Qucs-S is a desktop program for drawing electronic circuits and running computer simulations to check how they will behave before building them. It is aimed at electronics students, hobbyists and engineers.
Has 2 of 7 · Circuit board layout ✗
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does the whole job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
LibrePCB is a free program for designing printed circuit boards, the green boards that hold electronic parts together. It is meant for electronics designers and hobbyists who want to lay out their own boards on Windows, Linux or macOS.
Has 2 of 7
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
Yosys is a free tool that turns hardware design descriptions written in Verilog or SystemVerilog into circuit netlists that can be built into computer chips. It is intended for chip designers, engineers and researchers who work on digital hardware.
Has 0 of 7 · Circuit board layout ✗ +4
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
Verilator is a tool that runs computer simulations of digital chip designs written in hardware description languages. It is aimed at hardware engineers and programmers rather than everyday users.
Has 1 of 7
How many people bookmarked its code on GitHub. It shows how popular it is, not how good it is or how well it replaces the app.
How hard it is to start using it. Easy: install it like a normal app, or use it in your browser. Advanced: you run it on your own server, use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Its code changed within the last year, so someone is still looking after it.
Does part of the job.
Ordered by how fully it replaces the app, Verified, setup and, when there are enough, people's votes.
None of these match. Try another device.
Help me choose
I want to pick an open-source replacement for Altium Designer. Below is a list from Open Source Everything (CC BY-SA 4.0), in the order its website shows it. The order is a starting point, not a verdict.
- Qucs-S: Qucs-S is a desktop program for drawing electronic circuits and running computer simulations to check how they will behave before building them. It is aimed at electronics students, hobbyists and engineers. [Easy setup; Windows · Mac · Linux; replaces fully; GPL-2.0; https://github.com/ra3xdh/qucs_s]
- LibrePCB: LibrePCB is a free program for designing printed circuit boards, the green boards that hold electronic parts together. It is meant for electronics designers and hobbyists who want to lay out their own boards on Windows, Linux or macOS. [Easy setup; Windows · Mac · Linux; replaces partly; GPL-3.0; https://github.com/LibrePCB/LibrePCB]
- Yosys: Yosys is a free tool that turns hardware design descriptions written in Verilog or SystemVerilog into circuit netlists that can be built into computer chips. It is intended for chip designers, engineers and researchers who work on digital hardware. [Advanced setup; Windows · Mac · Linux; replaces partly; ISC; https://github.com/YosysHQ/yosys]
- Verilator: Verilator is a tool that runs computer simulations of digital chip designs written in hardware description languages. It is aimed at hardware engineers and programmers rather than everyday users. [Advanced setup; devices not listed; replaces partly; LGPL-3.0; https://github.com/verilator/verilator-announce]
Setup rating: "Easy setup" means you can install it like a normal app, use it in a browser. "Advanced setup" means you must run it on your own server or use the command line, or it is a tool for developers.
Full details: https://opensourceeverything.org/data/groups/electronics.json
Before recommending anything, ask me these three questions (one at a time, in plain words): 1) Which device or devices will I use it on (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone)? 2) How comfortable am I with technical setup: only installing apps from a store, happy to follow a step-by-step guide, or comfortable with servers and the command line? 3) What is my budget: free only, or willing to pay for hosting or support? Then recommend one to three projects from this list only, and for each say why, using how fully it replaces the app, its setup rating, and the devices it runs on. If nothing on the list fits me, say so plainly instead of stretching.
Before you build
Read the list of open-source projects at https://opensourceeverything.org/data/groups/electronics.json. Compare it with my project or idea below. Tell me which projects overlap, what I could reuse instead of rewriting, and what mine does that none of them do.
My project or idea: