A Cricut is an electronic cutter that you can use on materials like paper, cardstock, and more. You can upload your own designs in your Cricut Design Space account to cut, but there is some confusion about how many designs you can upload each month. So, when does Cricut start charging for uploads through Cricut Access?
Cricut does not charge for uploads, and all users have unlimited uploads regardless of their subscription plan. Previously, there was some confusion when Cricut announced that free members would be limited to 20 uploads/month, but the company reversed that decision after backlash from its customers.
This article will explain what happened when Cricut temporarily changed its design upload limits and what their paid and free membership levels include. And there are some resources and products you can use with your Cricut throughout the article.
Cricut Upload Controversy
Cricut had some controversy regarding its upload policy when it announced that it would limit uploads for free subscribers.
On March 12th, 2021, Cricut announced on their blog that they would be limiting the number of uploads for free members. All members would be able to keep their current designs in their account, but only paid members would be able to continue to upload designs without restrictions.
These restrictions would not apply to all the images users have access to, just any uploads that users make on their own.
Cricut users were not happy with the limitation on the number of uploads, even though most upload less than twenty designs per month. Some users voiced their concerns, and others started looking at alternative cutting machines.
On March 16th, 2021, Cricut revoked this decision and announced that users could still upload an unlimited number of designs every month. They realized that this would do more harm than good for their loyal users. Users would either have to pay to upgrade their plan, or they would have to upload fewer designs per month.
So, all Cricut plans will continue to have unlimited uploads every month for all users, including the free ones. But, there are still differences between the three plans that Cricut offers, which we will detail in the next section.
In this YouTube video, Hanks, Maker Mentor explains what Cricut originally announced regarding when you would be limited in your uploads and their announcement to reverse the decision:
Cricut Access Plans
Cricut has three different membership plans, all of which currently provide an unlimited number of uploads. But, just because you get unlimited uploads with each membership does not mean you do not get better features with the paid plans.
Here are the three plans and what they include:
Free Membership
The Free Membership enables users to access over 1,000 images and 15 fonts. This tier is ideal for beginners or hobbyists that are still learning how to use the machine. It’s also perfect for those who don’t want to be tied down to a monthly membership and prefer to purchase digital features on an ad hoc basis.
You also get more than 250 ready-to-make projects and up to 5 collections in your Design Space.
Standard Membership
When you start paying for a Cricut membership, the number of features you get significantly increases. The first paid membership is the Standard membership. You get access to more than 200,000 images, 700 fonts, and 1,000 ready-to-make projects.
These alone can drastically increase your Cricut potential. There are also savings for Standard members including 10% off cricut.com purchases, like machines, and 10% off licensed images.
Premium Membership
The Premium membership comes with everything in the Standard membership, plus a few other features. The biggest benefit of a Premium membership is that you get 20% off all materials purchased through the Cricut store. And, if you spend $50 or more, you get free shipping! These savings can add up fast if you shop a lot in the Cricut store.
No matter what plan you have, your benefits will be across all Cricut sites and apps, including Design Space and Cricut Joy app.
Everyone is automatically enrolled in the free plan when they create a Cricut account. But, as you can see, people with one of the two paid memberships get a significant number of perks.
There are hundreds of times more images and fonts you can use with a paid plan, as well as more ready-to-make projects and no limit on the number of collections you can make. And, you get a discount on licensed images, purchases, and shipping on the Cricut website.
Finally, paid members get priority customer service if any questions or issues arise. The prices for the two paid plans vary depending on if you pay per month or per year.
Cricut Products and Resources
If you are new to Cricut and uploading designs to use with your Cricut, these resources will help you get started:
- You need a Cricut Machine to get started. The Cricut Maker 3 (available on Amazon.com) will help you do any cutting, scoring, and embellishing you want to do from the comfort of your own home. The Cricut Maker 3 is compatible with many of Cricut’s smart materials, including paper, vinyl, and iron on.
- CRICUT: 10 Books in 1, 2022 Edition. This book on Amazon.com will teach you about ten important things to know about your Cricut, including a beginners guide, how to start a project, project ideas, and how to use your machine, and the materials and tools you need to accompany it.
- If you are new to Cricut, which is why you are interested in the design limits, you should learn how the Cricut Design Space works and what features it has. You can watch it in this video from Liz Moore Decal and Decor on YouTube:
- Once you are ready, you need to know how to upload images to Cricut Design Space. You can learn about it in this video from The Crafty Blog Stalker:
- Take full advantage of your Cricut machine. This video helps you learn and navigate through Design Space:
Final Thoughts
Cricut currently does not limit the number of uploads you can make, and there is no number that you will hit when they start to charge you. While there would be a change where you would have to pay for uploads when you reached twenty, Cricut quickly reversed this decision. Paid Cricut memberships have other benefits, but an unlimited number of uploads is not one since all members have access to this benefit.
Be sure to check out some other nifty functional craft ideas through our other posts here on Craft-ILY as well as checking out some videos on DIY and How To’s over on YouTube. Look for “Crafting Unedited” or just click the name in blue to see!