In some corners of the electronics world — particularly forums like •••••.•••••••.cc — Fritzing gets a lot of hate.

I’ve seen it called

  • A useless toy
  • As useless as pretty LEGO bricks
  • Useless for engineering
  • Just pink dots and rat’s nests

And yet… I use Fritzing. I like Fritzing. And I’m not here to defend messy diagrams — I’m here to show what Fritzing looks like when used correctly

As a Fritzing Part Maker, I spot some bad parts on the web. Maybe that’s why some say “Bad for my ‘old flower eyes’

Fritzing’s Real Purpose

Fritzing isn’t trying to replace KiCad or EAGLE. It’s trying to bridge the gap between:

  • Physical wiring on a breadboard
  • Logical connections in a schematic
  • And eventually, a printable PCB!

Most haters: They see a bad breadboard and say, “As useless as images!” and can’t even get past the forst step!

The Issue

fz-bb-comparison.png *The Generation gap: spaghetti VS neat wires

Most haters only ever see the left side — tangled wires, inconsistent colors, zero logic. But that’s a user issue, not a tool issue.

Then they say, “Schematic? Where?”

Well, Fritzing has a schematic view; it’s just that they see the ‘spaghetti’, and scoff.

PCB? Look. More dotted lines? Ratnest lines. That’s all.

Where did all the spaghetti come from?

So, if you see articles discouraging Fritzing, think again. They (the articles) are just pointless rants about how bad Fritzing is, et cetera.) Maybe after reading this article, you might have changed your mind.

But…

Engineers! I hear you!

I get it. You’ve been building schematics for decades. You know op-amp curves like your own signature. You want standards, clarity, and simulation. But remember this:

Your first circuit probably didn’t look great either.

Everyone starts somewhere. And if Fritzing helps even one more person make the leap from “copying tutorials” to “designing their own boards,” I’m all for it.