Freerouting — The Complete Guide: Free Automatic PCB Routing for KiCad and Others
Freerouting is an open-source autorouter for printed circuit boards. It works through the Specctra format: you export a DSN file from your layout program, Freerouting routes the connections, and you import an SES file with the tracks back. KiCad has no built-in autorouter, so this is the tool its community uses.
Freerouting — PCB Autorouter
Freerouting Project / LayoutEditor
Free PCB autorouter that connects to KiCad and Eagle through the Specctra DSN format.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Automatic routing — of the whole board or of selected nets.
- Angles — 90-degree, 45-degree or free-angle routing.
- Optimisation pass — improving existing tracks: shorter paths and fewer layer changes.
- Rules from your tool — track widths and clearances are read from the DSN file.
- Every operating system — written in Java, and also available as a KiCad plugin.
An important tip
An autorouter is a starting point, not a substitute for judgement. Route power, clocks, sensitive signals and differential pairs by hand first, lock them, and only then run Freerouting on the rest. After importing, always run DRC in your layout program.
Related tools
For schematic and board design — KiCad. For alternatives with interactive routing — Horizon EDA or LibrePCB.
KiCad
KiCad Development Team
Open-source PCB design suite, from schematic to fabrication files, with no limit on layers or board area.
Get it from the vendorHorizon EDA
Horizon EDA Project
An EDA system with tight part management — schematic, layout and one linked library.
Get it from the vendor
LibrePCB
LibrePCB
Modern PCB design with a unified component library — schematic, layout and fabrication files.
Get it from the vendorgEDA
gEDA Project
A suite of tools for schematic capture, netlisting and PCB design.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Freerouting saves hours on simple and medium boards. Completely free, commercial use included — just remember to check the result.