alternatives to eagle

[Anonymous]

Like me I'm sure many of you were using Eagle precisely because they did NOT have screw-your-customer-subscription-model.

I have been an eagle customer since 1.0.  I use to get tech support directly from Klaus 🙂  I'm so freaking disappointed.

I'll have to use 7.6.0 for the time being.  It seems stable enough that it may be good enough for my work for at least a couple of more years, maybe longer.

So I am looking for recommendations for a different schematic capture/board layout program.  The choices are getting quite thin.  A lot of ridiculously expensive pay-for-it-all-the-time programs out there.

I'll start things off with KiCAD which I have already seen mentioned several times.

http://kicad-pcb.org/

i have not used it yet, but I'll certainly be trying it out soon.

RIP Eagle.

[Anonymous]

This is a real bummer for me.

I also am using it as a hobbyist/student/educator.

I also am familiar with Corporate Speak.

If you work for big corporation $1600 upfront and $65/month is not big deal.

If you are typical human being and want basic software that works with libraries, etc.

and are forced to buy and buy and buy and buy....

...people will look for alternatives.

or, if you hope to make some boards and maybe sell a product

that might help you get through school or provide some food

during retirement years etc., it is too costly for people.

Many folks don't make big money, some are just barely

hanging on after being whiped out by the big downturn

and with advanced age and forced retirement looming and

taxes going up...the new reality is bleak.

Most won't be lucky Making Kuric Coffee maker

or hit song, etc, etc, etc.

Why didn't I download my "free" version of office 365?

For the same reason that it would wipe out ALL my paid for

versions AND I could never reload them again and MS (MicroSoft)

told me they had a better model for me too.  NOT!

I would essentially lose 40 years worth of work that I need to

adjust from time to time and new MS Office versions are PITA.

Plus, I'd have never ending payments--the NEW Corporate Model.

[rachaelATWH4]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you work for big corporation $1600 upfront and $65/month is not big deal.

The cost of EAGLE licensing isn't $1600 up front AND $65/month. It is $510/year OR $65/month for the Premium version. If you only need the Standard version then it is $100/year OR $15/month. 

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you are typical human being and want basic software that works with libraries, etc.

and are forced to buy and buy and buy and buy....

---

You aren't forced to buy and buy and buy, you can subscribe only when you need it and put your subscription on hold and revert to the free license when you don't need it.

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@Anonymous wrote:

or, if you hope to make some boards and maybe sell a product

that might help you get through school or provide some food

during retirement years etc., it is too costly for people.

Many folks don't make big money, some are just barely

hanging on after being whiped out by the big downturn

and with advanced age and forced retirement looming and

taxes going up...the new reality is bleak.

---

If you hope to make boards to sell commercially, the cost of an EAGLE license is the least of your expenses. The cost of boards, components, and assembly will likely dwarf the cost of the license and that's ignoring the costs associated with any product testing for regulatory compliance.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Why didn't I download my "free" version of office 365?

For the same reason that it would wipe out ALL my paid for

versions AND I could never reload them again and MS (MicroSoft)

told me they had a better model for me too.  NOT!

I would essentially lose 40 years worth of work that I need to

adjust from time to time and new MS Office versions are PITA.

Plus, I'd have never ending payments--the NEW Corporate Model.

---

Well, if you already have an earlier Cadsoft EAGLE license, subscribing to Autodesk EAGLE will not wipe out that license. I have 9.3.0 and 7.7.0 running on the same machine quite happily.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[Anonymous]

I don't want alternative to Eagle. I want Eagle to die like it should.

[Anonymous]

I knew this was coming as soon as AutoCad bought Eagle. After being kept out of the CAD world for years until FOSS solutions allowed non-business users to have CAD, now it's impractical to use what I wasted much time and effort learning to do the 1 or 2 boards a year that I need. I used to do boards with PCB, crude as it was, at least it made sense for occasional use. Eagle no longer does. I guess I'll have to start all over with KiCad. I suspect you don't give a d**n, but you trashed a good thing from my perspective, even if you made it better for the elite. Fortunately, my needs are fairly simple, if I had hundreds of hours in, I'd be trapped.  In the end, it's FOSS or Evil. See Ya.

[Anonymous]

RIP eagle

Hey Autodicks, I will never pay subscription to you, your business model will fail hard; as you become the very definition of what failure actually is. Your products suck and you rip everyone off.

[Scoox]

I wouldn't say Autodesk make bad products—I use Fusion 360 and it's pretty amazing, even if forcing cloud storage upon users outright sucks. EAGLE is probably still a great product, but the pricing model is way too ambitious and I suspect EAGLE's original user base, comprised mainly of hobbyists, will look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I have never had good experience with autodesk product. They are worse than equity companies the way they ruin otherwise great ideas just to increase profits. When I purchased Eagle from CadSoft it was great, I was given a license and promised long term support, I used it for about 1 month and then Eagle got sold and my license was void. Long term support is a joke when it's floating on a cloud. Autodesk offered no refund, they are just jokers. So now I hate Autodesk and will avoid them at all costs. I advise all users to do the same. Autodesk is a danger word. And to anyone who uses their services, you are on thin ice.

[Anonymous]

For me it's clear, if I used Eagle in the past, I won't continue a this
price
I make roughly 1 or 2 small board / year for personal use (over the
hobbyist size)
I don't like Kicad and diptrace seems very limited too...
I guess they are loosing their hobbyist customer, that's probably why
they include Fusion 360
for the 3D view but for my use this programs is cumbersome not to say
useless
a simple 3D view without this mammoth would be better for my use
in french we have an expression:   "branler le mamouth" when we have to
do something heavy to do something

the good solution would be a return of the hobbyist license that existed
before auto-desk took the control of Eagle
I mean same characteristics as "standard" but not for commercial use
I'm probably one of the last to still use Eagle, most of my friends have
now changed for Kicad

[rachaelATWH4]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

When I purchased Eagle from CadSoft it was great, I was given a license and promised long term support, I used it for about 1 month and then Eagle got sold and my license was void. Long term support is a joke when it's floating on a cloud. 

---

I'm sorry but this is just utter drivel. You bought a license for v7 and this license is still valid, you can still use v7 just fine. In addition I see people post up on here with queries for really old versions of EAGLE (I saw something as early a v3 not so long ago and there are regularly v5/v6/v7 queries) and the Autodesk support team (Jorge & Edwin) always do their best to give them the help they need to get them going. I've also never seen them query anybody about whether they have a current subscription before they help them. To say long term support is a joke is just totally untrue.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Autodesk offered no refund, they are just jokers. So now I hate Autodesk and will avoid them at all costs. I advise all users to do the same. Autodesk is a danger word. And to anyone who uses their services, you are on thin ice.

---

Why should they offer a refund? you still had the product you purchased and you could still have got support if you had needed it. They did actually offer heavily discounted rates on the subscription for the newer version if you'd recently purchased EAGLE within the year before the acquisition too.

Get over the subscription change already. It's been years now and you're still bitter? Things change, life goes on. EAGLE is really great now, hugely improved over v7. They couldn't have done this with the revenue from the older licensing model. 

[Anonymous]

So just to clarify, what you are saying is that if I possess a license from a previous version of Eagle then I [absolutely] will be able to still download the matching version and I [absolutely] will still allowed to obtain the necessary activation key? Where are the download links for legacy versions? Who generates the activation keys now? I ask because I spent the better part of two weeks searching for Eagle download links I could not find a single one for previous versions anywhere on mainstrem. I did however find the version I needed by using the wayback machine at archive.org. I was able to download the correct version for my license but then I got stuck for days trying to activate it. I asked other and was told it was impossible to activate. I asked autodesk for refund and never received an offer. From your response I can see you are passionate about autodesk. But I have yet to confirm anything that you propose. And my experience with this has been a nightmare, a costly time wasting nightmare which ruined my project. And I would not be upset even one bit if I am still allowed to use my license, but it has been a frustrating experience.

[jarlgjessing]

I too would like to be able to activate my legally bought license.
So annoying that I cannot use it anymore just because I reinstalled my
computer 😞

[matt.berggren]

Thank you for your post. Actually I’m not comfortable saying that we will support of versions / licenses in perpetuity for any version of EAGLE pre-Autodesk. That means versions prior to 7.7 (<=7.6).

Reason being: These versions were entitled using the legacy Cadsoft or later Premier Farnell “Serial+Key” model and we do not maintain that source code except to keep that server running. Certainly today we can still issue legacy license codes and if you’re using it, you have a license / lic details, which you can maintain is a safe place. However - and it’s not looming - if OS updates and security patches on the server require we retire that server or it requires major rewrites to 20 year old license code, we wont commit to that. (It’s not looming but saying “never” is a commitment we won’t make). That doesn’t mean it won’t work but you will be obliged to hang onto your license details if you’re intending to use 20 year old software. And not that we don’t try to support it, but no software company commits to that and I’d question their authenticity but if they say they will. Alas, we will go to great lengths to support you and try to make it work, but never is a long time.

For the record, legacy SW can open files from legacy versions without a license and even produce mfg files regardless of board size or later limits. So the only scenario where you would be migrating designs would be if you:

a) lost your license key and access to the HW to run it AND
b) you *had to make modifications to the design in a legacy version* (rather than opening and producing mfg files) AND
c) the design you opened was beyond the limits of the then- free license AND
d) our server crashed and we had to update the SW significantly to get it running again AND
e) you were adamant about not adopting the later software

Anyhow, I trust that’s clear. Let us know if you have additional questions.

Best regards,

Matt

[matt.berggren]

Oh and the legacy versions are all online and available on the Autodesk website: http://eagle.autodesk.com/eagle/software-versions
Legacy libraries are hosted here: http://eagle.autodesk.com/eagle/libraries

Cheers,

Matt

[matt.berggren]

Contact support. Legacy licenses still work. Just email [email protected] they will get you sorted out. I am running version 5 on a virtual machine and basking in 16-bit sunshine.

Best regards

Matt - Autodesk

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for that response. It changes everything. I am very sorry for being a grump earlier. Please accept my sincere and humble apologies. I can't wait to use Eagle again 🙂 Also you are genius to install in a virtual machine, allows keeping a backup of OS and perfectly suited for long term support!! I am an idiot to not have done that to begin with. Sorry again, and thanks a billion!

[vintagesynthlab]

Would any of the end-users who replied here before: after a few years, what has your experience been in moving to a different ECAD package?

Adding my (very retroactive) statement:  I purchased the FULL PRO perpetual Cadsoft license just one year before the rug got pulled out beneath me.

I had the same conversations whether in private or on public forums spouting the same suggestion about how as a business I should be able to "justify" this expense...

And so I am still happily using Eagle 7.6 (Mac OS 12.2.1) and don't have issues at this point. However I know that it is a waiting game and it is not if, but when the older Eagle ver will stop working.

For me, fortunately I have had years of exposure to a variety of EDA/Schematic/PCB SW packages though mostly corporate workplace (day job) experience. But back to my own usage for this software, I purchased the full pro license to lift all restrictions, as well as the fact that I was running a business, using the tool for that purpose. I was loyal and supported Ealge (Cadsoft). Of course time changes everything. Cadsoft is gone, and that is history. But my point here is that my "business" was one of which was more of a long-term investment / bordering hobbyist level qty's of products being manufactured, i.e. production runs of maybe 100 to 200 units per year with not a lot of profit margins--or at least enough to justify no more than a ~$1500 one-time SW package.

Autodesk, while not alone in their actions, happened to acquire an EDA SW package that catered and supported a worldwide network of users from hobbyists (yes, that does not make the company money) to full pro licensed users like me. The "big business" transactions and how it impacts both end users and employees is not foreign concept to me. I witness this first hand and have done so for the 30 years of my career. Sorry to say, Autodesk, just because you were "doing business", doesn't make it okay.

However after using Altium Designer for now 6 years, I have grown to appreciate the power and efficiency of that particular tool. I definitely could not afford such a tool personally, similar to Autodesk product offering scheme, etc.

I still haven't made the switch, as I said Eagle 7.6 is working great for me.

[Anonymous]

Hi!
I’m still using eagle 7.x. I’m willing to pay for software, but the licensing offered now by Autodesk is not working for me. I’m behind a firewall actually offline with the CAD PCs.
I tried KiCAD but I’m not happy with it
-AH-

[one-of-the-robs]

Still using Eagle 7.7 here (with the "standard" license rather than the full pro) and it's still doing the job fine.

I also didn't get on with KiCAD but that was a few versions ago.

[Anonymous]

I am still with Eagle 7.7 too, I was considering Altium Circuit Studio,
have bought the licence, but as long as possible, I will stay with
Eagle, so far without problem. Circuit Studio seems not to be supported
very much by Altium - has anyone the experience?

[vintagesynthlab]

While I use Eagle 7.7 for all of my home/hobby/business (I do have a few products on the market having used Eagle for those designs), it is only my moonlighting job. My day job does in fact use Altium.

I started off using it as a technician many years ago (6 or 7) for reference to debug / rework / modify / test as needed for the Engineers.

Later on I would become officially an EE at that company (still there) and use Altium mainly in Schematic Capture. Although I have done a couple simple 2-layer boards (for Layout) in Altium only, I have designed (Schematic) a successful high-speed PCIe LAN module that worked on the first revision.  I watched all of the YT series for their Essentials, then eventually took their paid online class for advanced.

The tools is extremely powerful and very flexible. The biggest hang up people have is that fact that:
* it can do many more things than the average EDA CAD SW
* many things can be accomplished in a multitude of ways (not just one).

I haven't invested in Circuit Studio, but that would be the one I would choose at this point, given my experience and exposure to such tools. Altium really has gone from intimidating me to impressing & engaging me.

However, I will say that having exposed me to that course (for Altium Adv.), did in fact allow me to use Eagle more effectively, even if through the use of scripts and assigned shortcuts. After all, Eagle can get much of the job done. At the end of the day what matters most is making use of the tool you have, and to the extent for which efficiency and innovation is not compromised. That is where Altium departs from the rest. However it depends on what your use case is.

And for the record, I have not used Autodesk Eagle, as I'm sure it is a much more advanced tool these days, in order to compete with other big players. No doubt it must be an improvement from CADSoft.