The CFOP method
CFOP, also called the Fridrich method, is the method most speedcubers use for the 3×3. It solves the cube in four stages: the Cross, the First two layers, Orienting the last layer and Permuting it.
If you can already solve the cube with the beginner method, you know half of it: CFOP keeps the same layer-by-layer idea but does each stage in fewer, faster steps.
Can't solve the cube yet? Start with the free beginner course and cube notation; CFOP builds directly on both.
Stage 1 · C
Cross
Solve the four edges around one centre, usually on the bottom.
It is the same white cross as in the beginner method, with two differences. Speedcubers solve it on the bottom, so they can see the next step coming, and they plan it during the 15-second inspection, before the timer starts.
A good cross is short. Planning the whole thing in inspection and doing it in a handful of moves is the first big speed-up most people find.
Stage 2 · F
F2L — First Two Layers
Pair each bottom corner with its middle-layer edge and insert the pair: four pairs, and the first two layers are done.
F2L replaces the beginner method's separate corner and middle-layer steps. Most cubers learn it intuitively: understand why the basic inserts work, then solve each pair by thinking rather than memorising all 41 cases.
F2L is usually the biggest part of a CFOP solve, so it is where steady practice pays off most.
Stage 3 · O
OLL — Orient the Last Layer
Make the whole top face yellow.
Full OLL is 57 cases. Nearly everyone starts with 2-look OLL: one algorithm to make the yellow cross (three cases), then one to orient the corners (seven cases). That is 10 algorithms, and the beginner course already teaches the ideas behind them.
Stage 4 · P
PLL — Permute the Last Layer
Move the last-layer pieces into place without flipping them. The cube is solved.
Full PLL is 21 cases. 2-look PLL does it with six: two to place the corners, four to place the edges. Full PLL is usually the first complete algorithm set cubers learn, because there are only 21 cases and each one saves a whole look.
A learning order that works
Nobody learns all of CFOP at once. This order keeps every step useful in real solves from the day you learn it.
- Solve the cube with the beginner method
The foundation: notation, the cross, and a full solve.
- Learn 2-look OLL and PLL
16 algorithms that turn the last layer into four quick looks.
- Switch to intuitive F2L
Pair and insert instead of corners-then-edges.
- Learn full PLL
21 cases, added a few at a time.
- Learn full OLL
57 cases. Most cubers fill this in over months, alongside everything else.
Cubeathon's PLL page covers all 21 cases. The OLL and F2L pages cover the cases to learn first, and say how many the full sets have.