Altium Designer vs OpenSCAD
No clear leader: Altium Designer (53.3) and OpenSCAD (50.8) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for cad software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
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.
OpenSCAD
A script-based 3D modeling tool that compiles design descriptions into solid models. It emphasizes parametric design and CAD applications over artistic rendering, supporting constructive solid geometry and 2D extrusion with support for DXF, STL, and OFF file formats.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Altium Designer
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
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
Altium Designer
- 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
OpenSCAD
Not documented yet.
Altium Designer or OpenSCAD: 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.