7 Best Embroidery Software 2024 (50 Machine Digitizing Tools)

by Chris Von Wilpert, BBusMan • Last updated November 23, 2023

Expert Verified by Leandro Langeani, BBA

First-Person Perspective: We buy, test and review software products based on a 3-step rating methodology and first-hand experienceIf you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our rating methodology and how we make money.

Today there are 87 different embroidery software options to create and manage your embroidery business with. We spent 160 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to increase your embroidery efficiency. 

What is the Best Embroidery Software?

  1. Embrilliance Essentials — best of the best
  2. Elna eXuberance — best for up and coming embroiderers
  3. Floriani Total Control U — best for big companies
  4. Hatch Embroidery — best automatic fonts digitizer
  5. EmbroideryStudio — best for designers
  6. StitchArtist — best value all-in-one
  7. Embroidermodder — best free embroidery design editor

Our Verdict — Best Of The Best

Price: $149

Embrilliance Essentials is a great all-rounder software for anyone because of its incredible price, flexibility, and sheer amount of features.

The Best Part:

  • Get all the essential features. Embrilliance Essentials comes packed with all the essentials you need to create, edit, and letter your embroidered designs… on a budget.

The Worst Part:

  • You can’t scan designs you love. You won’t be able to import embroidery patterns or designs by scanning.

Get it if you want a solid piece of embroidery software for an affordable price.

I recommend you get started with Embrilliance Essentials for a one-time payment of $149.

(60-day money-back guarantee)

Best For

Embrilliance Essentials is best for anyone who wants to create, edit, and letter embroidery designs, without spending an arm and a leg.

Top Features

  • It’s incredibly affordable. Most embroidery software options are really expensive. Embrilliance comes in affordable modules, which make it a lot easier for anyone to afford. Use the money you save to buy more designs and supplies!
  • It’s got everything you need. Embrilliance Essentials lives up to its name and allows you to create your designs, edit your designs, and even create your own letterings and fonts. You can buy the modules that you need and run all of your business operations under the one “roof.”
  • Run it on every machine. You can use it on your PC and Mac, and you can even install it on as many computers as you own, no limits.
  • It’s super flexible. Embrilliance Essentials lets you merge and recalculate stitches, so you can easily remove stitch overlaps, colorize, resize, and print your templates.
  • Good free version. When you first install Embrilliance Essentials, you can either enter your license number or keep it in the Express mode, for free. You can use the interface with some limitations: You can’t resize designs, or merge your lettering with other stitch files, but you’ll be able to use embroidery fonts.

Pricing

Embrilliance Essentials comes in a single pricing plan:

  • Essentials: $149 one time, for people who want to create, edit, and letter their embroidery designs.

Embrilliance comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.

Try Embrilliance Essentials today.

Our Verdict — Best For Up And Coming Embroiderers

Price: $1,199

Elna eXuberance is the best option for up and coming embroiderers because it’s super powerful, super flexible, with an almost painless payment option.

The Best Part:

  • It feels like driving a new car. Elna eXuberance's interface is so intuitive that after the first or second time you take it for a ride, you’ll already know where everything is. It’s a walk in the park, be it on PC or Mac.

The Worst Part:

  • You’ll have to wait for shipping. Once you purchase, you’ll have to wait a few days before a DVD arrives at your door.

Get it if you want an incredible embroidery software that is more affordable than Floriani’s option.

I recommend you go with the financing option, and pay just $66.61/mo, for 18 months,  — interest free! — so you can get all of Elna eXuberance’s power without breaking the bank.

(18 month interest-free financing)

Best For

Elna eXuberance is best for embroidery businesses that are growing or need to get over a plateau.

Top Features

  • It’s like a sunny day in the world of Embroidery. Elna eXuberance boasts a surprisingly easy and intuitive user interface, with built-in tutorials for 47+ topics, and guided processes.
  • It’s powerful. You can create embroidery designs, modify existing ones, import and digitize at will, with tools that will allow you to boost your designs in the blink of an eye… You’ll never run out of possibilities with shapes, outlines, gradients, and much more.
  • Convert images to stand out. Elna eXuberance can automatically convert pictures into embroideries, with PaintStitch. This makes it possible for you to create really unique designs that make you stand out from the crowd.
  • Stitch flow control. You define the direction of stitches to create your embroideries with divides or with central point direction at will.
  • Customizable workspace. You can set up all your workspace components and windows the way you want, so you always have the right setup for creating, editing, or bringing your designs to life.

Pricing

Elna eXuberance has two different pricing tiers:

  • Regular: $1,199 one time, for pros who want to boost their growing businesses.
  • Financing: $66.61/mo over 18 months, for people who want to make it as easy as it gets to acquire Elna eXuberance.

All plans have a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Try Elna eXuberance today with an 18-month financing.

Our Verdict — Best For Big Companies

Price: $2,999.99

Floriani Total Control U is the best embroidery software for big companies, because of its sheer quality, hyper detailed support documentation, and exclusive time-saving features.

The Best Part:

  • It supports most embroidery machines. Floriani Total Control U is compatible with most brands of embroidery machines out there. Resize designs, change fabric types, generate object-based lettering and more, at a click of a button.

The Worst Part:

  • Windows only. In order to make use of Floriani Total Control U, you’ll need Windows — no other operating systems allowed. Sorry about that, Steve Jobs.

Get it if you want an incredible piece of software that will take your embroidery designs to a whole new level.

I recommend you opt for the financing option, and pay just $83.33/mo, for 36 months — interest free! — so you can get all of Floriani Total Control U’s power without breaking the bank.

(36 month interest-free financing)

Best For

Floriani Total Control U works for people of any skill level, but is best suited for bigger embroidery companies.

Top Features

  • Tons of video tutorials. If you ever get stuck with anything, you can hop into Floriani’s web site and watch a ton of tutorials that will show you, step-by-step, everything you can achieve with your new software.
  • Auto-digitizing wizard. Floriani Total Control U can auto-digitize any vector, image file, and True Type fonts you may have. Even though it won’t work perfectly 100% of the time, it will get you way ahead, and leave you with 5-10 minutes of manual work. If you’ve ever paid for professional digitizing, you know how much this can save you in the long run.
  • Resized designs, no nasty surprises. You know when you want to resize a design and hell breaks loose? Floriani Total Control U automatically safeguards your designs and regenerates the stitches, eliminating any potential problem causing stitches.
  • Anyone can do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re just getting started or have been working in the business for decades. You can create super simple or extra complex designs with a wide range of tools and advanced features, like manual or auto-digitizing, resizing, lettering, stitch type conversion, and much more.
  • Pay over 36 months. You can buy Floriani Total Control U with a long financing option, which makes it extra affordable and convenient. With just $83.33 per month, over 36 months, you can trade the punch in the gut of the full price, and trade it for a little flick in the ear every month, for a while.

Pricing

Floriani Total Control U has two different pricing tiers:

  • Regular: $2,999.99 one time, for pros who want the best embroidery software out there.
  • Financing: $86.66/mo over 36 months, for people who want to make it as easy as it gets to acquire Floriani Total Control U.

All plans have a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Try Floriani Total Control U today with a 36-month financing.

Our Top Three Picks

Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:

  1. Embrilliance Essentials — best of the best
  2. Elna eXuberance — best for up and coming embroiderers
  3. Floriani Total Control U — best for big companies

Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:

Tool

Entry Offer

Pricing

Embrilliance Essentials

Free trial version

$149

Elna eXuberance

None

$1,199

Floriani Total Control U

None

$2,999.99

Hatch Embroidery

30-day free trial

Starts at $149

EmbroideryStudio

30-day free trial

Custom pricing (enquiry required)

StitchArtist

Free plan

Starts at $169

Embroidermodder

Free

Free

Here are the top 50 embroidery tools we considered in this review:

  1. Embrilliance Essentials
  2. Elna eXuberance
  3. Floriani Total Control U
  4. Hatch Embroidery
  5. EmbroideryStudio
  6. StitchArtist
  7. Embroidermodder
  8. Embird Embroidery
  9. Brother Initial Stitch Software
  10. Ink Stitch
  11. Stitch Era Universal
  12. forStitch Artist Level
  13. ELS Embroidery
  14. Generations Plus
  15. Janome MBX
  16. BuzzXplore V2 Premiere Embroidery Design Management
  17. Floriani Total Control U
  18. EmbroideryWare
  19. Mysewnet
  20. Bernina Artista 
  21. DIME
  22. 2 Embroidery
  23. Amazing Designs LETTER IT! 
  24. Embrilliance Enthusiast
  25. Chroma
  26. My Editor
  27.  Digitize N Stitch
  28. DRAWings PRO X
  29. BuzzEdit
  30. TrueSizer
  31. SINGER Futura Photostitch
  32. Brother PED Basic
  33. Amazing Designs Monogram it!
  34. Amazing Designs Digitize N Stitch
  35. Janome Artistic Digitizer 
  36. AcuStitch
  37. Ultimate Explorer
  38. Floriani Quilters Select Craft N Cut
  39. Stitchmax
  40. BuzzXplore Embroidery Design Management
  41. Bernina Artlink
  42. DRAWings Pro11 Embroidery Digitizing Software
  43. Embrilliance Thumbnailer Embroidery
  44.  Buzz 2 Stitches
  45. Artistic Digitizer
  46. DRAWings PRO
  47. 6D Embroidery
  48. Applique It! 
  49. AutoPunch
  50. Elna CustomizerEX

The Bottom Line

Here are our top picks for the best embroidery software to try this year:

  1. Embrilliance Essentials — best of the best
  2. Elna eXuberance — best for up and coming embroiderers
  3. Floriani Total Control U — best for beginners
  4. Hatch Embroidery — best automatic fonts digitizer
  5. EmbroideryStudio — best for designers
  6. StitchArtist — best value all-in-one
  7. Embroidermodder — best free embroidery design editor

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