Sawgrid

Cut optimization for iPhone and iPad

Cut lists that actually add up.

Sawgrid turns a list of parts and a list of panels into cutting plans a workshop can produce. Guillotine cuts, real kerf math, grain direction on every single part. Everything runs on the device. No server, no account, no signal needed.

iPhone and iPad, iOS 17 and later.
Calculating is free. Pro is a one time purchase or a subscription, your choice.

Sheet 1 of 1 19 mm birch plywood Kerf 3.2 mm Edge trim 10 mm Grain runs left to right
Sawgrid cutting plan for one 2800 by 2070 millimeter sheet Ten parts placed on a single sheet in four horizontal strips. Strip one holds a 1950 by 600 side panel and a 700 by 600 top. Strip two holds a second side panel and a 700 by 600 bottom. Strip three holds three shelves of 900 by 600. Strip four holds three fronts of 596 by 220 and one reusable offcut of 982 by 240 millimeters. Narrow hatched bands along the right edge and under the fronts are waste. Side L 1950 × 600 Top 700 × 600 Side R 1950 × 600 Bottom 700 × 600 Shelf 900 × 600 Shelf 900 × 600 Shelf 900 × 600 Front 596 × 220 Front 596 × 220 Front 596 × 220 Offcut 982 × 240 1 2 3 2800 2070
  • 89.6 % parts
  • 4.1 % reusable offcut
  • 0.7 % kerf
  • 1.7 % edge trim
  • 3.9 % waste
10 parts requested, 10 parts placed. The five numbers above are not an estimate. They add up to exactly 100 % of the sheet, down to the square tenth of a millimeter, and the app refuses to show you a plan where they do not. The orange lines numbered 1 to 3 are the full width rip cuts, in the order the saw makes them. The offcut goes back into your stock with its real size, so the next project can use it.

Built against the complaints, not the feature list.

Every point below comes from a specific, repeated failure in this category. Some of them cost people real money in wasted material.

Three steps, then you cut.

No wizard, no gratis run to burn by mistyping a number, no paywall between you and the result you already typed in.

  1. Type the parts

    Name, width, length, quantity, grain. Paste a room full of panels in one go, or add them one at a time. Every field takes any unit you feel like typing.

  2. Describe your stock

    Full sheets, half sheets and the offcut rack, each with a quantity and a priority. Set the kerf of your blade and the trim your supplier leaves on the edge.

  3. Solve and print

    Plans per material, a cut list in the order you will actually cut, a shopping list, and a balance that closes. Then a PDF for the wall next to the saw.

What is under the lid.

Not because you have to care, but because the plans are only as trustworthy as the arithmetic behind them.

What is free, and what Pro costs.

Every competing app in this category meters the calculating. Sawgrid does not, and it says plainly where the line is instead of finding out at the paywall.

Questions

If yours is not here, write to us. A person reads that inbox.

Does Sawgrid need an internet connection?

No. The optimizer, the drawings, the PDF export and the offcut inventory all run on the device. You can plan a job in a basement workshop with no signal at all.

Do I have to create an account?

No. There is no account, no login and no server. Your projects live in the app's own storage on your device.

Can one project mix several materials?

Yes, and that was a requirement from day one rather than a later addition. A real carcass job mixes 19 mm plywood, a 6 mm back panel and solid timber. Sawgrid solves each material against its own stock, prints a separate plan per material and gives you one consolidated shopping list.

How does Sawgrid handle grain direction?

Grain is a three valued setting on every single part: free to rotate, forced lengthwise, forced crosswise. Each part inherits the setting from its material, and you can override it on any part without touching the others. The stock panel carries its own grain axis, so a cross grain sheet is handled correctly too.

Can Sawgrid use the offcuts I already have?

Yes. An offcut is simply stock with a size, a finite quantity and a priority number. Give the rack a lower priority than fresh sheets and the optimizer consumes your leftovers before it opens a new panel. Usable offcuts produced by a run can go straight back into the rack with their real dimensions.

Which units can I type?

One field, no unit switch. It understands 720, 18mm, 1,8 cm, 3/4", 0.75in, 24 1/2 and 2' 6 3/4. Metric and imperial can sit side by side in the same project. Anything the parser cannot read with certainty is rejected outright rather than guessed at.

What happens if a part does not fit?

Sawgrid stops and tells you which part it is, how big it is, and which stock item it was measured against. This is the single most damaging failure in this category: a plan that silently drops a piece sends you to the merchant with the wrong quantity, and you find out at the saw.

Does Sawgrid nest irregular shapes?

No, and that is a deliberate limit. Sawgrid plans rectangular guillotine cuts, which is exactly what a table saw, a track saw or a panel saw can physically execute. True nesting of arbitrary polygons needs minutes of compute on a desktop machine, which is not an honest thing to put in a mobile app.

Can it optimize linear stock as well as panels?

Yes. Trim, battens, tubes and profiles are optimized one dimensionally, in the same project as your panels, with the same kerf and the same balance guarantee.

Will the same project always produce the same plan?

Yes. Every heuristic in the portfolio is deterministic, and the optional refinement pass draws from a fixed seed rather than from the clock. If you printed a plan yesterday and solve again today, you get the identical plan.

Is there advertising?

No. This version shows no ads at all, free or paid, and it carries no advertising, analytics or tracking software. Nothing you type leaves the device. Details are in the privacy policy.

Which devices does it run on?

iPhone and iPad, iOS 17 and later. The typing is built for one hand at a bench, and the cutting plan takes the room a larger screen gives it.

Measure twice. Let Sawgrid do the rest of the arithmetic.

Sawgrid is a planning tool. It is very good at the packing and the bookkeeping, and it still cannot see your saw. Check every dimension against the drawing before the blade goes in.

iPhone and iPad, iOS 17 and later.