A Cross Platform and Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite

KiCad for Mac

KiCad for Mac

  -  1.4 GB  -  Open Source
  • Latest Version

    KiCad 8.0.8 LATEST

  • Review by

    Sophia Jones

  • Operating System

    macOS 10.15 Catalina or later

  • User Rating

    Click to vote
  • Author / Product

    KiCad Team / External Link

  • Filename

    kicad-unified-universal-8.0.8.dmg

KiCad for Mac is an open-source software suite for Electronic Design Automation (EDA). The programs handle Schematic Capture and PCB Layout with Gerber output. The suite runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS and is licensed under GNU GPL v3. The first release date was in 1992 by its original author, Jean-Pierre Charras, but is now currently under development by the KiCad Developers Team.

Schematic Capture
With the schematic editor, you can create your design without limit; there are no paywalls to unlock features. An official library for schematic symbols and a built-in schematic symbol editor help you get started quickly with your designs. Schematic capture is efficient, with all the tools you can expect for such a task. The interface focuses on productivity. There are no complexity limits, as large designs can be divided into hierarchical subsheets. Various export options are available (PDF, SVG, HPGL, Postscript).

PCB Layout
Make professional PCB layouts with up to 32 copper layers. KiCad for macOS now has a push and shove router which is capable of routing differential pairs and interactively tuning trace lengths. This modern tool will help you layout your board faster. As you draw your track, it pushes forward traces that are in the way. If that is not possible, your track will be rerouted around obstacles. The push and shove router will make sure that your DRC constraints are respected.

3D Viewer
Ki Cad for macOS includes a 3D viewer that you can use to inspect your design in an interactive canvas. You can rotate and pan around to inspect details that are difficult to inspect on a 2D view. Multiple rendering options allow you to modify the aesthetic appearance of the board or to hide and show features for easier inspection. When laying out your PCB, you can instantly inspect your design in an interactive 3D view. Rotate and pan around to inspect details easier than with a 2D display.

Features and Highlights
  • Electrical Rules Check
  • Export Netlists
  • Bill Of Materials
  • Integrated libraries
  • Push and shove router
  • Length tuning
  • Footprint Editor (GAL)
Also Available: Download KiCad for Windows

  • KiCad 8.0.8 Screenshots

    The images below have been resized. Click on them to view the screenshots in full size.

    KiCad 8.0.8 Screenshot 1
  • KiCad 8.0.8 Screenshot 2
  • KiCad 8.0.8 Screenshot 3
  • KiCad 8.0.8 Screenshot 4
  • KiCad 8.0.8 Screenshot 5

What's new in this version:

General:
- Remove compensation padding in KiCad launcher for newer wxWidgets versions
- Make settings migration dialog re-sizable
- Fix parsing of Altium overbar notation
- Update pin table when model changes
- Recognize ${KICAD7_3DMODEL_DIR} and all future major releases
- Skip hidden files when making backup
- Fix crash when opening the PCB editor while closing the schematic editor
- Fix broken Eagle board and schematic file import

Schematic Editor:
- Plot labels in color
- Fix some issues that can crash editor on close.
- Don’t change selection after selecting find-next hit
- Display footprints in footprint assignment tool
- Avoid crash on save if a polyline is empty
- Don’t rename root sheet when switching language
- Do not save automatically placed flag for text with no fields
- Fix connectivity issue with global label connected to power symbol
- Preserve symbol unit when loading schematic with missing instance data
- Fix crash in schematic editor when finishing a wire
- Fix crash when opening footprint browser from schematic symbol properties
- Fix QA test failure in orcadpcb2 netlist exporter
- Fix a crash when library symbol is missing
- Fix crash after project save and reopened after cannot find symbol in netlist error
- Improve symbol load time when opening a large database library
- Fix crash when undoing new sheet action from within sheet
- Make PDF export respect background color fill
- Don’t lose reference designators when importing third party schematics
- Prevent freeze when pasting a long string into search bar

Symbol Editor:
- Fix crash on corrupt symbol library table
- Don’t hang when trying to paste image as text
- Allow opening color picker dialog from polygon shape properties panel

Spice Simulator:
- Only populate spice code in the simulation dialog code field
- Fix crash after probing and changing signal color
- Fix crash when a net named VT exists

Board Editor:
- Handle circular zone cutouts in Fabmaster import
- Don’t add zero radius holes on Fabmaster import
- Do not import unplaced footprints on Fabmaster import
- Handle circles on Fabmaster import
- Map unknown layers to KiCad user layers on Fabmaster import
- Handle rectangles on Fabmaster import
- Improve detection of open versus closed polygons on Fabmaster import
- Fix text import on Fabmaster import
- Handle squares, oblongs, and regular polygons on Fabmaster import
- Keep DRC marker exclusions up to date
- Make sure descendants get new UUIDs when pasting
- Fix crash when running DRC
- Allow plot options to override the board tenting settings
- Add example for silk_board_edge_clearance custom rule
- Fix rats nest issue where blind vias are treated as through vias
- Don’t trigger DRC footprint library warning when description and keywords do not match
- Allow selection of PCB DRC markers when not on active layer
- Allow DRC markers to be selected with area selection
- Rebuild layer preset list on language change
- Fix track start property display
- Fix thread deadlock when closing the footprint chooser dialog
- Prevent DRC freeze when using footprint with custom pad shapes
- Plot from render cache if fonts aren’t embedded
- Add rectangle height and width to properties panel
- Fix pad inside isolated zone "island" not marked as unconnected
- Allow custom rules that explicitly allow holes from one footprint to overlap the courtyard from another
- Fix pin rotation parsing in the legacy symbol library plugin
- Adjust DRC clearance for net ties
- Properly cancel 3D export
- Fix scale when exporting IPC-2581 using inches units
- Fix compatibility with Allegro PCB Router using Specctra sessions
- Fix Specctra session import from TopoR
- Handle wildcards and case-insensitivity in custom rule pin type comparisons

Footprint Editor:
- Properly handle group duplicate
- Ignore invisible pads in enumeration tool
- Do not add extra grid rows when resetting default field property preferences
- Update QR footprint wizard

Gerber Viewer:
- Fix crash on specific gerber files

3D Viewer:
- Use font render cache when available

PCB Calculator:
- Add measure unit to Rho constant in transmission line tab

Windows:
- Fix opening zip archives from project manager tree