Altium Develop
General-purpose CAD software
PCB design software
Product data management (PDM) software
CAD software
Manufacturing software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$995 per year
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
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What is Altium Develop
Altium Develop is a cloud-based electronics design and collaboration environment focused on PCB design workflows and related product data management. It supports teams that need to manage design data, review changes, and coordinate handoffs between engineering and manufacturing stakeholders. The product emphasizes browser-accessible access to design information and structured data management alongside PCB design artifacts.
Cloud-based collaboration workflows
It supports sharing and reviewing PCB design information through a web-accessible environment, which can reduce reliance on local file exchanges. Teams can use it to coordinate design reviews and track changes across stakeholders. This approach aligns well with distributed engineering teams and supplier collaboration scenarios.
Design data management focus
It is positioned to manage PCB-related design data with controls that are closer to PDM-style practices than ad hoc file storage. This can help standardize how projects, revisions, and released outputs are organized. It is particularly relevant when multiple contributors need consistent access to the latest approved data.
Electronics-centric feature alignment
Compared with general-purpose mechanical CAD tools, it is oriented around electronics/PCB artifacts and the associated manufacturing outputs. This can simplify workflows for ECAD teams that do not want to adapt mechanical CAD conventions to PCB needs. The product’s scope fits organizations where PCB design is the primary design domain.
Dependency on cloud access
Because it is cloud-oriented, availability and performance depend on network connectivity and service uptime. Some organizations with strict data residency, export control, or offline requirements may face adoption constraints. IT and security teams may require additional review for cloud-hosted design data.
Limited mechanical CAD breadth
It is not primarily a general-purpose mechanical CAD system, so it may not cover advanced parametric modeling, assemblies, or mechanical detailing needs. Organizations building electromechanical products may still require separate mechanical CAD for enclosure and mechanism design. This can introduce integration and data synchronization work across toolchains.
Ecosystem and licensing complexity
Altium’s portfolio includes multiple products and platform components, which can make packaging and entitlement management harder to evaluate than single-application tools. Teams may need time to understand which capabilities sit in which product and how they interoperate. This can increase procurement and rollout effort, especially for mixed-role teams.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Workspace (Altium Develop) | $995 per year | Activates a shared Altium Develop workspace (required). Includes Requirements Portal (listed as "$995/year flat" on Altium site). Invite unlimited collaborators at no additional cost. 30-day free evaluation available. |
| Altium Designer Author seat (concurrent) | Price not displayed on public Altium Develop pricing page (unspecified) | Author seats are concurrent (up to 5 concurrent authors per workspace tier). Author seats are required to edit in Altium Designer and are added on top of the workspace subscription. The Altium Develop pricing page references "Add Author seats for [price omitted on page] each" — the public page does not render a per-seat price. |
Seller details
Altium Limited
San Diego, California, United States
1985
Public
https://www.altium.com/
https://x.com/altium
https://www.linkedin.com/company/altium
