Perspex vs Polycarbonate: Which Plastic Sheet Should You Choose?

Property	Perspex (Acrylic)	Polycarbonate
Impact resistance	~10x glass	~250x glass
Optical clarity (light transmission)	~92%	~88%
UV resistance	Naturally UV stable	Needs UV coating for outdoor use
Scratch resistance	Harder surface, better vs scratches	Scratches more easily
Heat resistance	Up to ~80°C	Up to ~120°C
Weight	Lighter	Slightly heavier
Cost	Generally cheaper	More expensive
Workability	Easy to cut, drill, flame-polish	Harder to cut cleanly, needs sharp tooling
Fire rating	Class 3 (BS 476 Part 7)	Class 1 (BS 476 Part 7)
Chemical resistance	Moderate	Good

Read the table top to bottom and a pattern appears. Acrylic wins on surface hardness, clarity and price. Polycarbonate wins on impact, heat and fire. Keep that split in mind and most decisions make themselves.

Strength And Impact Resistance Compared

Drop a club hammer flat onto a 5mm acrylic offcut from waist height and there is a fair chance it cracks. Drop the same hammer onto 5mm polycarbonate and it bounces off. That gap is the single biggest reason people reach for one material over the other, so it deserves a straight answer to the obvious question: which is stronger, acrylic or polycarbonate? Polycarbonate, by a wide margin.

In impact terms polycarbonate is roughly 30 times stronger than acrylic, and around 250 times stronger than the same thickness of glass. That is why it turns up in riot shields, machine guards, security glazing, bus shelters and anywhere a sheet might take a deliberate hit. Acrylic is no weakling next to glass, it is about 10 times more impact resistant, which is plenty for picture frames, display cases and shed windows. The difference is in how each one fails. Polycarbonate flexes and absorbs the blow; acrylic is more rigid and, under enough force, cracks rather than bends.

So yes, polycarbonate is stronger than acrylic, and it is not close. If the application involves vandalism risk, sports balls, hail, falling tools or anything that could be thrown, polycarbonate earns its keep.

Bottom line: polycarbonate takes roughly 30 times the impact of acrylic; acrylic still gives you around 10 times the impact strength of glass with a harder, clearer surface.

 

Optical Clarity: Which Is Clearer?

A common assumption is that the tougher material must also be the clearer one. It is the other way round. Acrylic is the clearest plastic sheet available, with manufacturer spec sheets putting light transmission at around 92%, slightly higher than ordinary float glass. Polycarbonate sits at roughly 88%, which is still very good, but the difference is visible when the two are held side by side.

Put a sheet of cast acrylic sheet next to a sheet of polycarbonate of the same thickness and the acrylic looks marginally brighter and more glass-like, while the polycarbonate can carry a faint warm tint, more noticeable at thicker gauges and on the edges. For display cases, retail shelving, picture and photo frames, museum cabinets and anything where the material is meant to disappear, acrylic's clarity is the deciding factor.

There is a time dimension too. Acrylic holds its clarity for decades without yellowing. Standard polycarbonate, with no UV protection, will yellow and haze over the years when exposed to sunlight. UV-coated polycarbonate panels are made specifically to resist this, but for a permanently visible indoor showpiece, acrylic is the lower-maintenance choice.

So on the question of which is clearer, acrylic or polycarbonate: acrylic, and it stays that way longer.

 

Cost Comparison: Which Is Cheaper?

Budget decides a surprising number of these jobs, so deal with it head on: which is cheaper, acrylic or polycarbonate? Acrylic. Is polycarbonate more expensive than acrylic? Yes, typically in the region of 20% to 40% more for an equivalent sheet thickness, depending on grade, size and finish.

That holds across the common gauges. At 3mm, 5mm and 10mm, a sheet of clear acrylic will generally come in under the polycarbonate equivalent, which is why DIY projects, signage runs and one-off display builds usually start with acrylic. You can browse current options and "from" pricing on the perspex sheet and polycarbonate sheet ranges rather than relying on figures that date.

Cheaper up front is not the same as cheaper overall. Polycarbonate's near-unbreakability means it can outlast acrylic in a high-traffic or outdoor setting, spreading the cost over more years. There is also a clever workaround the price gap sometimes hides: for a high-impact requirement, a thinner sheet of polycarbonate can do the job of a much thicker, heavier and ultimately more expensive sheet of acrylic. Compare the right specs, not just the headline price per square metre.

 

UV Resistance And Weathering

Leave two test sheets on a south-facing roof for a decade and the difference shows itself. Acrylic is naturally UV stable. It does not need a coating to survive outdoors and will typically hold colour and clarity for somewhere between 10 and 30 years depending on grade and exposure. That makes it a low-maintenance choice for permanent outdoor glazing, signage and skylights where impact is not a concern.

Standard polycarbonate is the opposite. Without UV protection it yellows and becomes brittle under sustained sunlight, sometimes within a few years. The fix is well established: UV-coated polycarbonate sheet and multiwall panels are manufactured with a protective layer that pushes outdoor life to roughly 10 to 15 years, often backed by a manufacturer warranty. Always check that an outdoor polycarbonate product is UV protected before you fit it.

Where does that leave the choice outdoors? If the surface needs to last with minimal fuss and nothing is going to hit it, acrylic. If the surface is a roof, a canopy or anywhere exposed to hail, branches or footballs, UV-coated polycarbonate, every time.

 

Ease Of Working: Cutting, Drilling And Fabrication

For thin acrylic you can score the surface with a scoring knife along a straightedge, several passes, then snap it cleanly over the bench edge. Thicker acrylic takes a fine-tooth blade in a jigsaw, circular saw or bandsaw, run at a steady speed so the friction does not melt the cut. It also takes beautifully to laser cutting and CNC routing, leaving a polished edge straight off the machine. Full method in our guide on how to cut perspex.

Polycarbonate is tougher to work cleanly. It will not score-and-snap. It needs a sharp, fine-tooth blade and a feed rate that keeps moving, because cutting too slow generates heat and the material gums up and melts at the edge. Both materials drill well, though acrylic gives a cleaner hole and you should always back the workpiece with scrap and ease off as the bit breaks through to avoid chipping.

Two finishing differences matter. Acrylic edges can be flame-polished or buffed back to optical clarity; polycarbonate cannot, so its cut edges stay matte. And polycarbonate will cold bend to a tight radius without cracking, useful for curved guards and covers, while acrylic needs heat to take a permanent curve. For complex shapes in either material, our laser cutting service does the precise work for you.

Fire Ratings

For commercial work, fire performance is not a preference, it is a pass or fail. Under BS 476 Part 7, the British Standard for surface spread of flame, polycarbonate is rated Class 1, the best classification on that scale, while standard acrylic is Class 3. That single fact often settles the material choice before any other property is discussed.

Schools, hospitals, care homes, retail units, public corridors and other premises with strict fire requirements frequently need Class 1, which makes polycarbonate the compliant option for glazing, machine guarding and partition infill in those settings. Specifying acrylic in a space that demands Class 1 is not a budget saving, it is a build that will not sign off. If a project has a fire spec, check it first, then choose the material. Our fire rated plastic sheets collection groups the products that meet the higher classifications.

 

Best Uses For Perspex (Acrylic)

Acrylic earns its place wherever clarity, surface hardness, easy fabrication and a sensible budget matter more than taking a hammer blow. Typical jobs:

• Display cases, retail shelving and product plinths

• Picture frames and photo frames

• Signage, point-of-sale displays and lettering

• Aquariums and fish tanks

• Furniture: table tops, shelves, risers

• Secondary glazing and draught proofing

• Kitchen and bathroom splashbacks

• Art, craft and model-making

• Shed and summerhouse windows

The thread running through that list is that the sheet is usually indoors, usually visible, and not in the firing line. That is acrylic's main ground.

Best Uses For Polycarbonate

Now the opposite list. Polycarbonate goes where things get hit, heated, climbed on, or rained on for years. Typical jobs:

• Greenhouse panels and glazing

• Conservatory, carport and lean-to roofing

• Machine guards and safety screens

• Security and vandal-resistant glazing

• Entrance canopies and walkway covers

• Playground and play-equipment panels

• Balcony and stair balustrade infill

• Windows in high-risk or low-level areas

If the application appears on this list, polycarbonate is doing a job acrylic and glass would struggle with.

 

Perspex vs Polycarbonate vs Glass: How Do They Compare?

Plenty of buyers are really weighing perspex vs glass or polycarbonate vs glass, not the two plastics against each other. Glass is the cheapest of the three and the most optically neutral, but it is also the heaviest and by far the most fragile, and when it breaks it produces dangerous shards. Both plastics weigh roughly half what glass does for the same panel and both fail far more safely.

For a greenhouse, the polycarbonate vs glass comparison is one-sided in most situations. Polycarbonate is lighter to handle and fit, it does not shatter when a branch comes down on it, it copes with temperature swings better, and in twin-wall polycarbonate form the air gap between the skins gives noticeably better insulation than single-glazed horticultural glass. Glass still wins on pure clarity and on cost, so for a sheltered, ornamental greenhouse it remains a fair choice; for an exposed plot or anywhere children and ball games are nearby, polycarbonate is the safer call. You can see the options built for that job in the plastic sheets for a greenhouse range.

 

Which Should You Choose?

Time to turn all of that into a decision. Is polycarbonate better than acrylic? Only for the jobs it is built for; for the rest, acrylic is the better pick. Here is the clean split.

Choose Perspex (acrylic) if you need:

• The clearest possible sheet, close to glass and brighter than polycarbonate

• UV stability outdoors with no coating required

• Easy DIY cutting, drilling and shaping

• The lower-cost option

• An indoor or low-impact application

• Flame-polished, optically clear edges

Choose polycarbonate if you need:

• Maximum impact resistance, close to unbreakable

• A Class 1 BS 476 fire rating for a public or commercial building

• Higher heat tolerance, up to around 120°C

• Outdoor roofing, canopy or glazing that will take knocks

• Vandal-resistant or security glazing

• A sheet that cold-bends to a curve without cracking

Common applications mapped:

• Greenhouse glazing: polycarbonate

• Kitchen splashback: acrylic

• Shed windows: acrylic

• Conservatory or carport roof: polycarbonate

• Machine guards and safety screens: polycarbonate

• Display cases and retail shelving: acrylic

• Secondary glazing: either budget leans acrylic, security leans polycarbonate

The summary of perspex vs polycarbonate: ask whether the sheet will take a hit and whether it needs a fire rating. If yes to either, polycarbonate. If no to both, acrylic gives you a clearer, harder, cheaper, easier-to-work sheet.

 

Buy Perspex And Polycarbonate Sheets At Plastics Direct

Both materials are excellent, and the right answer to perspex vs polycarbonate is the one that matches your application: clarity, surface hardness and budget point to acrylic; impact resistance, fire rating and outdoor durability point to polycarbonate. Plastics Direct stocks both, in clear and a wide range of colours, across the full run of standard thicknesses and sheet sizes, including UV-protected polycarbonate and twin-wall panels for outdoor and greenhouse work. Everything can be supplied cut to size, and our laser cutting and CNC machining services handle custom shapes, holes and finished edges for trade and DIY orders alike. If you are still unsure which sheet suits the job, get in touch with the team before you order and we will talk it through with you.

 

Resources

1. BS 476 Part 7: British Standard, classification of the surface spread of flame of products (the basis for the Class 1 and Class 3 fire ratings cited).

2. Manufacturer technical data sheets for cast acrylic (PMMA) and polycarbonate sheet: the source for light transmission figures (around 92% acrylic, around 88% polycarbonate), heat resistance ranges, and impact strength multipliers relative to glass.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Is perspex the same as acrylic? Yes. Perspex is a brand name for cast acrylic, technically PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate). Plexiglas and Lucite are other brand names for the same material. When a supplier says "perspex" or "acrylic sheet", they mean the same thing.

Can you tell the difference between acrylic and polycarbonate by looking?

Side by side, acrylic looks slightly clearer and more glass-like, and polycarbonate can show a faint warm tint, especially at thicker gauges. The reliable test is flex, not sight: polycarbonate bends noticeably without cracking, while acrylic is much more rigid and resists flexing.

Which is better for a greenhouse, acrylic or polycarbonate?

Polycarbonate, in most cases. It is far more impact resistant against hail and falling branches, twin-wall polycarbonate insulates better than single-pane horticultural glass, and it handles temperature extremes well. Acrylic and glass remain options for a sheltered, ornamental greenhouse, but polycarbonate is the safer all-round choice.

Is polycarbonate more expensive than acrylic?

Yes, typically around 20% to 40% more for the same sheet thickness. The durability can make it the better value over time in high-impact or outdoor jobs, and a thinner polycarbonate sheet can sometimes replace a much thicker, costlier acrylic one.

Can you cut perspex and polycarbonate at home?

Both can be cut at home. Acrylic is easier: score and snap for straight cuts in thin sheet, or a fine-tooth blade for thicker sections. Polycarbonate needs a sharp fine-tooth saw and a steady feed rate so the cut does not overheat. Our step-by-step perspex cutting guide walks through the method.

Which is more scratch resistant? Acrylic. It has a harder surface, so it shrugs off everyday scuffs better than polycarbonate, which marks more easily. Polycarbonate trades surface hardness for crack resistance, so it scratches sooner but is far harder to break.