Silhouette vs Cricut Software Head-to-Head
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Last month, I was preparing for an upcoming workshop and spent four solid days cutting fabric to get ready. I was using my Cricut machine and the Silhouette I purchased two years ago to speed the process up. Using both machines for such a large project gave me a really good opportunity to compare and contrast the two of them, and there were things that I liked and disliked about each.
This post is the first in a two part series that compiles my personal opinions comparing my Silhouette and Cricut machines and software. I'm not affiliated with either company and both machines were purchased using my own money. Hope you enjoy.
My Cutting Machines
My machines are a Cricut Explore Air 2 (top) and a Silhouette Cameo 4 (bottom).
Neither of my machines are the latest model. I purchased the Cricut way back in 2017. I purchased the Silhouette in 2022. I did update each company's software to the latest version available at the time. I also use a MacBook Pro.
Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio
Cricut has one software that supports all of their machines. It's called Design Space. Silhouette has several versions of software, but I have Silhouette Studio, Designer Edition.
Startup
I felt the UI design of Design Space is sleeker and more contemporary than Silhouette Studio.
Silhouette Studio's UI reminds me of an early 2000s design.
Design Space does require a click to get to the "Canvas View" (shown above), which is where all editing and project creation takes place. Silhouette Studio opens onto the design view without any additional clicks necessary.
The first time I unboxed my Explore Air 2 back in 2017, a simple project was included. The instructions walked me through the process of using the software, attaching the material to the sticky mat, and programming the machine with the correct cut settings. It was a helpful introduction to get me started.
In contrast, the Cameo 4 did not include a project or instructions, other than where to get the software. But once the software was installed, that was it. I was on my own. And while I've come to appreciate how Silhouette Studio is very up front in the UI design with giving the user access to every setting imaginable, there's no guidance on what to do first or how to get started. It was a bit overwhelming, the first time I opened the software.
Additionally, not everything has tooltips in the software, so I found it hard to know what certain settings were for. I had to do a fair amount of Googling to figure out what to do, and a lot of the answers I found came from third-party affiliates as opposed to Silhouette's own documentation.
Verdict: Overall, I think Design Space would be more user friendly to a beginner.
Design Capabilities
From poking around both software and seeing what features and tools are offered, I get the impression that the Silhouette Studio is the more robust option when it comes to design capability. However, this is only an impression. I do all of my design in Adobe Illustrator, so I did not use any design features in either cutting machine software. I really only need Design Space and Silhouette Studio to send my cutting files to their respective machines.
Verdict: If you are looking to cut custom designs and want to use the cutting machine's software to make your creations (as opposed to a third-party application like Adobe Illustrator), I think the Silhouette will be a better choice.
Cutting Layout
Wherever shapes are placed on the Silhouette Studio's design area, that is where they will be when the cut lines are sent to the machine.
On the other hand, Design Space rearranges the pieces into optimal cutting layouts before sending to the machine. If the design uses more than one color (and thus more than one fabric), the pieces will be grouped by color onto separate mats.
When using the Silhouette, it's the user's responsibility to make sure pieces are arrange correctly and match up to the fabric on the board, etc. The Cricut, on the other hand, assists the user by automatically grouping like-colored pieces together, making it easy to see how much material is needed for every color.
I can see how the Cricut's feature could be really helpful for someone who is doing all of their design in Design Space. But as I was doing my design in Illustrator, I had already pre-grouped pieces by color. Having Cricut rearrange my pieces just meant they wouldn't fit on my pre-prepared swatches of fabric.
But fortunately there is an easy workaround to prevent Design Space from rearranging the pieces. Use "Weld", found under the "Combine" tools in the lower right corner of the UI, to combine all pieces into one flat design.
Verdict: I'm hesitant to name a "winner" in this category. If you think Design Space's rearranging feature is helpful, then get a Cricut because that feature is not available with Silhouette. If you don't think it's helpful, both software are functionally equivalent.
Fonts
Silhouette Studio takes over control of all user-installed fonts and prevents Font Book, the default font manager application in MacOS, from managing them. I discovered this problem when PowerPoint refused to embed certain fonts into a slideshow. A deep dive down the internet rabbit hole led me to this post on Apple's forums.
This is, frankly, bizarre, and there is no reason I nor my software engineer husband could come up with for why the software would work this way. I do not have a solution; the workaround I came up with was to install PowerPoint and the fonts on a different computer that did not have Silhouette Studio and they embedded just fine.
Verdict: Unequivocally, Cricut's Design Space is the winner, since it does not take over control of user-installed fonts.
Internet Connection
Only Silhouette Studio is truly an offline application. There is no internet connection required to cut custom files.
Design Space, on the other hand, allows offline cutting of files as long as they have already been uploaded to your account. I would say Design Space's claim of offline cutting is technically true, but in reality, not really.
Verdict: Silhouette Studio, because it offers true, no-strings-attached offline cutting while Design Space does not.
Working With SVGs
This last category has a few different parts, so I'm going to break it down to explain more clearly.
Cost
Design Space includes the capability to upload and cut SVG files. It is free and comes with the machine.
Silhouette's free software does not include the capability to cut SVG files. That feature is offered with the Designer Edition and up. There is also an optional Illustrator plugin that foregoes the need to use SVGs. Silhouette Studio, Designer Edition is $50 (the other software versions are more expensive than that) and the plugin is $40 in addition to the cost of the machine.
Illustrator Plugin
Silhouette offers a separate plugin that allows the software to connect directly to Illustrator. The advantage is that changes made in Illustrator are immediately reflected in the Silhouette software, making for a much more streamlined process and completely eliminating the need for SVGs.
However, the plugin is not compatible with Mac computers running the new silicon chips. I also found some reviews online that the plugin is not compatible with the latest version of Illustrator. There is a workaround, but expect to do quite a bit of troubleshooting if you give it a try.
Personally, I'm happy using SVGs, so I've never used the plugin. It seemed like too much of a headache.
Cricut does not offer an Illustrator plugin.
SVG Upload Process
Design Space's upload process is long (it requires a total of 6 button clicks in addition to dragging-and-dropping the SVG file into the software), but the buttons that need to be clicked are well-labeled. The process is lengthy but easy to follow.
Silhouette Studio, on the other hand, lets users drag-and-drop SVG files directly onto the canvas with no extra button clicks. However, the software doesn't tell you this is an option. The alternative method to get an SVG file into the software is to open it, which involves four button clicks.
Verdict: I'm leaning towards Cricut's Design Space on this one, mostly because it's free. Silhouette Studio does have the superior SVG import process, but the software costs extra. The extra expense is one of the two reasons I opted to buy a Cricut instead of a Silhouette way back in 2017 when I purchased my first machine. (The other reason was that Cricut's sticky mats had a better reputation for longevity.)
Overall
Design Space is the winner, for me. It's a friendlier software that's free and does exactly what I need it to do. Sure, it's not as streamlined as Silhouette Studio in some ways, but it offers workarounds and processes that didn't require a Google search to figure out.
Silhouette Studio Basic (the free version) does not support SVGs, and that is the one critical feature I absolutely need. Right off the bat, I'm locked into paying an extra $50 for software on top of the cost of the machine. While Silhouette Studio is more streamlined than Design Space in some ways, I had to do several Google searches to figure out how to use it. And on top of all of that, Silhouette Studio messed with my fonts.
