CAD · head to head
Altium 365 vs D5 Render
Altium 365
CAD
Cloud workspace for Altium Designer PCB projects, now inside Renesas
- From
- $1990/year
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only D5 Render has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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Develop entry price is capped at five authors in total, so a growing team hits a forced migration to Agile Teams with unpublished pricing exactly when headcount is rising.; D5 Render windows-only application with no macOS support
- They diverge on capability: Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, D5 Render covers Real-time ray tracing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Altium 365 and D5 Render actually diverge.
| Attribute | Altium 365 | D5 Render |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $1990/year | Free |
| Pricing model | Per user per year | Unknown |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise | Windows |
| Founded | Unknown | 2019 |
Identical on both: 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 D5 Render
- Real-time ray tracing
- GI
- Asset library
- Video export
- LiveSync
- Geo-location
- SketchUp
- Revit
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 D5 Render
- A team handing fabrication and assembly data to a contract manufacturer as a versioned release rather than a zip of Gerbersnot D5 Render
- A company running board and enclosure design in parallel and needing bidirectional geometry exchange with mechanical CADnot D5 Render
- A buyer checking component lifecycle and availability against the live BOM before a design is frozennot D5 Render
D5 Render
- Architectural visualizationnot Altium 365
- Interior rendersnot 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.
D5 Render
- Windows-only application with no macOS support
- Requires dedicated NVIDIA GPU, limiting hardware compatibility
- Community edition restricted to non-commercial use only
- Teams plan at USD 75/seat/month becomes expensive for larger organizations
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
D5 Render
Free- CommunityFree
- Full rendering engine with real-time ray tracing
- Unlimited projects
- High-resolution image and panorama output
- Pro$38/month
- 16K stills and panoramas
- 4K video
- Frame sequence rendering
- Teams$75/month
- All Pro features
- Multi-seat licensing
- Team collaboration
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 D5 Render if
- You need real-time ray tracing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Windows.
- You also want gi.
Questions people ask
- Is Altium 365 or D5 Render better?
- Neither clearly leads. Altium 365 starts at $1990/year and D5 Render at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Altium 365 or D5 Render?
- D5 Render has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1990/year for Altium 365 and Free for D5 Render.
- Does Altium 365 or D5 Render run on more platforms?
- Altium 365 runs on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise. D5 Render runs on Windows.
- Can I use D5 Render for free?
- Yes. D5 Render has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Altium 365 starts at $1990/year.
- 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 D5 Render is typically brought in for.
- What can Altium 365 do that D5 Render cannot?
- Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, Managed components, Browser review, Unlimited workspace users. D5 Render covers Real-time ray tracing, GI, Asset library, Video export.
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.
D5 Render: What is the pricing for D5 Render Pro?
D5 Render Pro costs USD 38/month or USD 360/year. Annual billing saves 20-21% compared to monthly payments.
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.
D5 Render: Is there a free version of D5 Render?
Yes. D5 Render Community edition is free for non-commercial use. It includes the full rendering engine with real-time ray tracing, unlimited projects, and approximately 2,000 library models and materials.
SourceAltium 365: Who owns Altium now?
Renesas Electronics completed its acquisition of Altium in 2024. Altium 365 is therefore a Renesas-owned platform.
D5 Render: Does D5 Render work on macOS?
No. D5 Render is a Windows-only application that requires a dedicated NVIDIA GPU. There is no Mac version available.
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.
D5 Render: What are the output resolution capabilities in Pro?
D5 Render Pro supports 16K stills and panoramas, 4K video, frame sequence rendering, and VR output with full Showreel capabilities.
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