@User different people will end up picking different programs and that's good. Ultimately the only requirement is that it can generate a netlist. But I did look into the various options and in the end I fully invested in xschem, I can share with you my reasons for that. 1. Hierarchy is king in IC design and is fundamental to everything. Most PCB editors (certainly KiCad) started from a point of discrete component primitives and then added some hierarchy features over the years. They're workable for PCB work but really not great for IC work where you need to be able to seamlessly flow in and out of the heirarchy. (as far as I'm aware) xschem was built with hierarchy in mind from the start and the cell structure works well. It supports retargeting the implementation beneath the symbol easily. One of the reasons this is important is when you want to switch between simulating fast behaviourial model (lets say a spice voltage controlled current source with a couple of passives) or a fully modelled circuit. 2. Simulation is integrated with ngspice and Xyce simulator with gaw and ngspice plotting capabilities with net highlighting too. In my opinion this setup is superior to KiCads simulation features 3. It is fast, reliable and overall a solid piece of software. In a lot of ways it exemplifies the open source way, it performs a very specific function very well and is regularly maintained. I'm not sure that's neccesarly the case with electric which is a java program (maybe that's just my bias showing) with loads of integrated functions and features that was last updated four years ago. The Glade program is also interesting but it is freeware and I will not be invest my time and my designs in a program that I can't complain to someone because I've paid or modify myself 4. The developer, @User, is active in the community and is very helpful with tips and tricks, that gives me faith that I can invest in the program 5. The program looks, feels and behaves very similarly to the dominant commercial tool, Cadence Virtuoso. For some people this does not matter at all, for others this is very important But these are just my reasons why I like xschem. Others may have their own opinions