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CircuitMaker vs Horizon EDA: catalog facts
CircuitMaker	Horizon EDA
Best for: Hobbyists and makers designing circuit boards for free	Best for: Design circuit boards from schematics through manufacturing files
Free Free to use, including for commercial designs.	Free The open-source software is available without a license fee. Hosting, hardware and external services are separate.
Windows	Windows, Linux
Built on Altium Designer technology Up to 16 signal and 16 plane layers with no board size limit All 4 strengths for CircuitMaker Built on Altium Designer technology Up to 16 signal and 16 plane layers with no board size limit Commercial use allowed Large community library backed by Octopart	Includes parts management, interactive routing and design-rule checks.
Only five private projects; others are shared with the community Proprietary, unlike KiCad	Desktop builds target Windows and Linux.
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Not open source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-3.0
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 CircuitMaker altium.com/circuitmaker Catalog checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Horizon EDA github.com/horizon-eda/horizon github.com/horizon-eda/horizon/blob/master/LICENSE Catalog checked September 22, 2026

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