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Alternatives

Cherry Blossom vs DeepPCB: a DeepPCB alternative

DeepPCB, from InstaDeep, takes a board file from your existing EDA tool, routes it (and can place it) with reinforcement learning, and hands the file back. Cherry Blossom does not take a board file at all. It takes a description and produces the schematic, the layout and the fab files.

By Arnaud and Anass

The short answer

The best DeepPCB alternative is Cherry Blossom if you do not have a board file yet: you describe the board in plain English, and an agent designs the schematic, layout and fab files in the browser, with a verification gate checking every edit before you order.

Footprints come from real part data, there is nothing to install, and the board exports as an editable KiCad project.

DeepPCB suits engineers who already have a placed board in Altium, KiCad, EasyEDA or Zuken and only want the routing done, paid by the hour.

The reasons

Why look for a DeepPCB alternative?

DeepPCB does one step of the job, and says so. You start with a board file from your own design tool, and its help pages describe upload for placement, routing or both. It does not draft schematics. The paid packages also have limits: up to 8 layers, 1,200 airwires and 1,000 components, with anything larger going to an Enterprise package on request.

So the usual reason to look elsewhere is that you do not have that board file yet. You have an idea for a board and want help with everything before routing as well, which is the prompt-to-PCB path Cherry Blossom covers.

The difference

What does each tool actually do?

DeepPCB is a product of InstaDeep. Its homepage describes four steps: upload a board from your design tool, let its assistant (Cooper) check the stackup, net classes, differential pairs and clearances, pin the critical nets you want to keep, and download the routed board. The help pages say you can upload for placement, routing or both. It accepts Altium .pcbdoc, KiCad (with a plugin), EasyEDA Pro and Standard, Zuken, and OrCAD, Allegro or Eagle through Specctra DSN.

Cherry Blossom is a design tool, not a router. From your description, an agent in a cloud sandbox writes the board as tscircuit code, chooses parts with footprints from real part data, builds it, and shows the schematic, PCB, 3D view and BOM. A verification gate checks every AI edit, and a DRC check runs before ordering.

Side by side

How do DeepPCB and Cherry Blossom compare?

  • Starting point

    Cherry Blossom

    A plain-English description

    DeepPCB

    A board file from your EDA tool

  • Schematic

    Cherry Blossom

    Drafted by the agent

    DeepPCB

    Not part of the product

  • Placement and routing

    Cherry Blossom

    Done by the agent in the build

    DeepPCB

    Its core job; pin critical nets, it routes the rest

  • Inputs accepted

    Cherry Blossom

    Text

    DeepPCB

    Altium, KiCad, EasyEDA, Zuken, Specctra DSN

  • Board limits

    Cherry Blossom

    Small boards; not for high-speed or RF sign-off

    DeepPCB

    Up to 8 layers and 1,200 airwires on paid packages

  • Pricing model

    Cherry Blossom

    Free editor; AI from $20/mo Pro, $140/mo Ultra

    DeepPCB

    Pay as you go, by routing time

DeepPCB details from deeppcb.ai, its help pages and its pricing page, September 2026.

Cost

What does each one cost?

DeepPCB is sold by routing time. As listed on DeepPCB's pricing page, September 2026: a free trial gives 30 minutes on one board of up to 4 layers, 150 airwires and 100 components. A 1 hour package is $30 with the same limits. The 10 hour package is $280 and the 30 hour package is $800; both raise the limits to 8 layers, 1,200 airwires and 1,000 components, with unlimited boards and stop and resume. Larger boards go to an Enterprise package on request.

The Free plan is the full editor, by hand, with no AI. Pro adds the AI for $20 a month, with 4M AI credits and 600 AI actions a day. Ultra is $140 a month with 32M credits and the frontier models. Usage past the allowance is $5 per 1M credits, only if you turn it on. There is no API key to connect and no per-seat licence.

The two are hard to compare line for line. DeepPCB bills compute time on one step of the job. Cherry Blossom bills a monthly allowance that covers drafting the whole board and revising it in chat; the pricing page lists what each plan includes.

Who should stay

When is DeepPCB the better choice?

DeepPCB can be the better fit in this situation.

  • You have a schematic and placed parts in your own EDA tool, and routing is the chore.

  • You want to keep your hand-routed critical nets and let the AI finish the rest.

  • You would rather pay per routing job than subscribe.

Who should switch

When is Cherry Blossom the better choice, and how do you start?

  • You do not have a schematic yet and want one drafted from a description.

  • You want the schematic, layout, BOM, 3D view and Gerbers in one place.

  • You want to order the board through the PCBWay hand-off once it passes its checks.

  • You want an editable KiCad project and open Circuit JSON at the end.

Cherry Blossom does not import an existing board file, so there is nothing to convert. You start by describing the board, and you refine it by asking the agent for changes. If you end up with a board that needs more routing help than we give, you can open the KiCad export in KiCad, which DeepPCB supports through a plugin. Treat that as a path to try rather than a supported workflow.

Current limits. Cherry Blossom is an early beta. You change a board by asking the agent, not by dragging traces yourself, so fine manual layout happens after a KiCad export. It is not a circuit simulator, it has no real-time multi-user editing, and it is not built for high-speed or RF sign-off.

We built one

Can a routed board pass every check and still be dead?

RP2040 4-layer board schematic, sheet 1 of 4: Block diagramRouted PCB layout of the RP2040 4-layer board
The RP2040 4-layer board after its final round, with every RP2040 pin on the right net and 0 DRC errors.

Yes. An AI agent built this RP2040 board with tscircuit, the open-source engine Cherry Blossom runs on, using the same tscircuit version and review tool as Cherry Blossom's agent, on our own machine. Its first round routed in 4 min 42 s with 128 traces, 89 vias and 0 DRC errors. Four of the chip's supply pins had no connection at all (IOVDD pins 33, 42 and 49, and DVDD pin 50), so part of the chip would never have powered up.

The mistake came before routing. The LCSC/EasyEDA footprint numbers its IOVDD and DVDD pads in a different order from the datasheet. Wiring by the datasheet's names landed on the wrong pads, and nothing raised an error. The router connected exactly the netlist it was given, and every checker passed. Only a pin-by-pin net audit caught it.

Any router, DeepPCB included, works from the netlist in the file you give it, so check that netlist before you pay for routing time. Our final board fixed the pins and checks clean. It scored 84 of 100 on our first rubric, under our 85 target. An outside reviewer then went through all 57 RP2040 pads against the datasheet, one by one, and found each on the right net. It still marked the circuit down to 77 for what was missing, such as a surge clamp on the USB 5 V line. After those fixes the circuit scored 91 and the redone layout 86. It has not been fabricated, and a person still has to power it up and load a known-good UF2 firmware file before trusting it.

Everything else

Where do both sit among AI PCB tools?

1Cherry BlossomOur product

Best for: Going from a plain-English description to a fab-ready board, in the browser

You describe the board in plain English and an AI agent writes it as code, builds it, and shows you the schematic, PCB layout, 3D view and BOM. Footprints come from real part data, and a verification gate checks the board before you can order it. Export Gerbers, an editable KiCad project, a BOM and pick-and-place files, or open Circuit JSON.

Platform
Browser, nothing to install
Pricing
The Free plan is the full editor, by hand, with no AI. Pro adds the AI for $20 a month, with 4M AI credits and 600 AI actions a day. Ultra is $140 a month with 32M credits and the frontier models. Usage past the allowance is $5 per 1M credits, only if you turn it on. There is no API key to connect and no per-seat licence.
2DeepPCB

Best for: AI routing and placement of a board you already started

InstaDeep's reinforcement-learning router. Upload a board from Altium, KiCad, EasyEDA, Zuken or Specctra DSN, pin the nets you want to keep, and download the routed result.

Platform
Browser upload, plus a KiCad plugin
Pricing
Free 30 minute trial; pay as you go by routing hours; Enterprise on request

DeepPCB's nearest rival is Quilter, and we put them head to head in Quilter vs DeepPCB. The AI autorouter comparison covers the other routing tools.

See it on your own board

The quickest way to judge any of this is to describe a board and read what comes back: the schematic, the layout, and what the verification gate says about it. It runs in the browser, with the AI included from the Pro plan up.

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Questions

The best DeepPCB alternative is Cherry Blossom when you want the board designed, not only routed. DeepPCB, made by InstaDeep, takes a board file from Altium, KiCad, EasyEDA, Zuken or a Specctra DSN export and routes it with reinforcement learning, and it can place parts too. It does not draft schematics, and it bills by routing time. Cherry Blossom starts earlier. You describe the board in plain English, an AI agent writes and builds the whole design, and a verification gate checks it against manufacturing rules before you can order. Footprints come from real part data, it runs in the browser, and you pay a monthly plan instead of routing hours. The result exports as Gerbers and an editable KiCad project. If your schematic and placement are done and routing is the slow part, DeepPCB handles that one step. If you are starting from an idea, Cherry Blossom covers the whole path.

As listed on DeepPCB's pricing page in September 2026, there is a free 30 minute trial, a 1 hour package at $30, 10 hours at $280 and 30 hours at $800, with an Enterprise package on request for larger boards. The paid 10 and 30 hour packages allow up to 8 layers and 1,200 airwires.

DeepPCB's homepage lists Altium .pcbdoc, KiCad through a plugin, EasyEDA Pro and Standard, Zuken, and OrCAD, Allegro or Eagle via Specctra DSN.

No. Cherry Blossom does not import an existing board file for routing. It designs boards from a description. If you already have a layout in another tool, a router like DeepPCB or Quilter is the better fit.

Describe a board. See what comes back.

Schematic, layout and a verification gate, in the browser. Exports to Gerbers and KiCad.

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