The method. No hidden weight for “our product”.
Any ranking with its own tool on top looks like a doorway. To not be one, you have to be able to redo the score on paper. Weights, sources, and what we refuse to measure.
Updated 28 August 2026. NestPrintCut editorial — the team that builds RolCut. Scores follow the public method. We do not run a 200-roll lab we have not run.
Persona from the brief: a 2–30 person shop, a cutter, a RIP or Corel, weekly nests. Not a student, not a Cricut, not steel CAM. Criteria are weighted for that persona. The second board — prepress — moves weight onto automation.
Seven criteria
| Criterion | Weight | What we count |
|---|---|---|
| Roll-native nesting | 20 | Media width as first dimension, length as output, waste in metres |
| True-shape | 15 | Pack on contour / alpha, not only a bounding box. A JPEG with no alpha is a rectangle |
| Cutter-ready output | 20 | print.pdf + spotted cut.pdf + DXF + marks. Not “800 small-plotter drivers” |
| 3-year TCO | 15 | Public price × 3 + deployment. Quotes (Griffin) take the high end, not the low |
| RIP independence | 10 | Does the nest sit in front of any RIP, or need Onyx / Caldera / Corel |
| Time to first nest | 10 | An account and a recipe vs a Windows server, a dongle, training |
| Shop recipes | 10 | Wrap / gutter / spot / code presets. Hot folders live here, not in “AI magic” |
What we refuse to measure
- Colour and profile quality — that is the RIP.
- Cricut / Cameo driver counts.
- Industry awards and PR quotes.
- Brochure “up to 50% media” without your roll.
- A hidden weight for “our product”. RolCut gets 15 on TCO because €499/year is public. PrimeCenter gets 4 because €2,495/year is also public.
Two boards
Shop board = the weights above. Prepress board = roll + shape + cut + rip + recipes×1.5 + time×0.4. That is why PrimeCenter can win the second and lose the first. If your shop is a prepress desk, read the second.
Sources
Prices: caldera.com/primecenter-pricing (Essentials / Pro / Max, 2026), Onyx TruFit resellers (~$1,995), Fiery Prep-it (~$3,000), EasyCut Studio, eCut, Nest&Cut. Griffin: Signs101 and reseller ranges, not a made-up figure. Dates sit on the reviews. Corrections: redakcja@nestprintcut.com.
Questions on the method
Why is TCO 15 and true-shape 15?
Because for the shop persona the invoice and the waste are the same account. Griffin’s engine is better — and it has 15/15 on shape. It does not win the sum, because the licence eats TCO.
Will you change the weights if RolCut drops?
No. The weights live in this file and on this page. A weight change needs a date and a sentence of why. Otherwise it is a doorway.