Affordable license?

[Doctorandus_P]

I have gone completely Open source out of idealistic considerations (And use KiCad), but know that is not the path for everyone. If I wanted to run altium, I'd probably do it in a vm and isolate it from the internet completely. That still has the issue if you have to share the design with paying customers, but by that time you should probably cough up the money and go legal anyway.

[JohnG]

Malware, virusses, etc are just stories. There aren't enough people in the world using professional CAD software to make it worthwhile including a virus in a cracked package. It is like like going to the desert to rob someone.

And yet, they bother making cracks for the same software? I'm guessing there's some overlap between those who crack software and those who write malware. Maybe if you are an individual, the risk is really small. If you work for a small or medium size company on certain new technologies, you realize that industrial espionage is real enough that you need to take steps to deal with it.

John

[nctnico]

Malware, virusses, etc are just stories. There aren't enough people in the world using professional CAD software to make it worthwhile including a virus in a cracked package. It is like like going to the desert to rob someone.

And yet, they bother making cracks for the same software?

Maybe the reason is simpler... they could be paid by the companies that make the software in order to gain market share in places where companies don't have enough money to spend to buy the real deal. Make people start with a fake copy and then end up with those people being locked in. Or the crackers make money from selling the software DVDs / websites that offers the software for download. Or just for kicks. There are lots of people uploading TV series for others to download as a hobby without being financially compensated in any way. There are several people on this forum that create keygens for test equipment for no other reason than being helpful by applying their skills. On top of that, most of the software uses FlexLM which AFAIK is not difficult to crack / patch if you know how.

[nth_degree]

Speaking for myself, I’d be more than happy to pay for software if it helped me make income and the price isn’t relevant so long as I’m making a net profit. But paying on day 1 at $400/mo isn’t happening and in the current environment installing Russian cracked software is just inviting trouble. I’m more concerned about malware getting into the network than getting sued. I don’t get why students catch a break but startups can’t. There should be a version where you pay only for the hours used when you export the design, so potential customers can get a foothold on using the software without all these risks.

[thm_w]

You realize its easy to become a student right? You just need a EDU email address.

There should be a version where you pay only for the hours used when you export the design, so potential customers can get a foothold on using the software without all these risks.

Yeah but there isn't. Potential customers can get a free license: https://www.altium.com/altium-designer/free-trial

Not sure why this is so hard for you to process.

[nth_degree]

* for 15 days.

[ivan747]

You realize its easy to become a student right? You just need a EDU email address.

There should be a version where you pay only for the hours used when you export the design, so potential customers can get a foothold on using the software without all these risks.

Yeah but there isn't. Potential customers can get a free license: https://www.altium.com/altium-designer/free-trial

Not sure why this is so hard for you to process.

Yeah, just sign up for a certification at some college, it doesn’t even have to be in person, and it doesn’t have to be a full program. And you get a certification out of it.

[bookaboo]

There's a reason Altium can charge the prices they do. Their software saves time (once the learning curve is overcome), the time of hardware designers is very expensive. Lets use round math to keep things simple, if you disagree with the input figures (they do vary wildly) substitute your own in.

Engineer salary cost to company p/a: $100,000
% of time the engineer is using PCB tool : 50%
% of time saved using Altium : 33%
Savings with Altium p/a : $16,667

As with all capex it's a cost/benefit analysis. If you only do a couple of designs a year as a one man shop, Altium may not be worth the extra money.
There are intangible benefits, such as if the tool prevents you making a mistake, or perceived professionalism.
A lot depends on where the engineer is on the learning curve.

We switched from Diptrace to Altium based on a calculation similar to above. When I chose Diptrace originally it was a perfect fit and I'd suggest giving it a look, although I never tried Kicad which could be an alternative. The only downside was that we has to go through two learning curves.
All that said, sign up at the local college and become a student.

[Doctorandus_P]

Some of the EDA suites are "free" (in that you don't have to pay money to use them), but have a limitation that you only can obtain gerber files from that company, or you send the design to them and only they make the PCB's. This may be an acceptable business model to some, but it also is a huge gamble to place all that faith in a single external company. I will never fall into that particular trap myself.

But paying on day 1 at $400/mo isn’t happening ...

Which is perfectly understandable. altium prices are hard to swallow for small companies, or if PCB design is a small part of your business.
I wonder what sort of designs you want to make, how complicated they are and how many you expect to make. How much and what sort of experience do you already have with PCB design?

It does cost time to learn to use a program, but learning the basics really does not cost very much time. And the extra time spent in getting to know the nicks and crannies of a program, is also productive time, as you will be making finished designs while doing so. Learning proper PCB design (from how to create a readable schematic to EMC regulations and how to design them into the PCB) is a very big chunk of the learning process, and it is knowledge you take with you when you switch to another program. There are some disadvantages of starting with an FOSS program or a "low cost" commercial program, but buying into an expensive program without knowing whether you can recoup those costs is also far from ideal. From your own words, this last option is not going to happen, so you'll have to make a choice from the rest of the pie.

In your opening post you ask for an "affordable altium version", and Hawaka answered "there probably is no such thing". After that it just drifted a bit though alternatives, but nobody has a direct answer. I wonder why you want altium so much? Maybe you should ask yourself that same question, and have a closer look at alternatives if you can't afford altium.

[KaneTW]

Altium gave me a ~$2k/year discounted price as a startup in 2021.

Otherwise I don't recommend pirating it. If you get caught via a phone-back mechanism or whatever, they'll try to ransom you (as will every CAD software company really) -- it's extremely hard to actually get the charges to stick, but paying a few grand is generally cheaper than lawyer costs and your time/effort.

[temperance]

There are other capable CAD systems out there.

If you like to pay
-Pulsonix
-Orcad
-Zuken

Free:
-Kicad of course
-horizon-eda

But the OP is probably fixed on the fancy looks AD provides and probably never worked with AD.

[KaneTW]

You should evaluate all relevant packages to see what fits your workflow best. That being said, I tried most packages and AD was the best fit for me overall.

[MT]

There are other capable CAD systems out there.

If you like to pay
-Pulsonix
-Orcad
-Zuken

Free:
-Kicad of course
-horizon-eda

But the OP is probably fixed on the fancy looks AD provides and probably never worked with AD.

Protel 99SE (Abandonware, still 1-10dollar licenses available from seconhand purchasers or as crackware).

Still very good and way easier to use then Kicad.

[mooreaa]

I really hope they come through with better CS support. CS would work on more of our simple projects and being able to share the library is a huge benefit.

The problem with CS right now is that its based on the old Altium core code and it has 8+ years of bugs that aren't fixed.

I have asked many times about CS as we bought into it 2 years ago for some additional licenses to help with some guys working on schematics and it seems for all that Altium takes,  they don't respond or offer any support feedback on that piece of software.

With Altium increasing their prices (at least renewal) by 25% this year it makes my small company seriously want to consider other options despite our prior investment into this software.

[temperance]

The problem with CS right now is that its based on the old Altium core code and it has 8+ years of bugs that aren't fixed.

8+ years of bugs. You can make that at least 12 years. And when you take time to point out where things go wring, they admit things to be wrong but there is always a workaround and that's how you are supposed to use AD. Or they try to convince me that I'm wrong, which doesn't work. Nice, workarounds for almost everything... Altium calls it flexibility while the workaround doesn't work properly either because of some other limitations like calculation errors.

[ruairi]

Altium didn't sue and win. Altium threatened and got a ransom. paid in retrospect for their IP

Another way of looking at this.

The OPs ethical contortions are funny to watch. Why did they make Ferraris so nice and so expensive? They've forced my hand into stealing one...

Altium seem to be an unlovable bunch (like Avid in my audio space) but that does not mean software piracy is ok. And doubly so when the open source products are so strong.

The OP wants that Nice feeling that comes from using "the best" tools but without paying, there's a name of that.

[thm_w]

Another way of looking at this.

The OPs ethical contortions are funny to watch. Why did they make Ferraris so nice and so expensive? They've forced my hand into stealing one...
Altium seem to be an unlovable bunch (like Avid in my audio space) but that does not mean software piracy is ok. And doubly so when the open source products are so strong.
The OP wants that Nice feeling that comes from using "the best" tools but without paying, there's a name of that.

Stealing a Ferrari means someone else loses that Ferrari. Using Altium when you can't afford it, has zero negative impact to them. Its not a comparable statement at all.

https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/inf/wyd/WP/WNE_WP109.pdf

[ruairi]

..

[ruairi]

Another way of looking at this.

The OPs ethical contortions are funny to watch. Why did they make Ferraris so nice and so expensive? They've forced my hand into stealing one...
Altium seem to be an unlovable bunch (like Avid in my audio space) but that does not mean software piracy is ok. And doubly so when the open source products are so strong.
The OP wants that Nice feeling that comes from using "the best" tools but without paying, there's a name of that.

Stealing a Ferrari means someone else loses that Ferrari. Using Altium when you can't afford it, has zero negative impact to them. Its not a comparable statement at all.

https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/inf/wyd/WP/WNE_WP109.pdf

Let know how that works out for you when someone starts stealing your IP.

[voltsandjolts]

Altium seem to be an unlovable bunch but that does not mean software piracy is ok.

^Haha! Yup, this is my thoughts exactly.

[KaneTW]

Let know how that works out for you when someone starts stealing your IP.

If someone uses my IP for a commercial product, they'll usually pay. At least when they need support.

If someone uses my IP for a non-commercial, low volume or evaluation product, it's literally free advertising.

Zealously guarding IP has negative value. It's not a finite resource.

[jmarkwolf]

How can I get a modern copy of Altium for a reasonable price w/o cracking it? I’m not a student and $355 a month is unaffordable, and a 15 day trial won’t do especially if I have to go through the torture of using windows. Tell me there’s a way!

I can tell you what worked for me.

I am the owner of another Altium product (Circuit Studio). I was an early adopter of the software thinking it was going to be a "lesser" version of Altium Designer, but was sorely disappointed in the user interface and feature set, having been a very long time Altium Designer user at work. I still hobbled by with CS for several years.

Typically, at years end, Altium contacts members of their customer base and offers a deep discount to upgrade to Altium Designer. It's still not chump change but it's a SIGNIFICANT discount. Better than 50% in my case. Side jobs have more than paid for the upgrade many times over.

I was very tired of waiting for a Circuit Studio update and I was never very happy with it to begin with, so I agreed to pay for the Altium Designer upgrade and I'm really glad I did. Now I have all the features and an update every 6 weeks or so, which makes me smile every time.

[Gibson486]

They still sell stand alone, just not the one you keep on your computer. You need to sign on to their servers and they keep track of your software version. They are gonna push 365 like crazy soon. The groundwork is already there, it is a question of when at this point.

[Warhawk]

How can I get a modern copy of Altium for a reasonable price w/o cracking it? I’m not a student and $355 a month is unaffordable, and a 15 day trial won’t do especially if I have to go through the torture of using windows. Tell me there’s a way!

I can tell you what worked for me.

I am the owner of another Altium product (Circuit Studio). I was an early adopter of the software thinking it was going to be a "lesser" version of Altium Designer, but was sorely disappointed in the user interface and feature set, having been a very long time Altium Designer user at work. I still hobbled by with CS for several years.

Typically, at years end, Altium contacts members of their customer base and offers a deep discount to upgrade to Altium Designer. It's still not chump change but it's a SIGNIFICANT discount. Better than 50% in my case. Side jobs have more than paid for the upgrade many times over.

I was very tired of waiting for a Circuit Studio update and I was never very happy with it to begin with, so I agreed to pay for the Altium Designer upgrade and I'm really glad I did. Now I have all the features and an update every 6 weeks or so, which makes me smile every time.

What features and updates make you smile every 6 weeks? I too use Altium Designer and honestly don't see any significant difference between the current version and 5 versions back. Maybe it stopped crashing so often but this is what one expects for the price.
I am just curious.

[jmarkwolf]

Quote: What features and updates make you smile every 6 weeks? I too use Altium Designer and honestly don't see any significant difference between the current version and 5 versions back. Maybe it stopped crashing so often but this is what one expects for the price.
I am just curious.

It's not the features and updates that make me smile, it's the fact that I'm getting ANY features and updates. Circuit Studio has gone years without badly needed features and updates.