Is the Glowforge Pro Worth the Investment or a Money Pit? - Glowforge review

At ThreeDeePrince, we primarily cut cast acrylic—both 1/8” and 1/4” sheets—into everything from custom signs and display stands to layered wall art and engraved nameplates. We also used the Glowforge to:

• Engrave on plywood (mostly birch and maple)

• Cut leather and foam sheets for prototypes

• Etch coated metals and anodized aluminum (limited depth but clean look)

• Light engraving on tile and stone (with masking and spray prep)

• Try out random materials like cardboard, craft paper, and MDF

The Glowforge handles acrylic beautifully, especially for high-detail designs and engravings. The cut edges come out polished on cast acrylic, making flame polishing often unnecessary. For plywood, results were hit-or-miss depending on wood grain and glue content.

Tech Specs That Matter - the Glowforge Pro

• Laser Type: 45W CO₂ laser (Pro model)

• Cutting Area: 19.5” x 11” (usable area), up to 38” material length via pass-through slot

• Max Material Thickness: About 0.5” cuttable, taller for engraving only

• Camera Preview: Live image alignment of your material in the bed

• Connectivity: Requires Wi-Fi + cloud access for all functions

• Software: Glowforge web app (subscription required for premium features like vector editing, file storage, and more fonts)

The Pro version adds a passthrough slot to handle oversized materials—useful in theory, frustrating in practice. We rarely got clean cuts from it. The alignment issues, combined with Glowforge’s reliance on camera calibration instead of physical stops, made batch jobs tough.

Pros for New Users

• User-friendly: Seriously, anyone can learn this machine in a day.

• No design software needed: You can drag in PNGs, SVGs, and use their library.

• Great for small projects: Jewelry, signs, coasters, ornaments, and DIY gifts.

• Built-in safety: The enclosed design and fume exhaust make it home-friendly.

Cons for Business Owners

• Cloud-only software: If your internet drops, your business stops.

• No speed tuning: You’re locked into their presets unless you tinker in manual mode.

• Premium features gated: You now pay monthly for functionality that used to be free.

• Slow cycle times: Cutting large batches? Be ready to babysit.

• Overpriced: For the cost, you’re paying for branding and UX—not raw power.

Final Verdict

If you’re a hobbyist or side hustler, the Glowforge Pro is a solid intro machine that’ll teach you the ropes. But if you plan to scale up your production—or run your laser 8 hours a day—you’ll outgrow it fast. For us, the turning point was when we had two machines running nonstop and still couldn’t keep up with orders. That’s when we moved on to more industrial-grade lasers.

Glowforge deserves credit for making lasers accessible, but in the long run, it’s like a beginner DSLR—you’ll want something more capable once you know what you’re doing.

Want help choosing your first laser cutter? Drop us a message—we’re happy to share what worked for us and what didn’t.