Altium Designer vs ProfiCAD
Altium Designer
altium.comProfiCAD
proficad.comSide by side
| Figure | Altium Designer | ProfiCAD |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $460/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · Electrical Design Software | 8.4 (#4) | 8.1 (#10) |
| Purpose | Altium Designer is an integrated electronics design tool covering schematic capture, PCB layout, simulation, and analysis. | ProfiCAD creates electrical and electronic diagrams, schematics, control circuit diagrams, and other technical diagrams such as pneumatic and hydraulic diagrams. |
| Support | Altium lists documentation, a knowledge base, ticketed support cases, training, and community forums as support resources. | Users can get technical support through the site chatbot, email, FAQ, and user manual; the maker says questions are answered by the developer. |
Plans
ProfiCAD
- 30-day trialFree
- Home licenseFree
- School License$277, paid once
- Single User License$277, paid once
- Site License$827, paid once
In their own words
Altium Designer
Altium Designer has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
ProfiCAD
ProfiCAD is desktop software for creating electrical and electronic diagrams, schematics, control circuits, and technical diagrams such as pneumatic and hydraulic drawings. It can produce bills of materials, wire lists, terminal lists, and cable lists. The program includes more than 2,000 symbols and an editor for custom symbols. Drawing features include automatic symbol numbering and insertion, symbol search, and cross-references between wires and component symbols. Users can adapt or create ISO 7200 title blocks. The desktop program is for Windows; the maker says it can run on Mac using Parallels. ProfiCAD Viewer lets Android users view drawings, but it does not display cross-references. Drawings can be transferred to the viewer through cloud storage or email. ProfiCAD works offline, and drawings stay on the user's computer. It is not intended for PCB layout, 3D modeling, complex CAD, or full DWG/DXF editing. The free Home edition permits up to three pages, with commercial use limited to opening, viewing, and printing third-party documents. A full-feature trial lasts 30 days without a credit card; paid licenses start at $277, excluding tax.