Online panel cutting software: what it does, how to choose it and how to work with it

Many cabinet makers still draw the cutting plan on paper or in an Excel sheet, based on experience. That works for a chest of drawers. For a kitchen with 80 parts, three decors and edge banding on half of them, calculating by hand becomes slow and mistakes go straight into the board bill. Panel cutting software takes over exactly that part: it receives the cut list and the available boards and gives you back the cutting diagram, the cut order and the workshop documents.

In this guide you will see what such software actually does, which criteria matter when you choose one, how it compares with Excel and with desktop programs, and what a complete workflow looks like in OptimCut.

What panel cutting software does

In short, the software solves a layout problem: how to place a set of rectangles (the parts) on other rectangles (the boards) so that you use as few boards as possible with as little waste as possible. On top of that, it has to follow the real rules of the workshop.

• Edge-to-edge (guillotine) cuts. On a sliding table saw or a panel saw, every cut goes all the way through the piece you are cutting. The plan has to be cuttable that way, not just look good on screen.
• Material lost in the cut. Every pass of the blade (the saw kerf) consumes a few millimetres.
• The edges of the raw board. Factory edges are often chipped or not perfectly square, so they are trimmed.
• Grain direction on woodgrain decors.
• Edge banding, which changes the size at which you cut the part.

The useful result is not just a drawing. It is a set of documents the operator can work from without calculating anything: the diagram with dimensions, the cutting steps, the part labels and the board and edge banding requirement for purchasing.

The OptimCut engine uses genetic algorithms: it generates many possible layouts, keeps the best ones and combines them, cycle after cycle, until it finds a low-waste solution. The same idea was behind the OptimCut program for Windows, developed in Romania by Softrust Computers in the 2000s and used in workshops for years. In 2026 it was rebuilt by FORTRUST S.R.L. as a web application, with the calculation done on the server.

Why optimization matters: the cost of material

A standard chipboard panel is usually 2800 × 2070 mm, almost 5.8 m². Some of that area is always lost: edge trimming, the blade width on every cut and the strips where no part fits. The difference between a good plan and a mediocre one shows in how many boards you open for the same cut list.

The example below shows how much the layout alone matters, even for identical parts on a single board.

On a real cut list, with dozens of different sizes, there are far too many combinations to try by hand. This is where software wins: it tries thousands of options and shows you the plan with the fewest boards, and you see at once how much material is lost. More about the sources of waste and how to keep them under control in the article on chipboard cutting waste.

What to check when choosing cutting software

Most cutting optimizers look good in a demo. The differences show up when you enter a real order. These are the criteria that matter in the workshop.

Grain, kerf and trimming

The software has to know, for every part, whether it can be rotated. Doors, drawer fronts and visible side panels in a woodgrain decor have fixed grain; drawer bottoms or hidden shelves can have free grain. Details in the guide to chipboard grain direction.

Just as important: the saw kerf (usually around 3–4.5 mm, depending on the blade) and board trimming (often 10–15 mm per side, on the factory edges). If the software does not subtract them, the dimensions on the diagram will not work out at the saw. See saw kerf and board trimming.

Edge banding and cut sizes

If you work with finished sizes, the software should subtract the edge band thickness (ABS or PVC, usually between 0.4 and 2 mm) from the banded sides by itself and, if you pre-mill, add back what the cutter removes. Otherwise you calculate them by hand, part by part. The edge banding requirement per thickness should come out of the same place; see calculating edge banding for furniture.

Cut order and workshop documents

A good plan on screen does not help if the operator does not know in which order to cut. Look for a step-by-step cutting sheet (which piece to take, which size to set on the fence, what drops off), dimensioned diagrams and labels to stick on the parts, so the side panels do not get mixed up at assembly.

Stock and reusable offcuts

Large offcuts from an order are material you have paid for. Useful software keeps them in stock, next to the new boards, and uses them in the next order. Ideally, stock goes down by itself when you confirm a cutting job.

Export, access and price

• Export to CSV or PDF, so you can send the board requirement to your supplier or open it in Excel.
• Where it runs: only on an office computer, or also in the browser, on a tablet and phone, right next to the machine.
• Importing the cut list: pasting from Excel or importing from design software.
• Price and free trial: can you test it on your own orders before you pay?

Excel or manual calculation vs. optimization software

Excel is good for lists: parts, quantities, areas. It can calculate the net area and an estimate of the number of boards (see how many chipboard sheets you need). What it cannot do on its own is the layout: it does not know whether the parts really fit, with edge-to-edge cuts and the grain respected.

Calculating by hand on paper has the advantage of experience: a good cabinet maker quickly sees a decent layout. The downside is the time, and the fact that you cannot compare dozens of options. And a dimension error discovered after cutting costs you a board.

Online software or desktop software

Classic cutting programs are installed on a Windows computer, with the licence tied to that computer. They work well as long as you only work in the office. Problems start when you want to prepare a quote at the customer's, when the operator wants to see the diagram next to the machine or when the computer breaks.

Online panel cutting optimization software runs in the browser. You install nothing, you sign in from a computer, tablet or phone, and your data (materials, stock, recipes, saved sheets) is the same everywhere. In OptimCut the calculation is done on the server, so even an older phone gets the result quickly.

The trade-off: you need an internet connection to start an optimization. You can download the sheets as PDF and print them, so you have them in the workshop even without signal.

How you work in OptimCut, step by step

The workflow follows the real path of an order: materials, stock, furniture, optimization, production. You fill in the first three once and keep them up to date as you go.

1. 1
   Fill in the material catalogue

   Add the materials you work with (chipboard, MDF, HDF), with the name your operator recognises and, optionally, the manufacturer code.

2. 2
   Record the boards in stock

   For each material: length, width and how many pieces you have. Reusable offcuts left after cutting appear separately, in the same stock.

3. 3
   Describe the furniture once

   In a recipe you enter the parts with finished sizes, the material, the grain (fixed or free) and the edge banding on each side. Recipes are grouped in categories and can have sub-assemblies, such as drawers. You can also import a CSV cut list from SketchUp or PRO100.

4. 4
   Choose what to cut

   Choose the recipes and the number of units, or enter the parts directly, including pasting them from Excel. The software shows you the material requirement and proposes boards from stock, with a 30% reserve for the saw blade, trimming and unused gaps.

5. 5
   Set trimming, pre-milling and method

   Choose whether you trim the boards and by how many mm, whether you pre-mill edge-banded parts, the blade width, the minimum reusable offcut and the method: Auto, Industrial, Small batch or Precise.

6. 6
   Check the result

   OptimCut checks the plan itself: every part on a board, no overlaps, no cuts longer than the machine can make and no strips too narrow for the blade. By default the cut order follows the piece in hand, so the board is turned as rarely as possible.

7. 7
   Send it to the workshop

   Print the diagrams, the cutting sheet, the labels or the complete sheet as PDF, and export to CSV the board requirement, the cut list, the edge banding requirement and the offcuts. On confirmation the sheet is saved, the boards used are taken out of stock, and you add the good offcuts back.

For a quick estimate, without stock and without recipes, there is the Quick optimization module: enter the board and part sizes and see the cutting plan instantly. It is described in the article on the panel cutting calculator. For a complete order example, see the cutting plan for a chipboard kitchen.

Price and what you get with the free account

OptimCut has two account types. Full pricing is on the pricing page.

The app, the website and the manual are available in Romanian, English, Bulgarian, Serbian and Turkish, and you can contact support directly from the account menu.

Conclusion

Good panel cutting software reduces the number of boards per order, saves you calculation time and gives the operator a clear sheet, with no dimensions to work out at the machine. When choosing, check whether it takes grain, kerf, trimming and edge banding into account, whether it produces the documents you need in the workshop and whether you can use it from anywhere.

The simplest test is a real order. Create a free account, enter the cut list of your last job and compare the calculated plan with the one you actually cut from.