vioscaleAI
Comparison

Altium Designer vs FreeCAD

No leader: the top candidate FreeCAD has only 0.33 confidence (low), below the 0.35 needed to declare a winner. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Altium Designer full profile →FreeCAD full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Altium Designer53
FreeCAD56
Score
vioscaleAI score
Altium Designer53 / 100medium · 56%
FreeCAD56 / 100low · 33%
Pricing
Free tier
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✓
Model
Altium Designerfreemium
FreeCADopen_source
Price level
Altium Designerhigh
FreeCADfree
Starting price
Altium Designer$995
FreeCAD$1
Transparent
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✓
Integrations
Count
Altium Designer2
FreeCAD8
Security
Certifications
Gdpr
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD–
Soc2
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD–
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Adoption
Dependent repos
Altium Designer–
FreeCAD4
Github stars
Altium Designer–
FreeCAD34,290
Activity
Commits last 30d
Altium Designer–
FreeCAD100
Release
Cadence days
Altium Designer–
FreeCAD5
History
Altium Designer–
FreeCAD20 items
License
Spdx
Altium Designer–
FreeCADLGPL-2.1
Language
Primary
Altium Designer–
FreeCADC++
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Altium Designer7 items
FreeCAD6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for cad software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capabilities
Deployment model
Altium DesignerCloud processing hybrid
FreeCADNative desktop local
Parametric history based timeline
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
Nurbs and surface mathematical modeling
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
2d drafting and dimensioning blueprints
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✓
Cam toolpath generation cnc milling
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
Bim architectural information modeling
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
Fea stress and thermal simulation
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
Pcb electrical circuit design sync
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✗
Stl export for standardized 3d printing
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
Dwg dxf autocad standard file import
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✓
SOC2 type ii
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✗
ISO 27001
Altium Designer-
FreeCAD✗
Pricing model
Altium Designer-
FreeCADCompletely free oss

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Altium Designer

A PCB design tool for desktop computers combining schematic, layout, and analysis capabilities with cloud-based collaboration features for team review and version control.

Independently observed

FreeCAD

FreeCAD is a free, open-source 3D parametric modeling tool that allows users to create and modify parametric designs. It supports multiple platforms and features a community-driven ecosystem of modules and macros.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Altium Designer

from $995/author/yrSubscriptionFree tier30-day trial

Free 30-day trial, then $995/year per additional Altium Designer Author

  • Altium Designer Author$995/year per additional Altium Designer Author
    • Advanced PCB design
    • Schematics and layout
    • Simulation and analysis
    • ECAD-MCAD CoDesign
    • Version control
    • +1 more
as of verify ↗

FreeCAD

from $1/moOpen sourceFree tier

Free and open source. Optional sponsorships from 1 USD/month

  • Sponsor - BronzeFrom 1 USD/1 EUR per month
  • Sponsor - SilverFrom 25 USD/25 EUR per month
  • Sponsor - GoldFrom 100 USD/100 EUR per month
  • Sponsor - PlatinumFrom 200 USD/200 EUR per month
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✗
macOS
Altium Designer✗
FreeCAD✓
Windows
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✓
Linux
Altium Designer✗
FreeCAD✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✗
Self-hosted
Altium Designer✗
FreeCAD✓
Hybrid
Altium Designer✓
FreeCAD✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Altium Designer

17 total
  • Altium 365
  • EAGLE
  • KiCad
  • OrCAD
  • PADS
  • Zuken CR-5000
  • Siemens NX
  • Autodesk Inventor
  • Onshape
  • Arena
  • Duro
  • Jira
  • Slack
  • SiliconExpert
  • Z2Data
  • Duro PLM
  • Cloud PLM Connector
Independently observed

FreeCAD

8 total
  • STEP
  • IGES
  • STL
  • SVG
  • DXF
  • OBJ
  • IFC
  • DAE
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Altium Designer or FreeCAD: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.