Cut less waste with a free cutlist optimizer.
Real Cutlist Optimizer is a free cutlist optimizer for plywood, MDF, and sheet goods that shows you real numbers — sheets needed, waste percentage, and cost — without a paywall standing between you and the answer.
Why this exists
Built to fix what other cutlist tools get wrong
No leaked translation keys, no icon-only buttons with no labels, no subscription tiers gating a basic calculation.
Real stats, not zeros
Sheets needed, waste percentage, estimated cost, total cut length, and edge banding — calculated live as you type.
Grain, kerf, and rotation control
Lock grain direction per part, set your measured kerf once, and let everything else rotate freely to minimize waste.
Shareable, not siloed
Your project autosaves in your browser and can be shared via a single link — no account, no sync service, no lock-in.
How it works
Three steps to a cut-ready layout
Add your stock and parts
Pick a sheet-size preset or enter your own, then list the parts you need cut — dimensions, quantity, and material.
Set kerf and grain rules
Enter your measured blade kerf once and lock grain direction only on the parts that actually need it.
Get labeled diagrams instantly
See exactly where every part goes on every sheet, with live waste and cost stats, ready to print.
Other cutlist tools charge a subscription to see your own waste percentage.
We compared the leading paid cutlist optimizer feature-by-feature — the leaked translation keys, the calculation limits, the confusing tier names. See exactly what's different.
Read the comparisonGuides
Learn the details that actually reduce waste
Grain Direction in Woodworking: When It Matters and When It Doesn't
How to decide which parts need grain direction locked in a cutlist optimizer, and why locking every part by default quietly wastes material.
Seven Ways to Cut Plywood Waste on Your Next Project
Practical, low-effort changes that reduce sheet-goods waste — from part orientation to batching parts across projects.
Plywood and Sheet Goods Sizes: A Practical Reference
Standard plywood, MDF, and melamine sheet sizes in both imperial and metric, and how to pick the right stock size before you optimize a cut list.
About the tool
What is Real Cutlist Optimizer?
What is a cutlist optimizer?
A cutlist optimizer takes a list of parts you need cut — widths, heights, quantities, and materials — and works out the most efficient way to arrange them on your stock sheets before you ever pick up a saw. Instead of guessing at a layout on paper or eyeballing offcuts in the shop, you get a calculated cutting plan that tells you exactly how many sheets you need, how much material you'll waste, and roughly what the job will cost. For anyone building cabinets, furniture, shelving, or shop fixtures out of sheet goods, that's the difference between an educated guess and a number you can actually plan a budget around. Real Cutlist Optimizer is built to be the plywood cutlist optimizer people reach for when they want that answer without friction — open the tool, enter your parts, and see the layout.
A free cutlist optimizer, not a free trial
Most paid cutlist optimizer tools gate their best features — waste percentage, cost estimates, unlimited parts — behind a subscription, or a "free tier" that caps you at a handful of calculations per day. Real Cutlist Optimizer takes a different approach: it's a free cutlist optimizer with no account, no trial period, and no calculation limit, because the entire optimization runs as JavaScript in your own browser. There's no server doing the packing math on our infrastructure, so there's no per-calculation cost for us to recover from you. That's also why your project data never leaves your device — nothing to upload, nothing to store, nothing to meter.
Built specifically for plywood and sheet goods
This isn't a generic geometry solver retrofitted for woodworking — it's a plywood cutlist optimizer purpose-built around how sheet goods actually get cut. Every layout respects real guillotine cuts (the straight, edge-to-edge cuts a table saw or panel saw can actually make), applies your measured kerf consistently across every cut, and lets you lock grain direction on individual parts so visible-grain panels don't get rotated into the wrong orientation. Mix plywood, MDF, and melamine in the same project, track edge banding totals per part, and get a list of reusable offcuts above whatever minimum size you choose — details that matter to a shop and that get ignored by tools built for abstract rectangle packing.
A cutlist optimizer online — no install, works on PC or Mac
Because it runs entirely client-side, Real Cutlist Optimizer is a cutlist optimizer online in the truest sense: there's nothing to download and nothing to install. Open it in any modern browser and it works the same whether you're running it as a cutlist optimizer for PC on a Windows shop computer, on a Mac, or on a Chromebook at the front counter. Your project autosaves locally as you work and can be shared with a collaborator or client through a single link — no account required on either end to open it.
Sheet goods, not linear cutlists
Worth being precise about: this is a two-dimensional sheet-packing tool, not a linear cutlist optimizer. If you're cutting lengths of lumber, trim, pipe, or extrusion down from long stock — a one-dimensional problem — a linear cutlist optimizer built for that specific case will serve you better. Real Cutlist Optimizer is built for panel goods: plywood, MDF, melamine, and similar sheet materials where parts need to be packed across both the width and height of a stock sheet.
The official Real Cutlist Optimizer website
realcutlistoptimizer.com is the official Real Cutlist Optimizer website — the only place this tool is published, with no separate paid version elsewhere. Everything described above is available every time you open it, for free, forever. Add your first stock sheet and see your real numbers in under a minute.
Common questions
Cutlist optimizer FAQ
What does a cutlist optimizer do?
It takes your list of parts — widths, heights, quantities, materials — and your available stock sheets, then calculates the arrangement that uses the fewest sheets and the least material. You get a cutting diagram, not just a number.
Is there a truly free cutlist optimizer, with no paid tier?
Yes. Real Cutlist Optimizer has no paid plan at all — not a limited free tier with a paywall above it. Every feature, every calculation, forever, at no cost.
Do I need to download anything to use it?
No. It runs entirely in your browser as a cutlist optimizer online — no install, no signup, no plugin. Open realcutlistoptimizer.com on a PC, Mac, or Chromebook and start entering parts.
What’s the difference between a cut list and a cutting diagram?
A cut list is just the parts you need: quantity, dimensions, material. A cutting diagram is the visual layout showing exactly where each part sits on each sheet. Real Cutlist Optimizer turns the first into the second automatically.
How much material can an optimizer actually save me?
Manual, by-eye layouts commonly waste 20–30% of a sheet. A guillotine-accurate optimized layout routinely gets that down into the low double digits, which on a multi-sheet job can mean several fewer sheets bought.
Who uses a cutlist optimizer?
Cabinet makers, furniture and joinery shops, CNC and panel-saw operators, and hobbyists cutting plywood, MDF, or melamine at home — anyone who’d rather know their waste percentage before cutting than after.
How do I account for saw blade kerf?
Enter your blade’s cutting width once — the default is 3mm, typical for a table saw. Real Cutlist Optimizer applies it consistently to every cut in the layout, so the plan matches what your saw actually removes.
Can I use it on a phone or tablet, not just a desktop?
Yes — the tool is fully responsive and works in any modern mobile browser, which is handy for pulling up a diagram at the saw. Entering a long parts list is still faster on a desktop or laptop.
More questions? See the full FAQ page.