# PCBWay PCB fabrication

32 Hacker News commenters recommended PCBWay PCB fabrication and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Very cheap custom PCB fabrication and small-batch assembly that people use for hobby and company boards. Payment options for some countries are the most common complaint.

## Why people recommend it

- Cheap pricing for small runs (7 comments): "Getting production quality, one-off, multi layer PCBs done as a hobbyist is dirt cheap these days" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214852)) "send your designs to a place like PCBWay or JLCPCB and get the aluminum parts reasonably cheap" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47021076)) "I still find it amazing that I can get PCBs manufactured at such an affordable price." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47775908))
- Seen as a genuine company (3 comments): "Both are genuine companies unlike all the borderline scams such as all the vpns, brilliant, mobile games, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47775888)) "Both are genuine companies unlike all the borderline scams such as all the vpns" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777187)) "Both are genuine companies unlike all the borderline scams" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47775308))
- Low minimum order quantities (2 comments): "I've found PCBWay preferable for small batch assembly because they just take a list of MPNs and give you back a quote" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47780109)) "where you can get MOQ for as low as 5 PCB/PCBA" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45917596))
- Boards work first time (2 comments): "I sent it to PCBWay and it worked the first go." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50120481)) "I sent it to PCBWay and it worked the first go" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118215))

## What people warn about

- Limited payment options for some countries (2 comments): "they didn't support any viable payment method for me in Canada" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47309018)) "PCBWay suddenly had no reasonable payment options" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530694))
- Harder to order from outside China (2 comments): "it can be a headache to get designs back from PCBWay / JLC between customers, tariffs, shipping" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47311271)) "It is puzzling why they would make it harder to do business with them from outside China." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47306275))
- Slow delivery and poor follow-through (2 comments): "being ghosted like PCBway did to some hobbyists out there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45782576)) "my last PCBway order took four weeks to arrive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45781831))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [JLCPCB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jlcpcb.md): 83 recommend
- [OSH Park](https://hackerapproved.com/p/osh-park.md): 17 recommend
- [The Grid by CircuitHub](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grid.md): 15 recommend
- [ProvenMetal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/provenmetal.md): 15 recommend
- [Aisler PCB manufacturing service](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aisler.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.pcbway.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "PCBWay PCB fabrication", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pcbway/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).