Mac	Yes	en, de, nl, es, it, fr, pt, ru, zh, jp, ...	gEDA symbols, KiCad symbols, SVG	Gerber, DIY etching, BOM, SVG, PDF, EPS
gEDA	2013-09-25 1.8.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Linux, Mac	Yes	en	Un­known	Gerber/drill
KiCad	2013-07-07-BZR4022	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Linux, Mac	Yes	de, en, es, fr, pt, ru	TinyCAD net lists, OrCAD EDIF	PDF, Gerber/drill, netlist, VRML2, IDFv3
Upverter	2014-08-29-3.0	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Linux, Mac	No	en	Altium, OrCad, PDF, OpenJSON, Eagle	PDF, Gerber/drill, netlist, PADS Layout Netlist, Tempo Automation, Pick and Place CSV, High-Res PNG, STL, CSV-formatted drill chart, CSV-formatted list of all parts
Various SmartSpice, Expert, Guardian, Hipex, and more products by Silvaco	—	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Linux	No	en, cn, kr, jp	Various: HSPICE, Spectre, Verilog-A, SPICE, EDIF, GDSII	Various: SPICE, SPEF, GDSII
Various (Board Station, PADS, Expedition, DxDesigner, HyperLynx, ECAD Collaborator...), by Mentor Graphics	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	en	ODB++	GGerber/drill, BoM, IDF, ODB++
Micro-Cap by Spectrum Software	2014-07-14 11	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	en, jp	HSPICE, PSPICE, SPICE3, netlists, Images, IBIS, Touchstone	SPICE text file, netlist, BOM ,Protel,Accel,OrCad,PADS netlists, Schematic and Analysis Plots Images, Numeric Output Text,Excel
Proteus by Labcenter Electronics	8.1	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	Un­known	netlist, ODB++, BoM, Gerber/drill, IDF, BMP, HTML, CSV, DXF, 3D DXF, STL, PDF, EMF, EPS, HPGL and more
PCB Investigator by easyLogix Schindler & Schill GmbH	2012-06 3.4.4	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	ODB++, Gerber/drill, Sieb&Meyer, GenCAD 1.4, DXF, IPC2581	ODB++, DXF, Catia-Script, X-File, BOM, GenCAD 1.4, Gerber, other
Pulsonix	2013-08-20 Release 8.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	Allegro, Altium, CadStar, Eagle, OrCAD, PADs, P-CAD, Protel, Gerber, STEP, DXF, IDF, more	Gerber/drill, ODB++, PDF, DXF, STEP, IDF, BOM, more
SLED by Dolphin Integration	2013, December Release 6.1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Linux	No	en	EDIF, ASCII, Several netlist formats	EDIF, Several netlist formats, CSDF, SPI3, more
TARGET 3001!	V17.2.0.48 2014-10-29	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en, de, fr	EAGLE, DXF, Gerber, XGerber, Excellon, BMP, CXF, STEP 3D	XGerber, Excellon, HPGL, G-Code (Milling), CXF, STEP 3D, BOMs, Pick&Place, Testpoints, Netlists, OBJ, POV-RAY
NI Ultiboard and Multisim by National Instruments	13	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	en	MS*, MP*, EWB, Spice, OrCAD, UltiCap, Protel, Gerber, DXF, Ultiboard 4&5, Calay	BOM, Gerber/drill, IGES (3D), DXF (2D & 3D), SVG
Various Allegro and OrCAD products by Cadence Design Systems	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	AIX, Solaris, Linux	No	Several	Gerber, DXF, IDF, IFF, PADS, PCAD	DXF, IDF, IPC356, OrCAD netlist, ODB++	Proprietary SKILL language, and some TCL
Viewlogic by Synopsys	Un­known	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Un­known	No	en	Un­known	Un­known
Scheme-it by Digi-Key	N/A	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Web application	No	en	Un­known	Un­known
EasyEDA	N/A	Yes	Yes, Spice	Yes	Yes	Yes	Web application	No	en, zh, jp, fr, po	Eagle, Altium, Kicad, LTspice	Gerber, PNG, SVG, PDF
123D Circuits by Autodesk	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Web application	No	en	Eagle	Gerber

Note: ODB++ support is drawn partly from lists by Artwork Conversion Software and Mentor Graphics

See also

• Electronic Design Automation (EDA)
• List of EDA companies
• Schematic editor
• SPICE, a general purpose analog circuit simulator.

References

Please check the latest information on the various web sites