Cricut Design Space is an app that allows you to design your creations and cut them wirelessly with Cricut maker machines and Cricut Explore.

You might be trying to create tote bags, window decals, party needs, or window designs among other artsy products. Cricut Design Space could help you complete these projects without additional separate materials.

However, did you know that there are other Cricut Design Space alternatives? In this post, we have explored two alternatives to the Cricut Design Space.

Cricut Design Space Alternative No. 1: Sure Cu​​ts a Lot

Sure Cut is a good alternative to Cricut Design Space because it’s not only made for Cricut machines, but also various die-cutting machines like Silhouette, Wishblade, and Craft ROBO. It suits both Mac and Windows operating systems.

With Sure Cut, you use its available editing and drawing tools to draw your designs. Besides that, you can also use various free fonts like your installed True Type fonts and Open Type fonts.

If you have import images, you can convert them from different formats with the help of auto-tracing features.

Features of Sure Cuts a Lot

User interface

Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) has a customizable user interface. This means that you can change the grid spacing and turn it off too.

You can as well change the stroke on the shape in thickness, and color, either globally or individually. You can also organize files within the program in custom folders.

SCAL has excellent zoom functionality. It can drag layers upwards and downwards on the panel of the layers.

Ver​​sions

SCAL offers both the PC and Mac versions. It stays on top of the latest operating systems existing in the market.

It also can add its presets to store settings on both blades and materials.

Variety of plugins

It doesn’t matter the make or model of cutter you are using. SCAL offers plugins for more than 30 models making it suitable for those who buy multiple cutters.

Metric units

If you prefer working in the metric units, SCAL would be a great choice. It has options like cm, mm and inches.

Design and cut stencils

SCAL also has a stencil bridge function to help you connect shapes outside the area easily. MTC has an erase tool to do this task.

PROS	CONS
You can fully control your design without thinking about its cartridges	Mac users can’t use the free downloadable firmware update that should be installed on the Cricut. This is because it isn’t compatible with their PC
AIts cutting window offers various features like options to flip images and mirror before cutting	You cannot use it to do more than one project like in MTC
You can customize its user interface
It stays up to date
You can use it for different die-cutting machines

Cricut Design Space Alternative No. 2: Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Plus

Embroidery machines are a great addition to your craft room, allowing you to produce professional textile results from the comfort of your own home. These little machines can work on anything from full cloth to a shirt you will wear the next day and allow you tremendous freedom of expression throughout your lifestyle.

Silhouette has long been a leading name in the crafting field, creating both a full line of powerful crafting machines and their own software package to design or edit embroidery files. This product allows a user to use the PLUS edition’s more powerful compiling engine to render designs and seamlessly integrates and prints all the common embroidery file formats.

Easily one of the most useful features of this product is the rhinestone tool, allowing users to design and craft their own rhinestone segments and graft them directly onto an existing design. This makes for more organic placement of the rhinestones and contributes to the overall look of the finished product.

Because this product can be installed as an upgrade on existing software, the only thing the buyers will receive is a card with the software activation code. Users will need to install or download the software separately, and will need to find the user manual either online or from their local craft shop.

Features of Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Plus

• Rhinestone design enabled
• Compatible with common embroidery file types
• Runs on all Silhouette machines
• Product is an activation card only, with no physical manual or disc to install

PROS	CONS
Integrates multiple file formats	Software needs to be installed separately
Faster and more detailed compiling	Manual and troubleshooting guide not included
Rhinestone editing and integration
Compatible with most silhouette machines
Allows interface with third-party crafting programs

There are many similarities between the Sure Cut vs Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Plus, especially in the higher end vector programs like Corel Draw or Adobe illustrator. Below are some similar features.

Both of them can import various file formats. Some raster importing they can do are PNG, GIF, TIF, BMP, and JPG. The vector importing comprises of AI, SVG, PDF, EPS, WPC and GSD.

You can use both software to design what you want.

This is possible because they have functions like drawing, freehand, auto-tracing, shadowing, node editing, freehand drawing, placing shapes and texts on a path, temporary font installation, jigsaw design, temporary font installation, and lattice design among others.

Cricut Software Alternatives: Conclusion

From our comparison on Sure Cuts a Lot vs Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Plus, Silhouette Studio Designer Edition Plus wins.

This software will make a great companion for anyone familiar with computerized embroidery and is looking to try more ambitious designs with their Silhouette machine.