[IshKebab]

Kind of amazing that they're finally working on usability. I did some free usability testing for them years ago and they buried their heads in the sand. Basically "it's fine, how dare you say that it's not intuitive". Very frustrating. I actually got a few private emails from people saying they agreed with me and found it frustrating too but didn't want to speak up on the mailing list.

Anyway fortunately I found that someone else has made an alternative PCB designer using the Kicad core engine (which is good) but with a sane UI. Well mostly sane. There are a few rough edges but it's waaaaaay easier to use than Kicad.

I recommend trying it: https://github.com/horizon-eda/horizon

I still haven't tried LibrePCB but Horizon is better than the other free options: Eagle (awful), GEDA (bad), Kicad (powerful but badly designed) and DesignSparkPCB (surprisingly decent).

[e-_pusher]

Unfortunately all ECAD fools are quite terrible when it comes to usability, even the commercial ones (Altium, Cadence, Mentor and their ilk). I expect that KiCad’s design is influenced with what’s “standard” in the industry as far the UX of ECAD tools is concerned.

[zibzab]

I tested librepcb 1-2 years ago and manufactured a few boards with it.

It's extremely simple, but it works. Some parts work really well, such as component creation which is sort of kickads big weakness.

Overall, I liked it and prefer it to kicad for simpler designs.

[bfrog]

I can’t say I’ve tried horizon but I might give it a shot. Library management in Kicad certainly was never a joy though functional