The easiest, fastest, cheapest, best way to optimize your sheet goods and lumber.
Rip Fence is the best cutlist optimizer available, and somehow it’s also free for most people. It has all the features you need, and you’ll only pay for it if you need to save multiple projects or you’re tired of freeloading. 😆
Want to save more than 3 projects? $19, once, for life.
No sign-up, account, or credit card required.
I’m a woodworker and programmer who got tired of hard-to-use cutlist tools that cost too much and limit what you can do.
RipFence is focused on being easy to use and generous. Its visual interface makes it easy to understand things like grain direction, cutlists calculate instantly, and it won’t force you to pay in the middle of your project. I’d love for you to pay for it, but you probably won’t have to.
How it works
List your parts
Type each part's size and how many you need: length and width for sheet goods, just a length for lumber. Fractions and feet work: 32 1/2 or 8'.
Say what you're cutting from
Full sheets, boards, offcuts from the last job, or all three. Drag them into the order you want them used up.
Take the plan to the shop
Every sheet and board is drawn with each part and its measurements, plus a shopping list. Print it or save it as a picture.
Built by a woodworker, for the way wood gets cut
Cuts a saw can make
Every cut runs edge to edge across the piece being cut, the way a table saw or track saw works. No plans that only a CNC router could follow.
Grain runs the right way
Say which way the grain goes on each part and the plan keeps it that way. Turn it off for MDF and melamine and parts are turned wherever they fit best.
Uses up your offcuts first
List the pieces you already have and they are cut before anything new. The plan tells you what you still need to buy.
Settings other planners charge for
Blade kerf, a trim allowance for rough factory edges, steering away from sliver cuts, and rips-first or crosscuts-first. All included.
Inches or millimeters
Shop fractions down to 1/64, or metric with decimal commas. It starts in the units used where you are.
Works on your phone, in the shop
Add it to your home screen and the planner opens without a connection, so the plan is there when the Wi-Fi isn't.
A plan made for printing
Each sheet and board is drawn large and clear, followed by a parts checklist to tick off as you cut. Any of them can also be saved as a PNG or PDF.
Boards and trim too
Lumber, molding, and tube are cut to length in the same project as your plywood, with the same offcuts-first and kerf rules. Other planners sell this as a separate tool.
Knows what the job costs
Put a price on your sheets and boards and the plan totals the material cost for the whole job.
Free to use. Pay once if you want to keep more.
Everything that plans, prints, and exports is free, with no limit and no account. The one thing money buys is room for more saved projects.
Free
$0
- Plans with no limit on parts, sheets, or boards
- Every setting, including edge trim and cut direction
- Printing and PNG pictures of every sheet and board
- No account needed
- Save up to 3 projects with a free account
Own it
$19, one time
- Everything in Free
- As many saved projects as you like
- No subscription, ever
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Questions
- Is it really free?
- Yes. Working out plans, printing, and saving pictures are free with no limit, and you don't need an account. A free account saves up to 3 projects so you can open them on any device. If you want to keep more than that, it's $19, one time. There is no subscription.
- Do I have to sign up to try it?
- No. The planner opens with an example project you can change straight away. Your work stays in your browser until you choose to save it to an account.
- What is a cutlist optimizer?
- It takes the list of parts a project needs and works out how to cut them from sheet goods and lumber using as little material as possible. You get a drawing of each sheet and board showing where every part comes from, so you buy the right amount and don't have to work it out on paper.
- What is blade kerf, and why does it matter?
- Kerf is the width of the slot your saw blade cuts, usually about 1/8 inch (3 mm). Every cut turns that much wood into sawdust, so two 24 inch parts will not come out of a 48 inch sheet. Rip Fence allows for the kerf on every cut.
- Will the plan work with a track saw or a table saw?
- Yes. Every cut in a plan goes all the way across the piece being cut, which is the only kind of cut those saws make. You can also choose whether the first cuts run along the sheet or across it, to suit how you break sheets down.
- Can I use it for boards, trim, or pipe?
- Yes. Add a material and choose “Boards and trim”, then give each board and part a length. It works for lumber, molding, tube, and anything else you only cut to length, and it can sit in the same project as your plywood.
- Does it work in millimeters?
- Yes. Choose inches or millimeters for each project. New projects start in the units used where you are, with a standard full sheet of 96 × 48 inches or 2440 × 1220 mm.