Over the weekend, people who own Cricut Manufacturing Machines—What are printer-like devices that can precisely cut documents – learned of an upcoming update that will limit how often they can use the machines they paid. The company, whose cheapest machine is $ 180, will now start a monthly subscription for unlimited printing, which was previously free.
Using the Cricut machines requires the use of the company’s own Design Space software for computers and mobile devices. It allows design to run from other software programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, and to maximize the use of a piece of paper. Some of the most popular paper supplies that work with the Cricut can be expensive. Design Space also allows you to create custom artwork from scratch with the help of a huge library of downloadable fonts, graphics, and patterns, some of which are free, most of which are not.
As we in our review of the Cricut Joy last year, craftsmanship with the machines can not only become expensive if you rely on the company’s designs, but everything must be processed with the Design Space software before cutting instructions are sent to the machines. Until last weekend, the extra step was a minor inconvenience, but now the company has promised a future software update that sounds a little unfair to users who have already paid for the hardware.
In a post shared on the Cricut-blog On Friday, the company gave some updates on the Design Space software, but especially this paragraph got users on their feet:
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The company already offers monthly and annually Cricut Access Enrollment Plans offering cheaper access to the library of designs, graphics, and fonts available through the Design Space app than purchasing each one separately. If you rely heavily on these downloads for your projects, subscribing is not a bad idea, but until recently it was completely optional and there was no need to use the Cricut machines. That’s going to change soon.
Before artwork is sent to the Cricut machines to cut it up, it is first sent to the cloud, where Cricut’s servers optimize the design and cutting instructions. Currently, there is no limit, and Cricut users can upload as many designs as they want, including multiple revisions if the optimized results do not look the way they want. But soon, the Design Space app will limit users to a ’20 personal images and / or patterns’ per month without a paid subscription. Casual artisans will never reach that limit, but those who rely on the machines, such as those who sell their creations through an Etsy store, will have no choice but to make at least $ 10 / month, or $ 96 / year, start paying not to use their Cricut machines.
There is no timeline for when Cricut will start applying the 20 upload / month limit, or whether it will introduce new cheaper subscription plans to accommodate those affected. We have contacted Cricut’s representatives to comment and will update this story if they can provide more information about this update and what it means for all Cricut users.