Cricut Image Upload Limit: What Happened and What is it Now?

Publish Date:

Mar 17, 2021

Author:

By Crafting Spree

Cricut Image Upload Limit: What Happened and What is it Now?

What Happened:


On March 12, 2021, Cricut announced new features and updates that would be going into effect in Cricut Design Space. The update that outraged their loyal customer base was in regard to members who used the free plan of Cricut Design Space who were opting out of the paid, subscription-based Cricut Access plan. The policy change read:


"Every calendar month, these members will be allowed to upload up to 20 personal images and/or patterns. Members with a paid Cricut Access plan will have unlimited uploads"



Why does this matter?


For one, the number of uploads used to be unlimited at no charge to customers. And for many people, the cost of Cricut machines and supplies does not come particularly lightly. I mean, let’s face it: Cricut machines are expensive!

So, for the many customers who saved up to finally splurge on the Cricut Maker or to get an EasyPress who didn’t have the extra room in the budget to also pay for Cricut Access, they would simply find or create their own images and patterns which they would upload to Cricut Design Space and carryon crafting as usual.

Consequently, after Cricut announced their new policy changes, customers who were accustomed to uploading their own images and projects to Design Space suddenly realized that their monthly Cricut crafting budget was just reduced from being able to upload and create as many projects as they wanted, to a mere 20 image uploads per month.

To put this in perspective, I am a graphic designer who loves creating my own Cricut project designs. From one-of-a-kind birthday cards for friends and family, to custom stencils and wall stickers, I LOVE how endless the Cricut possibilities are. However, sometimes I don’t design my idea perfectly the first time and it takes a few test cuts to discover, fix, and double check my work.

One time I spent what felt like forever designing an intricate masquerade mask, only to find out it was TOO intricate and that some cuts were too small for my Cricut to effectively cut so I had to simplify my design, reupload to Design Space, and try again. Sometimes it would take two and three test cuts before my design was simplified enough that my machine could cut it out. So with this 20 uploads per month restriction, I was looking at only being able to effectively execute maybe 5-10 projects per MONTH, depending on how the test cuts turned out and how many times I had to revise, reupload and test a new design.

So, you can see how as a graphic designer, who sells Cricut compatible designs on Etsy, and has designed and uploaded over 20 designs to Design Space in just one DAY before, this new restriction was a big deal! This meant I was facing one of two options:

1. Cut back my designing and reduce my Etsy shop listing growth to about 1/20th the rate I had been growing it before, or

2. Find the money to pay for Cricut Access every single month, to regain my unlimited uploads privilege I'd had since I bought my first Cricut machine back in 2015.

As a 6 year-long, loyal Cricut customer and HUGE Cricut fan and advocate, this policy change was devastating, and I wasn’t alone.

Immediately after Cricut posted their Design Space updates, the crafting community was outraged and took to social media where they put Cricut on blast like never before. Suddenly the Cricut-related feeds on both Instagram and Facebook went from the usual posts about Cricut projects, questions, and tips, to nothing but anger and sheer outrage about the new policy changes and how unfair it felt to loyal Cricut customers. Here are just some comments below on how people felt about the change:


"For those who use programs like photoshop, illustrator, procreate, etc this totally screws us over."




"I’m not paying for design space. I’ll sell my machines before I do that."




"I’ve debated switching to Silhouette for months now; this solidified my decision."




"It used to be unlimited right? That doesn't make any sense..."




"#boycottcricut is my new hashtag"



And my favorite quote amongst all the chaos was one a fellow crafter pulled from Cricut themselves in 2014 when they stated:


"Creative freedom should be free. Cricut Design Space is free to use for all file types… upload and cut your .svg… files absolutely free"



After Cricut received all the bad publicity, enraged social media posts, and floods of strongly worded emails and angry phone calls, it only took a mere four days for Cricut to change their decision on the matter.

What is the Policy Now?

On March 16th 2021, Cricut released another statement claiming that they took their customers feedback to heart. They apologized to their community and declared that moving forward:


"We will continue to allow an unlimited number of personal image and pattern uploads for members with a Cricut account registered and activated with a cutting machine before December 31, 2021. This benefit will continue for the lifetime of your use of these machines."



So, while that’s good for customers like me, for now until my machine stops working and I need to replace it, some customers say it’s still “too little, too late” and feel betrayed by a company they once were so loyal to. Comments below show how some people feel about Cricut's course of action over the last few days:


"I would have been surprised if they didn’t reverse that decision in some capacity.

Glad they listened to their stakeholders!"




"Hopefully they’ll decide to do just a one time fee vs a monthly thing."




"Yea too late - they've already lost me as a customer - hilarious it took petitions and a very pissed off customer base to make them realize their change may not go over well.."




"…when my Cricut finally dies, I will buy a silhouette…"



Voice your opinion, post your projects, and ask Cricut-related questions in our ever-growing Cricut crafting community Facebook Group: Any and All Things Cricut.

And check out the latest Amazon deals on Cricut-compatible (less expensive) products on our Facebook Deals Group: Nifty Thrifty Deals where we post new deals on Cricut and crafting supplies every day!

Join our Cricut Community


Join our Cricut community on Facebook by joining our Cricut group: Any and All Things Cricut!


Here, you’re more than welcome to post photos of your latest projects, connect with other crafters, share your new Etsy shop, products, other social media accounts and more.


It’s also a wonderful place to share tips and tricks that you’ve learned along the way in your Cricutting adventures, as well as an excellent resource for troubleshooting any Cricut issues and getting answers to any questions you may have. What better place to get information and connect, than where all the Cricut crafters are!? 


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