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  • Author Author: jwatson
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The Double Whammy - EAGLE Gets a New Update & New Pricing

jwatson

EAGLE has been making headlines these days after teaming up with Autodesk back in June 2016. And the question on everyone’s mind is the same - what is going to change?

This popular PCB design tool has been around for nearly 25 years, and has gained a huge following over time for two reasons - the free version of EAGLE can satisfy most basic electronic design needs, and it’s FREE. But with Autodesk at the helm now, things are definitely changing. For the good or the bad? Let’s find out.

 

Giving EAGLE the Love it Deserves

We recently got our hands on the latest build of EAGLE, now called Autodesk EAGLE. On our first crack it’s clear to see that things are certainly different, but not in a bad way. While Version 7.7 focused on adding some new Autodesk manufacturing features, this release digs deep into the EAGLE engine to improve schematic editing, PCB layout and design reuse with several new features.

 

A Brand New Routing Engine

The router in EAGLE finally feels a bit less manual, and we were treated to some fancy interactive routing tools that bring PCB layout up to speed with other offerings, including:

 

  • Route glossing -
  • Loop removal - Be gone, loops! The days of adjusting a net and creating a loop are over - EAGLE automatically removes them for you.
  • Track undo - Any long-term EAGLE users know of the pains of adjusting tracks in progress. Now you can just press Backspace

 

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New BGA Fanout

Yeah, routing a BGA is a huge pain, and usually takes hours, but Autodesk EAGLE wants to do away with this nonsense. The new BGA Fanout in this version allowed us to escape all of the nets on a high pin-count BGA in seconds. Needless to say, we love it.

 

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New Circuitry Reuse

For those that find themselves wanting to reuse circuitry easily between multiple projects, now you can. The new design blocks in Autodesk EAGLE allow you to quickly copy and paste circuitry between multiple projects. And the best part? Any changes you make to said circuitry stays synchronized between schematic and PCB.

 


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Our Impressions

Our initial first impression with the new Autodesk EAGLE? Definitely a step in the right direction with some much needed improvements. We’d still love that 90s UI to get a new coat of paint, and maybe an easier way to get our designs into a mechanical tool. But for now, Autodesk seems to be heading in the right direction with EAGLE, and very quickly. Now how about that new pricing...

 

Out with the Old, In with the New

For nearly thirty years, EAGLE has had the same pay-once-for-everything pricing. Basic updates would roll in every 2-3 years, and things would just kind of coast until the next release. Not anymore. Starting with Autodesk EAGLE, the software is now being offered as a monthly or yearly subscription.

 

We were incredibly curious about this change, and also a tad skeptical. So we reached out to Matt Berggren, Director of Autodesk Circuits, to get to the bottom of this. Here’s what Matt had to say:

 

“It just made sense. We’ve always wanted PCB design software to be accessible to every engineer. Making this possible with your traditional pay-once-for-everything pricing just didn’t make sense for what we have planned in the future for EAGLE. I don’t think anyone can take offense at getting more updates, better support, and pricing that ends up being way more affordable.”

 

Big Plans, Big Promises

The Autodesk EAGLE team has been very transparent about what they have planned for the future of EAGLE, with plans to add:

 

  • True mechanical integration with the ability to move designs from EAGLE to a mechanical tool at the click of a button. No extra STEPs required. (Pun Intended)
  • A New UI and UX to make EAGLE easier on the eyes and the mind, hopefully without screwing up what already makes EAGLE great, it’s no-nonsense usability.
  • 48-hour manufacturing which allows an engineer in EAGLE to ship their design off to a manufacturer and get a board back in 24 hours. We need to see this one to believe it.

 

About That Pricing…

Alright, time to talk numbers. Here’s how the new EAGLE Subscription breaks down, With the Standard Subscription at $15 per month, that’s $.50 cents per day. Not bad, but what about the Premium Subscription? About $2.17 per day. Your average cup of coffee in the good ol’ USA (without milk)? $2.70. That’s not bad at face value for a design tool that someone can make a living off of.

 

Our Take? Prove It

There’s no denying that this is a huge change for EAGLE. But we have to admit, it makes sense on paper, with most people making do on the $15/month plan. With EAGLE steadily making strikes to include more premium features, it’s now up to Autodesk to deliver big on their promises. Can they do it? We’ll be keeping a very close eye on EAGLE to find out.

 

For those already convinced, you can head on over to our Autodesk EAGLE homepage to purchase the new EAGLE Subscription. If you need some more time to decide, you can download Autodesk EAGLE now and give it a spin for free.

 

FREE DOWNLOAD                                 BUY NOW

  • in reply to shabaz

    The last upgrade for Eagle (from 5 to 7) for me was less than what the annual price is now. For my startup business, this is too great an expence and provides absolutely no value. How do I justify this other than looking at it as a 'ransomware' payment (pay us or you can't use it again)? This makes no sense and makes it well worth my time to find alternatives.

     

    Autodesk is apparently too big a business to care about losing customers.

  • in reply to MichaelL65

    Hi Michael,

    I've paid for Matlab, it's a cost that has already been made, and I don't benefit running the same simulations, any benefit from Matlab for me means running new simulations, and they eventually need the new features/toolboxes. I'd much rather pay less for Matlab and have access to all the toolboxes, and be able to switch off use if I'm not using it.

     

    There are winners and losers with subscription until pricing is tweaked just right, so that people pay a fair amount per unit of usage.

    Paying more isn't inherent in a subscription model, some users will end up paying less (e.g. a user who only needs to use subscription software for just part of a year, or has some years where no new products are developed due to economic conditions, could end up paying less, depending on the pricing), others will end up with productivity gains if they are always on the new release. That is more intangible, but it is in Autodesk's interest to ensure that is the case. Productivity is also a major reason many selected EAGLE, i.e. that is as important as is price. I can't work as fast with other reasonably priced CAD software, and I have tried. That may change for me in the future, but at least for me the driving factor to do that isn't the subscription model. If anything, it will get me off v6 finally.

  • in reply to shabaz

    I get what you are saying about the benefits, but there is a huge problem. With your Matlab example, you can still USE the version you have. No, it isn't the latest and greatest, but you can still use it. I will continue to use Eagle as long as I can keep it happy with the license file it has - and in 10 years the version I "own" will still do the exact same things it does today - good and bad. If I go with ANY subscription software, I have to pay for it every year, whether it has any upgrade or not, whether it has any changes of any relevance to me or not. Microsoft Office hasn't had an upgrade that I've needed or even thought "that would be nice to have" in over a decade. Why should I fork out more money to have the latest and greatest when it has absolutely no benefit for me?

     

    It affects my bottom line. I end up paying more and getting less. WIth subscriptions the software company has to do absolutely nothing and I still have to pay every year. Or stop using a solution that already worked for me.

     

    It ain't broke. Don't "fix" it.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Others have different requirements but personally the only requirement for v8 from me that it now needs to meet is cost. And I've no doubt that will be improved for individuals, pricing is always something that can be adjusted by Autodesk and distributors. Very few people get pricing right first time. It is always subject to tweaks.

     

    On a more general note, not necessarily EAGLE related, in a lot of ways subscription lifts the headaches from users, it is certainly a better model that buying releases and then paying for maintenance (like Matlab). As a result I'm stuck on a release of Matlab where I have no hope of purchasing additional toolboxes without paying huge maintenance fees. Most software firms on this older model will force you to pay up all previous maintenance fees before you can upgrade, if you let your fees lapse. So what is better, paying a large sum and then maintenance, regardless of how often or infrequently you use a product, or paying a smaller sum proportional to how much you use a product. If you let a subscription lapse, you're not forced to pay back-subscription once you start using the product again.

     

    And it's better for more rapid development because the developers don't need to support old releases for as long, due to people not wanting to move off an old release to save costs on upgrading. Plus, (I mentioned in a different thread) it opens up the possibility for Autodesk to offload some features to the cloud, e.g. complex routing (just a random idea) to save users from having the latest-and-greatest PCs. Autodesk would need to find some way to pay for their infrastructure and ongoing running of the service, so a subscription helps very directly.

    And we already use lots of subscription software and services. I do understand the argument that one day a user may need to open up and modify a design and Autodesk may no longer support it though. Some software companies have managed that by making their last release one that doesn't need any license (or where they publish the keys), e.g. Adobe did that with some of their ancient software when they shut down the servers for their end of life products.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Hopefully I will either be at a management post or a truck driver in Canada by then. Got my IELTS a few days back image