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KiCad

With KiCad you draw electronic schematics, design printed circuit boards and check your design before having it made.

Developer KiCad Development Team

Version 10.0.6 · Open source · Windows · macOS · Linux

KiCad offers the parts you need to go from an electronic schematic to a circuit board. You place symbols, create connections and connect the parts to their physical footprint. Then you decide on the circuit board where parts and copper conveyors should be.

Controls help you find faults in connections and design rules. The 3D view shows how the built-up print can look like. This is useful to assess placement and housing, but does not replace control of the real dimensions and datasheets of your parts.

You can export production files for a print manufacturer. Always check the manufacturer's requirements, such as track width, distance between copper and drill holes. KiCad makes the design process accessible without a mandatory subscription, but electronics and print design continue to require knowledge. Start with a small low voltage project before you draw complex circuits.

Who is it for?

You build electronics as a hobby, learn to design circuit boards or work on your own device. KiCad is suitable if you want to draw more than just a schematic and also design the physical print.

Getting started

Download the stable edition for your platform with the corresponding libraries. First open an example project or follow the official beginner's manual to learn about the relationship between schema, footprint and printed circuit board.

Privacy

You can save project files locally. Export only the files a manufacturer needs and check which design data you share when uploading to an order portal.

Good to know

Electronic knowledge and learning time required Library parts must fit your real components Production files require a final own control

Please note

A flawless software check does not prove that your circuit is electrically safe or functioning correctly. Check pin order, polarity, footprints and component values separately.

Advantages

  • Schematic and circuit board within the same package Design checks and 3D view Open source and without mandatory subscription

Things to consider

  • Electronic knowledge and learning time required Library parts should fit your real components Production files request a last own check

Download KiCad

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Official download page

Provider’s website · www.kicad.org

Download KiCad (opens in a new tab)

Version history

10.0.6

You get important error corrections for the schema editor, circuit board editor and project storage.

  • You get important error corrections for the schema editor, circuit board editor and project storage.
  • Retractors when automatically saving and moving editor windows between monitors are fixed.
  • The control of design rules and the filling of copper zones has been improved. Refreshing footprint libraries and exporting certain DXF folders has also been corrected.
Report a new version

Is there a newer version of KiCad? Send the version number and a link to the official announcement. Our editors will check it. No login is required.

Our verdict

KiCad is a logical choice when you want to run an electronics idea as a real circuit board. You don't have to switch directly to paid design software to manage schematics, footprints and production files. The quality of the result depends very much on your own controls. Use the built-in control controls as a tool and add datasheets and manufacturer requirements to your design. For a quick sketch only, KiCad has been expanded; for a project that you want to build and adapt later on, this coherence is valuable.

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