Altium Designer vs LTspice
Altium Designer
altium.comLTspice
analog.comSide by side
| Figure | Altium Designer | LTspice |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $460/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Electrical Design Software | 8.4 (#4) | 7.6 (#22) |
| Purpose | Altium Designer is an integrated electronics design tool covering schematic capture, PCB layout, simulation, and analysis. | LTspice is a SPICE simulator, schematic capture tool, and waveform viewer for analog circuit simulation. |
| Simulation | The product supports SPICE simulation, power issue resolution, and signal integrity analysis. | Its graphical schematic interface lets users probe schematics, run simulations, and explore results in the built-in waveform viewer. |
| Support | Altium lists documentation, a knowledge base, ticketed support cases, training, and community forums as support resources. | Users can ask questions, answer them, or comment about LTspice in the EngineerZone forum. |
Plans
In their own words
Altium Designer
Altium Designer has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
LTspice
LTspice is a SPICE simulator, schematic capture tool and waveform viewer for analog circuit simulation. Its graphical schematic interface lets users probe a design, run simulations and inspect results in the built-in viewer. The download includes macromodels for most Analog Devices switching regulators and amplifiers, as well as a device library for general circuit simulation. Users can import third-party SPICE models implemented with .MODEL directives or .SUBCKT blocks. Designs from Signal Chain Designer, Analog Filter Wizard, Analog Photodiode Wizard, Precision ADC Driver Tool and LTpowerCAD can be exported to LTspice for simulation or verification. Tutorials address schematic creation, transient and AC simulation, waveform viewing, transformers, third-party models and noise analysis. The EngineerZone forum is available for questions and discussion. Analog Devices presents LTspice as an engineering design tool, with demo circuits and model libraries for designers. It is listed for Linux, macOS and Windows; the free plan specifies Windows and macOS downloads. A verified forum answer from an Analog Devices employee says telemetry is sent only if users opt in, and that the setting can be changed.