The 10 Best Cutting Machines

For crafters who want one machine for nearly every material, the Cricut Maker 5 cuts paper, vinyl and bare fabric, plus leather, felt and foam board up to about an eighth of an inch thick. Swap in add-on tools and it writes, scores and engraves too. It went on sale in September 2026, so nobody knows yet how it ages. Pens from older Cricut machines won't fit its new snap-in holder, so plan on new ones.

First-time buyers who mostly want vinyl decals, iron-on shirts, cards and stickers can start with the Cricut Explore 5. It handles about 100 materials, draws with pens and cuts around designs printed on a home inkjet printer. Cricut made it smaller than the Explore it replaces and cut the starting price. Bare fabric, leather and thin wood are beyond it, so quilters and leather workers will outgrow it fast.

Sticker sellers often pick the Silhouette Cameo 5 Alpha, since it reads four printed marks around the page and keeps cuts lined up with the art. With the right blade it cuts vinyl, cardstock, iron-on and fabric, and its motor stays quiet enough for a shared room. It takes a mat twice the usual length for banners. Silhouette Studio takes practice to learn, and some units arrive unable to cut cleanly.

Small enough to leave on a kitchen counter, the Cricut Joy 2 handles labels, card fronts, simple decals and small iron-on designs up to four and a half inches wide. Cricut added scoring for folded cards and cutting around printed images, two things the first Joy couldn't do. It runs from a phone over Bluetooth, and a shaky connection is the most common gripe. A full shirt design needs a wider machine.

The Brother ScanNCut SDX125E is a cutter with a scanner built in: draw a shape on paper, scan it, and cut it with no computer at all. Its touchscreen holds hundreds of stored designs, including quilt patterns, and the blade sets its own depth for each material. Brother adds a two-year warranty on the electronics. Its mats lose their grip fast and need replacing, and some units arrive faulty.

Card makers who would rather skip apps altogether can turn the crank on the Sizzix Big Shot to press metal dies and embossing folders through paper, felt and thin fabric. Sizzix redesigned it for the first time since 2001, and the handle now clips under the base for storage. It takes dies up to six inches wide. The catch is cost over time, since every new shape needs its own die.

Want stickers on a full letter-size sheet without a big machine on the desk? The Cricut Joy Xtra cuts up to eight and a half inches wide and cuts around pictures printed on a home inkjet. It also draws and adds foil accents to cards. It works over Bluetooth from a phone or computer, and it can't score fold lines or take a deep-cut blade, which keeps it to vinyl, paper and iron-on.

The Silhouette Portrait 4 is a compact desktop cutter with a nine-inch width, enough for letter paper and most shirt decals. Silhouette rebuilt it on a belt drive that it says runs quieter and cuts more precisely than before, and it accepts powered add-on tools for other jobs. It has a long, steady record with buyers who call it worth the money. Larger signs won't fit, and the warranty covers a single year.

Quilters who cut stacks of squares and triangles get the most from the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter. You lay fabric on a foam-backed die and roll it through by hand, cutting up to six layers of cotton at once without the wrist strain of a rotary cutter. It folds up for classes and retreats, and the starter set comes with one die holding three shapes. Extra dies are costly, and it only cuts the shapes you own.

Tags, card toppers and small embellishments are what the Sizzix Sidekick does best. It's a pocket-size hand-crank press that grips a smooth table with a suction base, so it can come along to a craft night. The starter kit includes a few dies and a pair of cutting plates to get going. It only takes dies about two and a half inches wide, so many larger dies you already own won't fit.