The 20 Best Electronic Design Automation Tools (EDA Tools) for Linux

Electronic Design Automation tools or simply EDA tools are a
class of specialized computer programs developed for aiding in the
design of IC chips or PCB boards. They are widely used by microchip
manufacturers for developing top-notch electronic products and
cutting production costs. EDA programs are essential in a large
number of engineering practices, including system design and
hardware implementation. Linux offers some of the best such tools
for system designers. In today’s guide, our editors have gone over
a vast array of these tools and outlined some of the best EDA
programs for people working in electronic devices
manufacturing.

Linux EDA applications usually vary in purpose. Some tools focus
primarily on design and simulation, while others may focus on
manufacturing preparations, design analysis, and verification. We
have selected a broad range of tools that encompass most of the
functionalities required by modern-day engineers and chip
manufacturers.

1. KiCad

KiCad is arguably one of the best PCB design software available
freely. It’s a popular open source EDA that offers a broad set of
robust features. KiCad comes with an excellent integrated
environment for schematic entry and PCB layout design. It also
provides an array of useful tools that allow developers to create
3D views of the PCB, its components, Gerber files, artworks, and
bill of materials. So, if you’re looking for a free but effective
alternative to paid EDA applications, KiCad would be an excellent
option.

Features of KiCad

• It comes with an intuitive 3D viewer that enables PCB board
  designers to inspect the layouts in an interactive canvas.
• KiCad is written using the C++ programming language, so it is
  extremely fast when compared to many circuit board design
  software.
• The open source GNU GPL licensing model of KiCad allows
  developers to inspect the source and modify the application if
  required.
• Chip manufacturers can select from a wide range of external
  tools and libraries for this EDA application.

Download KiCad^[1]

2. EAGLE

EAGLE is a modern-day PCB design software marketed by Autodesk^[2], the company behind the
popular CAD application AutoCAD. The full form for EAGLE is Easily
Applicable Graphical Layout Editor. It’s a scriptable EDA solution
suitable for designing advanced and practical electronic devices.
This multi-platform software provides strong schematic and
simulation functionalities alongside features like online
annotation abilities, batch execution support, and copper cladding.
EAGLE is a proprietary product and offers excellent customer support^[3]. However, its
subscription-based licensing model is not friendly for many
developers.

Features of EAGLE

• EAGLE comes with a beautiful and intuitive graphical user
  interface that makes navigation much easier for chip
  designers.
• The schematic editor supports modular design blocks, SPICE
  simulator, electronic rule checking, and real-time
  synchronization.
• Its PCB layout editor allows for simple alignment tools, push &
  shove routing, obstacle avoiding routing, high-speed design, and
  design rule checking.
• Autodesk offers a free version of this circuit board design
  software for students and academics, as well as a limited version
  for hobbyists.

Download EAGLE^[4]

3. gEDA

The gEDA project is essentially a collection of free and open
source electronic design automation tools. Like KiCad, it allows
for an extremely productive workflow and can be used for creating
the next generation of electrical devices. This suite provides chip
manufacturers with tools for schematic capture, prototyping,
circuit design, and production, among many more. Moreover, gEDA was
developed to overcome the lack of high-quality Linux EDA software.
So, a large number of open source collaborators are working on this
project and rolling out newer features every now and then.

Features of gEDA

• Designers can draw robust electronic schematics very quickly
  using the gschem tool of this EDA program
  suite.
• It is possible to easily bulk edit the attributes of PCB layout
  components using the gattrib program.
• The gsch2pcb utility provides a simple but effective command-line tool^[5] for streamlining the
  chip designing workflow.
• gEDA offers excellent documentation support to help beginners
  getting up and running with this EDA toolset.
• All utilities of the gEDA project come with the GPL license and
  thus can be easily extended or modified.

Download gEDA^[6]

4. Upverter

Upverter is a web-based EDA solution that focuses mainly on
simplicity and ease of use. It allows electrical devices engineers
to create, review, and share circuit schematics as well as PCB
layouts. Additionally, Upverter enables designers to generate
Gerber files, 3D rendering models, and bill of materials. Although
Upverter is a commercial product, open source projects can use this
application for free. So, if you are looking for a free to use yet
effective enterprise-grade EDA, do not hesitate to check out
Upverter.

Features of Upverter

• It provides a clean schematic capture interface that supports
  real-time collaboration and seamless integration of PCB
  layouts.
• The web-based user interface of Upverter makes sure designers
  can work on large-scale projects without facing environmental
  issues.
• The PCB layout editor of this tool responsive and allows
  intuitive visualization of the layers, multi-filter selections, and
  cross probing.
• Upverter enables chip designers to import schematic data from
  commercial EDAs like EAGLE, Altium Designer, and OrCAD.
• It also offers a great selection of integrated toolsets for
  real-time synchronization, issue tracking^[7], and development
  wikis.

Download Upverter^[8]

5. Fritzing

Fritzing is an open source circuit board design software aimed
at starting electrical devices engineers. Anyone interested in the
field of electronics can make their own prototypes and share them
with the community using this application. It is written using C++
and thus offers excellent performance. However, you need to have
substantial knowledge of embedded programming^[9]
if you want to modify or extend the application by yourself.
Thankfully, Fritzing has a large number of active community members
who provide excellent documentation and technical support.

Features of Fritzing

• Fritzing makes the entry into PCB design easier by providing an
  intuitive “breadboard” view of the circuit and its components.
• It outlines a large number of commonly used high-level
  components that help to turn circuits into production-ready PCBs in
  no time.
• The source code of this EDA software is freely available and
  can be extended thanks easily to its GNU GPL license.
• The Fritzing website lists a large number of open source
  projects that can be used as a reference point for starting
  developers.

Download Fritzing^[10]

6. EasyEDA

EasyEDA is one of the most simple yet useful EDA tools for
electronic developers who use Linux or BSD systems^[11] as their primary
workstation. It is a web-based solution that allows developers to
design, simulate, and share their PCB layouts at ease. Moreover,
EasyEDA also offers convenient desktop clients for all major
platforms, including Linux, Mac, and Windows. Although the main
product is commercial, the development team provides a free version
of this EDA with limited functionalities for new users.

Features of EasyEDA

• EasyEDA provides free Gerber files for registered users and
  allows them to order custom PCB fabrications for a little
  charge.
• Chip developers can create strong schematic entries and
  simulate SPICE circuits directly from the online editor.
• The EasyEDA website contains a large selection of microcontrollers
  projects^[12] that can be used as a
  reference point for beginners.
• You can also generate custom Gerber files, bills of materials
  and create attestations in PDF, PNG, or SVG formats.

Download EasyEDA^[13]

7. LibrePCB

LibrePCB is one of the best electronic design automation tools
for modern electronic engineers. It provides a powerful yet
intuitive EDA solution that is both easy to use and productive. It
is an all-in-one application with utilities for project management,
schematic capture, PCB design, and library management. Moreover,
the open source nature of this project promotes third-party
customization. So, if you’re looking for a full-fledged EDA that
provides all essential features without a hefty price tag, we
highly recommend you check out LibrePCB.

Features of LibrePCB

• This cross-platform EDA comes with an intuitive GUI interface,
  which is very easy to use and lives up to modern standard.
• It allows designers to work with multiple variants of the same
  layout and supports automatic synchronization among the boards and
  schematics.
• LibrePCB offers an excellent library browser that enables
  developers to add additional components to their schematics at
  ease.
• This EDA application provides extensive in-depth documentation
  to help starters set up the environment and start working right
  away.

Download LibrePCB^[14]

8. PathWave Advanced Design System
(ADS)

If you’re looking for enterprise-grade EDA tools, then the
PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) will be the best PCB design
software for your requirements. It is a full-fledged commercial
solution that runs natively on RHEL and SUSE Linux as well as on
Windows. It offers robust integrated tools alongside an extensive
component library that can be used to design cutting-edge
electronic circuits at ease. It allows chip manufacturers to
increase productivity by accelerating the workflow and enables fast
and efficient team collaboration.

Features of PathWave Advanced Design System
(ADS)

• This commercial product supports advanced scripting using
  Python and the proprietary Application Extension Language
  (AEL).
• Designers can use several file formats for importing and
  exporting circuit data, including HSPICE, SPICE, Gerber, Spectre
  netlists, Excellon, and ODB++.
• PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) can generate accurate
  charts, graphs, and diagrams to help visualize your PCB
  design.
• Developers can leverage robust electromagnetic simulators and
  signal integrity analyzers for improving high-speed link
  performance.

Download PathWave Advanced Design
System (ADS)^[15]

9. Magic

Magic is an open source VLSI layout tool that has been around
since the 80s. It allows IC manufacturers to create robust circuit
designs that can be implemented on hardware at ease. Magic is quite
simple to use and employ easy to achieve design rules and circuit
designs. This free EDA solution has evolved largely over time and
provides excellent documentation in the form of written manuals and
wikis. You can check it out if you’re working exclusively on the
field of VLSI.

Features of Magic

• Magic is exceptionally lightweight and runs smoothly even on
  the most resource-constrained Linux and BSD systems.
• The permissive BSD license of this circuit board design
  software allows for extensive customization and modification.
• It provides real-time rule checking of designs to help in
  maintaining the workflow and remove compatibility issues.
• The software is well maintained, and the developers roll out
  newer releases of the core package quite frequently.

Download Magic^[16]

10. Pcb-rnd

Pcb-rnd is a simple yet robust application for designing compact
PCB layouts. It is popular among both professionals and academics
due to its small memory footprint and simplistic design approaches.
This cross-platform application offers pre-built packages for all
major operating systems, including Linux and BSDs. Pcb-rnd has its
roots in the popular gEDA project and was forked by its developers
for building a modular but flexible layout designing tool.
Moreover, the project is very well-maintained, and you can get
technical helps pretty quickly.

Features of Pcb-rnd

• Pcb-rnd is readily available on a large number of Linux
  distributions^[17], including Ubuntu,
  Debian, Arch, Fedora, and Mageia.
• This pcb design software is extremely lightweight and runs
  smoothly even on the most resource-constrained CPUs.
• Pcb-rnd has a modular architecture consisting of a generic core
  and a number of heavily optimized yet replaceable plugins.
• It is compatible with popular EDA tools like KiCad, gEDA, and
  EAGLE & can be scripted in more than ten programming languages^[18].

Download Pcb-rnd^[19]

11. KTechlab

KTechlab is a modern, feature-rich Linux IDE^[20] for PIC design and
simulation. It has in-built support for auto-routing and enables
simulation of commonly used electronic components as well as logic
circuits. KTechlab is a Linux-only solution and runs on the KDE
platform. A QT port is also available for this software. Chip
designers can use this tool for schematic capture and for designing
high-tech digital processors at ease. So, check out this tool if
you’re looking for reliable EDA tools for your KDE system.

Features of KTechlab

• KTechlab employs a project-based workflow that enables
  developers to create multiple sub-projects for their
  microcontroller designs.
• It is written using C++ and thus offers relatively good
  performance than other EDA alternatives for the KDE platform.
• The open source codebase of this software is available publicly
  and can be modified or extended by third-party developers.
• KTechlab offers excellent documentation, so getting started
  with this cIDE is relatively easier for beginners.

Download KTechlab^[21]

12. QElectroTech

QElectroTech is a Qt-based EDA solution for creating practical
electric diagrams. It consists of two utilities, a powerful editor
for schematic capture, and a diagram editor for drawing robust
designs. QElectroTech also facilitates the creation of mechanical
drawings for illustrating electronic processing and circuit
instrumentation. It is highly internationalized and supports
translation for more than ten languages. This cross-platform EDA
also offers pre-built binaries for major Linux distributions^[22], including Ubuntu,
Debian, CentOS, RHEL, and Fedora.

Features of QElectroTech

• It comes with a simple and easy to use graphical user
  interface, which makes circuit drawing easier for chip
  designers.
• QElectroTech offers high-quality documentation for beginners as
  well as a solid bug tracker for open source project
  management.
• It comes with an extensive library containing a wide range of
  common symbols that also include all IEC 60617 standardized
  symbols.
• Third-party developers can extend this EDA or modify existing
  functionalities thanks to its open source GNU GPL licensing.

Downloads
QElectroTech^[23]

13. Xilinx Vivado

The Xilinx Vivado is a cross-platform EDA solution aimed at
professional microchip developers. You can use this tool to
synthesize or analyze HDL designs as well as performing complex
time analyses. It is a commercial product that comes under a
shareware license, which is suitable for small development teams.
This tool is an excellent addition to your toolbelt if you’re
working as an FPGA designer or are interested in microcontroller
development in general. It supports many high capacity devices and
speeds up the overall design process significantly.

Features of Xilinx Vivado

• The Vivado HLS compiler can translate programs written in C,
  C++, and SystemC to target Xilinx devices without the need to
  create manual RTL.
• The Vivado design suite offers faster integration and
  implementation support for FPGAs, ARM processing systems, and other
  IP cores.
• It is developed as a replacement for the popular Xilinx ISE
  solution and is readily available for Linux and Windows.
• Developers can add new features or modify existing ones by
  using the Vivado TCL Store, its customized scripting system.

Download Xilinx
Vivado^[24]

14. Quite Universal Circuit
Simulator

Quite Universal Circuit Simulator or QUCS is one of the best
free electronic design automation tools for electronic devices
manufacturers. It provides an easy to use graphical interface that
makes circuit simulation hassle-free and faster than ever. QUCS is
a true multi-platform EDA, with a range of pre-built packages for
Ubuntu, Mac OS X, and Windows. It’s particularly suitable for
designers working with Verilog and VHDL. Moreover, the schematic
capture and simulation abilities is also a plus point for chip
designers.

Features of Quite Universal Circuit
Simulator

• QUCS can be used to simulate large-signal, small-signal, and
  noise behavior of PCB circuits and analyze their behavior.
• The GUI interface of this EDA solution is extremely easy to use
  and makes the navigation of the components totally effortless.
• Engineers can simulate all types of electrical circuits,
  including DC, AC, Transient, S-parameters, Harmonic balance as well
  as pure digital ones.
• QUCS has in-built support for a wide range of diagrams,
  including cartesian, polar, locus curve, time diagrams, and Smith
  charts.

Download Quite Universal Circuit
Simulator^[25]

15. SmartSim

SmartSim is a free yet feature-rich EDA program for digital
logic circuit design and their simulation. It was developed
initially to run on the Raspberry Pie^[26] and has since been
ported to Linux, Windows, and even ARM devices. SmartSim can create
complex logic circuits using custom components. This makes it a
viable solution for a large number of electrical device engineers.
The final result can be easily exported in several file formats,
including PDF, PNG, and SVG. Overall, SmartSim would be an
excellent EDA for both new learners and hobbyists.

Features of SmartSim

• SmartSim allows designers to create electrical logic circuits
  using RAM/ROMs that can be saved and loaded later.
• It offers a large set of plug-in components that enables
  designers to expand the capabilities of their logic circuits.
• SmartSim offers a touch screen friendly user interface that
  allows for interactive designs when using such devices.
• The open source codebase of this EDA application is freely
  available on GitHub, which allows for further modification.

Download SmartSim^[27]

16. Electric

Electric is one of the oldest EDA tools to feature in this list.
However, even though it was released almost three decades ago,
Electric is still being used by a considerable number of chip
designers. This surely speaks of the success this EDA has achieved
over these years. You can use Electric for drawing custom
schematics and PCB layouts at ease. Instead of manipulating the
polygons on different levels of the wafer, like done by many IC
creation tools, Electric views its layout as a connected
circuitry.

Features of Electric

• Electric is written using the JAVA and Scala programming
  languages and thus runs on all computing platforms that support
  JVM.
• It can be used for tackling custom integrated circuit(IC)s,
  hardware description languages(HDL), and schematics capture.
• Electric allows designers to create CMOS, layout technologies
  like nanotube & photonics as well as digital filters, and temporal
  logics.
• It offers various CAD facilities, such as rule checking,
  simulation, generation, routing, silicon compilation, and network
  consistency checking (LVS).

Download Electric^[28]

17. Gnucap

Gnucap is a mixed-signal circuit simulator that runs on
virtually any computing platform. The name stands for Gnu Circuit
Analysis Package, which is quite self-explanatory itself. Gnucap is
an interactive application that supports multiple simulation
dialects such as SPICE, Verilog, and Spectre. It can work with
several types of parameters, measures, and design models at ease.
Moreover, Gnucap employs many modern algorithms to improve
simulation performance. So, if you’re looking for a future-proof
simulation alternative to SPICE, Gnucap is worth a try.

Features of Gnucap

• Gnucap is one of the most lightweight EDA tools and is designed
  using a plugin-based architecture for added benefit.
• You can write your own custom plugins using the C++ language
  and add them as compiled shared object modules or ”.so” or ”.dll”
  files.
• Gnucap implements several error control mechanisms to improve
  its accuracy as well as true mixed-mode engines for extra
  speed.
• Any third-party developers may choose to modify this EDA or add
  additional features thanks to its GNU GPL license.

Download Gnucap^[29]

18. Falstad Circuit
Emulator

The Falstad Circuit Emulator is a very popular web-based
emulator. It can emulate a wide selection of electrical components,
including AC circuits, diodes, MOSFETs, Op-Amps, digital filters,
oscillators, and more. You can literally emulate any types of
circuitry using its web editor. Moreover, this emulator application
is developed as a Java-applet but also offers a JavaScript port. So
overall, the Falstad emulator is popular mainly due to its
simplistic design yet high accessibility.

Features of Falstad Circuit
Emulator

• This circuit design software is one of easiest for students and
  hobbyists thanks to its intuitive web interface.
• Falstad Circuit Emulator offers an extensive list of electrical
  circuit examples to help beginners get started.
• Although there’s a standalone offline version of this circuit
  emulator, it’s only available for Mac and Windows.
• Apple smartphone users can download a mobile version of this
  application from the Apple App Store.

Go
To Falstad Circuit Emulator^[30]

19. Verilator

Verilator is a high-performance Verilog simulator that converts
Verilog programs to accurate behavioral models in multi-threaded
C++ or SystemC. It has been enjoying growing popularity among
academics and open source developers due to its ease of use and
significant performance benefits. Enterprise giants like Intel,
AMD, and Oracle are using this open source EDA application for
commercial purposes. Moreover, since it is an opensource project,
third-party developers are allowed to fork this for their own
projects without any legal issues.

Features of Verilator

• Verilator provides lightning-fast performance and can routinely
  outperform commercial electronic design automation tools.
• This HDL simulation can handle all versions of Verilog as well
  as SystemVerilog and Sugar/PSL assertions.
• Developers can easily create their own tools on top of the XML
  output provided by this free EDA application.
• The developers also provide excellent documentation as well as
  commercial support contracts.

Download Verilator^[31]

20. XCircuit

XCircuit is a cross-platform EDA tool for drawing
publication-quality circuit diagrams and other related figures. It
can be used for producing circuit netlists based on schematic
capture. XCircuit also allows designers to create and save custom
components for later usage. The fully editable library makes
managing these components easier for the end-user. Moreover, since
XCircuit is an open source project, you can easily add custom
features or modify existing ones if required.

Features of XCircuit

• It offers readily available binaries for major Linux and BSD distributions^[32], including RHEL,
  Ubuntu, Slackware, and OpenBSD.
• XCircuit is a fairly lightweight EDA application and runs
  easily on older, resource-constrained Linux machines.
• This EDA application provides its output as schematic netlists
  and in the PostScript programming language.
• Although a single developer maintains this project, it still
  offers quality documentation and bug management.

Download XCircuit^[33]

Ending Thoughts

Electronic design automation tools encompass a wide variety of
applications, including PCB design software and simulators.
Although a large number of commercial EDA tools are still targeted
at Windows, Linux has its fair share of competitors. Some of the
best PCB design software for Linux include gEDA, KiCad, and
Upverter. Our editors have also outlined some excellent circuit
simulators that can be interesting to both electronics hobbyists
and engineering students. Hopefully, we were able to provide you a
comprehensive list of all popular EDA programs for Linux. Let us
know in the comment section if you have any questions regarding a
specific application.