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CAD · head to head

Altium 365 vs Duro PLM

Altium 365 logo

Altium 365

CAD

Cloud workspace for Altium Designer PCB projects, now inside Renesas

From
$1990/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Duro PLM logo

Duro PLM

Manufacturing

Hosted PLM for hardware startups, sold in fixed user bands with no published price

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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Develop entry price is capped at five authors in total, so a growing team hits a forced migration to Agile Teams with unpublished pricing exactly when headcount is rising.; Duro PLM no pricing is published anywhere, so budgeting requires a sales conversation and buyers cannot compare against alternatives without entering a pipeline.
  • They diverge on capability: Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, Duro PLM covers Part library.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Altium 365 and Duro PLM actually diverge.

Attributes where Altium 365 and Duro PLM differ
AttributeAltium 365Duro PLM
Starting price$1990/yearOn request
Pricing modelPer user per yearquote
PlatformsWeb, Windows, Cloud, On-premiseWeb
CategoryCADManufacturing

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 Altium 365

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

Only in Duro PLM

  • Part library
  • Multi-level BOMs
  • Change orders
  • CAD integrations
  • Supplier and cost data
  • User band plans

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 Duro PLM
  • A team handing fabrication and assembly data to a contract manufacturer as a versioned release rather than a zip of Gerbersnot Duro PLM
  • A company running board and enclosure design in parallel and needing bidirectional geometry exchange with mechanical CADnot Duro PLM
  • A buyer checking component lifecycle and availability against the live BOM before a design is frozennot Duro PLM

Duro PLM

  • A robotics startup imposing change control on a design before releasing it to a contract manufacturernot Altium 365
  • A consumer electronics team tracking supplier part numbers and costs against every item in the BOMnot Altium 365
  • A hardware company whose engineers keep overwriting each other's BOM spreadsheet versionsnot Altium 365
  • A venture-funded startup that needs a defensible change history before a first production buildnot 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.

Duro PLM

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so budgeting requires a sales conversation and buyers cannot compare against alternatives without entering a pipeline.
  • Plans are sold in fixed user bands rather than per seat, so hiring an eleventh engineer moves you to the next tier instead of adding one seat.
  • Storage allowances are capped at 25, 50 and 100 GB, which is tight for teams keeping native CAD files rather than only neutral formats.
  • There is no self-hosted or on-premises option, which rules Duro out for defence and some aerospace suppliers with data residency or ITAR handling constraints.
  • Scope stops at engineering data: no requirements management, no quality module and no manufacturing process planning, so it does not replace the systems a company needs at production scale.

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

Duro PLM

On request
  • Team$undefined/year
    • Up to 10 users
    • 25 GB data storage
    • Part library, BOMs and change orders
  • Business$undefined/year
    • Up to 20 users
    • 50 GB data storage
    • CAD integrations
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • 20 or more users
    • 100 GB data storage
    • Extended support

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.
Altium 365 review

Choose Duro PLM if

  • You need part library.
  • You also want multi-level boms.
Duro PLM review

Questions people ask

Is Altium 365 or Duro PLM better?
Neither clearly leads. Altium 365 starts at $1990/year and Duro PLM at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Altium 365 or Duro PLM?
Altium 365 starts at $1990/year and Duro PLM at On request.
Does Altium 365 or Duro PLM run on more platforms?
Altium 365 runs on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise. Duro PLM runs on Web.
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 Duro PLM is typically brought in for.
What can Altium 365 do that Duro PLM cannot?
Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, Managed components, Browser review, Unlimited workspace users. Duro PLM covers Part library, Multi-level BOMs, Change orders, CAD integrations.

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.

Duro PLM: How much does Duro cost?

Duro does not publish prices. Plans are fixed annual subscriptions quoted by sales against a user band, billed Net 30.

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.

Duro PLM: Can I run Duro on my own servers?

No. It is cloud only, which is a hard blocker for organisations with data residency or export control requirements.

Altium 365: Who owns Altium now?

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

Duro PLM: What happens when we exceed our user band?

You move to the next tier rather than adding individual seats, so growth arrives as a step change in cost.

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.

Duro PLM: Is Duro suitable for medical device work?

Its change control is real but the workflow configuration and audit depth are lighter than dedicated regulated-industry PLM, so most ISO 13485 programmes need more.

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