When I first entered the Cricut universe I was naive. I thought purchasing the Cricut Explore machine was the hard/most expensive part. I quickly learned that there is a seemingly endless amount of tools, accessories, and materials that can be used to complete projects.
Getting Started with a Cricut Joy, Cricut’s compact crafting machine can cost as little as $160. Getting started with the Cricut Maker, Cricut’s most powerful cutting machine can cost over $700.
Machine Costs
Most Cricut Machines come with the basics that allow you to get started out of the box. Let’s take a look at what the machines cost and what additional accessories are available/required to use the full capability of the Cricut Machine.
The Small Starter Cricut
Cricut Joy retails for about $160. The Cricut Joy is the smallest and least expensive Cricut Cutting Machine. The tiny Cricut Joy is limited to a width of 4.5 inches but can handle a project length of 20 feet. The Cricut Joy only comes with enough material for a starter project.
The foil kit is an add on for Joy and retails for about $29.99 . You can expect to pay between $160 and $189 to get started with the Cricut Joy Machine. Materials are discussed later in this post and are an additional cost.
https://cricut.com/en_us/catalog/product/view/id/7557/s/joy-foil-transfer-kit/category/192/
| Basic Cricut Joy Machine | $160 |
| Cricut Joy Machine Plus All Available Accessories | $189 |
The Cricut Standard
The Cricut Explore is the baseline version of Cricut and retails for about $300. Out of the box, the Cricut Explore 3 can cut Smart Materials. In order to cut standard materials, you would need to purchase a cutting Mat. The Cricut Explore 2 comes with a cutting Mat.
https://cricut.com/en_us/accessories/featured/foil-transfer-kit/foil-transfer-kit.html
https://cricut.com/en_us/bonded-fabric-blade-housing.html#product_detail
https://cricut.com/en_us/scoring-stylus.html
https://cricut.com/en_us/standardgrip-machine-mat-12-x-12-2-ct.html
The Foil Transfer Kit ($29.99),Deep Point Blade($34.99) & Bonded Fabric Blade($34.99) are add ons for the Cricut Explore Machines.
These table below is based on suggested retail prices to get a ball park amount for what these items costs. The Cricut website and other retailers sometimes have sales and markdowns offer machines and accessories at a better price.
| Cricut Explore Air 2 Machine Only | $249 |
| Cricut Explore Air 2 with All Machine Accessories | $349 |
| Cricut Explore 3 Machine Only | $299 |
| Cricut Explore 3 with two cutting Mats | $315 |
| Cricut Explore 3 with a Cutting Mat & All Machine Accedssories | $415 |
The Most Powerful Cricut
The Cricut Maker is the Cricut’s most powerful and most expensive machine. The newest Cricut Maker retails for $400! A basic blade is included but to make the most of the Maker you need to buy accessories. There are 13 machine accessories such as foiling tip, rotary blade, and engraving tip that retail anywhere between $10 and $50.
| Maker Accessory | Retail Price |
| Knife Blade w/ housing | $45.99 |
| Foil Transfer Kit | $39.99 |
| Engraving Tip & Housing | $44.99 |
| Rotary Blade & Housing | $44.99 |
| Debossing Tip | $24.99 |
| Scoring Wheel | $29.99 |
| Perforation Blade | $29.99 |
| Deep Point Blade | $17.49 |
| Wavy Blade | $29.99 |
Purchasing these accessories at full price would cost over an additional $300 over the cost of the machine.
The Good News is that you do not NEED all of the accessories to start crafting. You may find that you need to add additional accessories as you explore different materials and more complex projects.
| Cricut Maker | $399 |
| Cricut Maker and all Machine accessories | $708 |
| Cricut Maker 3 | |
Cricut Cutting Machines: Secrets to finding the Best Deals
Subscription Costs
No subscription is required to use Cricut Design Space is completely free. However, a Cricut access subscription is normally less than $10 per month and includes hundreds of fonts and images. The Cricut Access subscription also gives an addtional
Materials
Each time you create a project you will need materials that will be used for the final project for example you could use iron-on vinyl and a T-shirt for a custom shirt project.
| Material | Price |
| Iron-on Vinyl | $11 |
| Smart Vinyl | $15 |
| Smart Vinyl (Cricut Joy) | $9 |
| T-Shirt Blank | $8 |
| Coaster Blanks | $13 |
| Mug Blanks | $9 |
Accessories
There are different types of cutting Mats for Cricut. There are tools for weeding vinyl,
Basic Tool Set $27
Weeding Tool Set $27
Infusible Ink Markers $15
Cricut Tote Bag $10
Cricut Bundles
The Cricut website has machine bundles that include Cricut tools (such as the weeding tool set), materials and markers.