I’m an engineer in pcb field. I want to find a suitable pcb manufacturer. The quality should be good and the price cannot be expensive. These days, I have been doing one thing--find pcb websites who offer online quote service and send email to them for quote, in order to compare which online quote system is easy to use, which pcb manufacturer has competitive prices and test the quality by placing an order.

I have tested 5 pcb manufacturers websites: eurocircuits, epectec, allpcb, 4pcb, sunstone. The followings are the details of review for every pcb website.

 1. www.eurocircuits.com

When I sent an email to eurocircuits for quote, I received an email, asking me to register as following:

So I registered an account there. But eurocircuits refused to give me the price offers.

 2. www.epectec.com

I sent email to epectec for quote on March 08, but until now, I still don’t get any reply. That's a pity.

If I want to have an online quote, I have to register for an account.  They can be contacted only by email and phone.

3. www.allpcb.com

If you want an instant online quote, there is no registration needed in allpcb.com. That’s what I like. And I find one interesting thing, when I enter some specifications on the left, there will be many pcb manufacturers appearing in the middle. You can compare the different manufacturers by the price, lead time and other information. And after I choose my country, the shipping fee turns out on the right. Easy, Clear and Convenient! The lead time seems good.

It was at late night on Saturday of China’ time, when I sent email to ALLPCB for quote. I had no expectation for a quick reply. But it was surprising that a man called Kevin replied my email in short time. Then we chatted on Olark - online customer service of ALLPCB. He was very helpful and very nice. He told me, ALLPCB services 24/7/365, in order to bring customers much convenient considering time difference. Nice job!

4. www.4pcb.com

You can’t get an instant online quote until you register a 4pcb account. Personally speaking, this page is a little complicated.  After finally entering all the required parameters in their quote system, I find that I have to read a lot until I find the price. The total price is not clearly displayed. I need to calculate the total price by myself.

The custom quote is quick in workdays and the lead time is acceptable.

I guess they don’t work on weekends, because I sent an email for quote on Sunday and didn’t get a reply until Monday. They could be contacted only by email or phone. If there is an instant online customer service, it will be much better. I believe, there are still many people who have the same idea.

5. www.sunstone.com

When I used their online quote system, the network was very very slow, which didn’t happen in the above websites. Such an experience was not pleasant. L After trying for several times, finally I gave up using their system.

So I sent the files for quote directly to their email. Still waiting for the price offers.

There was a “LIVE SUPPORT” button, I thought it was instant online customer service, but disappointingly not. They could be contacted also only by email or phone.

Here are the 5 specifications for my 5 PCB boards.

Then comes the most important part – price and lead time. 

Because I cannot get the custom prices form the other 3 pcb manufacturers, only the prices from allpcb and 4pcb are available. The price at allpcb.com is really cheap compared with 4pcb. I’m a little worried about the quality. Fortunately there is a special offer at allpcb.com, which costs only $5 for <100x100cm 2 layers pcb prototype, which allowed me to test its quality within a little budget.

I received the pcb boards 3 days later. Fast delivery! The green soldermask is even and the silkscreen is clear. The surface is also well finished. Overall I’m satisfied with the quality. Everything went really smoothly. Quick response and fast shipping. I will definitly place more orders at allpcb.com in the future.

Here are some photos for reference.