
ORCAD is the EDA software developed by ORCAD in the late 1980s. PADS Layout/Router supports a complete PCB design process, covering a full range of functions from schematic netlist import to final production file (Gerber), assembly file, and bill of materials (BOM) output. It is the most widely used EDA in the market and it is also very suitable for small companies. The quality of the design would not be worse than wg, allegro. As far as I am concerned, it is the best EDA among the similar EDA for its easy-to-use, easy-to-learn. You can describe it as the king of CAD on the low side.

PADS includes PADS Logic, PADS Layout, and PADS Router. It is good for one or two layers’ board, however, it becomes a little bit hard to use when it comes to more than 4 layers, not to mention the PCB design in signal transmission of high frequency and high-speed digitization. In this version, the arbitrary-angle routing function is newly introduced to complete the escape routing of dense BGA packages, the routing optimization processing is also improved, the new DirectX accelerated schematic editor engine, and many other enhancements. Many universities’ circuit specialties have the specific courses to learn how to use PROTEL, and almost all of the circuit companies have used it for their work.Īltium Designer 20 has been released, with new features that improve the overall user experience, and its fluency and smoothness have been improved. PORTEL company introduced the circuit design software (CAD) PROTEL in the circuit industry in the the late 80s, 20th century, which is deservedly ranked highly among many EDA software and is circuit designers’ preferred software. You can have a comparison based on the introduction. This is the PCB design software list and brief introduction. There are many circuit design softwares available to satisfy diversified layout requirement, including free PCB design software, online free PCB design softwares, and industrial PCB softwares.
