BG-01 · NESTER 
Stop nesting by hand. Stop wasting material.
Nester packs your real shapes, the actual outline rather than the bounding box, into the tightest layout across as many sheets as the job takes. Letters, logos, cut parts. Built in Illustrator by a sign-maker who runs it on real production jobs every day.
In testing at The Sign Group on live production jobs. One-time purchase at launch, lifetime licence.
Adobe Illustrator
Windows
macOS
CorelDRAW · on the roadmap
01 · What Nester does
Four ways to nest. One plugin.
True-Shape Nest
Packs the real outline of every part, rotating and interlocking them so the gaps between letters and shapes get filled, not the empty rectangle around them. This is the difference between 60% of a sheet used and 85%.
Nest Inside Shapes
Drop parts inside the holes and openings of other parts: letters inside a counter, small cuts inside a frame, a job inside an offcut. Mark the container, drop the parts in, and Nester fills it smallest-first. Nothing wasted, including the holes.
Strip & Grain
Lock parts to the material grain or the roll direction, keep a fixed strip height, and Nester respects it while it packs. For vinyl, laminates and anything where the direction matters as much as the fit.
Grid Nest Coming soon
For identical rectangular parts such as labels, stickers and panels: a clean, tight grid in rows and columns. The fast path when the job is simply as many of these as fit.
02 · Why it's worth it
Built for the shop floor, not just the design desk.
03 · The interface
No manual required.
Set your sheet size, pick a mode, hit Nest. Width, height, scale, quantities, grain, gap: all on one panel, all where you'd expect them. Save your common setups as presets and reuse them in one click. It looks like it belongs in Illustrator because it was built there.
04 · Who it's for
If you cut it, lay it out or print it, Nester's for you.
Vinyl & wide-format
Squeeze every letter and graphic onto the roll. Less waste per metre, more jobs per sheet.
CNC & routing
Nest real part outlines for the router bed and cut the offcuts down too.
Laser cutting
True-shape packing for acrylic, ply and metal. Fit more per sheet, every sheet.
Channel letters & built-up signs
Nest faces, returns and backs together; keep the set on one sheet where it fits.
Vehicle wraps & graphics
Lay panels and elements out tight before you commit the print.
Sticker & decal makers
Pack a full sheet of mixed shapes, kiss-cut ready.
Print & prepress
Gang up jobs, fill the sheet, hand prepress a tight layout.
Apparel, POD & merch
Nest transfers and prints to get the most off every sheet of film.
Engravers & makers
Anything you cut from sheet stock packs tighter with true-shape nesting.
05 · Material & money saved
The maths the manual way hides.
Lay a typical job out by eye and you'll leave material on the sheet. Everyone does. Nester nests the same job and shows you the difference in sheets and in pounds.
By hand
Nester
Illustrative layout. The numbers come from a real measured production job before launch; we don't invent them.
06 · Our customers
Built by a sign-maker. Proven on real jobs.
Nester wasn't built in a vacuum and sold to designers. It's made by someone who runs a Yorkshire sign shop and uses it on live production jobs, proven on the floor before it's ever sold to you. As beta shops come on board, their logos go here.
Run a shop and want in early? Join the beta wall.
07 · Inspiration gallery
See it work.
08 · Pricing
Buy it once. It's yours.
Personal
$39
one-time · 2 devices
- Sole traders and single workstations
- Every mode, the full engine
- Estimates included
- Free updates through v1
Most shops pick this
Team
$79
one-time · 7 devices
- A working sign shop
- Every mode, the full engine
- Estimates included
- Free updates through v1
Extended
$159
one-time · 20 devices
- Bigger studios and multi-site
- Every mode, the full engine
- Estimates included
- Free updates through v1
Every tier is the full Nester: same engine, same modes, same Estimates. The only difference is how many machines it runs on. Buy once, install, get every v1 update free. When a major v2 lands, owners upgrade at a discount, never a monthly bill.
Illustrative prices, final numbers TBC. Checkout goes live with v1.0; register interest and we will tell you the day the buttons work.
Not sure yet? The free demo ships with the beta. It's below.
09 · Free demo
Try it on your own artwork first.
The free demo ships alongside the beta: run Nester on a real job in your own Illustrator and watch a sheet you'd have laid out by hand pack itself. No card, no account. Register and we will send it to you the day it is ready.
Register interest
Want a seat when the Nester beta opens up?
Nester is in testing at The Sign Group now. Leave your email and we will offer you a seat as the beta widens, free demo included.
You're in. We will email you at the right moment, and not before. More detail to share? Tell us which tools you care about.
That didn't save. Email hello@bluegrey.ai instead and we will add you by hand.
No spam, no list-selling. A couple of emails per tool at most.
Pairs well with
More from the marketplace
What's next
In the workshop now
Nester · in plain words
Nester is a true-shape nesting plugin for Adobe Illustrator, with CorelDRAW on the roadmap. It's a native alternative to Deepnest for Illustrator and to eCut's nester, built for sign making, vinyl and wide-format printing, CNC routing and laser cutting. Nester packs real part shapes, not bounding boxes, across multiple sheets, fills shape interiors and offcuts, respects material grain, and shows the material cost and sheet count before you cut. Nesting software for sign shops, made by a sign company. One-time licence, free demo.