About NestingCalc

NestingCalc is a free collection of cutting, nesting and material calculators for joiners, metal fabricators, construction crews and DIY builders. It started with a workshop question that kept coming back: how many stock bars or sheets does this job actually need — and what should the cut plan look like?

Every calculator is powered by a deterministic optimization engine written from scratch and covered by an automated test suite of hundreds of cases, so the same input always produces the same plan. Cutting performance is published openly on the benchmarks page, and the calculators are also exposed as an MCP server that AI agents can call directly.

Reference values — wood densities, log rules, metal densities, moisture tables — are published industry averages cross-checked between engineering handbooks. Where a value genuinely varies (species, moisture, mill tolerances), the page says so instead of hiding it. If a number looks wrong, the contact page is the fastest way to get it re-checked.

All calculators run entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, no account is required, and your project data is saved only on your own device. They work offline once loaded and cost nothing to use.

The project is independent and funded by advertising. If a calculator saves you material or time, share it with a colleague — that helps keep it free.