Skip to content
Cutlist Evolution

The best nesting software

By ·

Nesting software packs irregular shapes onto a sheet. Not rectangles, which is a different and much easier problem, but real outlines with curves and concave pockets that other parts can sit inside. Get it right and a job that needed four plates needs three.

The market splits in a way that is worth understanding before you compare features. At one end sit open-source projects written by one person, free and genuinely capable. At the other sit CAM extensions and cloud services priced for a fabrication shop, from around $500 a year upwards. In between there is very little, which is why so many people end up running a browser tool alongside software that cost them a subscription.

We build one of the five tools below. That is a reason to check our claims rather than a reason to skip the page, so every figure here comes from the vendor’s own published material and is stated plainly enough to verify.

What actually separates them

Section titled “What actually separates them”

Four things, and only one of them shows up in a screenshot.

The algorithm. Almost every true-shape nester in this price range descends from the same idea: No Fit Polygon to work out where two outlines can touch without overlapping, then a search to decide the order parts go down in. The differences are in the search and in how long you let it run.

Part count. This is the limit people hit first. A genetic search over irregular outlines gets slower as parts multiply, so free tiers cap it and open source projects slow down rather than stopping.

What it reads and writes. DXF is the common currency. SVG suits laser and vinyl work. If a tool takes only one of them, that decides things for you before any layout quality does.

Where it runs. A desktop install, a browser tab, or inside CAD you already pay for. This matters more than it sounds, because it decides whether the person who needs the nest can get one without an IT request.

Deepnest

Section titled “Deepnest”

Open source, desktop, and the one most people are sent to first. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, reads DXF, SVG and Corel CDR, and writes DXF and SVG.

Two features are unusual at any price. It does part-in-part placement, so small parts drop into the holes of larger ones. And it merges shared lines automatically, so a laser does not cut the same path twice, which saves time on the machine rather than material on the sheet. It will also nest bitmap images for laser engraving.

The project describes itself as free as in beer and free as in speech. There is no tier, no part cap and no account.

Choose it if you are cutting on a laser or plasma table, you are comfortable installing desktop software, and you want line merging without paying for it.

SVGnest

Section titled “SVGnest”

The original browser implementation, MIT licensed, written by Jack000. Deepnest grew out of this work, so the family resemblance is not a coincidence.

It uses a genetic algorithm over the No Fit Polygon approach, runs entirely in the browser, and takes SVG files with outline-based shapes. The author is straightforward about what that costs: the demo is CPU intensive, mobile is warned against, and performance becomes comparable to commercial software after roughly five minutes of optimisation. Part-in-part and concave exploration are both noted as resource-intensive.

Choose it if you want to understand how nesting works, or you have a small number of SVG parts and no wish to install anything. It is a reference implementation that happens to be usable, rather than a product.

Autodesk Fusion, Manufacturing Extension

Section titled “Autodesk Fusion, Manufacturing Extension”

Nesting inside Fusion is not part of the base subscription. It arrived as the Nesting and Fabrication Extension and now sits inside the Manufacturing Extension, which also carries 4- and 5-axis machining and metal additive.

It produces associative multi-sheet and multi-material nests, which is the real argument for it: change the model and the nest updates, because the nest and the CAD are the same document. Autodesk prices extensions from $495 per user per year, with the range running to around $1,465. There is a 30-day free window.

Choose it if you already model in Fusion and machine from it. The associativity is worth real money in that workflow and is not available from anything else on this list. If you do not already pay for Fusion, this is an expensive way to buy a nester.

Nest&Cut

Section titled “Nest&Cut”

A cloud service, browser-based with nothing to install, aimed squarely at production. It reads DXF and writes DXF, PDF reports and NC programs, and covers composites, cardboard, foam, stone, wood panels, sheet metal and food products.

Pricing starts at $60 a month, with a 30-day trial that needs no card. The company claims about 30 seconds from import to result and describes an algorithm refined over 45 years.

Choose it if you nest daily, you need NC output rather than a drawing, and a monthly fee is easier to justify than an annual licence.

Cutlist Evolution

Section titled “Cutlist Evolution”

Ours. Browser-based, no install, and the nesting mode is part of the same tool that does rectangular cutting, so one parts list can be cut either way.

True-shape nesting for irregular polygons, DXF import from any CAD package, automatic rotation for the tightest fit, kerf-aware spacing between every part, common-line cutting to share edges, and lead-in and lead-out paths for CNC. Export goes to DXF, SVG and G-code for laser, plasma, waterjet and router.

The free tier runs to 40 parts per nest, which covers most one-off jobs and is where you should test it. Paid plans raise that to 150, 300, 1,000 and 2,000. Current prices are on the plans page.

Choose it if you want true-shape nesting and rectangular cutting from one parts list, or you need something a person can open in a browser and use the same day.

How to choose, in one paragraph each

Section titled “How to choose, in one paragraph each”

Cutting on a laser or plasma table, occasionally. Deepnest. Line merging and part-in-part for nothing is hard to argue with, and the desktop install is a one-off cost in patience.

Already inside Fusion. The Manufacturing Extension, because associative nests are worth more than a slightly better packing you have to re-import by hand.

Nesting every day, with NC output. Nest&Cut, or a shop-floor CAM package above this price range. At that volume the subscription is not the expensive part of your week.

Mixed work, some rectangular and some shaped. Cutlist Evolution, because running two tools over one parts list is where mistakes get made.

Learning, or nesting a handful of SVGs. SVGnest.

The one thing worth doing before you commit is running your own worst job through two of them and counting sheets. Layout quality varies by the shape of what you cut, and a tool that wins on long thin parts can lose on round ones. Nobody’s benchmark, including ours, predicts your job as well as your job does.

Section titled “Related reading”