Alternative to
Lapas vs SVGNest - which should you use?
SVGNest is the project that showed everyone browser-based true-shape nesting was possible. It is still free, still open source, and it has not been touched since 2019. It also only reads SVG.
The short answer
Use SVGNest if your parts are already SVG, you want something free and open source forever, and you are happy to run unmaintained software. It is a genuinely good nesting implementation and you can self-host it. Use Lapas if your parts come out of CAD as DXF, which is the normal case in a cutting shop, or if you need kerf compensation, multi-sheet layouts with a real sheet count, utilization reporting, or a tool that someone is still fixing. Lapas has a free plan; SVGNest has no paid plan at all.
- Your parts arrive as DXF from Fusion, SolidWorks or FreeCAD
- You need kerf compensation, not just a spacing number
- A job spans more than one sheet and you need the sheet count
- You need a PDF report to quote from or hand to the shop floor
- You want utilization figures you can act on
- You want the tool to still work after the next browser update
- Your whole workflow is already SVG (Inkscape, laser hobby work)
- You want MIT-licensed code you can read, fork and self-host
- You need it to run offline with no account, forever
- You are studying the no-fit-polygon algorithm itself
- You nest one sheet at a time and do not need reporting
SVGNest facts checked against github.com/Jack000/SVGnest in July 2026.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Lapas | SVGNest | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs in the browser | Both, no install | ||
| Free to start | SVGNest is MIT, free forever | ||
| Open source | SVGNest wins here | ||
| DXF import | SVGNest is SVG only | ||
| SVG import | |||
| True-shape irregular nesting | Both use no-fit polygons | ||
| DXF export | SVGNest returns SVG | ||
| PDF report export | |||
| Kerf compensation | SVGNest has a spacing value only | ||
| Multi-sheet layout with sheet count | SVGNest nests one bin | ||
| Utilization reporting | |||
| Project history | |||
| Actively maintained | SVGNest last commit Apr 2019 | ||
| Human support | SVGNest has no support channel | ||
| Self-hostable / offline | Clone the repo and open it |
Where SVGNest genuinely wins
Worth saying plainly, because most comparison pages will not: SVGNest did something first and did it well.
- It is free in a way Lapas is not
MIT licence, no account, no plan, no limit on how much you nest. If cost is the binding constraint, that is the end of the argument.
- You can read and change it
The whole no-fit-polygon and genetic algorithm implementation is a few readable files. Fork it, embed it, teach from it. Lapas is a hosted product and you cannot do any of that.
- It runs offline and always will
Clone the repo, open the page, no network. A hosted product cannot promise that, and for shops on an air-gapped network this matters.
- It is the origin of the idea
Browser-based true-shape nesting with NFP plus a genetic algorithm was demonstrated here first, in 2016. Deepnest, and a good deal of what came after it, follows from this project.
How the nesting itself compares
A straight measured comparison against SVGNest is not meaningful: it nests one bin at a time from SVG, so there is no comparable sheet-count result to score. What we did run, head to head over 37 cases, is Lapas Core v1.1 against deepnest-next v1.5.6. That is the fair proxy, because Deepnest is the same author's successor to SVGNest and carries the same NFP approach forward.
Every number is recomputed from the output geometry by a scorer that is not part of either engine, and the raw JSON and CSV are published under CC BY 4.0 so you can check them or rerun the cases yourself. The ties are in there on purpose: on 7 of the 10 real sheet-metal jobs both tools land on the same plate count.
See the full benchmarkMoving a job from SVGNest to Lapas
There is no conversion step, which is the one genuinely easy thing about this switch. Lapas imports SVG directly.
- 1
Take the same SVG you were feeding SVGNest. No export, no conversion, no cleanup.
- 2
Upload it to Lapas and set quantities per part. If you also have the original DXF from CAD, upload that instead: you will keep arcs and layers that the SVG round-trip flattens.
- 3
Set your sheet size, then set kerf to your actual cut width rather than approximating it with a spacing value.
- 4
Run the nest and watch it place parts live. Stop early if the layout is already good enough.
- 5
Export DXF for your CAM step, or the PDF report if you are quoting the job.
Related: nesting a DXF step by step, and what to do when a DXF will not import cleanly.
Common questions
No. The last commit to Jack000/SVGnest was in April 2019, and the project has had no releases since. It still runs, because it is a self-contained browser page, but nothing is being fixed. Its author went on to build Deepnest, whose original build also stopped in 2021, though a community fork, deepnest-next, is still maintained.
No. SVGNest reads and writes SVG only. If your parts come out of CAD as DXF, which is the normal case in a cutting shop, you have to convert them first, and the conversion is where arcs, splines and layer information usually get damaged.
Yes, there is a free plan with no credit card and no expiry. It gives you 5 new projects per month with unlimited re-nests of any project you have already started, the full nesting engine, DXF and SVG import, and both DXF and PDF report export. Nothing about the engine is cut down on the free plan.
Pro is $49 per month, or $39 per month billed annually ($468 a year). It removes the limit on new projects and adds full project history and priority support. There is a 7 day free trial and you can cancel from the account page.
Yes. Lapas imports SVG as well as DXF, so anything you were already nesting in SVGNest loads directly with no conversion step.
Yes, in beta. The output has not been validated across the range of controllers in the field, so check it before you cut. For production the recommended path is the DXF export, taken into whatever CAM or controller software you already use, which keeps machine-specific settings where they belong. SVGNest exports neither; it returns SVG.
Still comparing? See all Lapas comparisons, the Deepnest comparison, or the roundup of every genuinely free nesting tool.
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