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Magi-Cut is the strongest desktop optimizer in our published tests. Here is the measured record between it and Cutlist Evolution, and how to choose.
By Cutlist Evolution ·
Magi-Cut is installed Windows software, modular, with a published network option. Cutlist Evolution runs free in any browser with no download and no sign-up, on the engine that also powers the SmartCut API. That difference in shape decides most of the choice before performance enters it: an offline Windows seat at the saw suits one kind of shop, and a link any machine or phone can open suits another.
We ran a nine-benchmark head-to-head on identical parts, stock, kerf and trim, and published every result. Magi-Cut is the strongest non-SmartCut performer in that suite. It matched the best layout on most jobs and won two outright, by a single board on the 39-part test and by 4 boards on the 96-part test. SmartCut Max, the engine behind Cutlist Evolution's paid tiers, matched or beat it on 7 of the 9. A separate suite of the hardest jobs in our benchmark library, run against Magi-Cut and Ardis with identical inputs, is published at smartcut.dev/benchmarks, losses and ties included.
Numbers on our jobs are a starting point, not a verdict. Both tools will lay out your own cutting list, so the decisive test costs an afternoon: run the same job through each and count the boards.
Free to use
From magi-cut.co.uk, read in July 2026, in their own words: optimisation of regular and shaped components for nested based manufacturing, grain-matched patterns, and spreadsheet import of parts and boards. Their features page adds edge-banding costing, label and form designers with bar codes, a material library with boards and offcuts, and a saw interface that transfers cutting patterns to CNC-controlled saws. It is a serious production tool, and shops running it at the saw with destacking and palletisation needs are inside its home ground.
Sheet, linear and roll material in one place, grain direction per part, offcut tracking, and exports from PDF diagrams and QR-coded part labels up to SVG, DXF and PTX with beam saw settings. PTX from the same engine has been tested with Magi-Cut and Cut Rite, so the two can even share a saw. The free tier handles real projects, upgrades add capacity and professional features, and every change to the engine is benchmarked against a library of real production jobs before it ships.
Magi-Cut's place among all the tools we tested is in the best cut list optimizers in 2026. The industrial comparison, SmartCut against Magi-Cut and Ardis on the hardest jobs in the library, is at smartcut.dev/compare. And if the question is simply whether a free optimizer covers your work, start at the free cut list optimizer page.