Protoboard Designer: PCB CAD

Go from circuit idea to production-ready Gerber file in minutes. Protoboard Designer is the easy PCB design app for makers: draw your circuit board layout exactly as it will be manufactured — no netlist, no schematic capture, no learning curve.

Design printed circuit boards on your phone or tablet, or in your browser at protoboarddesigner.com. Your PCB projects sync between Android and the web.

KEY FEATURES

• WYSIWYG PCB layout editor — the circuit board you draw on screen is exactly what gets manufactured. No surprises at the fab house.

• Autorouter — connect two pads with an airwire and let the app route the track. Route the whole board at once, or scope it to SMD pads, through-hole pads, one side, or just your selection.

• Design rule check — check copper clearance, annular ring, drill diameter and drill spacing before you send the board out, and catch a drill placed on an SMD pad while it is still free to fix.

• Ground plane & copper pour — fill the board with copper in one tap, with automatic voids around every pad and track, thermal spokes on connected pads, and keepout areas where the pour must not go.

• Gerber & PDF export — send production-ready Gerber files to any PCB fab (JLCPCB, PCBWay, OSH Park…), or export a PDF to etch your own board at home.

• Track stats as you draw — routed length and maximum current for the width you picked, so you size copper with numbers instead of guesswork.

• Teardrops for stronger pad-to-track joins.

INSERT & GENERATE

• Photo overlay — photograph a real board and trace straight over it.

• SVG and DXF import — bring a vector graphic in as copper, silkscreen or milling, or a CAD outline in as your board shape.

• PCB antennas for a target frequency, and planar spiral coils with a computed inductance value.

• QR codes, Data Matrix and barcodes, in silkscreen or copper.

• Mounting holes with screw keep-out, and pad or via arrays on an exact pitch.

• Via stitching to fill a pour or sew up a board edge.

• Breakout adapters — fan a fine-pitch SMD part out to a 0.1" header.

LIBRARY & SYNC

• Built-in component library, KiCad footprint import, or any public GitHub repository as a footprint source.

• Cloud sync — your boards are backed up and synced between your phone and your browser. Start on the sofa, finish at the desk.

PERFECT FOR

• Makers and hobbyists designing perfboard, stripboard (veroboard), or custom PCB layouts

• Students learning electronics and circuit board design

• Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and ESP32 builders moving beyond the breadboard

• DIY electronics projects — from a quick prototype board to a small production run

SIMPLER THAN DESKTOP EDA

Professional PCB design software is powerful, but built for engineers routing complex multi-layer boards — and it takes weeks to learn. Protoboard Designer keeps only what you need for hobby and prototype circuit boards, so you spend your time building electronics, not learning software.

Try the free PCB designer in your browser at protoboarddesigner.com — no install required. Or download now and sign in with Google to start your first board in seconds. No credit card required.