Comparison
Which tools turn a plain-English description into a real, editable schematic — and which only produce a picture of one. Compared on library support, checking, and what you can do with the output.
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There is a trap in this category. A lot of tools marketed as "AI schematic generators" produce a diagram — an image, or a drawing in a general-purpose diagramming tool. That is not a schematic. A schematic has a netlist behind it: real parts with real pins, connections that can be checked, and something a board can be built from.
This page only counts tools that produce an editable schematic with electrical meaning, and asks three questions of each: does it use real parts, can it check its own output, and can you take the result somewhere else.
The same six questions asked of every tool. Unverified cells say so.
| Dimension | SchemaOurs | ProtoFlow | Flux | KiCad | EasyEDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licence / distribution | Proprietary desktop app. Free plan including a monthly allowance of agent credits; further credits sold in packs. | Free to start.Vendor's claim | Proprietary, browser-delivered, with a free tier.Vendor's claim | Free and open source, under the GNU GPL. No licence cost, no seat count, no vendor. | Proprietary and free to use, operated alongside the LCSC / JLCPCB supply chain. |
| Where it runs | Desktop — macOS on Apple Silicon, and Windows and Linux on x86-64 and arm64. | Desktop — macOS, Windows and Linux.Vendor's claim | Browser — nothing to install, works from any OS. | Desktop — Linux, Windows and macOS. | Browser, with an optional desktop client. |
| Agent command surface | 74 documented commands across the schematic and PCB editors, identical for you and for the agent. | Not verified | Not verified | A Python API for the board editor. It is an automation interface for scripts rather than a uniform verb set spanning both editors. | An extension API for the editor, rather than a command vocabulary intended for an autonomous agent. |
| AI assistance | A natural-language agent that drives the editor through those same commands, then checks its own work with DRC and ERC. | Turns plain-English prompts into editable schematics using catalogue parts, and runs DRC and ERC.Vendor's claim | An in-app AI assistant for design help and part selection.Vendor's claim | None built in. AI assistance comes from third-party tools that read or write KiCad files. | Not verified |
| Reads KiCad libraries | Yes — reads KiCad symbol and footprint libraries, and Altium schematic libraries. | Exports a KiCad project.Vendor's claim | Not verified | Yes — KiCad libraries are its native format. | Import paths exist for external libraries; LCSC parts are the native path.Vendor's claim |
| Fabrication output | Gerber RS-274X and Excellon drill, including plated and non-plated splits. | Not verified | Gerber export.Vendor's claim | Gerber RS-274X, Excellon drill, IPC-2581 and ODB++. | Gerber export, with a direct hand-off into JLCPCB fabrication. |
Best for a checked schematic you can take to a board
Describe a circuit and the agent places symbols, wires pins to nets, drops power symbols and runs an electrical rules check — through the same commands you can issue yourself. Parts come from your own KiCad or Altium libraries rather than a fixed catalogue, and the schematic pushes straight through to layout, routing and Gerber output in the same tool. This is our product.
Best known for prompt-to-schematic with distributor parts
Says it generates editable schematics from prompts using real LCSC, DigiKey and Mouser parts, runs DRC and ERC, and exports a KiCad project. If you want the schematic and intend to finish the board elsewhere, that export path is the thing to check first. We have not independently verified its command surface.
Best for generating a schematic collaboratively
An in-app AI assistant inside a browser-based editor with real-time collaboration, so a generated schematic can be reviewed by several people at once. Good when the review is the bottleneck rather than the drawing.
Best target format for generated schematics
No generation of its own, but it is worth naming here anyway: KiCad is the format most of these tools export into, and where a lot of people finish the work. If a generator cannot produce something KiCad can open, ask why.
Best for catalogue-driven capture
Not a prompt-to-schematic tool, but its LCSC integration removes most of the part-hunting that makes schematic capture slow — with stock and price attached to each part as you place it.
The questions that actually decide it, rather than the feature checklist.
The single most important question. Ask whether the output can be pushed to a board layout. If the answer involves exporting an image or a PDF, it is a diagramming tool and the schematic will have to be redrawn properly later.
Generated schematics are only as good as their symbols. A tool that uses your existing libraries gives you parts you have already vetted; one with a fixed catalogue may be faster to start with but will eventually not have the part you need.
A generated schematic that has not had an ERC run against it is a draft, not a result. Prefer tools where checking is part of the generation loop rather than a separate step you have to remember.
A schematic is halfway. Look at whether the same tool does layout and fabrication output, or whether you are exporting into something else — and if so, how lossy that hand-off is.
Schema publishes its entire agent surface. Here are some of the 74 commands — the same ones you issue and the agent issues — so you can judge the claim rather than take it.
We make one of the tools on this page, so here is exactly what we did and did not check.
Last reviewed . Corrections: corrections@getschema.dev
Yes, for circuits built from recognisable blocks — a microcontroller with decoupling and a crystal, a linear regulator, a level shifter, a common sensor on I²C. In Schema this happens by the agent issuing ordinary editor commands: place_symbol for each part, connect to put pins on nets, place_power for rails, then validate to run the electrical rules check. Novel analogue design and anything with tight tolerances still needs an engineer.
A schematic generator produces an electrically meaningful design: real parts, real pins, a netlist that can be checked and turned into a board. A diagram tool produces a picture that looks like a schematic. The test is simple — ask whether the output can drive a PCB layout.
They are accurate enough to be a strong starting point and not accurate enough to send to fabrication unreviewed. What makes the difference is whether the tool checks its own output. Schema runs an electrical rules check as part of the loop and the agent can undo a change that fails, so errors surface while the agent is still working rather than at the board house.
In Schema, yes — there is no separate "generated" mode. The agent issues the same commands you would, so the result is an ordinary schematic you can move, rewire, relabel and extend by hand.
Free to start on macOS, Windows and Linux. Reads your existing KiCad and Altium libraries, so trying it does not mean rebuilding your parts.
