The cut list optimiser that shows its working
Every run packs your cut list with both the CODA and LEDGE algorithms, then keeps the better layout and shows you which one won. You get a cutting plan you can hand to the saw, and the reason it looks the way it does.
Free to start · no card required
Why should a cut list optimiser show its working?
Because a layout you cannot explain is a layout you cannot trust. Cutzilla names the algorithm that produced your plan, so you can see why the sheet looks the way it does instead of taking it on faith.
Most optimisers hand back a picture of a sheet and leave it there. That is fine until the plan does something you did not expect. A part stranded on its own near the end of a board, say, or a cut that fights the way you break sheets down. At that point you have no way of telling whether the software knew something you did not.
Cutzilla packs the same cut list two ways and keeps the better result, then tells you which strategy won it. CODA builds a sheet in columns; LEDGE fills the lowest ledge it can reach. They disagree often, and which one comes out ahead moves with the mix of parts, so neither is the "right" one to standardise on. Seeing the winner named means you can take the layout, or take the other one because it suits how you actually cut. For the background on what these tools do, read what a cut list optimiser is.
Two algorithms. One perfect cut.
Cutzilla packs the same cut list with two different strategies, CODA and LEDGE, and keeps the better layout. Here's the same 16-part job under each.
Switch the strategy. See it re-pack.
No account needed — change quantities, grain & edging and watch it re-pack.
What can Cutzilla's optimiser actually handle?
Cutzilla optimises rectangular panels and linear lengths: carcass sides, shelves, drawer parts, worktops, rails and stiles. That covers cabinet and joinery work, and it is deliberately where the software stops.
Every run takes your blade kerf out of the maths, so the plan matches what the saw does rather than what the drawing says. Parts you mark as grain-sensitive are only placed the way the grain allows. Jobs spill across as many sheets as they need, and each algorithm also packs the sheet both ways round and keeps its own winner. That saves a board every so often. We would not claim more for it than that.
What Cutzilla does not do is nest curved or irregular profiles for a CNC router. That is a different category of software, and saying so is more useful to you than a vague claim that covers it. If your work is sheet goods broken down on a panel saw or a track saw, this is the right shape of tool. To size up a job before you commit to it, the sheet cutting calculator answers how many boards you need.
From cut list to clean cuts in minutes
No setup, no spreadsheets to wrangle. Enter your parts and let the algorithms do the packing.
Add your sheets & parts
Type them in or import a CSV. Set kerf, grain direction and stock sizes — Cutzilla remembers your common materials.
Run the optimisation
Pick an algorithm or run both. In seconds Cutzilla compares the layouts and selects the one that wastes the least.
Cut with confidence
Follow the visual sequence, print labels for each piece, and export PDF, SVG or CSV. Done before the kettle boils.
What happens once you have the cutting plan?
Getting the layout out is the middle of the job. Cutzilla carries the same cut list through to the quote you send, the stock you hold and the offcuts the job leaves behind, so the numbers stay tied to one set of parts.
Optimising a cut list is table stakes. Plenty of tools will pack a sheet for nothing, and Cutzilla's free plan does it five times a day without asking for a card. The work that actually eats your week sits either side of that: pricing the job before you win it, and knowing what board you already own before you buy more.
That is where the rest of Cutzilla lives. The quoting workspace is somewhere you fill in labour, markup and tax against the parts you have just laid out, and put your own logo on what the customer sees. Woodworking inventory tracks the sheets you hold and what you paid for them. And offcut management flags the leftovers worth keeping so the next job cuts from board you have already paid for. For where the waste goes in the first place, read how to cut plywood waste on a cut list.
Cutting optimisation is free. You pay for the paperwork.
Layout quality is never the thing we hold back — both algorithms, grain direction and multi-sheet layouts are on every plan, including Free. Paid plans add the exports, labels and business tools around them.
- 5 optimisations a day
- 2 projects and 2 materials
- Both algorithms, compared on every run
- Grain direction and multi-sheet layouts
- Offcut tracking
- PDF and image exports (watermarked)
Just one job? A Project Pass unlocks a single project for $9
- Unlimited projects, materials and optimisations
- Clean exports with no watermark
- SVG, CSV and G-code downloads
- Printable part and offcut labels with QR codes
- Everything in Free
- Quoting workspace with labour, markup and tax
- Your logo and colours on every document
- Warehouses, locations, suppliers and price history
- Scan an offcut label to book it back into stock
- Pro Mode optimiser settings
- Everything in Maker
Project Pass — $9, once
One job to get through and no reason to hold a subscription? A Project Pass unlocks a single project completely — quoting, labels and clean branded exports, with unlimited runs on that project. It never expires, and you can apply it to a project you have already started.
Warehouses, suppliers and stock tracking stay on Pro.
5 passes for $35 if you have a few jobs lined up.
Get a Project PassCut list optimiser FAQ
A cut list optimizer works out how to fit the parts you need out of the sheets you have, so you buy fewer boards and spend less time drawing layouts by hand. You give it your part sizes and your sheet sizes, and it returns a cutting plan showing what comes off each sheet. Cutzilla does this in the browser and shows the plan sheet by sheet, with the saw kerf already taken out of the maths.
Every run packs your cut list with both the CODA and LEDGE algorithms, then keeps the better layout and shows you which one won. The two strategies build a sheet differently, so on any given job one of them usually comes out ahead, and which one it is changes with the mix of parts. Cutzilla names the winner rather than quietly picking for you, so you can see why the layout looks the way it does and switch to the other if it suits your saw better.
Yes. Cutzilla takes your blade kerf out of every cut so the plan matches what the saw actually does, and parts marked as grain-sensitive are only placed the way round the grain allows. Both are ordinary requirements for sheet work rather than anything unusual, and both are on the free plan.
No. Cutzilla optimises rectangular panels and linear lengths, which covers cabinet and joinery work: carcass sides, shelves, drawer parts, worktops, rails and stiles. Nesting curved or irregular profiles for a CNC router is a different category of software, and Cutzilla does not pretend to do it.
Yes. The free plan gives you five optimisations a day with both algorithms compared on every run, grain direction, multi-sheet layouts and offcut tracking, with watermarked PDF and image exports. Paid plans lift the limits and add clean exports, labels, quoting and stock tracking. Every new account also gets 14 days of Pro, with no card required.
No. Cutzilla runs in the browser, so you can plan a job on the office laptop and pull the same cutting plan up on a phone at the bench. There is nothing to install, nothing to license per machine, and no version to keep up to date.
Stop drawing layouts by hand
Put in your parts and your sheets, and get a cutting plan you can take to the saw, with the reason it won attached.