Softwr

CAD · head to head

Altium 365 vs KiCad

Altium 365 logo

Altium 365

CAD

Cloud workspace for Altium Designer PCB projects, now inside Renesas

From
$1990/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
KiCad logo

KiCad

CAD

Free open source schematic capture and PCB layout with no seat, board size or layer limits

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only KiCad 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Develop entry price is capped at five authors in total, so a growing team hits a forced migration to Agile Teams with unpublished pricing exactly when headcount is rising.; KiCad there is no vendor obligation behind the free software, so a blocking bug is escalated to a volunteer community unless you separately buy a contract from KiCad Services Corporation.
  • They diverge on capability: Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, KiCad covers Schematic capture.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Altium 365 and KiCad actually diverge.

Attributes where Altium 365 and KiCad differ
AttributeAltium 365KiCad
Starting price$1990/yearFree
Pricing modelPer user per yearOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, Cloud, On-premiseWindows, macOS, Linux

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 KiCad

  • Schematic capture
  • PCB layout
  • No design limits
  • 3D viewer
  • Manufacturing output
  • Scripting

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

KiCad

  • A hardware startup designing a multi-layer board without paying for an Altium seatnot Altium 365
  • A university teaching PCB design where per-student licences are unaffordablenot Altium 365
  • An open hardware project that needs design files anyone can open and modifynot Altium 365
  • An engineer prototyping a board at home who needs commercial rights on the outputnot 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.

KiCad

  • There is no vendor obligation behind the free software, so a blocking bug is escalated to a volunteer community unless you separately buy a contract from KiCad Services Corporation.
  • High speed design support, including advanced constraint management, differential pair and impedance tooling, remains behind Altium and Cadence, which matters as soon as boards carry fast interfaces.
  • Rigid-flex and complex stack-up design is weak, so products with flex circuits usually need a commercial package.
  • Component library and part sourcing integrations are thinner than the commercial tools, so parts data and availability checking is manual work someone has to own.
  • Multi-engineer design data management is not provided; teams end up assembling Git workflows themselves, and merge handling on binary-adjacent design files is awkward.

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

KiCad

Free
  • KiCadFree
    • Full suite under GPL
    • No board size, layer or component limits
    • Commercial use permitted
  • Commercial support$undefined/year
    • Support contracts sold separately by KiCad Services Corporation
    • Priority issue handling and consulting
    • Not included with the free software

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 KiCad if

  • You need schematic capture.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want pcb layout.
KiCad review

Questions people ask

Is Altium 365 or KiCad better?
Neither clearly leads. Altium 365 starts at $1990/year and KiCad at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Altium 365 or KiCad?
KiCad has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $1990/year for Altium 365 and Free for KiCad.
Does Altium 365 or KiCad run on more platforms?
Altium 365 runs on Web, Windows, Cloud, On-premise. KiCad runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use KiCad for free?
Yes. KiCad 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 KiCad is typically brought in for.
What can Altium 365 do that KiCad cannot?
Altium 365 covers Shared workspace, Managed components, Browser review, Unlimited workspace users. KiCad covers Schematic capture, PCB layout, No design limits, 3D viewer.

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.

KiCad: Is KiCad really free for commercial work?

Yes. It is GPL licensed with no restriction on commercial use, board size, layer count or component count.

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.

KiCad: Can I buy support?

Yes, but not from the project. KiCad Services Corporation sells commercial support contracts separately; CERN moved to exactly that arrangement after ending its donation programme.

Altium 365: Who owns Altium now?

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

KiCad: How is development funded?

Through donations and sponsors administered via The Linux Foundation, plus contributed engineering time.

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.

KiCad: Is it good enough to replace Altium?

For most low and medium speed boards yes. For high speed, rigid-flex and heavily constrained designs, the commercial tools still hold a clear lead.

Share

Related pages

More on Altium 365

More on KiCad

Keep looking

Other head to heads