Both are Windows desktop tools that take professional boards from schematic to manufacturing outputs, and both now sell seats alongside a cloud workspace. For a team, the differences that matter are how seats are priced, which tier unlocks simulation and signal integrity, and where each vendor wants you to go when the team grows.
By Rishik Boddeti · Last reviewed
Founder of ProtoFlow, ECE at UT Austin
Quick answer
For a small professional team, Altium Develop costs $1,990 per year for one Altium Designer author plus a shared workspace with unlimited reviewers, and up to four more authors cost $995 each. Cadence OrCAD X Standard costs $1,320 per year for one user, while the Professional tiers that add team collaboration, integrated SI analysis and advanced PSpice are quoted by Cadence partners. Choose Altium when shared libraries and review across a team drive the decision. Choose OrCAD X when PSpice depth matters or you expect to grow into Allegro X. Both run on Windows only.
| Altium Designer (in Altium Develop) | Cadence OrCAD X | ProtoFlow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $1,990/yr: 1 author + workspace; +$995/yr per author, up to 5 | Standard $1,320/yr, single user | Free plan |
| Larger teams | Altium Agile Teams (over 5 authors), Agile Enterprise; no public price | Professional and Professional Plus, quoted by partners | Paid plans raise AI limits |
| Operating system | Windows 11 64-bit (Windows 10 supported, not recommended); VMs not supported | 64-bit Windows 10/11 Pro or Enterprise, Windows Server 2019/2022 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Simulation | Mixed Simulation, SPICE3f5-compatible, reads PSpice and LTspice models | PSpice Basic; advanced PSpice and Simulink link in Professional Plus | ngspice: operating point, transient, AC, DC sweep |
| High-speed and SI | Constraint editor, HDI, rigid-flex, integrated analysis (vendor-listed) | Professional adds high-speed, flex and integrated SI/PI analysis | Layer stackups, DRC and built-in JLCPCB design review |
| Collaboration | Workspace with unlimited reviewers; co-authoring and browser reviews in Agile Teams | OrCAD X OnCloud (optional); team collaboration from Professional | Comments, Git with visual diffs; real-time collaboration on paid plans |
| Growth path | Develop, then Agile Teams, then Agile Enterprise | OrCAD X into Allegro X | Exports KiCad, Altium, EAGLE, PADS, EDIF |
| Trial | 30 days, no credit card | 30-day Professional Plus trial, no payment details | Free plan, no expiry |
Skip the comparison shopping. Try the free one first and see if it does the job.
Download for DesktopEach row links to the vendor page it came from and shows the date we last read that page. Vendors change pricing often, so check the link before you buy.
| Product | Price or limit | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altium Develop | $1,990/yr incl. 1 author; up to 4 more authors at $995/yr each; 30-day free access, no credit card | altium.com | |
| Altium Agile Teams | No published price; 30-day free trial; recommended above 5 ECAD authors | altium.com | |
| Cadence OrCAD X | Standard $1,320.00/yr, single-user license; Professional Plus: contact for pricing, 30-day free trial | oncloud.cadence.com | |
| OrCAD X PSpice Basic (Standard, Professional) | 250 nodes or 250 devices, 1M transient or 10,000 sweep data points | cadence.com | |
| OrCAD X Free Viewer | Free, read-only, Windows, no license needed | cadence.com |
Altium now packages Altium Designer inside three offerings: Altium Develop, Altium Agile Teams and Altium Agile Enterprise. Develop is the one with a public price, $1,990 per year, and it includes one Altium Designer author, one workspace for shared projects and libraries, unlimited workspace users for review, comments, tasks and BOM access, and ECAD-MCAD co-design. You can add up to four more authors at $995 per year each, so a five-author team lists at $5,970 a year. Past five authors, Altium points you to Agile Teams, which has no published price.
Cadence sells OrCAD X in three tiers. Standard has a public price of $1,320 per year for a single-user downloadable license in Cadence's US store. Professional and Professional Plus go through Cadence or a channel partner, and Cadence says pricing varies by region. Its FAQ also notes that Standard lacks Live BOM and team collaboration for data management, so a team comparison is really Altium Develop against a quote for OrCAD X Professional.
For one designer working alone, OrCAD X Standard is the cheaper published entry. Once reviewers, librarians and a manufacturing contact need access, Altium's free workspace users change the math, because they do not consume author seats.
On a team, the PSpice question becomes which seats need Professional Plus. The Basic simulator in Standard and Professional stops at 250 nodes or 250 devices (with separate caps on transient and sweep data points), which suits block-level checks but can be tight for a whole-board simulation. The advanced analyses, the optimizer and the Simulink link live only in the top tier, so price Professional Plus for the engineers who run them and ask your Cadence partner whether tiers can be mixed on one team.
Altium Designer ships Mixed Simulation, installed by default. Altium's documentation describes it as fully SPICE3f5 compatible and able to use a range of PSpice and LTspice device models. That covers routine analog verification. If your verification plan depends on PSpice-specific advanced analysis or Simulink co-simulation, OrCAD Professional Plus is the direct fit.
Cadence's FAQ says OrCAD X Professional and Professional Plus include integrated signal-integrity analysis that flags the nets with the highest coupling or the worst impedance discontinuities inside the layout, without needing models. Deeper SI and PI work goes to Sigrity X, a separate Cadence product, and OrCAD X exports ODB++ and IPC-2581 for other analysis tools.
Altium lists a spreadsheet-style constraint editor, HDI and rigid-flex design, wire bonding, 3D-MID and integrated analysis for Altium Designer. For boards that need formal SI or PI sign-off, run your hardest interface through both trials and compare what each tier actually checks, rather than comparing feature names.
Altium builds the workspace into Develop: shared projects and libraries, requirements traceability, real-time BOM management, cloud part libraries, library access control and revision history. Agile Teams adds role-based access, conflict-free PCB co-authoring, managed design reviews on live schematics and layouts in the browser, Jira integration and a sync to Duro cloud PLM.
OrCAD X OnCloud is Cadence's cloud data management and collaboration service. Cadence assigns an account with a trial or purchase, and says using it is optional, so a designer can keep working with local data. Team collaboration for data management starts at the Professional tier. Reviewers without a license can open designs read-only with the OrCAD X Free Viewer on Windows.
Neither tool runs on macOS or Linux. Altium recommends Windows 11 (64-bit), still supports Windows 10 without recommending it, and says running Altium Designer on virtual machines and emulators is not supported. Cadence lists 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 in Professional and Enterprise editions plus Windows Server 2019 and 2022. A Mac-based hardware team needs Windows workstations for either.
The growth paths point in different directions. Cadence says OrCAD X is designed to scale into Allegro X, and that designs, libraries and workflows created in OrCAD X can migrate to or coexist with Allegro X. Altium's path runs from Develop to Agile Teams and Agile Enterprise, which Altium describes as separate solutions rather than sizes of one product. If your roadmap includes dense HDI or enterprise-scale programs, staying in the Cadence database avoids a translation later.
ProtoFlow is a free desktop app that imports Altium projects (along with KiCad and EAGLE) and exports Altium, PADS, KiCad, EAGLE and EDIF. Some teams use it for early concept boards or for contractors who do not hold a seat: it drafts a schematic from a plain-language prompt with real parts, lays out and auto-routes the board, runs ngspice, and outputs Gerber X2, drill, BOM and placement files.
| Criteria | Altium Designer | Cadence OrCAD X |
|---|---|---|
| Published entry price | $1,990 per year with workspace and one author. | $1,320 per year for Standard, single user. |
| Adding designers | $995 per author per year up to five; Agile Teams beyond that. | Team collaboration starts at Professional, quoted by partners. |
| Simulation depth | Mixed Simulation; reads PSpice and LTspice models. | PSpice; advanced analysis and Simulink in Professional Plus. |
| Reviewers without a design seat | Unlimited workspace users included. | OrCAD X Free Viewer, read-only on Windows. |
| Upgrade path | Agile Teams, then Agile Enterprise. | Allegro X, with the same design data. |
| Platform | Windows only; VMs not supported. | Windows only. |
Reviewed on: 2026-10-14
Neither wins across the board. Altium bundles a cloud workspace with unlimited reviewers into one subscription, which suits teams that share libraries and review often. OrCAD X is cheaper at the single-user entry tier, includes PSpice, and leads into Allegro X for denser enterprise boards.
On October 14, 2026, Altium Develop listed at $1,990 per year for one author plus a shared workspace, with up to four more authors at $995 each. OrCAD X Standard listed at $1,320 per year for a single-user license. OrCAD X Professional and Professional Plus are quoted, and Cadence says prices vary by region.
Yes, through its Import Wizard. Altium's documentation covers OrCAD Capture .DSN and .OLB files and OrCAD Layout .MAX and .LLB files up to OrCAD 17.4, and routes OrCAD PCB Editor .BRD files through the Allegro importer. Test a current OrCAD X design before you plan a migration around it.
Yes. Cadence's OrCAD X FAQ lists integrated design translators for Altium Designer, Siemens PADS and Autodesk Fusion Electronics. As with any translation, re-check rules, footprints and net connectivity afterward.
Neither has a macOS version. Altium recommends Windows 11 (64-bit) and says virtual machines and emulators are not supported. OrCAD X lists 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 and Windows Server 2019 and 2022.
It is Altium's entry subscription: one Altium Designer author, one shared workspace, and unlimited workspace users for review, comments, tasks and BOM access, billed yearly. Altium recommends Altium Agile Teams for teams with more than five ECAD authors.
Many teams add it rather than switch. ProtoFlow works as a free seat that opens Altium projects and exports Altium and PADS files for simple boards or early concepts.
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Evaluate the workflow directly with your own circuit scope and compare review-ready output speed.
