Is a sticker printer a good gift? 2026 gift guide

Is a sticker printer a good gift?

It is a good gift for someone who will keep making stickers, because the machine is only the start: every sheet uses the maker’s own refills. Cricut warns that third-party consumables may cause clogging, print defects or machine damage (Cricut Help Center), Liene supports only its own paper (Liene materials guide) and Canon says to use genuine Canon sets (Canon U.S.A. support). At list price a 4×7 sticker sheet costs about $0.67 on StickerPix Print + Cut and about $0.60 on PixCut S1 (our calculation: $47.99 ÷ 72 and $42.99 ÷ 72). Use the cost calculator to see what their stickers would cost.

Check two things before you buy: the recipient’s age (Cricut says StickerPix is not intended for children 12 and younger (Cricut shop (US))) and the device they’ll print from (the Liene app doesn’t support Windows (Liene tech specs)). Watching prices? Our Black Friday tracker lists official prices and any announced deals.

The printers at a glance

Planner and journal fans

Fits: StickerPix Print + Cut or PixCut S1 for custom shapes; StickerPix Print if the pre-cut shapes are enough

Planner stickers are small and varied, so a built-in cutter helps. Both the Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut and the Liene PixCut S1 print and kiss-cut 4 × 7 in sticker sheets (Cricut shop (US); Liene blog). Liene publishes a 3.9 × 6.7 in printable area; Cricut hasn’t published one (Liene tech specs). At 18 one-inch stickers per sheet, that is about 3.3¢ per sticker on the PixCut S1 and 3.7¢ on StickerPix Print + Cut (our calculation from $42.99 ÷ 72 and $47.99 ÷ 72 per refill).

The cheaper StickerPix Print has no cutter: it prints onto pre-cut 1.5 in circles, 1 × 2.6 in rectangles or 1.5 in squares (Cricut shop (US); Cricut Help Center). That suits labels and tabs in those shapes, not die-cut doodles.

Free printables to start with: Planner sticker templates and the full 4×7 sticker template library, or the sheet maker for their own photos.

Kids and families

Fits: A family printer run by an adult; check the age guidance first

Cricut says both StickerPix Print + Cut and StickerPix Print are “not intended for use by children 12 years and younger” (Cricut shop (US); Cricut shop (US)). Liene’s age guidance for the PixCut S1 is not in our sources. So for a family, buy it as a household printer that a teen or adult runs, with kids choosing the designs.

Both Cricut machines need Design Space and an internet connection (Cricut shop (US); Cricut shop (US)); the Liene app runs on iOS and Android (Liene tech specs). Seasonal sheets to print together: Classroom rewards sticker templates, Christmas sticker templates, Hanukkah sticker templates.

Small-business labels

Fits: StickerPix Print + Cut if they design on a computer; PixCut S1 for a published print area

For product labels, the software matters. Cricut Design Space runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android (Cricut shop (US)); Liene’s app is for iOS and Android, and Windows is not supported (Liene tech specs). Liene publishes a guide to custom label design with the PixCut S1 (Liene blog) and a 3.9 × 6.7 in printable area (Liene tech specs).

Brand colours may not match exactly: Cricut says dye-sublimation “is optimized for natural, balanced photo color rather than precise color matching” (Cricut shop (US)). Canon’s SELPHY CP1500 prints card-size label sheets, including an 8-label sheet (Canon manual), but has no cutter listed (Canon spec sheet) and needs a separately sold card-size cassette (PCC-CP400) for label sets (Canon U.S.A. support).

People who already own a Cricut

Fits: StickerPix Print + Cut or StickerPix Print: same Design Space app

StickerPix is designed and printed from Cricut Design Space (Cricut shop (US); Cricut shop (US)), so someone who already uses Design Space won’t need a new app. Cricut’s bundles include a free Cricut Access trial for new subscribers (Cricut shop (US)), and Cricut says the full content library and certain software features require a paid Cricut Access subscription (Cricut shop).

Choose the model carefully: “Neither materials nor ink cartridges for the Cricut StickerPix machines are cross-compatible” (Cricut blog). See StickerPix Print vs Print + Cut.

Photo lovers

Fits: Canon SELPHY CP1500 for photos first; a print-and-cut machine for photo stickers

If they mostly want 4 × 6 prints, the Canon SELPHY CP1500 is a compact dye-sublimation photo printer with Wi-Fi, AirPrint, USB-C and an SD card slot (Canon spec sheet). A KP-108IN set works out to about $0.39 per print (our calculation: $41.99 ÷ 108) (Canon U.S.A. shop (KP-108IN)), against about $0.53 per StickerPix Print + Cut photo (our calculation: $37.99 ÷ 72) (Cricut shop (US) refill). Canon lists no cutter for the SELPHY (Canon spec sheet).

For photo stickers cut to shape, both print-and-cut machines also print 4 × 6 in photos (Cricut shop (US); Liene tech specs). See Liene PixCut S1 vs Canon SELPHY.

What else to buy with it

• StickerPix Print + Cut: sticker refill, 72 sheets + 2 ink cartridges, $47.99 (Cricut shop (US) refill). The bundle’s cartridge lasts 36 prints (Cricut shop (US)).
• StickerPix Print: pre-cut sticker set, 54 sheets + 1 ink cartridge, $32.99 (Cricut shop (US) refill) (about $0.61 per sheet, our calculation: $32.99 ÷ 54); or a sticker + photo set for 54 prints, $24.99 (Cricut shop (US) refill).
• PixCut S1: 4×7 sticker refill, 72 sheets + 2 ink cartridges, $42.99 (Liene shop).
• SELPHY CP1500: KP-108IN 4×6 set (108 prints) (Canon U.S.A. shop (KP-108IN)); KC-18IF full-page labels “as low as $14.99” for 18 (Canon U.S.A. shop (KC-18IF)), plus the PCC-CP400 card-size cassette for label sets (Canon U.S.A. support).

Gift-wrap the refill that matches the model exactly: Cricut’s two StickerPix models don’t share supplies (Cricut blog), and Liene supports only its own paper (Liene materials guide).

More: sticker printer buying guide · Cricut StickerPix vs Liene PixCut S1 · StickerPix in Australia & New Zealand