Vextrify vs LightBurn

Pick LightBurn if you run one machine and want the largest device list and community behind you — it is mature, reliable and widely supported. Pick Vextrify if you want to manage several machines, each in its own tab, place designs on the material with a calibrated camera, work natively on a Mac, and prepare photos and logos in the same app. Many shops use both: prep and multi-laser jobs in Vextrify, and LightBurn for a specific machine when they prefer it.

• LightBurn — one mature, widely supported machine controller
• Vextrify — multi-laser, camera-aligned, all-in-one prep
• They are not mutually exclusive

Credit where it is due: LightBurn supports an enormous range of diode, CO2 and Ruida machines, has years of maturity, and a huge community with settings libraries for almost any laser. If your priority is the broadest possible device compatibility for a single machine, or you already rely on LightBurn's exact workflow and macros, it remains an excellent, dependable controller. We do not claim to match its raw device breadth today.

• Widest device and controller support
• Mature, battle-tested single-machine workflow
• Large community and shared settings libraries

Vextrify is a connected suite rather than a single controller. It manages several lasers from one license, each in its own tab with one connected at a time; a calibrated camera places each design exactly on the material; a built-in material test grid helps you find your own speed and power; and background removal, contour-to-SVG, vectorizing, photo and relief prep all feed straight into the job. It runs in the browser and natively on macOS and Windows — and still exports clean files for LightBurn when you want them.

• Run several machines, each in its own tab from one license
• Camera placement on the real material
• Built-in background, contour, SVG, photo and relief prep
• Browser plus native macOS and Windows apps

At a glance: device breadth goes to LightBurn; multiple machines, each in its own tab, camera-on-material alignment, integrated image/vector prep, a browser option and native Mac support go to Vextrify. Photo engraving preparation is a first-class workflow in Vextrify rather than an add-on. Both produce clean output, and Vextrify can hand files to LightBurn, EZCAD or Ruida when that suits the job.

• Device breadth → LightBurn
• Multiple lasers → Vextrify
• Camera placement on the material → Vextrify
• Built-in photo / vector prep → Vextrify

If device breadth for a single machine is everything, stay with LightBurn. If you want to scale to several lasers, align on the material with a camera, work on a Mac, and keep image prep and machine work in one place, Vextrify is the better long-term home — and it is free to try in the browser before you commit.

• Single machine, max device support → LightBurn
• Multi-laser, Mac, all-in-one prep → Vextrify