Over the weekend, people own it Cricut’s making machines—These are printer-like devices that can split documents accurately—, they learned of an upcoming update that will limit how often they can use the machines they paid. The company, whose cheapest machine costs $ 180, will start charging users a monthly subscription for unlimited printing, which until now had been free.
The use of Cricut machines requires the use of the company’s proprietary Design Space software for desktop computers and mobile devices. Allows you to import designs from other software programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, and sort them to maximize the use of a piece of paper. Some of the more sophisticated paper stocks that work with Cricut can be expensive. Design Space also allows you to create custom illustrations from scratch using a giant library of downloadable fonts, graphics, and patterns, some of which are free, most not.
As we have pointed out to ours review of Cricut Joy last year, not only can it cost to manufacture with the machines if you rely on the company’s designs, but everything has to be processed using the Design Space software before sending the cutting instructions to the machines. Until this past 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 shared post at Cricut Block on Friday, the company details several updates to the Design Space software, but it is especially this paragraph that holds users in their arms:
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The company already offers monthly and annually Cricut Access subscription plans which give access to the library of designs, graphics and fonts available through the Design Space app at a lower price than buying them all individually. If you rely heavily on these downloads for your projects, subscriptions are not a bad idea, but until recently they were completely optional and were not required to use Cricut machines. It is soon about to change.
Before sending the artwork to Cricut machines for cutting, it is first sent to the cloud, where Cricut servers optimize the design and cutting instructions. There is currently no limit and Cricut users can upload as many designs as they want, including multiple revisions if optimized results don’t turn out the way they want. But soon the Design Space app will limit unpaid users to just “20 images and / or personal patterns” a month. Occasional artisans may never reach that limit, but those who rely on revenue-generating machines, such as those who sell their creations through an Etsy store, will have no choice but to start paying at least $ 10. a month or $ 96 a year to continue to use your Cricut machines.
There is no timeline as to when Cricut will begin applying the 20-month-per-month limit or whether it will introduce new, cheaper subscription plans to suit those affected. We have contacted Cricut 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.