Altium Price Rises

[ahbushnell]

This, combined with generally unsatisfactory treatment by the salesforce, is the reason that my manager and I decided today to do a simple, but real, design in KiCad to see how it goes. It is an iteration of a standard design that we understand very well, so any challenges should become clear.

John

Please post the results of your test. 

[JohnG]

We were able to import the design into KiCad and produce boards that worked. The board was a mix of power and signal, 4 layers of 70 um copper. Here are the main issues we ran into:

Needed to update our database library to handle both Altium and KiCad.
Lack of padstacks caused a few small issues with some SMD mounted threaded standoffs.
Lack of outjob-type capabilities means more complicated production of output files that fit our design process.

These were not showstoppers. We have several permanent (we hope) Altium licenses and are still paying maintenance. However, we were in addition paying for a few monthly seats. We have ended that practice since KiCad suffices for those. In addition, we are not adding seats as we grow, since KiCad meets our needs at this time. We use an internal parts database library and have structured the library to work with both Altium and KiCad. This cost us some time and effort, but was worthwhile and now it is a simple matter to add new parts. We do make separate footprints and symbols for KiCad and Altium, but at this point the main work is done and the incremental cost of adding parts is low.

Every year, KiCad improves greatly, though keeping up sometimes is extra trouble. This is unavoidable given the goal of becoming a feature-complete professional-level tool. Altium doesn't change much, and most of the changes seem to be in document management. We don't use these changes as our process is set.

So, short answer: we are not getting rid of existing permanent Altium seats, but new seats are going to KiCad.

John

[Doctorandus_P]

I also see yearly improvements in KiCad. Especially when autodesk bought Eagle, it was a great boost for KiCad. A lot of people did not like the subscription model, and there was a lot of buzz around the transition and a lot of people switched to KiCad. And all are welcome (for KiCad) of course, but I guess that most of those people / hobbyists are more in the free (beer) way than in the free (freedom / open source) way.

I' am slowly also beginning to see that KiCad is starting to get used in companies as replacement, (or in addition to) "commercial software". KiCad is still a relatively small project, with a limited amount of developers, but all revenue generated is put into man hours to improve KiCad. There are no share holders or other parasites hugging along.

You mention the lack of pad stacks, and "outjob-type" capabilities. Both are on KiCad's radar, but because KiCad is still small, it takes a lot of time to implement those.

True padstacks and via stacks with differing geometries on different layers (lp:#1827233)
https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2402

CAM Manager / output automation / plot and export presets
https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2346

If you put a part of the money you save on those extra seats for Altium into KiCad (Via: https://www.kipro-pcb.com/ ) you can boost the speed with which KiCad development takes place. KiPro does priority development for sponsored features. And as KiCad improves, you can probably transfer more seats to KiCad. In the long run it will save you money.

[ahbushnell]

I get that inflation is happening, but what "costs" are increasing for a 100% software company like Altium?

Two points in pricing.  One what will people pay and how many people will pay that.  And will I cover my costs. 

[Ice-Tea]

So, short answer: we are not getting rid of existing permanent Altium seats, but new seats are going to KiCad.

Don't forget to be very, very vocal about this when their reps come caling 

Wouldn't hurt if someone at HQ would go: "huh, maybe we can't increase price ad infinitum".

[jc101]

I am going to an Altium event in Cambridge (UK) tomorrow. I was mailed and phoned about it last week, so I don't know how many will be there.

I expect the licence models and pricing to be discussed in the Q&A at the end of the day, if not before.

[Ice-Tea]

Maybe make a bit of a stink abou the geo locked nonsense? 

[jc101]

I think it's close enough that if I fire up a copy on my laptop while I'm there, I will be within my limit as the crow flies. There is an Altium office nearby too.  I have no idea what they do there. I had a phone call from Germany about the event.

It might cause a stir, as it would be on an Apple Silicon MacBook Pro running a virtual machine with Windows ARM 64bit, into which I have Altium installed. It works, just about. It's good enough for checking stuff when out of the office. I'm impressed it worked at all, really.

[JohnG]

Don't forget to be very, very vocal about this when their reps come caling 

Wouldn't hurt if someone at HQ would go: "huh, maybe we can't increase price ad infinitum".

I'm not directly involved, but I think we talk to them as little as possible these days. Maybe better to sic the finance people on them...

John