Which is the best circuit design program?

I have used Protel 99SE, CadStar, KiCAD, Eagle and Proteus. I tried PADS briefly with a demo and then got subsequent requests for site visits...

For a similar (and one off cost), I think Proteus is an order of magnitude better (or more) than Eagle. I can complete a design far quicker in Proteus.

Hi R,
Good, you've certainly tried a few programs. I'll have a look at Protel 99SE, thanks.
C.

Protel 99SE is great grandfather of Altium. I would not recommend its use! For paid software I would recommend Proteus.

RichTheDude said:

Protel 99SE is great grandfather of Altium. I would not recommend its use! For paid software I would recommend Proteus.

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Hi R,
I bit of misreading on my part, thanks for the correction.
C.

After evaluating several free/free trial versions I found Diptrace the most intuitive and I was not limited in any way by the program.
Double/single sided pcbs are all I need and I was able to figure out most of its features without reference to help.
Diptrace has a free and paid for version. The free one is more than adequate for hobbyists (300 pins).
What I really like is the pattern editors, you can make your own very easily instead of having to trawl through endless libraries and then still not find the part you need.
The only thing I got confused with initially was library selection/updating, but after minimal reading of "Help" even that makes sense now.

Superdat said:

After evaluating several free/free trial versions I found Diptrace the most intuitive and I was not limited in any way by the program.
Double/single sided pcbs are all I need and I was able to figure out most of its features without reference to help.
Diptrace has a free and paid for version. The free one is more than adequate for hobbyists (300 pins).
What I really like is the pattern editors, you can make your own very easily instead of having to trawl through endless libraries and then still not find the part you need.
The only thing I got confused with initially was library selection/updating, but after minimal reading of "Help" even that makes sense now.

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Hi S,
Thanks for your input.
C.

Our technical department suggests Design Spark because it's both quite complete and user friendly.
You can easily find it on the RS Components website

mypcbshop.com said:

Our technical department suggests Design Spark because it's both quite complete and user friendly.
You can easily find it on the RS Components website

Click to expand...

Hi M,
Ok, thanks.
C.

RichTheDude said:

I have used Protel 99SE, CadStar, KiCAD, Eagle and Proteus. I tried PADS briefly with a demo and then got subsequent requests for site visits...

For a similar (and one off cost), I think Proteus is an order of magnitude better (or more) than Eagle. I can complete a design far quicker in Proteus.

Click to expand...

I've tried a very similar list to this and also p-cad master designer, OrCAD and Altium. p-cad running on DOS/Unix for most things was hands-down the best I have ever used. Nothing comes vaguely close when it comes to speed of routing and ease schematic layout while minimising potential errors, but it's long obsolete. I really miss it and wish they had continued developing it.

Proteus is very intuitive and I like it. It does have a few glaring shortcomings and is pretty simplistic, but that does make it easy to use.

Cadstar is the least intuitive, most over complicated piece of incomprehensible rubbish I have ever come across and so clicky you get RSI from it. I hate it like almost no other piece of software in any realm of electronics design.

Seen a lot of negative comments about Eagle over the years, but I think it's all right. Some lovely, powerful command line functions that are really useful and you can create good boards with it and it has good community support.

Altium is insanely expensive. PADS and OrCAD are OK.

I have eventually settled on ki-cad as a modern system. It's really maturing nicely, is pretty intuitive and will only get better with Cern developing it. I just don't see the point in paying for expensive software that ties you to Windows when you can have ki-cad with its massive user support.

Hi R,
So far there have been lots of different choices, yours is what I use Kicad.
C.

camerart said:

Hi M,
Ok, thanks.
C.

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No Prob.
Please let me know if everything went smooth

Hi again M,
Yes, all is smooth.
When I asked the question, I was using Kicad, and have many comparisons here, many from professionals. A little while back Kicad updated their system, so some of the comparisons were perhaps before this change, so a bit out of date.
Kicad, is probably similar to other programs, being a learning curve to get it working, but having gone through that process twice, I am staying using it. I also have many old circuits, that can be modified with it.
Cheers, C.

No more suggestions please.

I've settled on KiCad for work now - once you get over the initial learning hurdle and a few annoying gotchas, you can get a lot of work done in very little time.

Not the best package out there by any means but a good all rounder.

I think most PCBCAD packages have a learning curve.
I have used many as I have compared them to one I wrote myself.
Some of the free ones are fine. What I have found vital is good error checking as its a real pain butchering pcb's that don't work.
So its worth spending a little money on that.

As there are literally millions of different components its unlikely that a cheaper package will have all the components you need so be ready to get your hands dirty designing new ones.
I added a component wizard to my own software to make life much easier.

camerart said:

Hi,
Has anyone compared different packages, so they could report their choice and why, then we may be able to sift through each choice and choose the best. I'm sure each of us as their preference, but I would like comparisons please.

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I can give you direct comparison of PADS and Altium from extensive experience. These are both full-strength industrial tools with significant learning curve. For PCB design only, I find PADS much handier. But Altium is winning the game, largely due to a schematic interface and 3D modeling. Altium is more elaborate and will drive you nuts if you are not a serious full-time committed user.
— Brock

I bought EasyPc in about 1990.
I wasn't terribly impressed with it. It was buggy too.
So I wrote my own and still use it to this day.
It has improved and expanded over the years to things like component autoplacers.
I have downloaded numerous other offerings and almost always find them hard to use.