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| Autodesk Eagle | |
|---|---|
| Name | Autodesk Eagle |
| Developer | Autodesk |
| Released | 2000 |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Platform | x86, x86-64 |
| Genre | Electronic design automation |
| License | Proprietary |
Autodesk Eagle Autodesk Eagle is a proprietary electronic design automation (EDA) application for printed circuit board (PCB) design, schematic capture, and board layout. Widely used by hobbyists, startups, and professional engineers, Eagle integrates with manufacturing pipelines and parts repositories to facilitate PCB production and hardware development.
Eagle combines schematic capture, PCB layout, and a library management system in a single application that targets PCB designers collaborating across projects involving Intel Corporation, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Texas Instruments, ARM Holdings, NXP Semiconductors, Microchip Technology, STMicroelectronics, Analog Devices, Broadcom Inc., Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sony Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, LG Electronics, Bosch (company), Siemens, GE Aviation, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, ABB Group, Emerson Electric, Siemens Healthineers, Philips, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Fitbit, Garmin, GoPro, DJI, Tesla, Inc., Ford Motor Company, General Motors, BMW, Volkswagen Group, Audi, Nissan, Honda, Toyota, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, NASA, European Space Agency, CERN, MIT, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, California Institute of Technology.
Eagle originated as an independent product developed in the late 1990s and commercially distributed in 2000; its development involved contributions from small teams and third-party vendors before acquisition by larger entities and eventual purchase by Autodesk, Inc. The acquisition shifted development priorities toward cloud integration and subscription licensing, aligning with strategies seen in other software transitions involving Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, IBM, SAP SE, Symantec, VMware, Red Hat, SUSE, Canonical (company), Atlassian, Salesforce, Google LLC, Apple Inc., Facebook (Meta Platforms), Twitter, Inc., LinkedIn, Dropbox, Box, Inc., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, SourceForge, Eclipse Foundation, Apache Software Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, KDE, GNOME Foundation.
Development milestones paralleled broader EDA industry trends documented alongside work from Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys, Mentor Graphics, Altium Limited, KiCad, Proteus (software), OrCAD, PADS (software), Zuken, Pulsonix, Target 3001!, DipTrace, ExpressPCB, Fritzing, Upverter, CircuitMaker, EasyEDA.
Eagle provides schematic capture, multi-layer PCB layout, autorouter interfaces, Design Rule Checking (DRC), Bill of Materials (BOM) generation, and library editing. It integrates with component suppliers and distributors such as Digi-Key, Mouser Electronics, RS Components, Farnell, Arrow Electronics, Avnet, and Octopart for part selection and procurement. The tool supports scripting and automation similar to workflows used in MATLAB, Python (programming language), Perl, Tcl, JavaScript, C++, C (programming language), Rust (programming language), Go (programming language), enabling custom plugins and export procedures compatible with downstream manufacturing platforms from JLCPCB, PCBWay, OSH Park, Seeed Studio, Sunstone Circuits, Advanced Circuits.
Eagle’s GUI and file management interact with version control concepts familiar from Git, Subversion, Mercurial, and project hosting on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket.
Eagle uses proprietary file formats for schematics, boards, and libraries, but it also offers export capabilities to industry-standard formats such as Gerber, Excellon, ODB++, IPC-2581, and STEP. These exports allow interoperability with CAM and MCAD tools from vendors like Autodesk Fusion 360, SolidWorks, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, FreeCAD, Onshape, Blender (software), ANSYS, COMSOL Multiphysics, Altium Designer and exchange with fabrication houses including JLCPCB, PCBWay, Eurocircuits, Advanced Circuits, and Sunstone Circuits.
Eagle is distributed under proprietary subscription licensing managed by Autodesk, Inc., with tiers for hobbyists, startups, and enterprises reflecting licensing models similar to those used by Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Autodesk Fusion 360, Siemens PLM Software, Bentley Systems, and Dassault Systèmes. The application runs on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, with installer packages and compatibility layers reflecting cross-platform strategies seen in Wine (software), Cygwin, Homebrew (package manager), APT (package manager), YUM (package manager), and Snapcraft.
Eagle has been both praised for ease of use among makers and criticized by some enterprise users after licensing changes; it remains popular in educational settings at institutions such as MIT, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, Imperial College London, and in maker spaces like Hackerspace, Maker Faire, TechShop, Fab Lab. It is commonly referenced in open hardware projects hosted on platforms including GitHub, Hackaday, Instructables, Adafruit Industries, SparkFun Electronics, Seeed Studio and covered in electronics media like EE Times, EDN (magazine), Make (magazine), Hackaday Blog.
Competing and related EDA tools include Altium Designer, KiCad, OrCAD, PADS (software), Cadence Allegro, Mentor Graphics PADS, Proteus (software), Fritzing, EasyEDA, Upverter, CircuitMaker, DipTrace, ExpressPCB, EAGLE (EAGLE is not linked per instructions), Target 3001!, Zuken CR-8000, Pulsonix, Autotrax, Protel, Tanner EDA.
Category:Electronic design automation