Fritzing vs KiCad
Fritzing
fritzing.orgKiCad
kicad.orgSide by side
| Figure | Fritzing | KiCad |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Electrical Design Software | 7.9 (#14) | 8.1 (#9) |
| History | Fritzing says it was started in August 2007 by the Interaction Design Lab at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. | KiCad was first released in 1992 and is managed by the KiCad Development Team. |
| License | The FAQ states that Fritzing source code is licensed under GNU GPL v3 and documentation and breadboard view graphics under CC Attribution-ShareAlike. | The majority of KiCad source code is distributed under GNU GPL version 3 or greater, while its libraries use CC-BY-SA 4.0. |
| Purpose | Fritzing is an open-source hardware initiative with software and community services for documenting prototypes, sharing projects, teaching electronics, and laying out PCBs. | KiCad is an open-source electronic design automation suite for schematic capture and PCB layout. |
Plans
Fritzing
- Fritzing 1.0.8 individual€8, paid once
- Fritzing 1.0.8 supporter€25, paid once
- Business customerPriced on request
In their own words
KiCad
KiCad is a free, open-source electronic design automation suite for schematic capture and PCB layout. Its electrical rules checker flags schematic connection issues such as output-pin conflicts, missing drivers, and unconnected pins. For board routing, the PCB editor offers collision-highlight, shove, and walkaround modes that respect design rules. An integrated 3D viewer displays board designs with a library of 3D models and supports ray tracing. Schematic netlists can be exported as Pspice, Cadstar, PcbNew, or generic XML. KiCad can import schematic work from Altium tools, CADSTAR, EAGLE, EasyEDA, and LTSpice, as well as PCB designs from a wider range that includes Allegro, Fabmaster, P-CAD 200x ASCII, and SolidWorks. The project aims to serve professional designers while staying approachable to new users. Downloads are listed for Windows, macOS, and Linux, plus Docker; the stable Linux release is an x86-64 AppImage. Most source code uses GNU GPL version 3 or greater, and libraries use CC-BY-SA 4.0. KiCad was first released in 1992 and is managed by the KiCad Development Team.