PCB Design Tools

Comments recommend and compare PCB/EDA software like KiCad, Eagle, Horizon EDA, LibrePCB, EasyEDA, and Altium, discussing UI, ease of use, libraries, and suitability for hobbyists and professionals.

📉 Falling 0.4x Hardware
3,150
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#8935
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
2
2009
6
2010
3
2011
25
2012
66
2013
63
2014
120
2015
74
2016
205
2017
126
2018
165
2019
191
2020
205
2021
350
2022
328
2023
510
2024
376
2025
290
2026
45

Keywords

e.g LLM FOSS DipTrace UltraLibrarian youtube.com WIP UI DesignSpark eda.org kicad pcb cad design footprint circuit mechanical tool ui library

Sample Comments

IshKebab • Aug 9, 2022 • View on HN

Check out Horizon EDA. It's basically Kicad with a much saner UI.

mdp2021 • May 2, 2022 • View on HN

T#;DR : also try KiCad (or Eagle).

IshKebab • Sep 17, 2014 • View on HN

DesignSpark PCB for me. Eagle has probably the worst UI in existence. I've not used Fritzing but it looks overly simplistic.

drunkonvinyl • Feb 6, 2024 • View on HN

this resonates. i will share that i'm trying out and having luck with flux.ai. it's not perfect, but for a small hobby project and someone with little experience and not getting far quickly in kicad, it works. i have a pcb in-hand from jlcpcb right now and it works. it also introduces some of the shared features discussed above. (i don't work for them, just looking for something that would let me do a fairly fast PoC)

mikecoles • Sep 25, 2023 • View on HN

Has anyone had the chance to compare with kicad?Found in prior HN comments: (2020) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23059615librepcb 'comparison': https://librepcb.org/faq/#why-should-i-use-librepcb

keenerd • Jan 24, 2013 • View on HN

You should try Kicad. Similar problem with libraries, except making new footprints is my favorite part of the suite. It is a pleasure to use.

dbrgn • Jan 11, 2019 • View on HN

Shameless plug: Also check out https://librepcb.org/ :)

andyl • Dec 4, 2015 • View on HN

How does KiCad compare to Eagle?

gedy • Feb 19, 2021 • View on HN

+1 for EasyEDA, way simpler to learn for me as well.

cobrabyte • Sep 27, 2024 • View on HN

I'd love a tool like this for PCB design/layout