Glowforge, explained for UK buyers

A finger-jointed cherry wood box with a dense circular pattern laser-engraved on each side — Finger-jointed cherry box with a laser-engraved circular pattern Photo: Jared Tarbell, CC BY 2.0

What Glowforge makes — and what it doesn’t

Glowforge, based in Seattle, makes desktop laser cutters and engravers. People sometimes call them “3D laser printers”, but they don’t 3D print: they cut shapes out of flat material and engrave designs onto surfaces. If you want to build three-dimensional objects layer by layer, you need a 3D printer — see our laser or 3D printer chooser.

The current range comes in two families, according to Glowforge’s own spec pages (Glowforge tech specs):

Craft Series — the Aura and the smaller Spark, both with 6W blue diode lasers.
Performance Series — the Plus HD (40W CO2) and Pro HD (45W CO2), announced in May 2024 as a refresh of the original Plus and Pro (Glowforge forum).

Glowforge also sells factory-restored original Plus and Pro machines as “Certified Rebuilt” (Glowforge). The original Glowforge Basic no longer appears on Glowforge’s product pages.

The range at a glance

Model	Laser	Cutting area	Passthrough	Laser class
Spark	6W diode, 450nm	8.5 × 11 in (about 216 × 279 mm)	No	Class 1
Aura	6W diode, 450nm	12 × 12 in (about 305 × 305 mm)	Yes	Class 1
Plus HD	40W CO2	about 495 × 279 mm	No	Class 1
Pro HD	45W CO2	about 495 × 279 mm	Yes	Class 4 (because of the passthrough slots)

Figures from Glowforge’s spec and safety pages, checked 4 October 2026. When we checked, Glowforge’s shop showed the Spark as sold out, and its craft page carried a “last chance savings” banner for the Aura — so check current availability before you plan around either.

What a Glowforge can do

Cut and engrave a wide range of materials. On the Plus and Pro, Glowforge says many materials 1/4 in (about 6 mm) or thinner cut well in a single pass, and material up to 1/2 in can be handled with multiple passes or by flipping it (Glowforge materials). The Aura and Spark cut materials up to 1/4 in thick and engrave items up to 3/4 in tall with the tray removed (Glowforge craft lasers).
Line designs up with a camera. Glowforge machines use a lid camera so you can place designs on the material on screen; the HD models add an HD live view and Preview Mode.
Set themselves up for Proofgrade. Glowforge’s own Proofgrade materials carry a code the machine reads to load tested settings automatically.
Run from a browser. The free Glowforge app runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge with nothing to install, and accepts files such as SVG, PDF, PNG and JPG (Glowforge support).

What it can’t do

3D print — it’s a laser.
Work offline. Glowforge machines need Wi-Fi and an internet connection to start a print (a print in progress will finish if the connection drops), and there’s no wired Ethernet port (Glowforge FAQ). We found no official statement that third-party laser software such as LightBurn can control a Glowforge.
Handle every material on the diode models. Glowforge lists glass, clear, white and blue acrylic, vinyl and Draftboard as incompatible with the Aura and Spark (Glowforge). The CO2 Plus HD and Pro HD don’t have that limitation.
Cut metal. No desktop Glowforge cuts metal.
Run without ventilation. Glowforge says its machines must be exhausted outdoors or through its filter, and never left unattended (Glowforge safety).

Software and Premium

The Glowforge app is free. Glowforge Premium is an optional subscription with a 14-day trial that adds design tools and a catalogue of designs (Glowforge Premium). Since 2026, Premium can also be used by owners of other lasers and can export designs in LightBurn and xTool formats (Glowforge).

Buying a Glowforge in the UK

As of 4 October 2026, we found no current Glowforge UK store. Here’s what we could verify:

Glowforge’s own shop showed “Ships to US customers only” on the Aura’s product page, with US dollar pricing.
UK paperwork still exists. Glowforge publishes UK terms of purchase (last updated August 2024) (Glowforge UK terms), a UK limited warranty page that covers the Basic, Plus, Pro and Aura but doesn’t list the HD models or Spark (Glowforge UK warranty), and a UK support email on its contact page (Glowforge contact).
Hobbycraft was named Glowforge’s UK retailer in 2022 (Glowforge forum). When we checked, Hobbycraft’s Aura page offered click and collect only, not home delivery.
Amazon.co.uk has a product page for the Aura, but it showed no standard offer when we checked — only other buying options. We saw no Amazon.co.uk listings for the Spark, Plus HD or Pro HD.
Other UK sellers listed Glowforge stock in small numbers, such as an Aura bundle and an ex-demo Pro, without stating authorised-reseller status.
Power: Glowforge’s spec pages state “110/220 VAC, 50 or 60 Hz”. We found no statement about the UK plug supplied.

If you buy from a third party, check who handles warranty and support, and read our advice on buying electricals safely.

Company news

February 2024: GeekWire reported further layoffs after an investment round fell through (GeekWire, archived).
November 2025: Glowforge restructured through an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors — a US state-level alternative to bankruptcy. Co-founders Dan Shapiro and Mark Gosselin acquired the brand, hardware, software and manufacturing rights, with a team of about 20, and said the same hardware and software products would be offered (GeekWire, archived).

Glowforge vs the alternatives

Glowforge is no longer the only enclosed, camera-guided desktop laser. Here’s how the alternatives in our database compare, using each maker’s own figures (sources are on each machine page).

Enclosed Class 1 diode machines are now made by several brands: the makers describe the xTool S1, xTool M2, Creality Falcon A1 Pro, LaserPecker LX2, AtomStack Kraft and Sculpfun iCube Ultra as Class 1 enclosed machines — the same category as the Glowforge Aura and Spark.
CO2 cutting: the xTool P2S (55W CO2, 600 × 305 mm bed, passthrough) is the closest like-for-like alternative to the Glowforge Plus HD and Pro HD in our database. xTool lists its standard version as Class 4.
Metal marking: Glowforge has no infrared or fibre laser. The xTool F2 Ultra, Creality Falcon T1 and LaserPecker LP5 include 1064nm sources, and the xTool S1, xTool M2, Creality Falcon A1 Pro and AtomStack Kraft offer infrared modules or dual lasers.
Software: a Glowforge runs through its browser app and needs an internet connection to start a job. Many alternatives list LightBurn support alongside their own apps — check the software row on each machine page.
Buying in the UK: every alternative laser brand in our database (xTool, Creality Falcon, AtomStack, Sculpfun and LaserPecker) had listings on Amazon.co.uk when we checked on 4 October 2026, and xTool, Creality Falcon and LaserPecker run UK online stores.