How do I choose PCB design software for a small hardware company in Europe?
Start from the board, not from the brand. Count the copper layers you need, the number of pins or pads on your densest design, and whether you need simulation, a 3D view or an autorouter. Those three answers rule out half of the list immediately, because TARGET 3001! and Easy-PC both license by pin or pad count, and Sprint-Layout stops at simple layouts.
Then check who you sign with. TARGET 3001! is sold by Ing.-Buero FRIEDRICH in Eichenzell, Bartels AutoEngineer by Bartels System GmbH in Munich, and Fritzing by Fritzing GmbH in Berlin. DesignSpark PCB comes from RS Components Limited in Corby, and Easy-PC from Number One Systems in Tewkesbury. LibrePCB is the one tool without a named company, which suits a hobby board and is a harder sell to a purchasing department.
Finally, try before you pay. TARGET 3001! has a free edition, DesignSpark PCB gives a 7-day trial of paid tiers, Pulsonix offers a trial with all features capped at 100 component pins, and Bartels AutoEngineer has a free demo. Route one real board through two of them before you commit to either.
Which PCB design software has published prices, and which hides them?
Four tools put numbers on the page. Easy-PC lists 457 euros for 1000 pins, 597 euros for 2000 pins and 737 euros for unlimited pins, excluding VAT. TARGET 3001! lists editions from smart at 299,00 EUR to professional at 2.920,00 EUR. Sprint-Layout costs 49,90 EUR including VAT, with 38,79 EUR each from ten licences. Bartels AutoEngineer lists Light V8.0 at 159,00 EUR and Economy V8.0 at 2.690,00 EUR, but the list is dated 4 November 2013.
Pulsonix shows no prices and sends visitors to a distributor lookup. Proteus has pricing pages, but the amounts load by script and we could not read them. DesignSpark PCB says Creator and Engineer are billed monthly or yearly, and shows no amounts in the text we read. Fritzing and CELUS also leave prices out.
A missing price is not a defect by itself. Professional suites are often sold through resellers, with the figure depending on modules and seats. It does mean you cannot compare cost before talking to someone, so ask for quotes in writing and for the same scope from each vendor.
Is a free or open-source PCB tool enough, or do I need a paid suite?
For simple and medium boards, a free tool is often enough. DesignSpark PCB states that no plan limits layers, connections or schematic size, and LibrePCB states no costs, no restrictions and no online account. TARGET 3001! allows 250 pins or pads and 2 layers in its free discover edition, though only for non-commercial use.
Paid suites earn their price in rules and specialist features. DesignSpark PCB keeps differential pairs and blind and buried vias in its Engineer plan. Pulsonix lists high-speed design, RF, flex and FPGA work, and Proteus lists HDI micro-via support. If your board needs controlled impedance or flex sections, the free tier is where you will hit the wall.
Support is the other half. LibrePCB is led by one developer and funded by donations, with commercial support on request. A company with a support department answers a phone, which matters when a release deadline is two days away.
Does it matter that Proteus, Pulsonix and DesignSpark PCB are British now?
The United Kingdom has an EU adequacy decision for personal data, so a contract with a British vendor does not by itself create a transfer problem under GDPR. Easy-PC, Pulsonix, Proteus and DesignSpark PCB are all British, and for a desktop program that mostly handles design files the practical exposure is small.
The real question is where the design files live. TARGET 3001!, Easy-PC, Proteus, Pulsonix and Bartels AutoEngineer are desktop installations, so your schematics stay on your own machines. DesignSpark PCB and Fritzing do not state data location on the pages we read, and CELUS hosts its website with Framer B.V. in the Netherlands while platform hosting is not stated.
Ask each vendor three things: whether any cloud service sees your designs, which entity signs the contract, and which country's law applies. Those answers decide more than the postcode of the company.
How hard is it to move from Altium Designer or EAGLE to a European PCB tool?
Expect to redraw the libraries and keep the manufacturing outputs. Native project files do not travel between tools, so most teams export Gerber and drill files, a netlist and a BOM, and rebuild symbols and footprints in the new environment.
Some vendors make it easier. TARGET 3001! offers a 20 percent discount to EAGLE switchers on commercial new versions. Pulsonix has a page on migrating from other systems. Easy-PC lists a Gerber import add-on, and Sprint-Layout imports Gerber files. LibrePCB ships a library manager and a command-line interface that help with scripted conversion.
The sensible route is to keep the old tool until one board has been built with the new one. Run a small, known design first, compare the Gerber output with the original, and only then move the rest of the library.
When should you not switch away from your current PCB tool?
Do not switch in the middle of a project, and do not switch if your process depends on shared design review in a cloud workspace. None of the ten tools here describes a team workspace on the pages we read, so a team that reviews boards online would lose a working habit.
Also hold back if your boards need features that the lower editions of these tools do not list, such as 100 copper layers or high pin counts on a tight budget. TARGET 3001! professional lists those figures, and Pulsonix covers RF and flex, but both need testing against your own design.
A switch is easiest when a new product starts, when a subscription is about to renew, or when the old tool has become more than the work requires.
