Siser vs Cricut vs Silhouette Machine Comparison
Now that I’ve had my Siser Juliet for a while, I feel like I can properly make this video for you - comparing Siser, Cricut and Silhouette.
And as a disclaimer, I have no alliance to any of these companies, I haven’t worked with any of them… yet… so this is a completely non-biased opinion of each of the machines I own, their software and what each of the companies have to offer. These things may change as each company brings out new upgrades and machines though.
Continue to read below, or take a look at my video…
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I own a Siser Juliet, a Cricut Air 2 and a Silhouette Cameo 4, but in this post, I will also mention some features of the Cricut Maker and the new Silhouette Cameo 5 as well, as they are probably more on par with the Siser Juliet in terms of function.
Machine and Cutting Size
If you have a specific amount of space available for your machine then the size of the machine may be important to you.
The Cricut Air is the smallest, at 53.8cm wide.
The Cameo 4 is 56cm wide.
The Juliet is about 60cm wide.
Of course, if you are super limited on space then you might want to look at the Cricut Joy, or Joy Extra, or the Silhouette Portrait which are much smaller machines, but do limit what you can do.
If you have unlimited space, then there is also the option of choosing from the Cricut Venture, the Silhouette Cameo Pro or the Siser Romeo, all of which are bigger machines.
I quite like my 12” cutters however, that’s why I’ve ended up with three of them. The Cricut Air 2, Cricut Maker, Cameo 4 and 5 and Juliet are all fairly similar in terms of the widths they can cut, between 11.5 and 12 inches wide. These widths vary slightly depending on whether you’re using a mat or not.
With my Cricut Air 2 and the Cricut Maker, you do need to use a cutting mat, so you are limited to 23.5 inches with a big mat. However, the Cricut Maker 3 and Cricut Air 3 do let you cut up to 13 inches wide and 12 feet long without a mat… however, you must use Smart Materials to do this. This would not work for me as Smart Materials are much more expensive than the vinyl I buy.
This is why I prefer to make larger decals on my Cameo 4 and Siser Juliet. Both of those will cut vinyl and HTV without a mat, and, apparently, up to about 10ft. But I rarely go over about 4ft in length as otherwise the vinyl moves around too much. You can also use a mat with both of them as well if you need to and for other materials.
The only thing I would mention is that although the Cameo 4 says that you can cut up to 12 inches wide, I have never managed that without it slipping out from under the rollers. I tend to do about 11.25 inches wide maximum. It does seem as if the Cameo 5 has stronger rollers from what I’ve seen though, and claims it can do 12 inches and up to 16ft in length so if you do want to maximise the area of vinyl that you are cutting then that may be a better choice.
Materials They Can Cut
If like me you will mostly be using these machines for vinyl, HTV and/or stickers, then all of these machines will cut those perfectly well, and all of them, except for the Cricut Joy, have print and cut capability that you need for stickers too. However, if you want a machine that can do a lot more, then here is a quick breakdown...
The Cricut Explore series can cut about 100 different materials, everything from paper to poster board. You can also get six different tools to use with it, including a scoring and foiling tool.
The Cricut Maker series however can cut over 300 materials, up to a 2.4 mm thickness and it has up to a 4kg cutting force so it can cut everything from balsa wood to burlap. Here is the link to the full list of what they can cut.
Again, you would need extra blades to cut some of these though, and you can get ones for debossing and engraving among others too. These machines are great crafter’s friends in my opinion.
As for the Cameo 4 and 5, they have a 3mm clearance for thicker materials. However, the standard blade that comes with them will only cut up to 1mm thickness. This can also cut around 100+ materials, and you have the option to purchase an additional rotary blade, kraft blade or punch tool. Despoite there being slightly fewer add-ons than the Cricut machines, they can cut with a bit more force, at up to 5kg using the 2nd tool slot.
The Siser Juliet from what I can find isn’t very clear on the amount of materials you can cut with it, but it does say that you can cut cardstock, stickers, craft foam and much more as well as HTV and vinyl. And you don’t get the option to add on extra blades or accessories like the others either, you only get the 45-degree or 60-degree blade options that are included. It also only has a max cutting force of 800g, so that does make it quite a bit more limited if you want a machine that does it all!
Cutting Speed
Because Silhouette doesn’t seem to give exact values for the cutting speed of their machines, I think the best way to test this is to face them all off against each other which I have done in my video! But if you want to compare Cricut with Juliet, then here are the numbers they give…
Cricut Air 2 - Maximum 5.7 inches per second²
Cricut Explore 3 and Maker 3: Maximum 11.3 inches per second²
Juliet - Maximum cutting speed of 23 inches per second.
As you can see, the Juliet is lightning fast in comparison and makes it a great choice for busy businesses who need to get orders out fast.
I think another thing to note here is that Siser also claims to have a cutting precision of +/- 0.01mm which none of the others mention.
Here are some more of the tech specs for Siser if you want to check them out.
Software
If you’re not aware already, each manufacturer has their own software for designing and cutting on their machines, they are called Cricut Design Space, Silhouette Studio and Leonardo Design Studio.
First off, Cricut Design Space has had a lot of criticism but to be fair to them, since I started using it in 2017, it has majorly improved. I think it is probably the easiest to learn if you’re a complete beginner to cutting machines, and it has all of the basic features you need to get started. Plus you can upload ready made SVGs and PNGs too.
Then there is Silhouette Studio which is definitely the most advanced of the three and has a lot of different features. I have the business edition which does let you do a bit more than the free edition, and you do need at least the designer edition to be able to upload SVGs. You can get discounted upgrades on Swing Design. Or you can also get the silhouette connect plug in if you already use Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw, here.
Leonardo Design Studio is probably the most basic of the three I would say, although it still does have plenty of features too.
I think if you’re unsure, the best thing to do is to test them out. All three are available to download for free before you buy your machine so if you’re unsure which one you will be most comfortable with then that is the best thing to do.
For me personally, I don’t really mind as I design all of my designs for my decal business in Adobe Illustrator and then just upload to whichever design software of the machine I want to cut with. I’ve always done it that way, even when I just had my Cricut, purely because the Adobe software gives me so much more flexibility when I’m designing.
Cost
Now to one of the most important bits, the cost!
Obviously, there are often sales, and places to find good deals, but as of right now, these are the costs for the machines I’ve mentioned:
The Cricut Explore Air 2 is $229 in the US but I couldn’t actually find it in the UK, so the Explore 3 is £299.99. The Maker 3 is $429 or £382
The Cameo 4 I’ve found for either $199.99 or £225.00, so even cheaper than the Explore now.
But of course, these have been reduced because of the recent release of their Cameo 5.
The Cameo 5 is $329.99 or £349.00. Although I haven’t tried it, if you have the budget, I think the Cameo 5 looks like it will be a much better machine without as many kinks as the Cameo 4 so probably would be worth the extra. And it’s also cheaper than the Maker 3, so unless you need to cut 300+ materials, it may be a bit of a better deal.
The Juliet is the most expensive of the bunch, and that is - £520.00 or $499.00, although Swing Design also currently has this bundle for $448.00 which is a great deal. And yes it is the priciest, but I would probably say it is the most professional vinyl cutter machine out of all of them, so that is the reason.
Again though, if your budget is limited, take a look at the smaller machines, or if you have a bigger budget, then maybe one of the larger machines or even a more professional grade may be better. Take a look at my video ‘The Best Vinyl Cutting Machines’ if you want to find out about other brands out there.
Also, check out Cricut deals on Amazon in the US and the UK and GM Crafts, which is one of my favourite places to check for machine deals.
Note - the prices were correct at the time of writing.
Pros and Cons in my opinion
These are all the pros and cons in my opinion, and from what I have found when using all 3 machines.
Cricut
Pros
Cricut is a well-known brand, so if you have an issue, it’s usually easy to find help. And for that reason, I found it really easy to learn when I first got it too because there are so many tutorials out there.
If you get the Cricut Maker, you have the choice of cutting so many different materials.
I also have to give my Cricut its dues, it’s still going strong after being used non-stop for six years.
Cons
You have to cut on the mat unless you want to spend more on smart materials or smart material substitutes.
The alignment of stickers and print and cut can be a bit hit-and-miss if you don’t calibrate regularly enough.
I also don’t love that they’re constantly trying to push me to pay for Cricut Access which I don’t need, and which is something you don’t get from the other two manufacturers.
Cameo
Pros
The Roll Feeder was the main selling point for me when I first bought it and the cross cutter on the back makes it so much easier to cut larger decals and vinyl rolls.
Also, the new Cameo 5 Electrostatic mat looks very interesting and almost makes me want to upgrade. But we’ll see.
Cons
This machine is really noisy. I personally find the software quite slow and I have had a lot of issues in the past with vinyl slipping out from under the rollers which has required me to figure out a lot of work arounds to make sure it cuts properly every time.
When I had two Cameos running the slipping got much worse for some reason as well, and I lost a lot of money on wasted vinyl which was not good for business.
Juliet
Pros
It is really fast and a lot quieter than my other machines and it is definitely much more accurate.
It very rarely makes any mistakes when cutting and the vinyl never slips because the rollers are so strong.
Cons
There is currently no roll feeder included or available to buy. It does seem to exist, but I can’t find anywhere available to purchase one from. Hopefully, this will change soon, but until then, it’s just a case of clumsily lining up the vinyl rolls behind the machine and unravelling them, or finding a non-branded alternative.
Also, the software is fairly basic, and I’m still not 100% sure how to do things like edit SVGs. But to be fair, this is the newest machine on the block so I wouldn’t expect everything to be perfect instantly.
Although I do like all of my machines, I have to admit, I have barely used my Cameo 4 since I bought my Siser Juliet. I think when my business is back to being mega busy in wedding season again I will be using both, but I just find the Juliet so much quicker and more accurate than my Cameo. And the fact it’s so much quieter is also nice.
I tend to only use my Cricut for smaller things and more personal crafting.
If you want to watch them face off against each other to see who wins then be sure to check out my video above!
Final thoughts…
I hope you found that helpful!
I think if you’re torn between all three, the best thing to do is to look at your budget, the space you have available, the materials you want to cut and think about how you will be using it.
In my opinion, the Cricut is definitely more crafter-friendly, Siser is more business-friendly and the Cameo is somewhere in the middle, but you might have your own interpretation after watching reading this/watching the video.
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and if this has helped you to decide which machine to go with!