Altium designer pricing

[DerekG]

what i think users want ( or what i will gladly pay for ) is a basic low cost version capable of being upgraded accordingly to user's need.

Inside info says that an upgrade path to Altium Designer WILL be offered to Circuit Studio users later this year. In fact this intel says that the upgrade cost will be the difference between the 2 packages.

Further intel says that Farnell/element 14 WILL be able to "facilitate this in conjunction with Altium".

Altium over the last 10 years has been making their "trial version" rather difficult to obtain, mainly due to the  large hacker market.

This same intel is saying that Farnell/element 14 will be able to "help substantiate bona fide customers" for Altium.

It is beginning to look like this tie-up between Altium & Farnell is much stronger than first thought.

[Ice-Tea]

Putting prices like 12k USD is the same as pushing people to use illegal software...

The quoted number is 9k plus some 1k5 for subscription. So about 2k5/y if you spread it over a decade. A company looks at a figuren like that in man-day/hours, that's about a weeks worth of work a year. That's what you need tot het out of a subscription. So if you download a few complex libraries (FPGA and whatnot), save yourself a fab error because of the new gerber format, spend less time trying to find the illegal copy, cleaning up virusses and save a lot of time with activeBOM per example, it repays itself easy.

[Rigby]

Putting prices like 12k USD is the same as pushing people to use illegal software...

The quoted number is 9k plus some 1k5 for subscription. So about 2k5/y if you spread it over a decade. A company looks at a figuren like that in man-day/hours, that's about a weeks worth of work a year. That's what you need tot het out of a subscription. So if you download a few complex libraries (FPGA and whatnot), save yourself a fab error because of the new gerber format, spend less time trying to find the illegal copy, cleaning up virusses and save a lot of time with activeBOM per example, it repays itself easy.

Pretty sure Srcts isn't talking about enterprise use.

I'm sure as hell not going to pay $12k for software that I use for my own projects. 

Altium WANT people to pirate at home. 

[Ice-Tea]

For home use? I think it's more accurate tot say they couldn't care less...

[hikariuk]

For home use? I think it's more accurate tot say they couldn't care less...

I think someone needs to ask Altium exactly who they think this product is targeted at, because right now it doesn't appear to be anyone.  Businesses will probably just buy AD, because it's a business expense they can offset against future income.  The average home user/hobbyist won't touch it because it's too expensive, at least as an initial outlay.  An experienced hobbyist might well consider it, but the chances are they already have a package they know and understand, so why make life difficult for yourself by having to learn a new one?

All I want, as a complete and utter newbie, is a tool I can learn how to use now, that has a library that probably has any components I'll want to use, and I can add functionality to/upgrade as time goes on and my requirements increase.  Right now I suspect that's EAGLE and once I'm invested in that (both in terms of time and money) that's more than likely where I'll end up staying.

[wreeve]

I bet (hope) they are aiming at people still happy with Protel99SE. Those who have tried AD and gave up on the basis it’s too much for simple 2/4 layer schematic capture and board design. They seem to have the price right (look at CAD packages for simple one-seat licences). Now if the software really is a Protel99SE version 2 but with the Vault features and more importantly bug free then they will sell quite a few licences IMHO.

[DerekG]

All I want, as a complete and utter newbie, is a tool I can learn how to use now, that has a library that probably has any components I'll want to use, and I can add functionality to/upgrade as time goes on and my requirements increase.  Right now I suspect that's EAGLE and once I'm invested in that (both in terms of time and money) that's more than likely where I'll end up staying.

Take a look at the pin limited versions of Proteus. They are based in the UK, just like you & the pin limited versions are great value.

Alternatively, take a look at DipTrace which is also great value.

AD is too expensive for the hobbyist & Circuit Studio at close to $3K is also too expensive (unless you believe that you will get into serious paying design jobs in the future & will move up to AD in time).

Circuit Maker will only be free if you share your designs with others. You will have to pay if you want to store your designs privately. You can't store them on your own computer & so you need internet connectivity. This is a deal beaker for many, resulting in better value from packages such as Proteus, DipTrace & yes, even EAGLE (but only for the limited versions - once you begin to need the full version, Proteus & DipTrace beats its hands down for price, usability & features).

[Rigby]

CS has a unique pcb file format that isn't compatible with pcbdoc. Thumb down. I won't pay 3k for a beta program.

Aren't you the person that hosed their Altium Vault account by logging into Circuit Studio with it?

You wouldn't buy a CircuitStudio license even if it were perfect, because you already have Altium Designer.

Forgive me if I don't pay any attention to your opinion on CircuitStudio.

[free_electron]

aD reads CS format just fine..

[hikariuk]

Im considering to move to it, because ad subscription is way more ezpensive.

Altium don't want you to do that though.  They want the upgrade path people take to be EAGLE to CircuitStudio to AltiumDesigner; they're not going to make it easy for people to go backwards down the track.

[Icchan]

besides, there is a free and a low cost version coming:

circuitmaker
circuitstudio

so stop griping.

2600€+ for a license of circuitstudio and ~500€ per a year of subscription... wouldn't call that "low cost" at any stretch of imagination. Maybe for a real professional with real income. So for everyone else (and small one man companies without regular income) Circuitmaker or Eagle/KiCad it is.

[DrJeff]

It's funny - the alarm bells started to ring when the only pricing I could find was by searching - where this blog came top of the list.

I am a loyal Protel user for over 16 years - we paid a few k for that and have been happy ever since. We don't need to upgrade (a victim of it's success) but would do so for the ease of use with 64-bit Windows.

It's really simple - were this priced at a few k (like mentioned here) I'd buy it and be happy. Under no circumstances whatsoever am I going to haggle with some greasy rep to get 'my' price.

Maybe Altium should learn about customer trust. It starts by selling at a clear price for everyone.

[DerekG]

but would do so for the ease of use with 64-bit Windows.

Unless Altium has been re-written in the last edition or two, it is still compiled with 32 bits.

I think however that your Protel is written in 16 bits which is why when you search the directories for files you only get the beginning of the file addresses.

[BMF]

I got quotes for Cadence and Mentor a while back when Altium hyped the PDN tool and then priced it at $4k. I was surprised at the deals I could get. If I was shopping for a new package now there's no way I'd consider Altium. I'm only using it to finish up projects and then will drop off subscription and then migrate to something else. Now that Siemens has bought Mentor and Autodesk EagleCAD I expect there will be more deals as the companies look to expand user base. I just don't expect to see value in how Altium moves forward. I sometimes wonder if anyone at Altium really designs boards. I also feel like a chump for buying the package when everyone just pirates.

[DerekG]

If I was shopping for a new package now there's no way I'd consider Altium.

Me neither.

I'm only using it to finish up projects and then will drop off subscription and then migrate to something else.

That's exactly what I did.

I just don't expect to see value in how Altium moves forward.

Neither do I.

I sometimes wonder if anyone at Altium really designs boards.

I have wondered that for a very long time.

[vodka]

Price is justified by the buyer. If you think it worth its price tag, then it is. Electronics engineering, especially if you want to push things to limits, is a very expensive hobby.

Simply usurers , They want to have cautive customers where you can move or change , due to all the corporations (CARTEL)have the sames prices.  And  if not, you see the replacement prices are  expensive by example:

A transistor bipolar 400V 5A ,

Apportionment FARNELL : 15 € by transistor + 20€ of transport cost( Barcelona- Tarragona)  less 100 km . Total joke = 50€.

Apportionment Asturia seller : 4 € by transistor + 8€ of transport cost( Asturias- Tarragona)   850 km . Total  = 16€.

Apportionment Paris seller: 4,5 € by transistor + 15€ of transport cost( Paris- Tarragona)  1200 km . Total  = 24€.

Finally the transistors(lot 10) i bought on  China  by 10 $.

[Bud]

Good luck with the China ones.