Altium designer pricing  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: hamdi.tn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2014, 10:25:44 am
content: Correct me if am wrong .. Altium designer licence is 9K$this is a god damn fortune what the hell is that and around 1k$ for update and most of the new features are for cloud crap what they are thinking

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2014, 01:51:11 pm
content: People pay it though! That's their thinking.It is overpriced, but they can obviously sell it at that price.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2014, 04:28:55 pm
content: For a company that is nowhere near overpriced. Try buying a Menotr or cadence licence .... there wil be 2 or 3 more zeroes involved...altium is cheap.besides, there is a free and a low cost version coming:circuitmakercircuitstudioso stop griping.And yes, there are people buying it. I bought my license 4 years ago at a promotional price of 2995$ and been paying subscription every year. Very happy.

author: hamdi.tn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2014, 07:29:33 pm
content: yeah i did the same when it was 3000$ but 9000$ is too much. it's a real investment for a small enterprise, am talking about the features of altium oriented to cloud , i don't see the point of the extra money for that. I like the tool it's my number one choice but it's a bit costy

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 25, 2014, 11:37:19 pm
content: Quote from: hamdi.tn on November 25, 2014, 07:29:33 pmThen simply don't upgrade your Altium licence. Version 13 & 14 don't offer a lot more over say version 6.9 unless you are into flex boards/high speed tuning/3D STEP design.If you want 3D STEP, export your existing Altium board into PCAD format & then import that into DipTrace which is pretty inexpensive. I'm sure there are other ways of doing this too (as it is an industry standard).Dave gets more visitors to his EEVBlog website everyday than Altium do, so ask for help here instead of the Altium Forum. At least you are communicating with people who use Altium everyday. The Altium support team generally try & find your question in the manuals & they will quote you that verbatim. The problem is that the procedures & menus change with each version bump, so often their answer sheds little light on the "easiest way to do something".I'm assuming from your comments that you have Altium ver 10, in which case you have a copy of the "frozen libraries". Silicon Valley Garage on this forum also has a good array of extra components which he has kindly offered to forum members for free.Plus, it is quite quick & easy to make your own components, both Schematic & PCB.

author: hamdi.tn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2014, 07:35:49 am
content: Quote from: DerekG on November 25, 2014, 11:37:19 pmGood guessi already do thati was likewhen there representative told me the price, i guess i will keep what i have, 9k i will buy a car instead

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 26, 2014, 11:33:08 am
content: I'm sorry, it is overpriced!You're a happy customer, good for you, you paid a 3rd of the price it is today.They haven't done anything to justify the price increase that I would call acceptable.Cadence and the like are separate products, Altium used to be cheaper, thats the issue.hamdi.tn, shop around, I have spoken to several distributors in europe and the UK for pricing and some of them can get you a better price, depending on number of seats etc.

author: VEGETA
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 02:30:14 am
content: Well, regardless of any opinion, it is still very pricey. I mean, maybe you won't make enough profit from the boards that you designed using it to cover the 9000$.Having a free and lower cost tool is the best that could ever happen if done properly. CM is free, CS is a professional lower cost software... So, I expect most of the companies to buy CS.But let's ask this: If CS is professional tools with lower cost (just like they are saying at their website), who will buy that +9k version? you could say that depends on what features does CS provide and If they are enough to give up the full version or not.As they said, even CM will have all basic features even more than the existing tools for the range (EAGLE for example), and it will be fully working... then I guess CS will have more than enough features for most if not all people, given that it might have a license of say 1.5k...For me, I will stick with CM xD. No money at all to even think about CS for the time being... my only hope that both CM and CS to be like Altium full version, so one can upgrade for the next version without re-learning every tool and shortcut.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 03:27:59 am
content: Quote from: Wilksey on November 26, 2014, 11:33:08 amMaybe not for you. i've done a couple of flex designs that paid for the licence.I do a couple of designs every year and that pays for the licence / upkeep of the subscription . So it is a zero cost for me.Six months ago i've done a flex design that landed me a new job ... All money i invested in the tool + upkeep was paid for tenfold....Now i use Altium 8 hours a day

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 03:34:25 am
content: The price of Altium Designer has always jumped around like a YoYo. It was $12K at one point and then they dropped it by 70% during their (in)famous "Turning the world of electronics design upside down" campaign and change of direction.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 03:37:56 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on November 27, 2014, 03:34:25 amShouldn't that be the "pissing off the guys who just paid $12k, so they never want to buy from us again" campaign?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 04:08:24 am
content: Quote from: coppice on November 27, 2014, 03:37:56 amThat's the one.And the PCB module became "optional extra"

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 09:49:18 am
content: Putting prices like 12k USD is the same as pushing people to use illegal software...

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2014, 11:57:07 am
content: Yes,Most companies don't care about piracy in the sense that they have their loyal fanbase who will pay with a lung if they have to for the upgraded version regardless of cost, especially a company like Altium, maybe for them it's a ploy to get rid of smaller customer bases and small businesses who can't afford the license, who they don't really want to waste their time with anyway.Don't get me wrong, it's a good package, we use it at work, to some it is worth the cost, to others it is not.Personally, I wouldn't get 9k use out of the package so to me it is not, if you speak to a rep they can get you some good discount sometimes (Premier EDA in the UK).

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2014, 10:44:13 am
content: Quote from: Wilksey on November 27, 2014, 11:57:07 amMuch better value for many people would be Mentor Graphics.Designer Schematic & Designer Layout is now available as an annual subscription for just US$599.This package is limited to 6 signal layers, 50 square inches & 1500 connections.Excellent value if you need more than DipTrace & Proteus offer & can live with the above limitations.http://www.digikey.com/product-highlights/us/en/mentor-graphics-designer-software/4171http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?keywords=MGDLDS365-1500-BNDL-ND&WT.z_slp_buy=MentorGraphics_Designer

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 28, 2014, 10:49:14 am
content: Quote from: DerekG on November 28, 2014, 10:44:13 amPerhaps this is what Altium is responding to with their change of direction yet again?

author: Precipice
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2014, 11:41:22 am
content: I couldn't see from a quick look - is a 'connection' a pin? (could be a net, which would be more useful here).Also, what's the pricing when you hit those limits? Is it 'fair enough, it's a decent project, I'll take the hit', or is is it back into the old Mentor 'mortgage and firstborn' territory?

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2014, 12:02:44 pm
content: Quote from: Precipice on November 28, 2014, 11:41:22 amAccording to the Mentor Graphics Wiki, it looks like a connection is a "pin"."The number of connections is the number of module type pins in the design minus one. Special components are ignored in the count."https://eewiki.net/display/MentorGraphics/Connecting+ComponentsAnd on the Mentor Forum page it states that there will be an unlimited connection version."An unlimited connection version will be available by the end of the year."http://blogs.mentor.com/jimmartens/blog/author/jmartens/Quote from: EEVblog on November 28, 2014, 10:49:14 amYou could well be right Dave. It looks like this space is heating up at long last.

author: koko79
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2014, 12:33:30 pm
content: Well for what its worth in the UK you can rent OrCAD PCB Designer Standard which is Capture and PCB Editor no pin limits or layer limits with Step, push shove and more for £499 a year. But is is the same GUI and database as the higher end Allegro software.

author: mrpackethead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2014, 01:16:41 am
content: Just stand your ground with the sales folks, and they will discount to get the sale.

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2015, 11:15:48 pm
content: I have just received an email from Altium offering 10% off new licences & 20% off upgrades (until 19th March 2015).The new pricing is:New Standalone License AUD$8,321Upgrade from Altium Designer 10 (or earlier) versions AUD$5,840Upgrade from Altium Designer 12 AUD$4,720Upgrade from Altium Designer 13 AUD$3,760These prices do not include Australian 10% GST.I think Altium is having a hard time selling their full priced software in these economically depressed times.

author: hamdi.tn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2015, 11:51:32 pm
content: they should find a better way to sell their product, soon some competitor will find the right formula to sell a cheaper but equivalent quality product.i heard cadstar is preparing a major release for this year, with entry-level package for 1k$ this could be interesting.

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2015, 01:26:33 am
content: Quote from: hamdi.tn on January 28, 2015, 11:51:32 pmWell they are trying with their cut down version called Altium Circuit Studio:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/altium/altium-circuit-studio/msg597011/#msg597011

author: hikariuk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 12:57:14 pm
content: Quote from: DerekG on January 29, 2015, 01:26:33 amI still think that's priced too high if they're looking to target it as an entry point for basic users. I think it needs to be priced a lot lower with a upgrade path that allows you to step up to the £1,900 version.

author: hamdi.tn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 11:57:55 pm
content: agree, this been said so many time in the eevblog, 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. Just the PCB part, no fpga, no scripting , no advanced interactive routing for high frequency etc etc i mean a tool used in a daily basis.Altium is a great software with a lot of capability, they may not be interested in taking over low end users such as hobbyist from other competitor such as Eagle, sadly enable to innovate and made a decent 21th century user interfacebut i think we all been there and being a hobbyist is the first step for being a professional designer, just pushing those potential customer away will not be a successful long term strategy, any software editor can approach the market differently and win it. I will be happy to see that happen

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2015, 01:26:44 am
content: Quote from: hamdi.tn on January 30, 2015, 11:57:55 pmInside 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.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2015, 09:01:17 am
content: Quote from: Scrts on November 27, 2014, 09:49:18 amThe 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.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2015, 04:53:35 am
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on January 31, 2015, 09:01:17 amPretty 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.

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2015, 06:13:58 am
content: For home use? I think it's more accurate tot say they couldn't care less...

author: hikariuk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2015, 10:05:16 am
content: Quote from: Ice-Tea on February 01, 2015, 06:13:58 amI 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.

author: wreeve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2015, 10:25:14 am
content: 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.

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2015, 11:16:31 pm
content: Quote from: hikariuk on February 01, 2015, 10:05:16 amTake 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).

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2015, 01:54:38 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on February 05, 2015, 08:42:50 amAren'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.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2015, 04:55:35 pm
content: aD reads CS format just fine..

author: hikariuk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 05, 2015, 07:16:27 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on February 05, 2015, 02:08:39 pmAltium 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.

author: Icchan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2015, 09:22:24 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on November 25, 2014, 04:28:55 pm2600€+ 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.

author: DrJeff
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 29, 2016, 10:36:05 am
content: 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.

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2016, 10:48:55 am
content: Quote from: DrJeff on November 29, 2016, 10:36:05 amUnless 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.

author: BMF
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2016, 02:47:44 am
content: 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.

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2016, 05:46:18 am
content: Quote from: BMF on December 03, 2016, 02:47:44 amMe neither.QuoteThat's exactly what I did.QuoteNeither do I.QuoteI have wondered that for a very long time.

author: vodka
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2016, 07:01:07 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on February 25, 2015, 09:46:30 pmSimply 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 $.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2016, 01:15:22 pm
content: Good luck with the China ones.