No. 32 of 42 ·Electrical Design Software

PLECS

Windows · Mac · Linux

Freedom report

One barScore 4.9

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedThinly documented

PLECS is ranked #32 of 42 in electrical design software on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. There is no free plan. A free trial is offered.

PLECS plans and pricing

All plans

PLECS trial license Free Free fully functional trial for 30 days from the date the license is issued Fully functional · 30 days plexim.com · 5 Oct 2026

PLECS Blockset Individual License (commercial) $8,000 once $8,000.00 for a permanent license, including 1 year of software maintenance service Individual license · commercial, government or personal use plexim.com · 5 Oct 2026

PLECS Standalone Individual License (commercial) $8,000 once $8,000.00 for a permanent license, including 1 year of software maintenance service Individual license · commercial, government or personal use plexim.com · 5 Oct 2026

PLECS Blockset Dongle License (commercial) $11,200 once $11,200.00 for a permanent license, including 1 year of software maintenance service Dongle license · commercial, government or personal use plexim.com · 5 Oct 2026

PLECS Blockset Concurrent License (commercial) $16,000 once $16,000.00 for a permanent license, including 1 year of software maintenance service Concurrent license · commercial, government or personal use plexim.com · 5 Oct 2026

Compared on electrical design software

Free plan: No
Schematic capture: Yes
Panel design: No
Electrical simulation: advanced
Standards libraries: Yes
MCAD integration: No
Deployment: desktop

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The record

Purpose: PLECS models and simulates power electronic systems, including converters, motor drives and control algorithms.
Modeling domains: Its component library covers electrical circuits, mechanics, magnetic circuits, thermal models, controls and signal processing.
Switched system simulation: PLECS uses ideal on/off semiconductor switches and a two-step switching event approach to simulate switched systems efficiently.
Thermal analysis: Lookup tables can be used with ideal switch models to calculate semiconductor switching and conduction losses and junction temperature.
Controls and code generation: Control blocks include continuous and discrete functions, PWM generators, state machines and custom C code; the optional PLECS Coder generates real-time C code.
Analysis tools: PLECS provides steady-state and small-signal analyses, including open-loop transfer functions, closed-loop gains and state-space matrices.
Integrations: PLECS Blockset runs inside Simulink, and PLECS simulation scripts can automate simulations and process results using Octave, Python or MATLAB.
Standalone edition: PLECS Standalone is an independent time-domain simulator with its own variable-step and fixed-step solvers.
Platform support: PLECS Standalone packages are listed for 64-bit Windows, Intel and ARM Mac, and Intel Linux.
Blockset dependency: PLECS Blockset requires MATLAB and Simulink, and the maker lists support for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Notable licensing limit: PLECS Blockset commercial pricing lists individual, dongle and concurrent licenses; its annual lease costs 50% of the corresponding permanent license.
Privacy: Plexim's privacy policy says it does not sell or rent personal information and describes limited sharing with infrastructure, service and business providers.
Support: PLECS support includes tutorials, application examples, technical solutions, installation help, a user forum and a contact-support channel.
Intended users: Plexim identifies industrial companies, research labs and technical universities as customers, including teams developing electric cars, rail vehicles, wind turbines, solar inverters and power supplies.

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Electrical Design Software in 2026#32 of 42

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Sources

plexim.com/products/plecs· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/products/plecs/analysis_tools· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/products/plecs/plecs_standalone· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/download/standalone· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/download/blockset· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/store/commercial· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/privacy_policy· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/support· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/company· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/store· checked 5 Oct 2026
plexim.com/store/commercial/1000· checked 5 Oct 2026