Cricut Vs Silhouette Comparison
I own a Cricut Air 2 and a Silhouette Cameo 4 so people constantly ask me “Is Cricut or Silhouette better”, but I really wanted to wait until I had a bit more experience with my Cameo 4 before doing a full comparison video because I wanted it to be as unbiased as possible. So if you want to watch the video version of what I think, you can find that here…
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And then below I’ll just go over a few of the different features and compare the pros and cons of both, see which one wins what, and hopefully, this can help you make a decision if you’re stuck between the two…
(New Cricut machines have been announced as of May 2021 so these comparisons might be slightly different with the updated machines and improved software)
Software
So to cut using a Cricut machine you have to use Design Space, and for a Silhouette you use Studio. You can download both for free here…
…to try them out if you’re still deciding which machine to go with. And I really would recommend this if you’re struggling to decide as this can help you figure out which one you’re more comfortable with.
At present you can download Design Space on a mac, PC and as an app on an iPhone and iPad. Silhouette Studio can currently be downloaded on a PC, mac and android only I believe. If you have any issues with downloading you may need to double-check the specs of your device to make sure it is up to date enough.
Silhouette Studio
So going back to comparing the two, Silhouette Studio has a lot more features than Cricut Design Space, as you can see from all of the different buttons down the right and left hand side of the screen below… (again I would download it and test it out to see exactly what you can do with it!)
The only downside is that you do have to pay to upgrade Silhouette Studio if you want to upload SVG designs and do a few other things, which may be an issue if you tend to use other people’s designs to create with.
Although you can currently get that for $30 at the moment from Swing Design, and the rest of the upgrades are on sale too. So it isn’t too much more to do that, click below to purchase…
I have been using the basic one so far and that is fine for me as I tend to upload my own .png designs rather than SVGs, although I probably will get the designer edition soon to try it out.
Cricut Design Space
So Studio is great but, if you’re a complete beginner with design software then it might be a little bit overwhelming for you, and that’s where I think Design Space is a bit more of an advantage as it is a lot more straightforward.
So it’s really easy to create text, add shapes, and also add your own pictures and SVG files if you do think you’ll be mostly buying other people’s designs to start off with. And as it stands, you can do that without paying anything, unless you want to pay for Cricut access in which case there are lots of designs and fonts included within that you can use as well.
And Design Space does have some good new features like offset which adds an outline around your wording and is perfect for stickers, and they have said they are working on new ones, but they are still behind Silhouette in terms of what you can do and it does often have more bugs and issues than Studio does.
So when it comes to software Silhouette’s the winner for sure IF you want to design your own things inside the software. If you don’t then either one is fine really, as long as you have PNG files as well as SVGs.
Cutting Ability
The Cameo 4 and my Cricut Air 2 aren’t really comparable in this sense, as the Cameo is a more expensive machine with more capabilities, so I’ll compare it to the Cricut Maker for this bit as they are more similar.
The Cricut Maker cuts 300+ materials, from paper and fabric to the tough stuff like matboard, leather, and basswood, whatever they are, although you do need extra rotary blades and knife blades for some of those. And you can also get extra tools to do foil transfer, engraving, scoring, perforating and debossing.
The Cameo 4 can cut vinyl, cardstock, crepe paper, foam, fabric, chipboard, leather, same stuff really, but again you may need to get extra blades for some of those.
It doesn’t however have the option to add scoring and engraving tools like the maker, you would want the curio machine instead if you wanted to do that but they have said they will be discontinuing that this year so there may well be another update from Silhouette in future with a machine that can do everything!
It does also cut with more force than the Maker, so the Cameo 4 can cut up to 3mm thick and with up to 5,000 grams of force, whereas the Cricut Maker can cut 2.4mm thickness and up to 4000 grams of force. So if you are looking for a machine that can handle thicker materials then the cameo might be preferable.
Both have dual carriages, so you can use two tools at once, and you can add pens to both to use for writing on material with.
So if it is more of the cutting of vinyl, card, iron on vinyl, stickers etc that you’re looking for then both are pretty similar really. And you have to do a bit of experimenting with different settings before you get the perfect cut with both as well, neither one is perfect in that respect.
Cutting size
So cutting size was basically the reason that I got my Cameo 4… so it’s not a big deal really if you make sticker sheets, or card projects or only want to do smaller things, but for me and my vinyl business, being able to cut as many designs at the same time as possible is a huge time saver.
So with the Cricut Air 2 and Cricut Maker you are limited to 23.5 x 11.5 inches at the most and you have to use a cutting mat no matter what. It is slightly different with the cricut joy, but that is limited in width so it’s still not really comparable to the Cameo.
And that is because the cameo has a roll feeder, where you can just feed a roll of vinyl or iron on vinyl into it and it will cut up to 11.5 inches by 60ft apparently, although I’m yet to cut anything that long.
There are also 3 widths you can choose from with the Cameo too, there is the plus which is 15 inches wide and the pro which is 24 inches wide. So this machine is perfect if you want to make really big wall decals or van decals or just cut a tonne of stuff at the same time.
HOWEVER, don’t get yourself too excited yet, there is a however, the roll feeder is not perfect. So I still am definitely making the most of it and using it a lot, but I tend to only really cut up to 35 inches max at a time as it can be a little temperamental.
And every time I think I’ve sussed it, it creates a new problem and jams in my machine. So I’ve managed to find a few hacks to get it to cut well most of the time, take a look at this quick video for a few tips…
…but when it messes up, it wastes so much vinyl. And it’s very frustrating.
That isn’t to say Cricut doesn’t mess up too, it sometimes cuts things weird, or doesn’t cut them at all.
Basically neither machine will give you a perfect cut every time, so don’t expect it and always budget and allow time for mistakes!
Price
I’m not going to go over the price for each of the different machines, but do check out these places for different deals and bundles…
Cricut Store (US)
Swing Design (US)
Hobbycraft (UK)
And be sure to only ever buy with a reputable seller. If it seems too good to be true then it probably is!
And bear in mind that the Cameo pro and plus are the most expensive, then the Cricut Maker as it has those extra features, then the Cameo 4 after that, the Cricut Air is a bit less than that and then the Joy and the portrait are the cheapest machines as they are the smallest and can cut the least.
So you might want to factor in budget when you make your decision, but a lot of them are in a fairly similar price range so I don’t think that should be too much of a deciding factor unless you have a strict budget.
My opinion
So this is just the section for my opinion on both really, nothing based on facts, so don’t come at me, these are just my thoughts from owning both…
The cameo is SO much louder, especially when you’re using the roll feeder. I have to blast my music or wear headphones when I’m using it, whereas the Cricut is loud but even with it being beside my desk I can still hear things over it and it’s not quite as noisy
I also find the Cameo a bit more rickety (is that the right word?), I feel like I could just pull something a bit too hard and it might snap off, whereas the Cricut feels a bit more solid.
I find it a lot easier to troubleshoot Cricut issues than I do Cameo issues - maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places but cricut users seem a lot happier to admit that their machine has faults and to help you fix it, whereas Silhouette users don’t as much. But that may just be because there are potentially more Cricut users out there.
Both machines have led to stress in one form or another - whether it’s just having to recut stuff over and over, or in the case of my cricut the software going down for a full day when I needed to get orders out.
So after all that, I honestly don’t have a preference, I love having both machines because where one lacks, the other one makes up for.
But I know obviously it’s not practical or possible for everyone to have both, so my advice would be to download both softwares, try those out and see which one you’re most comfortable with.
If that still doesn’t help, then just decide exactly what it is you want to make - do you want to do foiling and engraving as well as cutting? Then you may want to look at the maker. Or do you want to do huge wall decals? Then the Cameo will probably be better. Do you want to craft while your toddlers are napping, maybe a cricut would be better as it’s slightly quieter.
Perhaps write a list of your must-haves, and then see which machine ticks off the most of them.
And if you’ve chosen which company you want to go with but you’re not quite sure which machine, then do watch my Cricut machine comparison video here…
or my Silhouette machine comparison video here to help you with that next stage of decisions…
And obviously remember it’s an investment, there’s no guarantee of making money or creating a business with one, do only buy one if you can afford it as they are expensive machines!
Let me know in the comments which machine is your favourite, or if you have any questions.