Zen Circuit Lab vs Tinkercad Circuits
Tinkercad Circuits is the gentlest start: blocks, a friendly breadboard view and a teacher's classroom. Zen Circuit Lab is for the step after that: real parts with real limits, power systems, and building the thing for real.
Facts about Tinkercad Circuits are from its public pages and documentation at the time of writing; tell us if something is out of date. Nothing here is a ranking: the two tools are for different jobs.
Side by side
| Zen Circuit Lab | Tinkercad Circuits | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no account needed (an account only keeps progress across devices) | Free with an Autodesk account |
| Runs on | Browser, desktop or laptop; lessons work on a phone | Browser |
| Simulation | Electrical solver (modified nodal analysis) for analog and digital: every voltage and current, parts that heat, trip and burn | Analog and digital simulation with a schematic and a breadboard view |
| View | 2D bench with a schematic view; 3D view of the bench, breadboard and perfboard | 2D breadboard view with realistic part drawings, plus a schematic view |
| Breadboard | Yes | Yes |
| Parts | 293 parts modelled on real products, each with a datasheet card | A few dozen basic parts: resistors, LEDs, capacitors, transistors, 555, op-amps, motors, sensors |
| Microcontrollers | ESP32 (WROOM, S3), Arduino Uno and Nano, Raspberry Pi Pico 2, LILYGO T-SIM: Arduino C++ sketches run by the lab's own compiler (not cycle-accurate firmware) | Arduino Uno, micro:bit, ATtiny, in blocks or text code |
| Analog solver | Yes | Yes |
| Solar | Panels, PWM and MPPT controllers modelled on EPEVER, Renogy and Victron, inverters | No |
| Batteries and BMS | Cells and packs with real capacity and curves; BMS boards modelled on real products | Batteries as ideal voltage sources |
| Instruments | Multimeter, clamp meter, oscilloscope, function generator, LCR meter, electronic load, logic analyser | Multimeter, oscilloscope, function generator, power supply |
| Perfboard and PCB | Perfboard and PCB layout and routing, run on the same solver | No |
| House wiring | House wiring with breakers, RCD, outlets, appliances | No |
| Learning | 193 lessons, 7 courses, 66 guided builds with test sheets | Starter circuits and classroom features for teachers |
| Sharing and import | Share links; import Falstad, Wokwi and SPICE; export SPICE | Share links and classes |
| Source | Not open source | Not open source |
Where Tinkercad Circuits is better
- A large community and years of classroom use; teachers' tools for managing a class.
- Block-based coding for beginners who have not written code before.
- Part drawings that look like the real thing on the breadboard view.
Where Zen Circuit Lab is better
- Parts that behave like the products they are named after, with limits and failures: a battery with capacity and a BMS, a charge controller, a breaker that trips.
- Solar, batteries, house wiring, PCB and perfboard: the subjects Tinkercad does not cover.
- ESP32 and Pico boards, and lessons and courses that go past the first blink.
Open Zen Circuit LabFree, in your browser, no account needed.