Company Overview
Altium Limited is an Australian software company headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in electronic design automation (EDA). Founded in 1985 (originally as Protel International), Altium develops PCB design software used by electronic engineers worldwide for schematic capture, PCB layout, and manufacturing output generation.
Altium Designer is the company's flagship desktop product, known for its unified design environment and strong component management. Altium 365 extends the platform with cloud-based collaboration, design review, and supply-chain integration.
Product Ecosystem
- Altium Designer: Professional PCB design tool with schematic capture, multi-layer PCB routing, signal integrity analysis, and 3D visualization (with MCAD integration via STEP export).
- Altium 365: Cloud platform for design collaboration, version control, and component sourcing — connects Altium Designer to manufacturing and procurement workflows.
- CircuitMaker: Free community edition for makers and students, with shared project capabilities.
Products in our knowledge base (1)
Market Position & Strategy
Altium Limited develops Altium Designer, serving the electronics design market segment. The product's primary focus is schematic capture and PCB layout, competing in the broader EDA/PCB design category. The company maintains a specialized position by focusing on schematic capture and PCB layout workflows rather than attempting to cover the full breadth of the CAD/BIM market.
In a market increasingly dominated by large platform vendors (Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, Siemens), specialized tools like Altium Designer retain value by offering deeper functionality in their specific domain than general-purpose platforms can provide. Users typically choose Altium Designer for its particular strengths in schematic capture and PCB layout, often using it alongside other tools for tasks outside its core specialty.
Learning Resources
Altium Limited provides learning resources through official documentation, community forums, and partner networks. Users new to Altium Designer should start with the vendor's official getting-started guides and supplement with community-produced tutorials and courses available on platforms like YouTube, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning.