CAD · head to head
Altium 365 vs V-Ray
Altium 365
CAD
Cloud workspace for Altium Designer PCB projects, now inside Renesas
- From
- $1990/year
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 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Develop entry price is capped at five authors in total, so a growing team hits a forced migration to Agile Teams with unpublished pricing exactly when headcount is rising.; V-Ray licences are subscription only with no perpetual option listed for any product
- They diverge on capability: Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, V-Ray covers Ray tracing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Altium 365 and V-Ray actually diverge.
| Attribute | Altium 365 | V-Ray |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $1990/year | $29/month |
| Pricing model | Per user per year | subscription |
| Platforms | Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise | Windows, MacOS, Linux |
| Founded | Unknown | 1997 |
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (CAD).
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 Altium 365
- Shared workspace
- Managed components
- Browser review
- Unlimited workspace users
- MCAD CoDesigner
- Manufacturing portal
- Requirements Portal
- BOM Portal
Only in V-Ray
- Ray tracing
- Global illumination
- GPU rendering
- CPU rendering
- Materials
- Lighting
- VR output
- Scene intelligence
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Altium 365
- A hardware startup where two engineers draw boards but eight people need to review them, avoiding eight CAD seatsnot V-Ray
- A team handing fabrication and assembly data to a contract manufacturer as a versioned release rather than a zip of Gerbersnot V-Ray
- A company running board and enclosure design in parallel and needing bidirectional geometry exchange with mechanical CADnot V-Ray
- A buyer checking component lifecycle and availability against the live BOM before a design is frozennot V-Ray
V-Ray
- Photorealistic rendering for architecture and product visualisationnot Altium 365
- Real time and ray traced rendering inside CAD and 3D applicationsnot Altium 365
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
V-Ray
- Licences are subscription only with no perpetual option listed for any product
- Subscription terms renew automatically
- Cloud rendering runs on separately purchased credits, with the Pro tier at $25.30 a month for 1,000
- Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales
Pricing, plan by plan
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
V-Ray
$29/month- V-Ray Solo$60/month
- 1 workstation
- 5 render nodes
- V-Ray Premium$80/month
- Multiple apps
- Cloud credits
Which should you pick?
Choose Altium 365 if
- You need shared workspace.
- You work on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise.
- You also want managed components.
Choose V-Ray if
- You need ray tracing.
- You work on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
- You also want global illumination.
Questions people ask
- Is Altium 365 or V-Ray better?
- Neither clearly leads. Altium 365 starts at $1990/year and V-Ray at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Altium 365 or V-Ray?
- Altium 365 starts at $1990/year and V-Ray at $29/month.
- Does Altium 365 or V-Ray run on more platforms?
- Altium 365 runs on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise. V-Ray runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux.
- What is Altium 365 best used for?
- Altium 365 is most often used for a hardware startup where two engineers draw boards but eight people need to review them, avoiding eight cad seats, a team handing fabrication and assembly data to a contract manufacturer as a versioned release rather than a zip of gerbers, a company running board and enclosure design in parallel and needing bidirectional geometry exchange with mechanical cad, a buyer checking component lifecycle and availability against the live bom before a design is frozen. Of those, a hardware startup where two engineers draw boards but eight people need to review them, avoiding eight cad seats and a team handing fabrication and assembly data to a contract manufacturer as a versioned release rather than a zip of gerbers are not what V-Ray is typically brought in for.
- What can Altium 365 do that V-Ray cannot?
- Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, Managed components, Browser review, Unlimited workspace users. V-Ray covers Ray tracing, Global illumination, GPU rendering, CPU rendering.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
V-Ray: What is included in Chaos software subscriptions?
All Chaos subscriptions include free support, access to a large community of professionals, continuous updates, and a 14-day money-back guarantee. Annual subscriptions save 45% versus monthly billing. Use of AI credits voids the refund right.
SourceAltium 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.
V-Ray: Does Chaos offer enterprise pricing?
Yes, Chaos provides enterprise pricing plans for teams with more than 10 licenses. Enterprise customers should contact the Chaos sales team directly for custom pricing quotes tailored to their specific needs.
SourceAltium 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.
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