LibrePCB vs PowerWorld Simulator

LibrePCB is free, open-source electronic design automation software for drawing schematics and designing printed circuit boards. It runs as a desktop application on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and works fully offline without an online account. The schematic editor supports multi-page designs, live electrical rule checking, and automatic forward annotation to the board editor. Board tools include design-rule checking, a live 3D viewer, and multi-layer layouts with blind and buried vias. EAGLE projects and DXF files can be imported, while output jobs include Gerber, Excellon, CSV BOM, STEP, PDF, and SVG. An integrated library manager handles official libraries; users may also use their own. Projects and libraries use human-readable canonical text files, and projects carry their needed library items and settings. Users can order boards through LibrePCB Fab or export production data. GPLv3 licensing covers the source.

PowerWorld Simulator is desktop software for interactively simulating high-voltage power-system operation over periods from minutes to days. Its full package solves power-flow systems of up to 250,000 buses. The base package provides contingency analysis with automatic batch processing, full power-flow or fast linearized analysis, and result views organized by contingency or impacted facility. Visualization includes animated diagrams, automatic diagram creation and modification, contoured displays, and a model explorer. Optional add-ons cover ATC, OPF, SCOPF, reserves optimization, SimAuto, transient stability, GIC, and integrated topology processing. SimAuto allows an external program to extend Simulator. The product lists industry-standard file-format compatibility and GIS support. It runs on 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 and newer; no other operating systems are supported. A free evaluation version is limited to 13 buses. The first commercial base-package license costs $11,000 as a one-time purchase and includes one year of upgrades and support.