Best CO₂ Laser Engravers & Cutters (2026)

The xTool P2S is the machine that makes the most sense for a serious maker or small business stepping up from diode. At 55W, it has more cutting power than any Glowforge model. Its work area at 600 × 308mm gives you real room to work — large enough for full cutting boards, A2 signage panels, and batch layouts. And unlike the machines in Glowforge's lineup, it works offline.

The standout feature is the dual 16MP smart camera system. Two cameras — one overhead for the full bed, one close-range for precision placement — let you position designs directly on a live preview of your material. This isn't a gimmick: for production work where material is never perfectly positioned, it eliminates the test cut + realign cycle that wastes material and time. xTool calls it Pin-point™ positioning, and it delivers.

Cutting performance is where the P2S separates itself most clearly from the competition. It cuts 18mm black walnut in a single pass and handles 20mm acrylic cleanly. The AutoPassthrough™ feature feeds oversized material through the machine automatically, removing the length restriction for flat work. The adjustable air assist (15–150 kPa range) lets you tune airflow to the material rather than using a fixed setting.

The one honest limitation: LightBurn support is partial. LightBurn works with the P2S for standard flatbed operations, but the dual-camera smart positioning, 3D Curve engraving, and AutoPassthrough features require xTool Creative Space. If you're a committed LightBurn user, you'll run both applications depending on the job. For most users this is manageable; for those who've built entire workflows in LightBurn, it's worth knowing in advance.

The Glowforge Plus is where many people have their first CO₂ laser experience — and it's a deliberately gentle entry. The setup process is among the simplest of any laser machine: unbox, connect to WiFi, run a calibration print, and you're cutting. The web app handles design import (SVG, PDF, PNG, JPG), placement via a live camera preview, and job execution from any browser. For someone who's never used a laser before, the time between "box opened" and "first successful cut" is measured in hours, not days.

Proofgrade materials — Glowforge's own branded wood, acrylic, and leather sheets — come with embedded QR codes that the camera reads automatically, loading tested cut and engrave settings with no input required. It's a genuinely clever system that removes the trial-and-error phase for beginners. The material quality is good; the price per sheet is higher than equivalent materials from craft suppliers, but the reliability of known-good settings has real value when you're starting out.

The honest numbers tell a more complex story. At ~$3,995 for 40W with cloud-only operation and no LightBurn support, the Glowforge Plus is competing directly against the xTool P2S at a similar price — a machine with 55W, dual cameras, offline use, passthrough, and 600 mm/s speed. On raw specs, the Plus doesn't win that comparison. It wins on ease, ecosystem, and the fact that it has never required you to think about a controller board or GRBL settings.

The Glowforge Pro exists because of one feature: the passthrough slot. Front and back panels open to feed material of unlimited length through the machine — as long as your sheet is no wider than the bed (approximately 20 inches / 500mm), you can cut a piece as long as your table allows. For sign makers, furniture makers, and anyone working with full-length boards or acrylic panels, this removes a fundamental limitation of enclosed laser machines.

Beyond the passthrough, the Pro improves on the Plus with a more powerful 45W tube (vs. 40W), faster maximum speed (~800 mm/s vs. ~500 mm/s), and upgraded thermoelectric cooling that handles longer duty cycles without pausing. These are meaningful improvements for production work, even if they don't change the fundamental user experience.

The price, however, is where careful consideration is warranted. At $5,999, the Pro is significantly more expensive than the xTool P2S ($3,799) — a machine with 10W more laser power, dual cameras, and its own passthrough (AutoPassthrough™) that handles material positioning automatically. The Pro's passthrough requires manual repositioning between sections; the P2S handles it with software assistance. The Glowforge Pro is the right machine if you're already in the Glowforge ecosystem and need passthrough capability. If you're choosing from scratch, the P2S deserves serious consideration at ~$2,000 less.

The OMTech K40+ sits at a different point in the market entirely: $660 for a real 40W CO₂ laser is not a gimmick, it's a machine in the K40 tradition — a category of compact, affordable CO₂ engravers that have been popular with hobbyists for years. The K40+ is OMTech's modernised take on the format, with an upgraded controller board that gives it full LightBurn compatibility, air assist, a honeycomb bed, and a 2-year parts warranty.

The trade-offs are real and worth understanding clearly. The work area is 200 × 300mm — small. That's fine for jewellery, small signs, phone cases, and test material, but it eliminates most standard-size cutting board and signage work. Maximum engraving speed of 300 mm/s is slower than anything else in this review. And the CO₂ tube requires water cooling — a pump and reservoir need to be set up, monitored, and maintained. This is standard for K40-style machines and not difficult, but it adds a step that enclosed diode and high-end CO₂ machines don't have.

For someone who genuinely wants CO₂ capability — particularly to cut clear acrylic and engrave on glass or stone — and can't justify $3,000+, the K40+ is the most legitimate entry point. It cuts what CO₂ cuts, it runs LightBurn, and it comes from an established brand with real warranty support. The limitations are size and speed, not quality.