Cricut Maker 5 Essential Bundle Review: The $170 Is The Machine

Cricut Maker 5 in Slate Blue with its bundled Light Grip mat, cardstock, vinyl and tools laid out on a white background

Product image supplied by the brand

In this guide

THE SHORT VERSION

Cricut's Maker 5 Essential Bundle is $399.00 on the American store, in stock and addable to the cart on 2026-10-11, with no discount printed against that figure. The box pairs the 10.9 pound, 19.8 by 7.5 by 4.7 inch Maker 5 in Slate Blue with a pre-installed fine-point cutting tool, a scoring tool, an engraving tool, a dual-sided marker, a 12 by 12 inch Light Grip mat, a card mat, a trimmer, and starter vinyl, iron-on and cardstock.

The $399 sits $170 above Cricut's other current bundle, the $229 Explore 5 Essential Bundle, and the two cartons ship the same supply list. What separates them is the machine and one tool: Cricut puts the Maker 5 at 13 tools and 300-plus materials with a 3 mm specialty ceiling, and the Explore 5 at 5 tools and 100-plus materials. The question worth answering is whether that difference is worth $170 to a newcomer, and what else the bundle drags in behind it.

Our verdict

Spend the $399 on the Maker 5 Essential Bundle when the 13-tool list matters: engraving, debossing, scoring wheels and the knife blade for 3 mm leather. The $229 Explore 5 bundle cuts the same vinyl and cardstock.

A good fit for: A crafter who will pay $170 over the Explore 5 bundle for leather, 3 mm chipboard, engraved metal and the rotary, knife and scoring-wheel tools, and wants the starter supplies in the same box.
We would skip it if: Cardstock, vinyl and iron-on only, or cloud software is a dealbreaker: the Explore 5 Essential Bundle ships the same supply list for $229 and Design Space still needs Bluetooth and broadband.

Reasons to consider it

Thirteen compatible tools and 300-plus materials, with specialty cutting and engraving to 3 mm once the knife blade is in hand
The $399 bundle adds an Engraving Tool to the machine, a scoring tool, a marker, a 12 by 12 inch mat, a card mat, a trimmer, a weeder set and starter vinyl, iron-on and cardstock
10.9 pounds in a 19.8 by 7.5 by 4.7 inch body, 14.1 inches per second, over Bluetooth to the free Design Space app on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows

The compromises

The $170 over the Explore 5 Essential Bundle buys the machine and one extra tool; the rest of the bundled supply list is identical sheet for sheet
Only the fine-point tool, scoring tool, marker and engraving tool arrive; the knife, rotary, wavy, perforation and debossing tools list at $48.99 to $54.99 each, and mats wear out
The machine alone is listed at $349.00 but out of stock, so the $399.00 bundle is the only buyable route, and the advertised 1.8 million-image library needs Cricut Access at $9.99 or $14.99 a month

What we have not verified: No cut was run here, so the 3 mm specialty ceiling, blade life and mat wear are Cricut's figures rather than measurements. The Maker 5 machine-only page carried an Out of Stock badge and a restock-notification button on 2026-10-11 while the bundle was addable to the cart, and the Explore 5 page calls that machine six-tool compatible in its description against five tools in its own feature block, so stock states, tool counts, the $9.99 and $14.99 subscription prices and the 50 percent accessory promotion can all move.

The things in this guide

A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.

For leather, metal and 3 mm stock, not for vinyl alone

Maker 5 Essential Bundle

Thirteen compatible tools and 300-plus materials in a 10.9 pound machine, with an Engraving Tool, a scoring tool, a marker, a 12 by 12 inch mat and a starter supply box in the same $399.00 carton; the knife blade takes leather and foam core to 3 mm and the rotary blade handles cotton and denim.

Before you buy: The $229 Explore 5 Essential Bundle ships the same supply list and cuts the same vinyl and cardstock, and the Maker 5 machine alone is listed at $349.00 but out of stock, so the engraving tool and the 13-tool range carry the whole case for the extra $170.

$399 at Cricut

Price checked October 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.

What $399 puts on the table

The center of the bundle is a machine Cricut measures at 19.8 by 7.5 by 4.7 inches and 10.9 pounds, 30 percent more compact than previous models and rated at up to 14.1 inches per second. It cuts 11.5 by 11.5 inches on the small mat, 11.5 by 23.75 inches on the large one, and 12 inches by 12 feet on Smart Materials that feed without a mat. Cricut lists 300-plus materials, 13 compatible tools, and a specialty ceiling of 3 mm for both cutting and engraving.

Around that machine the bundle stacks supplies: an Engraving Tool, a scoring tool, a 0.4 and 1.0 mm marker, a 12 by 12 inch Light Grip mat, a 2-card mat, a portable trimmer, a weeder, scraper and spatula, a 12 inch paper ruler, six transfer-tape sheets, two insert-card sets, ten value-cardstock sheets, three printable vinyl sheets, and Smart Vinyl and Smart Iron-On in black, gold, red and white. Cricut says that is enough for up to 65 projects.

The $170 difference is the machine, not the supplies

Cricut sells the Explore 5 Essential Bundle for $229.00, also in stock on 2026-10-11, and the bundled list printed on its page is the same one printed on the Maker 5 bundle: card mat, trimmer, weeder set, ruler, transfer tape, insert cards, cardstock, printable vinyl, Smart Vinyl and Smart Iron-On, sheet for sheet. The Explore 5 bundle ships the machine in Taupe with a fine-point cutting tool, a scoring tool, a marker and the 12 by 12 inch mat, everything the Maker 5 box holds except the Engraving Tool.

So the $170 buys the machine itself and one tool. Cricut's pages give the Explore 5 five compatible tools and 100-plus materials against 13 tools and 300-plus here, and the deeper difference is which tools: the Maker 5 tool strip names the knife blade for leather and foam core up to 3 mm, the rotary blade for cotton and denim, the wavy and perforation blades, the debossing tip and the scoring wheels, and the Explore 5 pages do not list them.

The tools this bundle does not include

The fine-point, scoring and engraving tools arrive with the marker, and Cricut sells the rest one at a time at list prices: rotary blade $54.99, knife blade $49.99, wavy blade $54.99, perforation blade $54.99, debossing tip $48.99, foil transfer tool $39.99, deep cutting tool $37.99, bonded-fabric blade $34.99, scoring wheels $32.99, and pens and markers $9.99. Cricut ran a 50 percent accessory discount on 2026-10-11, which is a dated promotion rather than the price to plan against.

A fabric-and-chipboard starter set is the knife blade and the rotary blade at $104.98 list. Mats are the other running cost: a 12 by 12 inch variety three-pack lists at $40.99, a StrongGrip 12 by 12 inch three-pack at $32.99, and a 12 by 24 inch StandardGrip four-pack at $42.98. The Engraving Tool in this box is the one tool the Explore 5 bundle lacks.

Design Space is free; the 1.8 million images are not

Design Space is free on desktop and mobile and drives the machine over Bluetooth. Cricut's bundle page pitches the library at 1.8 million-plus images, 1,500-plus fonts, 300,000-plus projects and 50,000 templates, and its own footnote says the full library and certain features need the paid Cricut Access subscription. The Explore 5 page lists the free out-of-the-box library as 3,000-plus images, 100-plus fonts and 1,000-plus projects, which is what a buyer has before paying anything.

Access Standard is $9.99 a month or $95.88 a year, and Premium is $14.99 a month or $119.88 a year; both open the same library and add 10 percent off cricut.com plus a $10 coupon every three months. Cricut's connection line names Bluetooth and a high-speed internet connection, and Design Space is the only software route to the machine, so a year of Access at $95.88 belongs next to the $170 step before the bundle looks like the cheap route.

The machine alone is listed at $349 and out of stock

Cricut lists the Maker 5 by itself at $349.00, $50 below this bundle, and on 2026-10-11 that page showed an Out of Stock badge, a restock-notification button and a quantity ceiling of zero. The rendered page shows no working Add to Cart for the machine alone, while the $399.00 bundle page accepted an order and listed three available. The lower number has to wait for a restock.

Coverage is one year. Cricut's warranty article gives eligible machines bought from authorized sellers in the US or Canada a one-year limited warranty counted from when it was bought, and states that materials and accessories carry no warranty, so the blades and mats in this carton are consumables rather than covered parts. Cricut Access members pay $359.10 instead of $399.00, which takes $39.90 off a bundle for a subscription that costs $95.88 a year.

Maker 4 above, Joy Xtra below

Cricut still sells the Maker 4, the earlier machine, at a $399.00 list price with a $379.00 promotional price on 2026-10-11, and it is in stock as the machine alone. It is not in Cricut's current comparison chart, which lists the Joy 2, Joy Xtra, Explore 5, Maker 5 and Venture and no Maker 4, and its body is larger and heavier at 22.1 by 7.1 by 6.2 inches and 15.4 pounds against 10.9 pounds here. The Maker 5 keeps the same 13-tool and 300-plus material counts with a 3 mm specialty ceiling against the Maker 4's 2.4 mm knife blade.

Below the Explore 5 the line drops to the Joy Xtra at $179.00 and the Joy 2 at $99.00, each in stock, each working with 75-plus materials, cutting 8.5 inches by 4 feet and 4.5 inches by 4 feet respectively. Neither takes the knife, rotary or scoring wheels and neither has the 12-inch width, so they are machines for cards, labels and small decals rather than the material range this bundle is priced for.

When the $229 bundle is the right one

If the projects are stickers, cards, decals and heat-transfer shirts, the Explore 5 Essential Bundle at $229.00 ships the same card mat, trimmer, transfer tape, insert cards, cardstock, printable vinyl and Smart Materials, and Cricut's comparison chart puts both machines at the same 14.1 inches per second and a 12 foot Smart Materials cut, 12 inches wide here against 11.7 inches there. The $170 stays in your pocket until engraving, debossing, scoring wheels or the knife blade enters the plan.

Walk away for a second reason if the software model is the problem. Design Space is free but online, the machine needs Bluetooth and a high-speed connection, and the library the bundle advertises needs Access at $9.99 a month or $95.88 a year. Anyone who will not put a cutting machine behind a subscription, or has no reliable internet where the craft table sits, should not buy this bundle for the tool count.

How we put this together

Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.

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