When you own one of the best Cricut machines you can unlock a new level of creativity and even develop a new business or side hustle. In my Cricut machines comparison I take a look at the main craft machines as well as the best Cricut machines for beginners and the best Cricut for making shirts. This guide will enable you to decide which machine is right for you.
In this article, I've carefully curated the best Cricut machines available today. Below I explain what each one does, and give you the information you need to choose the best model for you. We also have a guide to the best heat press machines if you just want these devices. If you need something more powerful, read our best xTools machines guide that offer blade and laser cutting.
Meanwhile if you want to learn more about Cricut, skip ahead to the section on common questions about Cricut. We have full reviews for most of the best Cricut machines on my list, so don't hesitate to read more. If you need to know more, read our guide on how we test craft machines.
The best Cricut machines available now
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The Cricut Maker 3 is similar to the older Cricut Maker (third on our list). The biggest difference is that it can cut Smart Materials; these are materials that feed directly into the machine so there's no need for a cutting mat. In practice this means you can make cuts of up to 12 ft (3.6 m) in one go.
In our Cricut Maker 3 review we found the use if Smart Materials incredibly beneficial, and once tried you really can't consider being without the option of reeling off long, unbroken rolls of cut craft projects.
The Cricut Maker 3 is also twice as fast as the Cricut Maker when working with Smart Materials. On top of that, you get two extra accessories in the form of a larger portable trimmer and a roll holder, which can help you feed your Smart Materials into the machine. So while it's quite a bit more expensive than the Cricut Maker, if you're working on big craft projects the extra cost will be well worth it.
The Cricut Explore 3 is the recently released successor to the Cricut Explore Air 2. The main difference between them is that the Cricut Explore 3 allows you to work with Smart Materials, Cricut's new materials mean you can cut projects without the need for a cutting mat. You also get a larger portable trimmer and a roll holder. This means that, like with the Cricut Maker 3 (number one on our list), you can make cuts up to 12 ft (3.6 m) long in one go.
The main advantage Cricut Explore 3 has over the Cricut Maker 3 model is that it's cheaper. So if you want to use Smart Materials but you don't need professional features, this is the best Cricut machine for your needs.
There are some caveats, as we found in our Cricut Explore 3 review. First the Cricut Explore 3 cuts 100 materials, while the Cricut Maker 3 and its older model, the Cricut Maker, can cut 300 materials. Also, for design fans the Cricut Explore 3 only comes in mint green, but expect more colours to come.
All in all, the Cricut Explore 3 is the ideal middle machine in Cricut's craft line-up. It can cut enough materials to be competitive while also supporting Smart Materials, which the older Cricut Maker doesn't support. And it's cheaper. The Cricut Explore 3 is a worthy number 2.
In general, the Cricut Maker is the best cutting machine from Cricut for most people as we discovered in our in-depth Cricut Maker review. The exception is if you want to work with smart materials, in which case skip to back to the top machine on our list, the newer Cricut Maker 3. Otherwise, if you’re looking for the best Cricut machine for vinyl, the best Cricut machine for fabric, or indeed the best Cricut machine for most purposes, this is the one for you.
The Cricut Maker enables you to precision-cut more than 300 materials, including everything from delicate fabric and paper to tough materials such as matboard and leather. You get 13 tools that allow you to cut, score, write, deboss, engrave, or add other decorative effects with precision. These include a rotary blade for cutting fabrics, a knife blade for thicker materials of up to 2.4mm, scoring wheels to create creases and folds, and a foil transfer tool for foil embellishments.
As Cricut now has the newer Maker 3 model it's easy to pick up some excellent deals on the original Maker – generally you can find offers for around 15% off a Cricut Maker (opens in new tab), and the machine comes in a new Rose colour.
New to machine cutting? Then we recommend the Cricut Explore Air 2. It’s not quite as versatile and powerful as the first two Cricut machines on our list. But for a newbie, that's a good thing, as it makes the software easier to follow. And it still offers pretty much all the features that a beginner will want.
To get specific, the Cricut Explore Air 2 will cut more than 100 different types of material, including premium vinyl, iron-on and HTV vinyl, cardstock, faux leather, adhesive foils, specialty paper and poster board, and you get five tools for cutting, writing and scoring.
This is a great choice for home-based, small-scale craft projects, such as making custom stickers, greeting cards, personalised decor and bespoke gifts. So while it's not suitable for commercial cutting, it’s the best Cricut machine for anyone at the start of their Cricut journey.
Want to craft on your travels? Then your best bet is the Cricut Joy, which is beautifully compact and portable. With diminutive dimesions of 21.4 x 13.8 x 10.8cm, it’s significantly smaller than other models, and with a light weight of 1.75kg, it’s easy to store and carry from place to place. This makes it the ideal choice for smaller crafting tasks.
In our Cricut Joy review we found this smaller, portable craft cutting machine was ideal for making cards, stickers and vinyl heat ink transfers – the kind that are pressed onto bags and shirts. It works incredibly well and designed primarily for creating home made card projects, which we found we easily used from within the new Cricut Joy mobile app.
That said, the Cricut Joy is still capable of bigger things. In fact, you can use the Cricut Joy for continuous cuts without a cutting mat, up to 20 feet long and four inches wide. More generally, it can be used to cut over 50 types of material, including iron-on, cardstock, vinyl, paper, and smart materials. Note, though, that while you can connect this machine to your computer via Bluetooth, it doesn't have a USB connection (unlike the devices listed so far).
Cricut machines aren’t all about cutting; you can also get iron-on machines for printing custom-designed T-shirts, tote bags, pillows, aprons, sweatshirts, banners, blankets and more. Our pick of these is the Cricut EasyPress 2, which lets you transfer Iron-On or HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) designs to any piece of fabric.
In our Cricut EasyPress 2 review we found this device easy to use, with an online guide explaining the ideal heat settings to use for different projects. Once you’ve programmed your settings, you apply the plate to your materials for the suggested amount of time, and there's a timer to help you stick to this.
The base plate of the EasyPress provides a consistent heat, making it better than an ordinary iron, where the core of the plate is typically hotter than other parts. It also boasts a larger surface area than a normal iron, making it easier to adhere the whole design in one go.
The Cricut EasyPress 2 machine comes in two sizes. The 9 x 9 inch (22.5 x 22.5cm) model is best for standard items, while the 12 x 10-inch (30 x 25cm) model is better for larger items. For items that are smaller than 9 x 9 inches, meanwhile, you're best off with the Cricut EasyPress Mini (see below).
The best Cricut machine for printing onto smaller items, such as hats, caps, socks, shoes, headbands or small bags, is Cricut EasyPress Mini – which now comes in Zen Blue as well as Rasberry. This 50W device works in a similar way to the Cricut EasyPress 2 (number 6 on our list), but has a tiny ceramic heat plate (4.8 x 8.2cm) that's easier to use on small or challenging surfaces. It's particularly good for curving around contours, working between buttons, and navigating seams.
As you'd expect, the Cricut EasyPress Mini is nice and compact, measuring just 10 x 8.5 x 5.3cm and weighing just 0.35kg. This makes it very easy to store and transport, so it's a great option for travel too.
The joy of using the Cricut EasyPress MIni goes beyond heat transfers. In our Cricut EasyPress Mini review we used the tiny heat press for a number of sewing and quilting projects and found its design, size and ease of use was unrivalled. If you're a sewer and need to have an iron to hand to flatten material and seams this neat little device can sit comfortably next to your machine.
As the name suggests, the Cricut Mug Press is the best Cricut machine for making custom mugs. It allows you to print your designs onto blank mugs, and couldn’t be easier to use. In fact, it has just one single button.
As we discovered in our Cricut Mug Press review, be aware that this gadget won't do much on its own. You’ll also need a Cricut cutting machine to cut out your transfer, which needs to be on a Cricut Infusible Ink sheet (you can’t use normal vinyl). The main Maker series or Explore series are best, and while the Cricut Joy can be used its size means you can only create designs for the smaller stacking mugs.
Once you’ve done that, you wrap your transfer around your mug, put it in the machine, press the button and the Cricut Mug Press does the rest. While that's all it does, it works well in practice, creating professional-looking results that stand the test of time, and which are fully microwave and dishwasher-proof.
Cricut's latest heat press machine is the Cricut Autopress, and it's a large and powerful device that delivers consistent and commercial-quality results. The Autopress may look hard to use but like all Cricut machines it's been designed with everyone in mind, for example the device auto-detects material width and adjusts and the lid can be closed easily with two fingers.
The large pan size ensures you this heat press machine is perfect for those larger design projects, such as creating t-shirts, quilts or even replicating paintings onto wooden frames and blocks. The programmable Control Pod means you can set multiple timings and temperatures for your projects, in use this is a fantastic time-saver.
The Cricut Autopress is quite bulky but will sit on the average kitchen worktop or large craft table. It's simple to use and offers consistent results across its even heat plate. If you're planning more commercial craft projects, this is a great addition to your Cricut toolset – read more in our detailed look, 'Cricut Autopress: everything explained'.
The Cricut Hat Press follows on from the Cricut EasyPress Mini as one of the manufacturer's small but useful devices. While the EasyPress Mini can be used for a number of projects the Hat Press, as its name suggests, is designed exclusively for creating designs on hats and caps.
The device has a unique curved heat plate that matches perfectly the dimensions of canvas caps loved by sports fans. It automatically heats to the required temperatures and using the Hat Pressing Form template that comes with the gadget you can easily press on your designs.
The Cricut Hat Press may be a one-use device but for many its a great one-use. If you're keen to expand your crafting to include commercial quality hat and cap designs then this is a good option.
Common questions about Cricut
What does a Cricut machine do?
Cricut is an American brand of automated cutting machines for home crafters. They are typically used for cutting materials paper, felt, vinyl, fabric, leather, matboard, and wood, using pre-programmed designs. You use Cricut's proprietary software, Design Space, to prepare your designs on a computer or phone. Then you feed your material into the machine, and it will cut out your design automatically. Cricut also makes machines for pressing custom designs onto clothing, mugs and other items.
Do you need a computer to use a Cricut machine?
You need either a PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet to use a Cricut machine. That's because you need to prepare your designs on Cricut's own app, Design Space.
If you're using an iPhone or iPad, you can down the Cricut Design Space app from the Apple App Store (opens in new tab). If you're using an Android phone or tablet, you can find the Design Space app in the Google Play Store. A new Cricut mobile app is available for Cricut Joy users, too.
Can I use a Chromebook with a Cricut?
Yes, you can now. For a long time Cricut's and Chromebook laptops really didn't get along but now you can download Cricut Design Space from the Google Store and it works fine. From our use, it's still not quite as stable as the Windows version but it exists and is worth looking into. This is particularly good if you have a touchscreen Chromebook with a stylus, as it turns your laptop into a design studio.
Can I use other software with a Cricut?
You need to put everything through Cricut's bespoke designs software, Design Space. But you can import projects from other software into Design Space. This is great as you may find the free projects limiting and the tools to design your own not as deep as apps such as CorelDRAW. For a full list of the best software for Cricut, read our guide.
How do I choose a Cricut machine?
What should you be looking for when choosing the best Cricut machine for you? Well, if you're after a cutting machine, the most obvious factor to consider is the types of materials you want to cut.
The more expensive Cricut models are capable of cutting a huge variety of materials: the first two on our list, for example, can each tackle more than 300 materials. However, if you just want to cut a few simple light materials, such as paper, card and felt, you may not need all that, and you may prefer a lighter, cheaper model.
Some Cricut machines are also capable of cutting smart materials. These are special materials you can cut without a cutting mat. This means you can load large pieces into your machine and cut them in one go, which is useful for big projects. Smart materials include Smart Vinyl, Smart Iron-On, Smart Label Writable Paper, and Smart Label Writable Vinyl.
If you have no need for cutting, and instead want to print custom designs onto items, take a look at numbers 6, 7 and 8 on our list above. These are the best Cricut machines for this purpose.
How do you pronounce Cricut?
Many people see the word 'Cricut' and pronounce it "cry cut". However, the correct pronunciation is using a weak 'i', like in 'cricket'. The company have even featured a cricket in many of its logos to ram the point home. That's unlikely to stop people pronouncing it wrongly, of course, as other brands like Nike, Adidas and Sony have historically found. But at least you know, and you can now correct other people and look smart.
Which materials can I cut with a Cricut Maker machine?
The Cricut Maker allows you to precision-cut more than 300 materials. These include everything from delicate fabric and paper to tough materials such as denim, matboard and leather. And you've covered for virtually everything in between too, including metallic poster board, neoprene, oil cloth, bonded polyester, quilt batting, bonded silk, velour and washi sheet. For a full list of materials you can cut with a Cricut Maker, see this help page (opens in new tab).
Are there alternatives to Cricut?
Yes, there are two main rivals to Cricut's craft machines. First there's Silhouette, a US company that produces machines that match up to Cricut in most categories. Take a look at our guide to the best Silhouette machines for more details. Secondly, sewing machine manufacturer Brother has a range of machines called ScanNCut; these differ in that they include a built-in scanner and CPU, so there's no need for a laptop (design, scan and cut directly in the craft machine). Read our Brother ScanNCut SDX2200D review for more info.
Is Cricut difficult to use?
No, the success of Cricut's best craft machines comes from their ease of use and accessible approach to craft cutting. The free Design Space app makes creating new projects simple, or you can download and use pre-made patterns and designs. Generally the machine, whether it's the high-end Cricut Maker 3 or the entry-level Cricut Explore 3 or Cricut Joy will automate a lot of the cutting process.
Can you make money from Cricut?
Yes, this is the whole point! Cricut machines offer professional, quality crafting from the home. Using a Cricut means you can create projects good enough to sell on marketplaces and in craft stores. More so, you can create and offer patterns and designs for sale inside Cricut's Design Space. If you end to learn more about selling your crafts, take a look at our guide to how to sell on Etsy.
Read more:
- The best Chromebooks for Cricut
- These are the best laptop for Cricut makers
- Cricut vs Silhouette: which is best for you?
