Compare Cricut Machines

Cricut Machine Comparison Guide

If you’re looking to get started in Cricut but you don’t know which machine to get started with, look no further! Find out the features and benefits of the Cricut Joy, Cricut Explore and Cricut Maker machines by comparing what each one has to offer. In no time at all, you’ll discover the digital cutting projects you can achieve with the Cricut collection.

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Perfect for	Popular projects such as custom stickers, labels, T-shirts etc.	Quick, everyday, fun projects	A wide range of DIY hobbies	Pro-level DIY performance & versatility
Material compatibility	50+ materials Including vinyl, iron-on, cardstock, peel-and-stick label paper and more	50+ materials Including vinyl, iron-on, cardstock, peel-and-stick label paper and more	100+ materials Including craft favourites like cardstock, vinyl and iron-on, as well as more specialty materials like vellum, cork and bonded fabric	300+ materials Everything Cricut Explore cuts, plus fabric, leather, balsa wood & more - materials up to 2.4mm
Smart material compatibility	Yes	Yes 5.5in wide, up to 20ft long	Yes 13in wide, up to 75ft long	Yes 13in wide, up to 75ft long
Max material width (With a mat)	8.5in / 21.5cm	4.25in / 10.7cm	11.5in / 29.2cm	11.5in / 29.2cm
Max cut length	4ft / 1.2m	4ft / 1.2m	12ft/ 3.6m With Smart Materials	12ft/ 3.6m With Smart Materials
Tools	3 Cricut Joy Blade Cricut Joy Foil Transfer Tool Cricut Joy Pens & Markers	3 Cricut Joy Blade Cricut Joy Foil Transfer Tool Cricut Joy Pens & Markers	3 Fine-Point Blade Deep-Point Blade Pens & Markers Scoring Stylus Foil Transfer Tool Bonded-Fabric Tool	13 Fine-Point Blade Deep-Point Blade Pens & Markers Scoring Stylus Foil Transfer tool Bonded-Fabric Tool Rotary Blade Knife Blade Scoring Wheels (Single & Double) Engraving Tool Debossing Tool Wavy Blade Perforation Blade
Product size W x D x H	12.5 x 6 x 5.5 in 31.7cm x 15.2cm x 13.9cm	8 x 5.4 x 4.3 in 20.3cm x 13.7 x 10.9cm	22.2 x 7 x 5.9 in 56.4cm x 17.8 x 15.0cm	22.1 x 7.1 x 6.2 in 56.1cm x 18.0cm x 15.7cm
Product weight	5.9lb / 2.7kg	3.7lb / 1.7kg	11 lb / 5kg	15.4lb / 7kg
Print Then Cut	Yes	No	Yes Max image size: 6.75 x 9.25in	Yes Max image size: 6.75 x 9.25in
Built-in mobile device stand	No	No	Yes	Yes
Compatible with roll holder	No	No	Yes	Yes
Free Software	Works with free mobile app as well as Cricut Design Space	Works with free mobile app as well as Cricut Design Space	Cricut Design Space	Cricut Design Space
Connectivity	Bluetooth® only Internet connection required	Bluetooth® only Internet connection required	Bluetooth® & USB Internet connection required	Bluetooth® & USB Internet connection required
Included in the box Checkout our bundles to get more with your machine!	Blade and housing, fine point pen (black, 0.4mm), Cricut Mini Weeder, welcome card, power adapter, free trial membership to Cricut Access (for new subscribers), 50 ready-to-make projects online and materials for a practice cut	Blade and housing, fine point pen (black, 0.4mm), StandardGrip mat (4.5 x 6.5 inches), welcome card, power adapter, free trial membership to Cricut Access (for new subscribers), 50 ready-to-make projects online and materials for a practice cut	Premium fine-point blade and blade housing (pre-installed), accessory adapter (pre-installed), quick start guide, USB cable, power adapter and power cord and material for test cut	Premium fine-point blade and blade housing (pre-installed), accessory adapter (pre-installed), quick start guide, USB cable, power adapter and power cord and material for test cut

General Q&A

See machine specific Q&As below!

Blade replacement depends on how much you use your Cricut machine and which materials you choose. They are designed to last well, but replacement blades are easily available for when you do require a new one. To get the most out of your blades, ensure you use the correct blade, housing and machine settings for your material.
All blades require a specific housing, colour coded for easy pairing. If you already have the correct housing for your blade and are simply replacing the blade, you will only need to replace the blade itself. If you are purchasing a new blade, you will need to buy the matching housing. This excludes the Quickswap range, which is interchangeable.

Cricut Design Space is free, cloud-based software that is used in conjunction with your Cricut machine. It is available for download on iOS and Android devices, as well as desktops and laptops. An internet connection is required to use Design Space.
Within Design Space, there are thousands of images and projects that can be used to create your own projects, and you can also upload your own designs. It is free to use a selection of images available in Design Space and to create your own designs. Toaccess unlimited use of the full library of designs, there is a £7.49 subscription.
On first logging into Design Space, you will be taken on a tour and shown how to create your first project. However, if you need further help, there are lots of tutorials on the Cricut YouTube channel that take you through Design Space’s many capabilities.
Projects that are created in Design Space can be saved to the Cloud so that they can be accessed anywhere you are (as long as you have an internet connection). Alternatively, you can save projects to the device you are creating them on, though you will not be able to access these on any other device.

Design Space is free to use for your own designs. You can also access a selection of free designs in the library.
For unlimited use of the Cricut library on Design Space, there is a subscription for £7.49 a month. You can also purchase per image if you wish to access a particular design.

If you wish to create iron-on transfers to customise your t-shirts with motifs and more, both the Cricut Explore Air 2 and the Cricut Maker will achieve incredible results. If you wish to design personalised t-shirts with applique fabric details, use the Maker to cut designs into fabrics including cotton, fleece, denim, heavy leather and more.

Cricut Joy Q&A

Cricut Joy is a more compact, portable alternative to the Cricut Explore and Maker machines. Designed for smaller, everyday projects, the cutting width is 4 inches.

The only blade that can be used with the Cricut Joy is the Cricut Joy Blade, an all-purpose blade included with the machine. It also comes with blade housing. This machine is not compatible with Cricut QuickSwap blades, or any other Cricut blades.
The Cricut Joy Blade is easily available for when you require a replacement blade. Blade replacement depends on how much you use your Cricut machine and which materials you choose.

The Cricut Joy cuts materials up to 4 inches wide and 4 feet long, or repeated cuts up to 20 feet long. There are a huge range of materials that can be used with the machine, including adhesive foil, deluxe paper, chalkboard vinyl, sticker paper, corrugated cardboard, copy paper, iron-on, paper thin faux leather, flat cardboard, foil paper, glitter cardstock, heavy cardstock, sparkle vinyl, Infusible Ink transfer sheets, cardstock, vinyl, Smart Vinyl, Smart Iron-On, window cling.

Cricut Explore 3 Q&A

The Explore 3 is ideal for crafters who wish to make their papercraft projects more intricate, as well as for creating personalised vinyl and iron-on designs. The Cricut Maker comes with an additional rotary blade for working with fabric-based projects, as well as for working with heavier and thicker materials. The Maker features all of the functionality of the Explore 3, with a more powerful cutting system.

The Cricut Explore 3 cuts a wide range of materials, provided it is less than 2mm thick. This includes paper, vinyl, iron-on, cardstock, fabric, poster board, foil, burlap, canvas, sticker paper, craft foam, cork, duct tape sheets, thin faux leather, felt, flat cardboard, light chipboard, glitter paper, parchment paper, washi sheets, wrapping paper, wax paper, vellum and window cling.

Cricut Maker 3 Q&A

Yes, Design Space is exactly the same for the Cricut Maker as for previous machine models. Use the same URL (https://design.cricut.com) to download it and the same Cricut ID to sign in.
However, Design Space will adjust available options – such as tools, material cut settings and materialload options – based on your machine selection.

The Cricut Maker cuts a wide range of materials provided that it is less than 2.4mm thick. The materials it cuts include leather, acetate, foil, balsa, bamboo fabric, basswood, boucle, broadcloth, burlap, calico, canvas, cardstock, cashmere, Chantilly lace, chiffon, duct tape sheets, copy paper, corrugated cardboard, cotton, craft foam, crepe paper, delicate fabrics like tulle, double knit, denim, EVA foam, faux fur, faux suede, felt, flannel, flat cardboard, flocked paper, iron-on, poster board, gauze, glitter cardstock, vinyl, gossamer, heavy chipboard, jersey, Kevlar, linen, Lycra, magnetic sheets, matboard, mesh, nylon, parchment paper, poster board, rice paper, satin silk, suede, tissue paper, tweed, vellum, velour, washi sheets, wax paper, wrapping paper and window cling.

Cricut Machine Comparison Guide

Perfect for

Material compatibility

Smart material compatibility

Max material width

Max cut length

Tools

Product size

Product weight

Print Then Cut

Built-in mobile device stand

Compatible with roll holder

Free Software

Connectivity

Included in the box

General Q&A

Design Space is free to use for your own designs. You can also access a selection of free designs in the library.
For unlimited use of the Cricut library on Design Space, there is a subscription for £7.49 a month. You can also purchase per image if you wish to access a particular design.

Cricut Vinyl will stick to most smooth surfaces, including walls, glass, ceramic.

These clever crafting materials work without a cutting mat, so you can just load the material directly into your Cricut Maker 3 or Cricut Explore 3 machine and go. Smart Materials come in a variety of material types, including Smart Vinyl, Smart Iron-On and Smart Paper Sticker Cardstock.

Yes, we accept PayPal Credit for all purchases over £150. You can apply online at the PayPal website and get an immediate decision. Read the PayPal Credit FAQs to find out more.

Cricut Joy Q&A

Cricut Joy is a more compact, portable alternative to the Cricut Explore and Maker machines. Designed for smaller, everyday projects, the cutting width is 4 inches.

Cricut Explore 3 Q&A

Yes, the cartridges can be used with all Cricut machines. You can still use the content of the physical cartridges through Design Space. It's easy to link your account through Design Space using your Explore machine or a cartridge adapter. Click to view step-by-step instructions

Cricut Maker 3 Q&A

No. Your cartridges (image sets), projects and uploaded images are linked to your Cricut ID in the Cricut Cloud, not to a machine. Use the same Cricut ID as always and you'll have access to all your content with your Cricut Maker 3.

You can use Smart Materials on a mat with your Cricut Maker, but only the Maker 3 and Explore 3 can cut Smart Materials without a mat.

The Cricut Maker machine does have a Fast Mode option for cutting and writing up to two times faster when using some vinyl, iron-on and cardstock settings. The Cricut Maker 3 has been further optimised to more intelligently control speeds for cutting and drawing.

Cricut Machine Comparison Guide

Perfect for

Material compatibility

Smart material compatibility

Max material width

Max cut length

Tools

Product size

Product weight

Print Then Cut

Built-in mobile device stand

Compatible with roll holder

Free Software

Connectivity

Included in the box

General Q&A

When will I need to replace the blades?

Where are projects saved, and what is Design Space?

How much does it cost to use Design Space?

Which Cricut machine is best for making personalised t-shirts?

What will Cricut vinyl stick to?

What are Smart Materials?

Can I pay in instalments or interest free credit?

Cricut Joy Q&A

How is the Cricut Joy different from the Cricut Explore Air 2 or Cricut Maker?

Cricut Joy is a more compact, portable alternative to the Cricut Explore and Maker machines. Designed for smaller, everyday projects, the cutting width is 4 inches.

What blades are compatible with this machine?

What materials can I cut with this machine?

Cricut Explore 3 Q&A

How is the Cricut Explore 3 different from the Cricut Maker?

What materials can I cut with this machine?

Can I use my Cricut cartridges with this machine?

Cricut Maker 3 Q&A

Is Design Space the same for Cricut Maker 3 as for previous Cricut machine models?

Will I lose my cartridges, projects or uploaded images if I upgrade to the Cricut Maker 3 (from the Cricut Maker)?

Can I use Smart Materials with my machine?

Does the Cricut Maker have Fast Mode?

What materials can I cut with this machine?

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