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Software[/size]
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ExpressPCB[/size]
Ease of use: Probably the easiest to learn software you'll ever find. It's not the most powerful by any stretch of the imagination, but it sufficed for the PPA. Nuff said?
Price: Free. Hard to argue against that.
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Eagle[/size]
Ease of use: Not nearly as straightforward as ExpressPCB, and the difficulties are not solely due to the fact that it has more features. It's just plain not as easy to use.
For instance, making new components is much harder. Also, to send the board file to someone else you have to send your components separately. With ExpressPCB, a copy of the components goes as part of the file. The advantage of the Eagle method is that you can change all the parts of a type on the board by editing the library. Because each instance of a part is embedded into the document with ExpressPCB, you have to manually cut-and-paste replace all of the parts to change them.
Another example is the command line: Eagle has one, ExpressPCB does not. A command line gives you a lot of power and lets you work much faster when you're used to it, but it's a big learning hurdle to get over. ExpressPCB puts everything on menus or makes you double-click and get a dialog box to change anything. It's easier to learn the program that way, but there's a lot of fixed UI navigation overhead that you can't get around once you no longer need the UI.
jeffreyj mentioned that many board houses will accept Eagle files. To the extent that it is true, it does make it an easier package to use than other standard CAD packages. But, I've had a couple of instances where the board house would screw something up if I didn't send them Gerbers. So, I no longer send Eagle files to board houses. I make Gerbers and check them locally before sending them off to be sure it's done right. By contrast, with ExpressPCB it's as close to WYSIWYG as PCB manufacturing will ever get. There are some differences in real life vs. what you saw on the screen, but they're consistent enough variances that you can plan for them.
Price: A stripped-down version of the software is available for free, with better versions for a fee. It ranges from relatively inexpensive to fairly spendy. As CAD software goes, though, it's still not too expensive. About the same price range as the professional Proteus line.
Board prices depend on where you get your boards. A very wide range here, mainly depending on quality and where the boards are manufactured.
Features: Eagle is capable of producing much more finely-tuned board layouts than ExpressPCB. You have infinite choices of hole, trace and pad sizes, you can get multi-layer versions of the software, it's reasonable to work down at very small scales, it can do copper pours and other advanced features, etc. Using all those features can limit your choices of board houses, but you'll still have choices, something you can't say for ExpressPCB.
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PCB123[/size]
I won't say much about this, but it's clear they're an ExpressPCB wannabe without the chops to back it up. Their software is difficult to use without being powerful. Until these guys improve dramatically, stay away. Since they've been making a lackluster release every several months, I don't think you should hold your breath. I can see these guys quietly slipping beneath the waves of oblivion.
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Board Houses[/size]
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ExpressPCB[/size]
Ease of use: You can get price quotes and order from within the CAD program. I don't see how anyone could make this process easier. Slick, slick, slick.
Price: Reasonable, for a US-based board house, especially if you can use their Miniboard service. For other short runs, it's probably less expensive to go elsewhere, but there's still the convenience factor of being able to quote boards and order directly from within the software. For large runs, it's definitely better to go elsewhere. Take into account the lock-in factor: once you do your protos in ExpressPCB, there's a tremendous temptation to do production runs in it, too. With other packages, you can move to another board house easily.
Quality: Good. Not the best I've ever seen, but far from the worst.
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Advanced Circuits[/size]
Ease of use: Their FreeDFM tool is great, and they have online quoting. The ordering process is smooth, though not as slick as ExpressPCB's. They have real humans at the other end of the line you can talk to. Indeed, after your first order, their sales droids will start calling you after each subsequent quote to ensure that they keep getting orders.
Price: Similar or worse in price to ExpressPCB for short runs, better for long runs. Also, there are big discounts on re-orders, whereas it's the same price for every run with ExpressPCB.
Quality: Excellent. I suspect they could reliably make PC motherboards if they wanted to. (6-8 layers, pad and trace pitch much smaller than ExpressPCB even allows you to think about, unplated holes, etc.)
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Olimex[/size]
Ease of use: Quotes take an email turnaround. Unless you're in Europe, this usually means a day's wait. They happen to be 8 hours away from me, which means they're ending their business day when I'm starting mine. They have enough price info on their web site that you can calculate the cost yourself, so it's not that bad, but ordering still has to go through this turnaround delay because they email you a custom order form for your project which you have to sign and fax back to them. Also, shipping from Bulgaria is either expensive or slow outside of Europe. If time is important, it can often be the same price to get the boards made in your own country just because the fast shipping is cheaper even though manufacturing costs are higher locally.
Price: Much better than Advanced Circuits, if you're willing to wait for your boards. As I said, their in an ex-Eastern Bloc country, so labor is cheap. They give a small discount on reorders.
Quality: Not as good as Advanced Circuits or ExpressPCB. Whatever they use to cut boards must be some kind of crushing or slicing tool, because it leaves rough edges. This is also probably why they can only do rectangular boards. Better board houses use high-speed automatic router-like tools to cut boards out of a panel; the edges end up cleaner, and they can do odd-shaped boards as a result. The board quality also doesn't appear as good to my eye, but it is probably serviceable. It's a good bargain for the money if slow shipping is okay with you. If you have to spend more on shipping to get it quickly, getting the boards made locally will probably get you a better product for the same money.
One quality glitch I had with Olimex is that the board outline on the boards I had them make was on the top copper layer, which is how Eagle does it. They didn't set their board size by it and erase the line, they actually printed it on the board, so now the board edges are conductive in places. This could be a problem if you didn't plan for it. Advanced Circuits hasn't given me boards like that even though they also came out of Eagle.
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CustomPCB[/size]
I saw pictures of aos's boards, and they were total crap. I'm not even talking about the invisible failures that caused him so much difficulties. The solder plating wasn't leveled, it was all very rough looking...yick. I'm not inclined to be as charitable with them. You would just have to look at the results coming out of manufacturing to know you were producing junk. They shouldn't have taken any orders at all using that process. Maybe they'd be okay if you were making boards for a tube amp with huge traces and wide spaces, but for tight work, forget about it. It's better than etching boards by hand, but only just.
