Cross Stitch Pattern Generators Compared: 2026 Prices

There are dozens of cross stitch pattern generators, and most comparison pages list them by name and price and stop there. That misses the point, because two tools that both "turn a photo into a pattern" can hand you very different files. One gives you a chart and a skein count for every color. Another gives you a watermarked image and leaves the floss arithmetic to you.

This page compares the main options on what the download contains, as well as what it costs. Every price and feature was read on the company's own site in September 2026. We make a generator too, so our row is in the tables with the same scrutiny, including where other tools do more.

Prices and models at a glance

Prices change. Check each linked page before you buy. For the full cost of a project, including floss, fabric, kits and Etsy commissions, see what a custom cross stitch pattern costs.

What the download contains

This is the comparison that matters once you're stitching. A dash means the company's page doesn't state it, which is not the same as "no". If a feature matters to you, check with the tool.

A few things stand out. Only some tools state skein counts, and on a photo portrait with dozens of colors that saves real work. Overlap is rarely mentioned, though it's what stops you losing your place at page joins on a large chart. And the editors, Stitchmate and Stitch Fiddle, do things a straight generator doesn't, like backstitch and cleaning up stray stitches by hand.

Tool by tool

Pic2Pat

Pic2Pat's home page describes a three-step process: upload a picture (almost any image format, up to 18 MB), choose the size and stitches per inch, and download the chart to your computer. It says it calculates which floss colors you need and "how many skeins you need of each color". It's free, the page carries advertising, and the company sells embroidery floss for its patterns through an order tool.

Strong at: small projects where free and quick matter most, with skeins already worked out. Check before a big project: what the downloaded chart contains and how a large chart is split across pages, since the home page doesn't say. Our Pic2Pat alternative guide goes into where a paid chart differs.

Cross Stitched

Cross Stitched's free generator asks for an email before it shows the preview and download. The free output is a watermarked PNG or SVG, limited to 15 DMC colors, with a width between 30 and 200 stitches. Clean exports and multi-page PDFs need Studio Pro, from $7.99 a month, which is free for life with the company's custom kits. Its custom kit was listed at $42, down from $90, with Aida pre-printed with your pattern, DMC threads, a chart and a needle.

Strong at: people who want supplies in the box. Watch for: the 15-color cap on faces and fur, and pre-printed fabric, which is a different experience from counting a chart.

StitchFromPhoto

StitchFromPhoto charges $2.99 per source image with no subscription and no watermark. The download is a high-resolution PNG chart and a tiled PDF with a thread key. Its home page describes a countable symbol chart with heavier guide lines every ten stitches, up to 18 DMC colors, a choice of 14, 16, 18 and 22-count Aida, and a thread key giving each shade a DMC code, a symbol and a stitch total "to estimate how much floss the project needs". Re-exports of the same image are allowed for 24 hours.

Strong at: the lowest paid price for one photo when you already know the size and colors you want. Watch for: the 24-hour window if you tend to change your mind, and the 18-color cap on detailed portraits. Stitch totals mean you still convert to skeins yourself.

Stitchmate

Stitchmate is the most fully featured online option here. It's an editor that runs in the browser on computers, tablets and phones, with a desktop app too. The editor and PNG exports are free; you pay to export the printable PDF, with a full PDF preview first. Its pages list vector symbols, a thread legend, skeins per color with a safety margin, more than 90 export settings, over 50 floss brands, full, half and quarter stitches, backstitch, French knots and one-click confetti cleanup.

Pricing is $5.99 for one pattern, $12 for five and $20 for ten, and unlocked patterns can be re-edited and re-exported forever. The Personal Pass is $14.99 per 30 days or $99 lifetime, and a Seller Pass with a commercial license is $24.99 per 30 days or $149 lifetime. There's a 14-day money-back guarantee. Stitchmate says its PDFs are Pattern Keeper compatible and notes that compatibility "can vary by app version".

Strong at: stitchers who want to edit the chart, use backstitch, sell patterns, or buy in packs. Watch for: more settings than a one-off gift needs. Our Stitchmate alternative guide compares its output with ours.

Stitch Fiddle

Stitch Fiddle describes itself as online chart pattern editor software for knitting, crochet, cross stitch and several other crafts. Its help center explains that you can import a picture into a cross stitch chart, then edit it box by box, change colors and add symbols where two colors look similar. For picture imports, the free version allows grids up to 300 × 300 and 50 colors; Premium raises that to 1,000 × 1,000 and 200 colors. Charts can be downloaded as PDF, split over multiple pages, and used with a built-in progress tracker. Most features need an account.

Premium pricing is on Stitch Fiddle's pricing page, which loads dynamically; check the current price there.

Strong at: people who design across crafts or want to draw and edit charts by hand. Watch for: it's a design tool first. If you only want a photo charted, the Stitch Fiddle alternative guide explains the difference.

WinStitch and MacStitch

Ursa Software's WinStitch and MacStitch are desktop programs to create, print or publish designs "converted from photos / clip art, or drawn by hand", from £46 with the price varying by country. Pattern Keeper's help center documents an "Export to PDF for Pattern Keeper" option in newer versions.

Strong at: designers who chart often and want to draw and adjust their own designs. Watch for: a learning curve that a single photo gift rarely justifies. Cross stitch software vs an online generator covers that choice.

Cross Stitch Pattern Generator (us)

You upload a photo, set the stitch count and the number of colors, and see a free preview. Every color is matched to a DMC floss. The PDF contains a symbol chart and a color chart of the same pattern, a color key with DMC numbers and skein counts, a floss shopping list, and large patterns split across pages with overlap. It costs $5.99 per photo, and re-exporting that photo at another size or color count is free. The $7.99 monthly pass covers as many patterns as you like plus a ready-made pattern library. How we handle uploaded photos is described on our privacy page.

Strong at: photo gifts where you want to try sizes and color counts, and a PDF with skeins, both charts and overlap already done. Where others do more: our settings are the stitch count and the number of colors, matched to DMC; we don't advertise stitch-by-stitch editing, backstitch tools, other floss brands or Pattern Keeper compatibility. StitchFromPhoto is cheaper for one photo, and Stitchmate's packs are cheaper per pattern at volume.

The features that matter for a photo pattern

Skein counts

Every color in the key needs at least one skein. DMC floss comes in 8.7 yard / 8 meter skeins, and a photo portrait can use dozens of colors. Without skein counts, you work out each color yourself from its stitch total, the fabric count and the strands you use. How much embroidery floss you need shows that arithmetic.

Symbol chart and color chart

DMC explains that on a chart, every square that needs a stitch contains a symbol, and a key pairs symbols with colors. Symbols are what you count from. A color version helps when two dark shades look alike and you want to see where each area sits. How to read a cross stitch pattern explains both.

Page splitting and overlap

A chart 150 stitches wide won't print at a readable size on one page. Pattern Keeper's help center describes overlap as a repetition of some rows and columns from the previous page, so it's easier to stitch over the page break and find your place. Without it, every page join is a chance to miscount.

Pattern Keeper

Pattern Keeper is an Android app that reads PDF charts so you can highlight symbols and mark stitches off. Its developer says it's impossible to set strict guidelines for compatible PDFs, and the app currently supports only full cross stitches. Pattern Keeper compatible patterns explains what a PDF needs and how to test one in the free trial.

Color caps and size caps

Detail comes from the stitch count, and faces and fur need many close shades. A 15 or 18-color cap works well for graphic subjects and flattens a tabby cat. How many colors a photo pattern should use explains where the limit starts to show.

Re-export rules

You'll probably want a different size or color count after seeing the first chart. The policies here range from 24 hours for the same image to "forever" for an unlocked pattern. On a gift where you're still deciding, that matters more than a $3 price difference.

How to compare generators with your own photo

Reviews can't tell you which tool handles your photo best. A side-by-side test takes half an hour and costs nothing on most tools.

1. Crop your photo once, so every tool gets the same image.
2. Use the same stitch width and a similar color count in each tool, within its limits.
3. Zoom into the eyes or the main detail in each preview and count the stitches across.
4. Look at flat areas like a sky or a wall for scattered single stitches. Confetti stitches explains which ones matter.
5. Check what the download will contain before paying: skeins, symbols, color chart, page splitting, overlap, watermark.
6. Read the re-export rule, and decide whether you'll want another size later.
7. If you stitch in Pattern Keeper, test the file in its free trial before starting.

The full process of making a good chart from a photo is in how to turn a photo into a cross stitch pattern.

Which tool for which job

• A small, simple design, free: Pic2Pat, or Stitch Fiddle's free version if you want to edit it.
• One photo, settings already decided, lowest paid price: StitchFromPhoto at $2.99.
• One photo gift where you'll try sizes and colors: a tool with open-ended re-exports, such as ours at $5.99 or a single Stitchmate unlock.
• You want to edit stitches, add backstitch or clean up confetti by hand: Stitchmate or Stitch Fiddle.
• You stitch in Pattern Keeper: Stitchmate claims compatibility; test any file in the app's trial.
• Many patterns a month: our $7.99 pass, Stitchmate's packs or Personal Pass, depending on whether you want an editor.
• You want the supplies in a box: a kit such as Cross Stitched's, knowing the fabric is pre-printed.
• You design charts for others or for sale: desktop software, or Stitchmate's Seller Pass.

Every comparison on this site is collected on the tools and comparisons topic page. When you've narrowed it down, try your photo in our preview alongside the others and compare the files, not the logos.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best cross stitch pattern generator?

The one whose download fits your project. For a small, simple design, a free tool like Pic2Pat is often enough. For a large photo portrait, look for skein counts, a symbol chart, page splitting with overlap and a fair re-export policy. If you want to edit individual stitches, choose an editor such as Stitchmate or Stitch Fiddle.

Is there a good free cross stitch pattern generator?

Yes, with limits. As of September 2026, Pic2Pat is free and calculates skeins per color, Stitch Fiddle's free version imports pictures up to 300 by 300 with 50 colors, and Cross Stitched's free generator allows 15 DMC colors with watermarked downloads. Check the actual download before planning a large project around it.

Which cross stitch pattern generators work with Pattern Keeper?

Of the tools compared here, Stitchmate says its PDFs are Pattern Keeper compatible and notes compatibility can vary by app version. Pattern Keeper itself says strict guidelines for PDFs are impossible, so test any file in its free one-month trial before relying on it. Pattern Keeper runs on Android only as of September 2026.

Why pay for a cross stitch pattern generator?

For the parts of the download that save you time or floss: skein counts per color, clean charts without watermarks, large charts split across pages, and the ability to change size or colors later. On a months-long portrait, those matter more than the few dollars the file costs.

Can I edit the pattern after converting my photo?

Depends on the tool. Stitchmate and Stitch Fiddle are editors: you can change individual stitches, colors and symbols after conversion, and Stitchmate lists backstitch and one-click confetti cleanup. Simpler generators, including ours, let you change settings such as size and color count and regenerate the chart instead.

Is desktop cross stitch software better than an online generator?

For designers, often yes. WinStitch and MacStitch start at £46 as of September 2026, convert photos or let you draw charts by hand, and have a dedicated Pattern Keeper PDF export according to Pattern Keeper's help pages. For one photo gift, the learning curve usually outweighs the benefit.

Sources

• Pic2Pat — Free cross stitch pattern maker (steps, 18 MB limit, skeins per color)
• Pic2Pat — Floss order tool
• Cross Stitched — Free pattern generator (15 colors, 30 to 200 stitches, watermark, Studio Pro)
• Cross Stitched — Custom photo cross stitch kit ($42, pre-printed Aida)
• StitchFromPhoto — Pricing ($2.99 per image, PNG and tiled PDF, 24-hour re-exports)
• StitchFromPhoto — Home page (symbol chart, up to 18 DMC colors, Aida counts, stitch totals)
• Stitchmate — Pricing (unlock packs, passes, Pattern Keeper tested, 14-day guarantee)
• Stitchmate — Home page (PDF contents, skeins, stitch types, confetti cleanup, devices)
• Stitch Fiddle — Home page (crafts supported)
• Stitch Fiddle — Import picture (grid and color limits, free vs Premium)
• Stitch Fiddle — Download and print (PDF, splitting over multiple pages)
• Ursa Software — WinStitch and MacStitch (from £46)
• Pattern Keeper — For designers (no strict guidelines possible)
• Pattern Keeper — Exporting charts from WinStitch/MacStitch
• Pattern Keeper — How to spot overlap
• DMC — How to read a cross stitch chart (symbols and key)
• DMC — Cotton Embroidery Floss (Mouliné Spécial): 8.7 yard / 8 meter skeins