Cadence OrCAD X is the Cadence PCB design platform that combines schematic capture, PCB layout and PSpice simulation. Its public FAQ is the most detailed first-party description of how a Cadence desktop product is licensed, and it shows three layers: the tier a customer buys, the licence form (a single-user licence in the cloud or a licence file on a server), and the support relationship that carries updates. This article follows those layers. It describes what Cadence’s own pages say, and a quotation or order always controls.
Editions
OrCAD X is available in three tiers, and each tier builds on the last.[1] Cadence describes them as follows.
| Tier | What Cadence says it adds |
|---|---|
| OrCAD X Standard | Aimed at individuals and small teams focused on schematic design; essential schematic capture and basic PSpice simulation |
| OrCAD X Professional | Live BOM for supply chain insights, team collaboration, automation, high-speed features and integrated signal and power integrity analysis |
| OrCAD X Professional Plus | Everything in Professional plus advanced PSpice analysis, a circuit optimizer and MathWorks Simulink integration |
The same page states the dividing lines more precisely. On the schematic side, “OrCAD X Standard does not offer Live BOM and team collaboration for data management”, and on the PCB layout side Professional “contains features for automation, flex, high-speed, and more.”[1] Signal integrity analysis is included in Professional and Professional Plus, and Topology Explorer, which replaces the earlier Signal Explorer workflow, is included in both of those tiers.[1]
PSpice capability is the most concrete edition boundary because Cadence gives numeric limits. Standard and Professional offer PSpice Basic, which supports “full functional simulation of a reasonably sized circuit”. Cadence defines a reasonably sized circuit as 250 nodes, 250 devices, 1 million transient data points or 10,000 sweep data points, whichever limit is reached first. PSpice Advanced Analysis and System Level Analysis are included in Professional Plus.[1] For a software asset manager the effect is that a user running a larger circuit than those limits on a Standard or Professional entitlement exceeds the edition’s stated PSpice capability, and the tier in the licence file should be compared with the features users actually launch.
Metrics
The metric for the cloud-delivered form is the OrCAD X single-user licence. Cadence says OrCAD X supports single-user cloud licensing, and “a single-user license (SUL) allows OrCAD X to be installed on up to five computers, with only one device being active at any given time.”[1] The count is therefore of licences and of simultaneously active devices, not of installations. Cadence adds a limit that affects planning: “Cloud floating licenses and license borrowing are not yet supported.”[1]
The second form is the network licence. The OrCAD and Allegro installer can install a licence manager that uses a Cadence-provided license.dat, or connect to an existing licence server.[3] Cadence explains that the server “determines the number of available licenses and distributes them” until all licences for an application are consumed.[3] That is the floating licence construct described in the FlexNet article. The OrCAD X pages do not publish a separate unit for this form, so the quantity in the licence file and the order controls.
Counting and floors
No public floor, minimum seat count or bundle size is stated for OrCAD X. The counting facts a licence manager needs are these:
- A single-user licence is one licence with up to five installs and one active device.[1]
- A network licence is counted by the server as licences checked out and returned; an application returns its licence when it is closed.[3]
- A licence file entry is valid only inside its start and expiration dates.[2]
- Dongle-based files are matched by the FLEXID in the SERVER line.[2]
Release changes also affect the licence server. Cadence says that “all major releases include new technology and package changes that require the license server to be upgraded”, while minor hot fixes or service packs do not unless the installation documentation or release notes say so.[1] The upgrade is a licensing task and not only a technical one, because a new major release may arrive with a new licence file and a new licence server version.
Virtualization and partitioning
The OrCAD X FAQ states hardware and operating system requirements, including that Windows Server Remote Desktop is not supported, but it publishes no licensing rule about virtual machines or remote sessions.[1] The FAQ does not address virtual desktops or remote sessions for the single-user licence, so a customer using them should confirm the position with Cadence in writing.
Cloud and OnCloud
Cadence separates licensing from data services. “Cadence OnCloud is the overarching brand for all Cadence cloud services”, and OrCAD X OnCloud is an optional feature that provides cloud data management and collaboration.[1] Users “are assigned an OrCAD X OnCloud account as part of the product trial and/or software purchase.”[1] Its use “is optional and not required”: a user can skip logging in and forgo all cloud-based functionality, and all desktop features remain available without restriction.[1] Two limits are stated: access through a proxy server is not currently supported, and migration of data from OrCAD EDM to OrCAD X OnCloud is not currently supported.[1] The wider Cadence OnCloud portfolio, including Cloud Passport, is covered in its own article.[4]
Programs
Trial. Cadence offers a 30-day free commercial trial and a 6-month free academic trial, both with “full access to OrCAD X Professional Plus”, with no payment details required.[1] The trial version “always reflects the latest major product version available.” Commercial trial extensions “may be available on a case-by-case basis”, and the academic trial can be extended while the user remains actively enrolled in a university programme. Upgrading to a paid licence is done through Cadence Channel Partners.[1] The trial is therefore a use right in its own right, and a trial on a company machine should be tracked until it is converted or removed.
Premium support. With OrCAD X premium support customers receive all major and minor product updates, access to OrCAD X OnCloud, and phone and case technical support.[1] This is the maintenance contract the FAQ refers to. Its price is not published, and Cadence states that pricing varies by region and is available from a local Channel Partner.[1]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Allegro X tier definitions, Sigrity X licensing, the Cadence Software License and Maintenance Agreement, or OrCAD X OnCloud licence management in release 24.1, whose Cadence installation guide page is delivered through a third-party embedded viewer and could not be read as text for this edition. The Cadence page that describes the 24.1 OnCloud licence mode is the place to confirm how licences are assigned and verified for products that support it.