LogicWorks alternative: digital logic in your browser
LogicWorks is an interactive circuit design tool for teaching and learning digital logic, from Capilano Computing Systems of North Vancouver, Canada. Its best-known version, LogicWorks 5, was published by Pearson Education (copyright 2003, ISBN 9780131456587) and used alongside digital logic textbooks in university courses; reviewers note its VHDL support. Listings describe it running on Windows 2000, XP and NT 4.0, while the earlier LogicWorks 4.5 also ran on Mac OS 9 and OS X without VHDL. We could not find a current official product page: Capilano's site was a hosting placeholder when we checked. If your course still mentions LogicWorks, or you cannot run a 2003 Windows program, digiwleea is a free alternative that runs in any browser.
What LogicWorks was good at
It made digital logic interactive and came with the textbook, so students could draw and simulate the circuits from their reading, and several university courses built their labs around it. (digiwleea is an independent project, not affiliated with Capilano Computing or Pearson.)
How digiwleea is different
digiwleea runs in any modern browser, including Chromebooks, Macs and phones, with nothing to install, and is actively maintained. You draw circuits and watch every wire live, see a clocked circuit's signals over time in a waveform view, and check any circuit's truth table in one click. It goes one level deeper than LogicWorks' ready-made gates: you build NOT and NAND from CMOS transistors, then adders, latches, registers, RAM and an 8-bit CPU that runs a stored program, plus the assembly language behind it, through a 40+ level course with an AI tutor (Wleea). It exports circuits to VHDL and Verilog and imports a combinational subset of VHDL, but it does not simulate VHDL code.
| LogicWorks | digiwleea | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows (LogicWorks 5); Mac OS 9 and OS X (4.5) | Any modern browser, nothing to install |
| Latest version we could find | LogicWorks 5, 2003 | Updated continuously |
| Starting point | Ready-made logic parts | CMOS transistors, and every gate you build from them |
| HDL | VHDL (LogicWorks 5) | Exports VHDL and Verilog; imports a combinational VHDL subset |
No sign-up is needed to start: open the lab and place your first transistor, or read the free theory course. The account (and the AI tutor) are optional.
More comparisons: Logic simulators
See for yourself: build a logic gate from transistors in the simulator, then follow the path from sand to an 8-bit CPU.
Open the digiwleea lab →Frequently asked
Is LogicWorks still available?
LogicWorks 5 dates from 2003 and was sold through Pearson with textbooks. We could not find a current official product page, and Capilano Computing's site was a placeholder when we checked, so copies are mostly second-hand.
Does LogicWorks run on Windows 10, 11 or a Mac?
LogicWorks 5 was made for Windows 2000, XP and NT 4.0, and the older LogicWorks 4.5 for Mac OS 9 and OS X. Running it today on modern systems is not guaranteed. A browser-based simulator avoids the problem.
What is a good free alternative to LogicWorks?
digiwleea is a free browser logic simulator with a guided course; CircuitVerse and Logisim are free logic simulators widely used in courses.