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Lapas vs Deepnest - which should you use?
Deepnest is free, open source and genuinely good. It is also a desktop app, and the version most people install is now a community fork rather than the original. Here is the honest comparison, including the benchmark.
The short answer
Use Deepnest if you need a free, offline, open-source tool and you are comfortable installing a desktop application. It costs nothing, has no account and no limits, and the community fork is actively maintained. Use Lapas if you want to nest in a browser on any OS, need a PDF report for quoting, or your DXF files fail to import. Lapas nests measurably tighter on the academic instances, but on 7 of 10 real sheet-metal jobs the two land on the same plate count, which is the number that decides most jobs.
- You want to nest without installing anything, on any operating system
- You are on a Mac, Linux or a Chromebook
- You need a PDF report with sheet count and utilization for quoting
- Your DXF files fail to import or come in with broken geometry
- You want to watch the nest build as it runs
- You want support from someone who answers
- You need it completely free, forever, with no account
- You need it to run offline, on an air-gapped machine
- You want open-source code you can inspect, fork or self-host
- You are happy with a desktop install and do not need reporting
- Your geometry already imports cleanly and the results are good enough
Deepnest facts checked against deepnest-next releases in July 2026.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Lapas | Deepnest | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to use | Deepnest is free with no limits | ||
| Open source | Deepnest wins here | ||
| Runs offline | Deepnest wins here | ||
| Runs in the browser | Deepnest is a desktop install | ||
| Chromebook | Desktop only | Deepnest needs a Windows, macOS or Linux install | |
| Actively maintained | Via the deepnest-next fork | ||
| DXF import | Lapas handles more of the spec | ||
| SVG import | |||
| True-shape nesting | Both use no-fit polygons | ||
| Part-in-part nesting | |||
| DXF export | |||
| PDF report export | |||
| Live nesting preview | Deepnest shows the result after | ||
| Project history | Lapas Pro | ||
| Human support | Deepnest is community-only |
Where Deepnest genuinely wins
Worth saying plainly, because most comparison pages will not.
- It is free without qualification
No plan, no account, no monthly export count. Lapas has a free tier but it is a tier. If cost is the binding constraint, Deepnest wins and nothing on this page changes that.
- It runs offline and you own it
Open source, installed locally, works on an air-gapped machine. A hosted product cannot offer that, and for shops with network restrictions or NDA work it is the deciding factor.
- The fork is alive
deepnest-next shipped v1.5.6 in May 2025 with signed macOS, Linux and Windows builds. Anyone telling you Deepnest is dead is describing the 2021 original, not what people actually install today.
- It ties us more often than it loses
On 7 of the 10 real sheet-metal jobs in our own benchmark, both tools land on the same plate count. We publish that because it is true, and on a lot of ordinary work the practical difference is nil.
How the nesting itself compares
This is the one comparison on the site where a real measured head-to-head exists, because Deepnest is open source and can be run headless. Lapas Core v1.1 against deepnest-next v1.5.6, 37 cases, three seeds each, identical parts, plates and wall-clock budgets. Note the version: we benchmarked the maintained fork, not the 2021 original whose last release was v1.0.5, because comparing against the weakest available build would not tell you anything useful.
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.
See the full benchmarkMoving a job from Deepnest to Lapas
- 1
Export your parts as DXF or SVG, the same files you feed Deepnest. No conversion step.
- 2
Upload to Lapas and set quantities per part. If a file failed to import in Deepnest, try it here: modern CAD output with splines, ellipses and block references is the usual cause, and it is handled differently. See the DXF troubleshooting guide.
- 3
Set sheet size and part spacing. Deepnest calls its equivalent "space between parts"; set part spacing to cover your real measured cut width.
- 4
Run the nest and watch parts place live rather than waiting for a finished result.
- 5
Export DXF for your CAM step, or the PDF report for quoting. Both are on the free plan.
Common questions
The original, Jack000/Deepnest, is not. Its last release was v1.0.5 in 2021 (github.com/Jack000/Deepnest, checked July 2026). A community fork, deepnest-next, is actively maintained and released v1.5.6 in May 2025 with signed macOS, Linux and Windows builds. That fork is what most people install now, and it is what our benchmark runs against.
Yes, completely. It is open source with no account, no plan and no limit on how much you nest. That is a genuine advantage over any hosted product including this one.
There is a free plan with no credit card and no expiry: unlimited nesting and re-nesting, no cap on parts per job, and the full nesting engine, so you see every full layout free. The cap is on taking files out - 5 project exports a month, any format. Pro removes it at $49 a month, or $39 a month billed annually.
On the ten ESICUP academic density instances, Lapas Core v1.1 averages 86.1% packing density against 73.3% for deepnest-next v1.5.6. On ten real sheet-metal jobs it uses 25 plates against 28. But the two tie on 7 of those 10 jobs, so on ordinary work the difference is often nothing. All of it is published as raw JSON and CSV under CC BY 4.0 so you can check it.
Usually splines, ellipses or block references. Deepnest struggles with some geometry produced by current versions of Fusion 360, SolidWorks and FreeCAD. Lapas expands block references automatically; for Deepnest, exploding blocks before export fixes a large share of import failures.
Plenty of people do. Deepnest offline for routine work, Lapas when you need a PDF report for a quote, when a file will not import, or when you are not at the machine with Deepnest installed.
More comparisons: all alternatives, or start nesting at lapas.io.
Don't take our word for it.
Upload one of your own DXF files and see the layout yourself. It's free and takes about two minutes.
On a phone? Book a 20-minute call and we nest your file with you on a screen share.
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