An online PCB editor: what you can edit, and how it compares with desktop EDA

The schematic

Place symbols, wire them and name nets. The schematic drives the board: a connection that is not in the schematic does not appear in the copper. Schematics export as native KiCad .kicad_sch files and KiCad schematics import.

The board layout

Move and rotate parts, draw and cut traces, place vias, change layers and adjust the outline. Two to sixteen copper layers, with a stackup that carries per-layer dielectric constants, so impedance figures describe the board you are building.

Routing, by hand or automatically

Route a net yourself, or let the deterministic autorouter route the board across every layer and list any net it could not finish by name. Targeted changes (move this part, reroute that section) can also be asked for in plain English.

Footprints for parts that are not in the library

Component Studio builds a symbol and footprint from evidence you give it: a datasheet, a drawing or a manufacturer URL. AI reads the package dimensions, deterministic code draws the pads, and you compare candidates, map every pin exactly once and inspect the part in 3D before approving it as a private revision.

Checks while you edit

The design-rule check runs against the rules of the board you are building. Separately, an electrical audit of the final netlist looks for mistakes that pass a clean DRC: shorted connector contacts, enable pins on the wrong polarity, USB back-feed. Review my design runs both and explains every finding in plain words.

2D layers and the assembled board in 3D

Inspect copper layer by layer, or view the assembled board with component models to catch a connector facing the wrong way before you order.

Undo and versions

Edits can be undone, and boards are stored as versions at real editing boundaries, so an unwanted change is reverted rather than rebuilt.

Out: a Gerber zip with drill files, a JLCPCB-formatted package (Gerbers, BOM and component placement), a KiCad 9 project (.kicad_pcb and .kicad_pro), the schematic as a KiCad .kicad_sch, and a BOM. The board’s fab bundle also offers IPC-2581 and ODB++ for fabs that prefer them, an IPC-D-356 netlist for electrical test, assembly and fabrication drawings as PDF, and a STEP model. In: KiCad boards and schematics, and Gerber archives. Nothing is locked to the browser: if a design outgrows it, continue in KiCad.

Before ordering, open the Gerber zip in a viewer and check the layers, outline and holes; the Gerber checklist lists what to look at.

KiCad is a desktop application, so “KiCad PCB editor online” usually means “open my KiCad board in a browser”. PCBEditor imports .kicad_pcb boards and .kicad_sch schematics, lets you edit them in the browser, and exports a KiCad 9 project again. Use it to make a change on a machine without KiCad, to share a board with someone who does not have it installed, or to start in the browser and finish in KiCad.

A clean design-rule check proves the copper can be made, not that the circuit works. Review my design runs the design-rule check and the electrical audit together and explains each finding: what is wrong, why it matters and what to do, from the checkers rather than from a model. How that works, and what it still cannot catch, is in AI PCB review.

KiCad and Altium are more capable editors, and for a complex production board with an experienced operator they remain the right tools. Both assume you have already learned them: KiCad is a desktop install with a genuine learning curve, and Altium is priced per seat per year.

This editor is for the case where you want a working board today without setting up a toolchain first, on any machine with a browser, including a Chromebook or a tablet. Files export in standard formats, so nothing traps you here.

Not to open the editor. A free account is needed for AI circuit generation, AI import and simulation, and to keep your designs and their version history across devices. The calculation tools and the Gerber viewer need no account at all.