Compare Altium Designer® vs OrCAD®
Provides advanced product design, collaboration, and PCB design tools required by large teams or professionals designing complex devices, yet easy to use for new designers and students.
OrCAD is a legacy program that has proven itself for a broad range of designs, making it a preferred tool for experienced designers and older companies.
| Schemetic Capture | Altium Designer | OrCAD |
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Schematic sheet limits
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Unlimited
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999
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Hierarchical schematic capture with integrated analog mixed-signal simulation
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Built-in SPICE simulator with model library and migration support for LTSpice/PSpice
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| PCB Layout | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Board size limits
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100 in. by 100 in.
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40 in. by 30 in |
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Signal and plane layer limits
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32 signal + 16 plane + unlimited mechanical
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200 layers total, license level limits the size of your board workspace and layer count |
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Rules-driven design for modern PCB (HDI, Rigid-flex, and Multiboard)
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Advanced interactive routing features with built-in signal integrity tools
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High speed design and rigid-flex design features included in standard license
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Variant management tools for complex projects
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Realistic layer stacks and a modern field solver for accurate impedances
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Parts placement and routing in 3D
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Photo-realistic 3D viewer with real-time clearance checking
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Visual DC power distribution analysis in the PCB layout
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Requires additional Power Analyzer license
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Requires additional Cadence product (Slgrity OprimizePI) |
| Library Managerment & Sourcing | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Built-in BOM management with real-time supply chain
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Unified libraries with symbols, footprints, simulation models, and distributor links
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Access to models, parameters, and lifecycle data for millions of components
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription | Requires additional Cadence product |
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Management of lifecycles, in-design validation, templates, and where-used for libraries
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Advanced component data from IHS Markit®
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Library health dashboard to monitor validity, quality, and risk issues
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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| Outputs & Manufacturing | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Built-in fabrication and assembly drawing generation tools
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Intuitive interface for manufacturing output creation
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Quickly generate ECOs, reports, and documentation
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Customizable document templates for drawings
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Centralized management for manufacturing packages and communications
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Share and view Gerbers, ODB++ files, and assembly steps in a browser
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| Product Design | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Support for multi-board systems and assemblies
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Multi-board 3D product viewer from any web browser
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Multi-board mechanical integration for SOLIDWORKS® 2020, 2021, and 2022
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Built-in harness design tools
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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| Cloud Services | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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View and share renders of design files on any device with a web browser
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Version control, templates, and component libraries stored in cloud
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Built-in task management and commenting for design files and BOMs
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite) |
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Managed design reuse for schematics, layer stacks, and design templates
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Project history for every change made to a design
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite) |
| Platform Integrations | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Integration with MCAD applications including SOLIDWORKS®, PTC Creo® Parametric™, Autodesk Inventor®, Autodesk® Fusion 360™, and Siemens NX
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Advanced integration with SOLIDWORKS® for MCAD component placement, copper geometry, enclosure exchange, and multi-board/rigid-flex sync
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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PLM integration with Arena® PLM, PTC Windchill, Aras PLM, Oracle Agile PLM, and Teamcenter®
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Multiple importer utilities to convert files from other ECAD platforms
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| Workflows & Processes | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Configurable lifecycle management for design data and components
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite) |
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Managed workflows for part requests, design reviews, project creation/release, and lifecycle approvals
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
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User, role, and group management with support for Single Sign-On (SSO)
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Change notifications and change conflict prevention for design documents
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
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Centralized control over design environments, document templates, and output files for every team member
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Requires additional Cadence product (their EDM suite)
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| Maintenance & Support | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Current version
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Monthly releases since Nov 2021 (active since 2000, formerly Protel 1985-2000)
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Last release October 202 (active since 1985) |
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Backwards compatible with files from all previous releases
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On-demand training courses, knowledge base, and community forums
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Live chat and support tickets
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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Support tickets only, no live chat |
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Dedicated customer success manager check-ins and onboarding
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Requires an Altium Designer Subscription
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| Supported Platforms | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Windows 10 and newer
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MacOS 10.15 and newer
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Linux
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*64 bit version requires libc.so.6 with subversion GLIBC_2.14 or higher |
| Pricing | Altium Designer |
OrCAD
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Price
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Request for quote
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OrCAD PCB Designer Pro: USD 2,300 / year |
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Time-based subscription
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Perpetual License options
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Multiple Subscription options
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