Which Silhouette machine: Portrait 4, CAMEO 5 Alpha, Alpha Plus, Pro MK-II or Curio 2

The short answer

Stickers, labels, cards and small decals: Portrait 4. It cuts 8.5 × 12 in on its mat and takes material from 5 to 8.5 in wide; with the Roll Feeder it cuts lined material 8.6 in wide and up to 4.5 ft long. It has one tool holder and takes material up to 2 mm thick.

Shirts, decals, boxes and nearly every file on this site: CAMEO 5 Alpha. It cuts 12 × 24 in on its mat and lined material 11.6 in wide and up to 16 ft long, holds two tools at once, takes material up to 3 mm thick, and reads four registration marks for Print & Cut.

Wider vinyl: CAMEO 5 Alpha Plus. It takes material up to 15 in wide and cuts 14.6 × 15 in on its mat, or 14.6 in wide and up to 16 ft long on lined material, with two tool holders and material up to 3 mm thick.

Signs and wide runs: CAMEO Pro MK-II, the 24-inch model, with 23.2 × 24 in on its mat and two tool mounts.

Thick, delicate or specialty-tool work: Curio 2. Its 12 × 12 in electrostatic bed holds the material without a sticky mat, it has 20 mm of clearance, and it cuts material up to 3 mm thick, depending on the material.

Side by side

Figures from Silhouette’s product pages and machine overview. Lined material is vinyl or another sheet on its own backing, which feeds without a mat.

Silhouette’s overview gives the Pro MK-II’s mat area and tool mounts only.

What fits on each, from this site

Every design here lists its flat size. All of them fit the CAMEO 5 Alpha’s 12 × 24 in mat without resizing. Most also fit the Portrait 4’s 8.5 × 12 in mat (216 × 305 mm); the exceptions are the largest envelopes and cards, a few long boxes, the popcorn and takeout boxes, the paper lantern with a gold lining, the monogram alphabet sheet and the layered sign bases, which you can scale down in Studio or cut on a CAMEO.

The filter compares the flat file, so a box or card counts at its unfolded size, not its finished size.

Designs that fit the Portrait 4 mat →

Mat sizes and usable areas →

Silhouette CAMEO on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Silhouette’s site showed no Black Friday offer on 3 November 2026. Last year its sale went live on the afternoon of Thanksgiving, 27 November, with the CAMEO 5 Alpha, Portrait 4 and Curio 2 marked down, CAMEO 5 Alpha bundles from $279.99, half price on materials and 25% off a yearly Club Silhouette membership, and its Cyber Monday post on 1 December still offered the CAMEO 5 Alpha deal. Thanksgiving this year is 26 November.

Regular prices are higher now: $279.99 for the CAMEO 5 Alpha, against $249.99 just before last year’s sale, and $199.99 for the Portrait 4, against $179.99. Last year’s $229.99 and $129.99 would be $50 and $70 under today’s prices. On 3 November the CAMEO 5 Alpha Plus was out of stock and the CAMEO Pro MK-II was sold only refurbished.

Studio upgrades were 30% off, which matters for SVG files: the free Basic Edition cannot open them, and Designer Edition cost $34.99 instead of $49.99 (Designer Plus $52.49, Business $69.99). If you will cut SVG files, buy the upgrade in the same sale.

Check before you buy

Opening SVG files: Silhouette Studio is free, but its Basic Edition does not open SVG. Designer Edition and above open it, and Business Edition also saves it; the upgrades are one-time purchases, not subscriptions. With Basic Edition, open the DXF from our design page and type the width back in.

Working offline: once Studio and your designs are installed, you can cut without an internet connection; the Design Store and software updates need one.

On a phone: the Silhouette Go app opens your own SVG only with Designer Edition or above on the same account.

What each Studio edition opens →

Cricut or Silhouette? →