KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
kicad-pcb.org
KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
1–10 of 41 posts
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#2How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#3How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Favorably.
Obviously, it's free and open source, with no board size / layer limitations. On the other hand, Eagle is still much more widely used in the DIY community, and most my-first-PCB-like tutorials are Eagle-based. Kicad has for years suffered from the binary release being really, really outdated. Kicad development feels pretty fast-paced.
It has most or all of Eagles features, and some nice advanced features Eagle doesn't have. Especially it's PCB routing support is much better. For example, it supports push shove routing[1] and automatic trace length matching. It also shows the netname on pads (in Eagle you have to use "show" all the time). On the schematic side, It has had hierarchical sheets for many years now, whereas Eagle only gained hierarchical design support earlier this year in version 7. Things like that.
There are minor workflow differences in some places. For example, it uses key combinations instead of typed commands. There's a netlist generation step between schematic editing and board editing, so going back and forth between the two isn't as straightforward as it is in Eagle.
[1] If you're used to Eagle, this may blow your mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C02D0_kNQeM
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#4How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Worse in some ways, much better in others.
The UIs of both are pretty terrible so even on that point. The schematic tools are pretty similar in their capabilities. KiCad's pcb tool has some much more advanced features (mostly added by a group at CERN in the last year) such as a push and shove router, differential trace routing and length tuning which can auto add serpentines, etc. It is not 100% feature complete compared to the old pcb engine though.
KiCad also has some nice user scripts for importing/exporting 3d models for mechanical work now. (search kicad stepup)
All in all, they are close to the same level right now.
A lot of KiCad is in flux right now though because a lot of contributors have come on in the last couple of years. Much of the program is being rewritten/has been rewritten recently. It doesn't seem to be slowing down either.
full disclosure: I help develop KiCad a bit. I tried to be pretty balanced in this comparison though.
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#5How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Favorably. Obviously, it's free and open source, with no board size / layer limitations. On the other hand, Eagle is still much more widely used in the DIY community, and most my-first-PCB-like tutorials are Eagle-based. Kicad has for years suffered from the binary release being really, really outdated. Kicad development feels pretty fast-paced. It has most or all of Eagles features, and some nice advanced features E…
FWIW the old lead dev had a philosophy of "everybody should just compile the most recent source" which is why there hasn't been a stable release in a long time.
The new lead dev wants to do stable releases much more often than in the past. We'll see how it goes. KiCad ended up in a "feature freeze" since ~May which slowed down dev for the last six months.
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#6How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Favorably. Obviously, it's free and open source, with no board size / layer limitations. On the other hand, Eagle is still much more widely used in the DIY community, and most my-first-PCB-like tutorials are Eagle-based. Kicad has for years suffered from the binary release being really, really outdated. Kicad development feels pretty fast-paced. It has most or all of Eagles features, and some nice advanced features E…
The hobbyist community has been switching over to KiCAD, to the point where I believe KiCAD has a significant majority over Eagle in OSHPark orders. A lot of people switched with the new Eagle licensing model, which they put on hold due to backlash.
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#7How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Neither tool has a good way to do matched-impedance traces. Both rely on scripting or a plugin to do this, and the feedback is not real-time nor can you make design rules on matched nets.
Also, neither tool integrates smoothly with simulation software yet. One of my pet ideas for a while has been to integrate EEScheme, the KiCad schematic capture tool, with ngspice, an open-source spice engine. The integration would include things like probing voltages and currents in the schematic to make graphs appear. Or, associating spice models with library components.
However, this would also require some way to create "simulation-only" versions of schematics. Typically, you only want to simulate a sub-section of the schematic at once. No other schematic tool, even the big ones (Cadence, Mentor), does this very well yet.
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#8Would anyone use Kicad/Eagle these days if he/she has access to Altium Designer?
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#9How does KiCad compare to Eagle?
Favorably. Obviously, it's free and open source, with no board size / layer limitations. On the other hand, Eagle is still much more widely used in the DIY community, and most my-first-PCB-like tutorials are Eagle-based. Kicad has for years suffered from the binary release being really, really outdated. Kicad development feels pretty fast-paced. It has most or all of Eagles features, and some nice advanced features E…
Can you comment on the situation with component libraries for kicad? How does it compare to Eagle?
I've recently tried Fritzing but keep finding that some components aren't available. Defining my own is kind of tedious.
Re: KiCad 4.0.0 is Out
#10Would anyone use Kicad/Eagle these days if he/she has access to Altium Designer?
Hahahaha.
No.