FOR WOODWORKERS, SIGN SHOPS, AND MAKERS
Paste the pieces you need. Get a sheet-by-sheet layout for plywood, MDF, or acrylic, or a bar-by-bar plan for linear stock — with your saw kerf accounted for and the offcut shown before you buy. Compare a 4×8 against 5×5 Baltic birch or a half-sheet, or 8 ft against 10 ft and 12 ft boards, when the store stocks more than one size. 4×8 vs 5×5 worked example.
Compare other sheet sizes
Rank this list against a second and third size before you buy. Leave a row blank to skip it.
Turn this off for a veneer or a printed face where grain or print direction has to run one way.
Add grain to the end of a single line to pin just that piece.
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Enter your sheet size, saw kerf, and parts to see a layout.
The layout for each sheet appears here.
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Enter your stock length, saw kerf, and required cuts to see a plan.
Same cuts, the lengths a yard sells. Ranked by purchased length, so an 8 ft stick wins over a 12 ft stick when both cover the list with one bar.
Enter required cuts to compare common stock lengths.
Largest pieces are placed first, into the first spot on the sheet they fit, with your saw kerf and edge trim already subtracted from the usable area. It is a fast, practical heuristic, not a proven-optimal packing — always confirm the diagram against your own stock and saw before cutting.
grain to the end of a line do?It locks that one piece to its listed orientation even when "Pieces may be rotated 90°" is checked for everything else. Use it for a veneer face, a printed panel, or anything where the direction has to run one way — leaving rotation on for the rest of the list still lets the layout use less material on parts that don't care which way they're cut.
Material used is the actual area of the parts you listed; offcut area is everything left over on the sheets you buy, including the strips lost to kerf and edge trim. Utilization is used area divided by total sheet area bought — on the default three-part list it lands well under 100%, because a sheet you buy is a fixed size whether or not the parts fill it.
Whenever more than one size is actually stocked at the yard. The comparison re-runs the same cut list against each candidate size — for example a 4×8 against a 5×5 or a half-sheet — and ranks them by sheets needed, or by total cost once you enter a price for each. A size that looks cheaper per sheet can still lose if it takes more sheets to fit the same parts.
Yes, on both tabs. Cuts and panels are placed into your listed offcuts first, and only the pieces that don't fit any offcut count toward new stock to purchase. On the sheet-goods tab an offcut is sized as width x height and can be larger than the sheet you'd otherwise buy — a leftover full sheet, say. On both tabs an untouched offcut stays off the plan entirely, since it's still on the rack, not consumed. On the default examples, the on-hand list already covers part of the required list, which is why "Sheets to buy" or "New pieces to buy" can come in lower than the raw part count would suggest.
No. The layout, comparisons, and printable plan are all computed in your browser. An optional saved draft and anonymous local usage counts stay on this device only — both can be turned off and cleared with the checkbox and button below.
Weighing this against a hosted optimizer? See this cut list optimizer vs. optiCutter and CutList Optimizer. Curious how much planning by hand actually costs? See this optimizer vs. planning cuts by hand.
Pricing a different kind of print run instead of sheet goods? See the 3D Print Price Calculator, which prices a print from filament, electricity, and printer wear the same way this tool prices a cutting plan from sheet and board cost.