In KiCad, your engineers place and route every board by hand. In Flux, you give the requirement, and the AI engineer picks the parts, draws the schematic, and routes the board.
Flux is your team's autonomous hardware engineer. Give it a requirement. It plans the design, picks the parts, draws the schematic, routes the board, designs the mechanical parts, and writes the firmware. It checks its own work in simulation and design rule checks, and hands your engineers files ready to manufacture.
KiCad is an open-source software suite for electronic design automation. It handles schematic capture and PCB layout, with Gerber and IPC-2581 output.[1]
KiCad runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, and is licensed under the GNU GPL v3.[1]
KiCad is free to use, and its source code is open under the GNU GPL v3.[1]
The KiCad router has push-and-shove, walkaround, and collision highlight modes, and routes differential pairs.[3]
KiCad integrates the open-source ngspice simulator into its schematic editor.[2]
Flux picks parts from 734,000+ public parts with live prices and stock, draws the schematic, places the parts, and routes the board like an experienced designer. It checks the design against every datasheet, runs circuit and full-wave electromagnetic simulation, and hands you manufacturing files. All parts are in one shared library with footprints, 3D models, and datasheets, so you do not manage library files. Your engineers review and edit the result, and share the project with a link.
| Feature | Flux | KiCad |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI hardware engineer with its own design tools | Open-source PCB design software[1] |
| Where it runs | In your web browser. Nothing to install. Your projects live in the cloud. | Desktop software for Windows, Linux, and macOS that you install on your computer[1] |
| Who does the design work | The Flux agent. Your engineers review and edit. | Your engineers[1] |
| Schematic and parts | Built in. Picks from 734,000+ public parts. | Built in, with symbol libraries that you manage[4] |
| Placement and routing | The AI engineer places the parts and routes the board like an experienced designer. Your engineers review and edit. | Interactive push-and-shove routing that your engineers drive[3] |
| Simulation and design rule checks | SPICE, electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical simulation, plus design rule checks | SPICE simulation with ngspice[2] |
| Manufacturing files | Gerber, ODB++, IPC-2581, bill of materials, pick-and-place, and more | Gerber and IPC-2581 files[1] |
| And the mechanical parts too | ||
| Mechanical CAD | Built in, kernel agnostic. From an enclosure to a complete robot arm. | Exports a 3D model of the board as STEP for a separate mechanical CAD tool[3] |
Flux places the parts and routes the board like an experienced designer, and it respects your design intent and your layout rules.
Flux picks from 734,000+ public parts. It checks live prices and stock across distributors before it puts a part on the board.
Flux checks every board against your layout rules and the capabilities of your fabricator.
Flux reads the datasheet of every part and checks the design against its pinouts, ratings, and limits.
Bring your KiCad project in. Ask the agent to change it. Then get it manufactured: Flux hands you the files that your manufacturer needs.
Example request
“Replace the linear regulator with a buck converter that has parts in stock, and reroute the power traces.”
Altium Designer 
OrCAD and Allegro 
KiCad 
PADS, Xpedition, and NX 
CADSTAR 
Eagle and Fusion 
EasyEDA 
SolidWorks 
CATIA 
Creo 
Onshape Import complete projects, part libraries, and 3D models. Schematics, placement, and routing come across.
Imported designs are ready to edit right away. Ask "move the USB cutout 3 cm left" or "make the enclosure tighter", and Flux does the work.
Flux hands you the files that your manufacturer needs: Gerber, ODB++, IPC-2581, bill of materials, and pick-and-place for the board, and STEP, STL, or 3MF for the mechanical parts.
Orchestration
Hand Flux a complete product. The lead AI engineer splits it into workstreams, starts parallel threads across projects, manages them, and reports back.
Each workstream runs in its own agent thread. The main board, the daughterboards, and the enclosure come together at the same time.
The lead engineer starts work in other projects and tracks it all from one place.
It monitors every thread, steers work that goes off the brief, and collects the results.
Changes that move an interface or resize a board wait for your approval.
Flux writes a brief for each board with its outline, mounting holes, connectors, and the enclosure openings they line up with. Each board gets its own project and its own AI engineer, and all three are designed in parallel. Flux then places the finished boards in the main assembly and measures clearances and connector alignment in millimeters.
Verification lab
Flux doesn't stop at generating designs. The AI engineer simulates and checks its own work with professional-grade solvers, and it shows you the results.
SPICE simulation of analog, power, and mixed-signal circuits, run and read by the AI engineer.
Full-wave simulation of the routed board: impedance, S-parameters, crosstalk, and antennas.
Electrical and manufacturing rule checks on every schematic and board.
Reads the datasheet of every part and checks the design against its pinouts, ratings, and limits.
Heat and airflow simulation of boards and enclosures before you build them.
Airflow and cooling through the enclosure, so vents, fans, and heat sinks work before the first prototype.
Finite-element stress analysis of brackets, enclosures, and mounts.
Sourcing
Flux connects directly to major electronics and mechanical parts distributors. The AI engineer picks chips, connectors, screws, and standoffs that are in stock, compares prices across distributors, and replaces parts that are at end of life before the product goes to production.
Digi-Key 
LCSC 
Mouser 
Arrow 
Verical 
TME 
HQonline 
McMaster-Carr 
MISUMI 
JLCMC Manufacturing
Flux gets quotes directly from the fabricators for circuit boards and assembly, 3D printing in plastic and metal, CNC machining, sheet metal, laser cutting, injection molding, and casting. The AI engineer compares price and lead time, checks the design against each fabricator's rules, and keeps the quote current as the design changes.
JLCPCB 
PCBWay 
OSH Park 
AISLER 
Craftcloud JLC 3D printing PCBWay 3D printing 
Shapeways 
OSH Cut 
SendCutSend The board, the mechanical parts, and the firmware are in one project. The agent can change the board and the mechanical parts together. You do not move files between an electronics tool, a mechanical tool, and a code editor.
There is nothing to install and no license server to manage. Flux works on any computer with a modern web browser.
Share a project with a link. Several people can edit it at the same time. Nobody sends files by email or asks which version is the latest.
New features and new AI models arrive in the product. You do not install a new version or move your projects to it.
The Flux library has 734,000+ public parts. You do not build a part library before you start.
Invite people with a link. Single sign-on and project-level permissions control who sees what.
Flux designs the parts and assemblies around the board, from an enclosure to a complete robot arm.
Flux writes the firmware for the board it designed.
Flux runs frontier models from several providers. Adaptive model selection gives each task to the model that does it best for the price. Frontier performance at 30% lower cost.
Flux builds parts on OpenCascade and NVIDIA SMLib, and on Siemens Parasolid on request. The agent picks the kernel for each part.
$40/mo
billed annually ($50 monthly)
$80/mo
billed annually ($100 monthly)
$200/mo
billed annually ($250 monthly)
$4,900/yr
for 5 seats, billed annually ($500 monthly for 5 seats)
Explore, Build, and Pro start with a 14-day free trial. Cancel anytime. See all plans
Use KiCad when your engineers want to design every board by hand in free, open-source desktop software. Use Flux when you want an AI engineer to do the design work and your engineers to review it.
Start with a free trial, or book a demo with our team.
