Before You Fab

Pricing

Free to check. Pay when you want a person to read it.

One-time prices, no subscription. Start with the free report in your browser; each paid option includes everything in the one before it.

Fab-order check

$49one time
2 business days

A person goes through your free report and the things software cannot see, then tells you in writing: order it, or fix these first.

  • Every finding in your report confirmed or dismissed by hand
  • BOM checked against JLCPCB’s parts library today: in stock, active, Basic or Extended
  • Pin-1 and polarity rotation checked for every polarised part in JLCPCB’s placement preview
  • Footprints that did not come with KiCad compared with the datasheet land pattern
  • One-page sign-off list: order it, or the exact fixes first

Good for: You are about to place an assembled-board order and want one more pair of eyes on the files you are uploading.
Limits: Reads the fab files and the schematic only as far as they affect the order. Not a design review.

Request a Fab-order check

Schematic Check

$149one time
3 business days

Your schematic read against the datasheets, part by part, before you spend a day on layout.

  • Everything in the Fab-order check
  • Each IC’s pins, power, straps and decoupling against its datasheet (up to about 60 parts)
  • Regulator, protection and interface choices questioned where they look wrong
  • Written findings ranked by what will stop the board working
  • One follow-up round on your fixes

Good for: The schematic is done, layout has not started or is early.
Limits: Up to about 60 parts. Larger boards: ask first.

Request a Schematic Check

Full Review

$299one time
4 business days

Schematic, layout and the fab package, reviewed together, ending in the same sign-off.

  • Everything in the Schematic Check
  • Layout read for the things that kill first boards: power paths, decoupling loops, return paths, antenna and thermal copper
  • Fab package check: Gerber/drill/BOM/CPL as JLCPCB will receive them
  • Written findings plus a marked-up list of exact fixes
  • One follow-up round on your fixes

Good for: You want the whole board looked at once before the first order.
Limits: Two-layer to four-layer boards without RF or high-speed design. Ask first for anything faster than USB 2.0 or with a radio of your own design.

Request a Full Review

Free: the checker

38 checks in your browser. No account, no upload, no limit. Check a board.

Free: open-source boards

I review a public KiCad repo by hand and publish the report as a sample, with your permission. You get the review free. How it works.

What each option includes

Free checkFab-order check $49Schematic Check $149Full Review $299
Rules and files checked in your browserYesYesYesYes
Every finding confirmed or dismissed by hand–YesYesYes
BOM against JLCPCB parts library today–YesYesYes
Polarity and pin-1 rotation checked–YesYesYes
Custom footprints against the datasheet–YesYesYes
ICs checked pin by pin against datasheets––YesYes
Layout reviewed–––Yes
One follow-up round on your fixes––YesYes
TurnaroundInstant2 business days3 business days4 business days

How a request works

1

Send the board

Tell me what you are about to order and send a link to the project (a GitHub repo, a shared folder), or just say you will send files. No files are uploaded on this site.

2

I reply by email

I confirm the scope and the price, and tell you how to send the files. You pay with a Stripe payment link before I start.

3

You get it in writing

A short report: what I checked, what I found ranked by what will stop the order, and a clear order-it or fix-these-first line.

What this is not

  • Not a guarantee that your board works. A review lowers the odds of a bad order; it cannot remove them.
  • Not a substitute for your own bring-up plan or for testing the first boards.
  • Not for radio or high-speed design beyond what is listed under each option’s limits.

Questions

What does the $49 check cover that the free one cannot?

The free report ends with a list called “Still needs a person”. That list is the product. On your board it covers: BOM parts against JLCPCB’s live parts library (stock, lifecycle, Basic or Extended fee), pin-1 and polarity rotation for every polarised part, footprints that did not ship with KiCad against the datasheet land pattern, and every free finding confirmed or dismissed by hand. You get a one-page order-it-or-fix-these-first note.

What if you find nothing?

Then I say so, and what I checked. A review lowers risk; it does not guarantee a working board. If it tells you nothing you did not already know, you get your money back.

Send me your board