# KiCad 99 Hacker News commenters recommended KiCad and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 5 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** A free, open-source schematic and PCB suite that has improved greatly and is scriptable with Python, though its UI can feel unfriendly and component dragging and autorouting frustrate some. ## Why people recommend it - Greatly improved in recent versions (5 comments): "I think their interactive router is pretty great, and a huge improvement over older versions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47088871)) "Today's UI is good, so I actually recommend starting on that over something like EasyEDA." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46203766)) "On the EDA side CERN did a lot to lift Kicad to the point of being a credible alternative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45973623)) - Free, full-featured open-source suite (4 comments): "I use kicad since it's free, and there's solid instructions from most houses on what they need." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48101977)) "KiCAD is a fantastic piece of FOSS software. It's a full schematic/PCB design suite" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061937)) "there are free (Or you could say inexpensive) high quality tools in their spaces" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979466)) - Scriptable and automatable with Python (4 comments): "KiCad is awesome. Combined with git I have CI/CD pipeline in gitlab that builds my fabrication files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45977461)) "I find mouse-driven PCB layout maddening, so the whole card is a Python script driving KiCad's API" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49528022)) "It ran using kicad completely headlessly from a terminal with a bit of python" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50120481)) - Credible replacement for paid tools (4 comments): "I am convincing lots of people to move from EAGLE to it now that EAGLE is about to be killed by AutoDesk, and everyone seem to be having a good time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47084587)) "For those switching from an $EXPENSIVE tool to KiCad, may I humbly recommend donating to the project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45978686)) "On the EDA side CERN did a lot to lift Kicad to the point of being a credible alternative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45973623)) ## What people warn about - Unfriendly UI and learning curve (5 comments): "it's actually good enough to make a lot of models but it's just unfriendly enough to make it take way too long to do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47084763)) "None of those things feel user friendly to people that don't want to make a career out of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49572538)) "never could fully figure out how to do the basics of what I wanted to do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46203510)) - Awkward component dragging and moving (3 comments): "While dragging tracks does trigger Shove mode dragging components does not :(" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47473889)) "It's still broken if you need to read the manual to be able to move components sanely." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47464804)) "drag components in the schematic editor without instantly disconnecting all the wires" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47459730)) - Weak automatic routing (3 comments): "It is _really_ good at the stackup and part config, but creates some absolutely terrible routes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50117733)) "I initially found EasyEDA to be easier to use especially with auto routing. But KiCAD is definitely more powerful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48795102)) "KiCad wasn't built for AI-gen with things like automatic routing/placement" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620504)) - Built-in library problems (2 comments): "identified some issues with builtin KiCad libraries, like host/card PCIe socket mismatches that would lead to ERC failures" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106520)) "LibrePCB's library design paradigm works a lot better to me than does KiCAD's" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48200092)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Altium Designer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/altium.md): 9 recommend - [EasyEDA](https://hackerapproved.com/p/easyeda.md): 8 recommend - [EAGLE PCB design software](https://hackerapproved.com/p/eagle.md): 6 recommend - [Copperhead](https://hackerapproved.com/p/copperhead.md): 6 recommend - [KiCadRoutingTools](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kicadroutingtools.md): 5 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "KiCad", https://hackerapproved.com/p/kicad/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).