Multisim Alternative
The Best Multisim Alternative in 2026
Updated August 9, 2026 · By Britt at CircuitSim · 6 min read
For more than a decade, Multisim Live gave hundreds of thousands of students, educators, and engineers a place to build and simulate circuits without installing anything. Digilent, which manages Multisim Live today, has announced that the service retires on September 15, 2026.
What set Multisim Live apart was a combination very few tools have offered: a real SPICE engine, so you could design against the numbers, running entirely in a browser tab, so it worked on Chromebooks and school laptops with no install and no IT ticket. Sketch-style simulators give you one half and LTspice gives you the other. Multisim Live had both.
CircuitSim is built on that same conviction: a full SPICE engine, running in the browser. It goes past where Multisim Live stopped, with a custom component studio and group features built for teaching, and it opens the files you download from Multisim Live. We think CircuitSim is the natural next home for Multisim Live work. Then again, we built it, so of course we think that. 😊 The rest of this page sticks to specifics you can check for yourself.
Download your circuits first
Whatever you decide to use next, get your files out of Multisim Live while the service is still running. Digilent's own end-of-life notice says the company "does not guarantee the continued access" to Multisim Live data, including saved designs, after September 15, 2026.
Log in to Multisim Live, open each circuit, and use the download option to save it locally. We wrote a step-by-step version of this with screenshots at Save your Multisim Live circuits. It takes a couple of minutes per circuit, and it is worth doing before you evaluate anything.
The dates Digilent has published
- August 1, 2026. Last day Digilent offered new monthly Multisim Live subscriptions. Yearly subscriptions were withdrawn before that.
- September 15, 2026. Multisim Live is retired. After this date Digilent does not guarantee access to saved designs.
- October 1, 2026. End of the courtesy access Digilent offered to NI Circuit Design Suite for affected subscribers.
Digilent's own recommended path is Multisim Desktop, which is a reasonable option if you are on Windows and your institution already holds licenses. It is a different product from Multisim Live, with its own workflow and cost.
Moving to CircuitSim is designed to be easy
CircuitSim opens the files you download from Multisim Live. It accepts .csim, .ms14, and .msjs files, and it accepts a .zip if you want to bring a whole folder in at once. The importer rebuilds the schematic rather than rendering a picture of it, so what you get is an editable, simulating circuit.
CircuitSim preserves component placement and rotation, wiring and junctions, net labels, probes, text labels and comments, and the simulation settings that were attached to the circuit. Each component is mapped onto a simulating part in the CircuitSim catalog. Where a part has no match yet, CircuitSim brings it in as a marked placeholder so you can see exactly where it sits and swap it. Multisim Desktop, the migration path Digilent itself recommends, also reads these files, but Multisim Desktop is a Windows installation and a paid license. In the browser, CircuitSim is the only simulator that opens them.
The importer is new, and we label it as experimental inside the app for a reason. Open the imported schematic, compare it against the original, and run the simulation once before you rely on the results. If something comes through wrong, send us the file and we will look at it.
Where CircuitSim goes past Multisim Live
We did not want to build a museum copy of a retired tool, so the parts of Multisim Live that a decade of use showed to be limits are the parts we worked on hardest.
The component catalog is not fixed. Multisim Live shipped a set catalog, and if your part was not in it, that was the end of the conversation. CircuitSim ships 3,000+ parts and a custom component studio on top: paste SPICE model text from a manufacturer datasheet, or import a KiCad symbol, and the part becomes something you can place and simulate like any other.
Groups were built for classrooms. Instructors kept telling us the hardest part of teaching with simulation software was never the simulation, it was getting thirty students provisioned. CircuitSim group licenses include private student seats: a student opens a link and starts working, with no account creation and no email address collected, which keeps a classroom FERPA and COPPA compliant without a single conversation with IT. The longer version is at CircuitSim for educators and CircuitSim for schools.
Seven analysis types. Interactive simulation you can adjust while it runs, interactive operating point, transient, AC sweep, DC operating point, DC sweep, and parameter sweep. DC sweep and parameter sweep are on the Standard plan and above.
How CircuitSim compares
| CircuitSim | Multisim Live | Multisim Desktop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs in a browser | Yes | Yes, until September 15, 2026 | No, Windows installation |
| Opens Multisim Live files | Yes | Native | Yes |
| Simulation engine | SPICE, in the browser | SPICE | SPICE |
| Analysis types | Seven, including DC sweep and parameter sweep | Interactive, transient, AC and DC analyses | Full desktop analysis set |
| Component catalog | 3,000+ parts, plus a custom component studio | Fixed catalog | Large catalog |
| Student seats without a student login | Yes, in group licenses | No, each student registers | Institutional licensing |
| Chromebooks and school-managed devices | Yes | Yes | No |
| Free tier | Yes, Basic is free | Free tier is ending with the service | No |
Basic is free and stays free. Standard is $2.99 per month or $30 per year, and Premium is $8.99 per month or $90 per year, which is less than a Multisim Live subscription cost. Classrooms and departments use group licenses with bulk seat pricing instead of paying retail seat by seat; CircuitSim for schools has the details.
Cost is worth weighing on the Digilent path too. Multisim Desktop and the NI Circuit Design Suite are professional lab software with professional price tags, licensed per seat, and a single license runs well past what a classroom would spend on CircuitSim in years.
Questions we get asked
Can CircuitSim open my Multisim Live circuits?
Yes. CircuitSim accepts .csim, .ms14, and .msjs files, and .zip archives for batches. CircuitSim rebuilds the schematic as an editable circuit rather than importing an image of it.
Is CircuitSim free?
The Basic tier is free and includes five saved circuits and five simulation types. Standard is $2.99 per month or $30 per year and adds DC sweep and parameter sweep. Premium is $8.99 per month or $90 per year. Classrooms and departments use group licenses with bulk seat pricing.
What happens to my circuits after September 15, 2026?
Digilent has said it does not guarantee continued access to Multisim Live data, including saved designs, after that date. Download your files before then, whatever you plan to use next.
Does CircuitSim work on a Chromebook?
Yes. CircuitSim runs in the browser with nothing to install, which covers Chromebooks and locked-down school machines. There is more detail at circuit simulator for Chromebooks.
Does CircuitSim use SPICE?
Yes. CircuitSim runs a SPICE engine directly in your browser, so the analysis happens on your machine rather than on a server. We explain what that means at What is SPICE simulation.
How does CircuitSim compare to Multisim Desktop?
Multisim Desktop is a full professional package with PCB layout and a deeper analysis set, and it costs accordingly. CircuitSim covers schematic capture and simulation in a browser, on any operating system, with a free tier. If your coursework lived comfortably inside Multisim Live, CircuitSim will cover it.
More from CircuitSim: Save your Multisim Live circuits · CircuitSim for educators · CircuitSim for schools · Circuit simulator for Chromebooks · What is SPICE simulation
Multisim and Multisim Live are trademarks of National Instruments (Emerson). CircuitSim is not affiliated with National Instruments or Digilent. Retirement dates reflect Digilent's public announcements as of August 2026; confirm details on Digilent's site.