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Altium Designer vs Proteus Design Suite: catalog facts
Altium Designer	Proteus Design Suite
Best for: Professional PCB design suite covering schematics, layout, and simulation	Best for: Embedded engineers and students who want to simulate firmware and circuits before building a board
Paid Commercial license; no free tier.	Paid Commercial software sold by Labcenter Electronics.
Windows	Windows
Covers the full workflow from schematic and simulation to layout and manufacturing files Widely used in professional electronics teams, so training and library resources are plentiful	Simulates microcontroller firmware together with the circuit Schematic capture and PCB layout in one suite All 4 strengths for Proteus Design Suite Simulates microcontroller firmware together with the circuit Schematic capture and PCB layout in one suite IoT Builder for Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects Actively developed, with version 9.2 recently released
Expensive commercial licensing aimed at professional teams, not hobbyists Windows-only, with a steep learning curve for newcomers to PCB design	Commercial licence required Pricing is not listed on the homepage
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Not open source	Not open source
License not stated	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Altium Designer altium.com/altium-designer Catalog checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Proteus Design Suite labcenter.com Catalog checked September 23, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.