One subscription per machine. Try every feature free in the demo - no sign-up, no card. You only need a licence to export your nests, and you can cancel any time.
Standard
Export Quick Nest jobs - the right licence for simple and rectangular work.
£25/ month
Unlocks export of Standard jobs · No card to try the demo
Need multiple seats, an annual invoice, or a site licence?
Talk to us.
No risk to try it.
The free demo runs every feature on your own files — nest, optimise, and check the results before you spend a penny. The only thing the demo holds back is export, so you can be completely sure GB Nest fits your jobs before you buy.
Cancel any time from your account — takes a couple of clicks, no email or phone call needed. If something's wrong, tell us and we'll sort it.
Standard vs Pro
What each licence lets you export
Every feature below is fully usable in the free demo. The difference between tiers is what you can export: Standard covers Quick Nest jobs, while Pro is required to export any nest that uses a Pro feature.
Feature
Standard
Pro
Quick Nest engine
✓
✓
Multi-sheet auto-fan
✓
✓
DXF read & write
✓
✓
Material cost calculation
✓
✓
Auto-grouping & sliver detection
✓
✓
Contour Nest engine (true NFP)
-
✓
Genetic Optimiser
-
✓
Hole Nesting
-
✓
Project save / load
-
✓
DWG file read
-
✓
PDF report export
-
✓
Adaptive rotation refinement
-
✓
Memetic local search
-
✓
Support
Email
Priority email
vs the field
How GB Nest stacks up
Enterprise nesting suites cost thousands per seat with annual maintenance fees. Free open-source nesters typically lack hole nesting, DWG support, and the modern optimisation refinements. GB Nest sits in the gap.
Feature
GB Nest
Typical free / OSS nester
Typical enterprise nester
Engine type
NFP + GA
NFP + GA
NFP + GA
Genetic optimiser
✓
✓
✓
Memetic local search
✓
Rarely
Some
Adaptive rotation refinement
90°→1° auto
Fixed step
Varies
Hole nesting
✓
Rare
Common
Multi-sheet auto-fan
✓
Manual
✓
DXF read / write
✓
Often SVG-only
✓
DWG file read
✓
No
✓
PDF reports
✓
Rare
✓
Cost calculation
✓
No
✓
Native Windows app
✓
Browser / web wrapper
✓
Price tier
Affordable Pro
Free
£££££ enterprise
Capabilities described are representative of the categories shown. Individual products vary; please verify against the specific tool you're comparing.
FAQ
Pricing questions, answered
Everything except export. The demo is the full app with every feature unlocked - import your own DXF/DWG files, run Quick Nest, Contour Nest, the Genetic Optimiser and Hole Nesting, and see exactly how tightly GB Nest packs your real jobs. No sign-up, no email, no card. You only buy a licence when you want to export the result.
Export is the one thing a licence unlocks. It's how we keep the demo genuinely free and full-featured: you get to evaluate every part of GB Nest on your own material before paying, and you pay only when you're ready to send cut-ready files to your machine.
If your nest uses only Standard features (the Quick Nest engine, DXF in/out), a Standard licence exports it. If the nest uses any Pro feature - Hole Nesting, the Contour Nest engine, the Genetic Optimiser, DWG or project (.gbn) input, or PDF reports - you need a Pro licence to export it. The app tells you which when you try. Most production users go straight to Pro because the optimiser pays back the £5/month difference on the first big job.
Yes. Upgrade or downgrade from your account at any time - the change applies on your next billing cycle, and your licence updates automatically.
Each subscription activates GB Nest on one Windows machine. If you need to move to a new computer, deactivate the old one from inside the app and activate the new one with the same key.
Yes - get in touch via the contact page for annual invoicing, multi-seat licences, or site-wide deals.
Your licence remains active until the end of the period you've already paid for. After that, export switches off and GB Nest returns to demo mode - you can still open and re-nest your work, you just can't export until you re-subscribe. Your project files stay on your computer - they're yours to keep.
Because the free demo lets you try every feature on your own files before paying, subscriptions are non-refundable. Email [email protected] if you have an unusual situation - we're reasonable.