Softwr

Design · head to head

Adobe XD vs Altium 365

Adobe XD logo

Adobe XD

Design

Design, prototype, and share user experiences

From
$54.99/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Altium 365 logo

Altium 365

CAD

Cloud workspace for Altium Designer PCB projects, now inside Renesas

From
$1990/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Adobe XD standalone subscription eliminated - now requires expensive Creative Cloud All Apps plan; Altium 365 the 1,990 US dollar Altium Develop entry price is capped at five authors in total, so a growing team hits a forced migration to Agile Teams with unpublished pricing exactly when headcount is rising.
  • They diverge on capability: Adobe XD covers Vector design tools, Altium 365 covers Shared workspace.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Adobe XD and Altium 365 actually diverge.

Attributes where Adobe XD and Altium 365 differ
AttributeAdobe XDAltium 365
Starting price$54.99/month$1990/year
Pricing modelUnknownPer user per year
PlatformsWeb, macOS, WindowsWeb, Windows, Cloud, On-premise
CategoryDesignCAD
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Adobe XD

  • Vector design tools
  • Responsive resize
  • Auto-animate
  • Voice prototyping
  • 3D transforms
  • Design systems
  • Component states
  • Coediting

Only in Altium 365

  • Shared workspace
  • Managed components
  • Browser review
  • Unlimited workspace users
  • MCAD CoDesigner
  • Manufacturing portal
  • Requirements Portal
  • BOM Portal

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Adobe XD

  • Web designnot Altium 365
  • Mobile app designnot Altium 365
  • Design systemsnot Altium 365
  • Interactive prototypesnot Altium 365
  • User testingnot Altium 365

Altium 365

  • A hardware startup where two engineers draw boards but eight people need to review them, avoiding eight CAD seatsnot Adobe XD
  • A team handing fabrication and assembly data to a contract manufacturer as a versioned release rather than a zip of Gerbersnot Adobe XD
  • A company running board and enclosure design in parallel and needing bidirectional geometry exchange with mechanical CADnot Adobe XD
  • A buyer checking component lifecycle and availability against the live BOM before a design is frozennot Adobe XD

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Adobe XD

  • Standalone subscription eliminated - now requires expensive Creative Cloud All Apps plan
  • Mac-first design tool with more limited Windows support
  • Collaboration features are less mature compared to Figma
  • Not open source unlike alternatives like Penpot
  • Higher price point than competing standalone design tools

Altium 365

  • The 1,990 US dollar Altium Develop entry price is capped at five authors in total, so a growing team hits a forced migration to Agile Teams with unpublished pricing exactly when headcount is rising.
  • Add-on portals are expensive per seat; BOM Portal has been quoted at around 1,999 US dollars per user per year and MCAD CoDesigner at around 499, so the real cost of a working configuration is well above the headline.
  • It is tied to Altium Designer; there is no meaningful use of the platform for teams designing in KiCad, OrCAD or Allegro, which makes it a lock-in decision rather than a tooling one.
  • Renesas acquired Altium in 2024, and a semiconductor manufacturer owning the design tool used to select competing semiconductors is a conflict some buyers will want addressed in writing before uploading a library.
  • Repeated repackaging, from Altium 365 Standard and Pro tiers to Altium Develop and Agile Teams, has made renewal comparisons difficult and customers have found their previous tier no longer maps to anything on the price list.

Pricing, plan by plan

Adobe XD

$54.99/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Adobe XD review.

Altium 365

$1990/year
  • Altium Develop$1990/year
    • One Altium Designer author licence
    • One workspace for shared projects and libraries
    • Unlimited workspace users for review, comment, tasks and BOM access
  • Altium Agile Teams$undefined/year
    • For teams beyond five ECAD authors
    • Extended workspace governance and administration
    • Quoted, no published price
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • On-premise or private cloud workspace server
    • Formal ECO and lifecycle governance
    • Quoted, no published price

Which should you pick?

Choose Adobe XD if

  • You need vector design tools.
  • You work on Web, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want responsive resize.
Adobe XD review

Choose Altium 365 if

  • You need shared workspace.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise.
  • You also want managed components.
Altium 365 review

Questions people ask

Is Adobe XD or Altium 365 better?
Neither clearly leads. Adobe XD starts at $54.99/month and Altium 365 at $1990/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Adobe XD or Altium 365?
Adobe XD starts at $54.99/month and Altium 365 at $1990/year.
Does Adobe XD or Altium 365 run on more platforms?
Adobe XD runs on Web, macOS, Windows. Altium 365 runs on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise.
What is Adobe XD best used for?
Adobe XD is most often used for web design, mobile app design, design systems, interactive prototypes. Of those, web design and mobile app design are not what Altium 365 is typically brought in for.
What can Adobe XD do that Altium 365 cannot?
Adobe XD covers Vector design tools, Responsive resize, Auto-animate, Voice prototyping. Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, Managed components, Browser review, Unlimited workspace users.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Adobe XD: Can I use Adobe XD without a full Creative Cloud subscription?

No. Adobe XD is no longer available as a standalone subscription. It is only available as part of Creative Cloud All Apps plan priced from $54.99 to $69.99 per month.

Source
Altium 365: Is Altium 365 free with Altium Designer?

A workspace is included with a current subscription, but the higher tiers, extra authors and the add-on portals are chargeable. The unlimited non-author users are genuinely included.

Adobe XD: What file formats does Adobe XD support?

Adobe XD supports XD format natively, with import/export capabilities for other design formats and vector graphics.

Source
Altium 365: What does it cost?

Altium Develop starts at about 1,990 US dollars a year for one author plus a workspace, with extra authors at 995 US dollars each up to four more. Larger teams are quoted.

Altium 365: Who owns Altium now?

Renesas Electronics completed its acquisition of Altium in 2024. Altium 365 is therefore a Renesas-owned platform.

Altium 365: Can I keep design data on my own servers?

Yes, through the Enterprise on-premise workspace server, but that is a quoted product and most of the newer portal features assume the hosted platform.

Share

Related pages

More on Adobe XD

More on Altium 365

Keep looking

Other head to heads