Stitch Fiddle is a browser-based chart editor, and a good one. It handles cross stitch, knitting, crochet and several other crafts, with a free version its makers say stays free forever and a month of Premium that costs less than a single pattern from us.
It's also an editor. Upload a photo and you get a chart you're expected to open, tidy, recolor and finish yourself. If what you want is a photograph of your dog turned into a stitchable DMC chart with the floss already worked out, that's a different job, and this page is for that reader. We make one of the two tools, so every Stitch Fiddle detail below comes from its own pricing and help pages, checked in September 2026. Where Stitch Fiddle does more, it says so.
**Stitch Fiddle** is a browser-based **chart editor**. The free version allows **15 charts**, **50 colors per chart** and grids up to **300 × 300**, with picture upload included. **Premium is $5.50 for a month or $33 for a year ($2.75 a month)**, with no automatic renewal, and adds **PDF and vector downloads**, **half and quarter stitches**, **layers** and grids up to **1,000 × 1,000**. You pick floss from **DMC, Anchor, Madeira** and others, and edit the result by hand. **We** don't offer an editor: you crop the photo, set the **width** and **number of DMC colors**, and the **$5.99 PDF** has a **symbol chart and a color chart**, **skein counts**, a **shopping list** and **page overlap**. Choose Stitch Fiddle to design; choose us to skip designing.
## Stitch Fiddle and our generator side by side
The Stitch Fiddle column comes from its [pricing page](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/premium/pricing) and help pages on [importing a picture](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pej-wc93j/import-picture), [downloading and printing](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pe3-3svb1t/download-print) and [lines](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pdw-7v0u6b/lines). Ours comes from our [pricing section](/#pricing).
| | Stitch Fiddle | Cross Stitch Pattern Generator (us) |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Chart editor for cross stitch, knitting, crochet and more | Photo-to-pattern generator for cross stitch |
| Free | 15 charts, 50 colors per chart, grids up to 300 × 300, picture upload | Preview of the pattern |
| Paid | Premium: $5.50 for one month, or $33 for a year | $5.99 per photo, or $7.99 a month |
| Renewal | One-off payment, no automatic renewal | Monthly plan: cancel whenever you want |
| Maximum chart | 1,000 × 1,000 with Premium | 250 stitches wide |
| Photo settings | Chart size (longest side) and number of colors, colors picked automatically | Crop, chart width and number of DMC colors |
| Editing | Draw stitches, copy and paste, mirror, rotate, fill, swap colors, layers | None; change the settings and regenerate |
| Stitch types | Backstitch lines; half and quarter stitches, knots and beads with Premium | Full cross stitches only |
| Floss | DMC, Anchor, Madeira and more to search, or your own colors | DMC |
| Charts in the download | You set colors, symbols and grid lines yourself | A symbol chart and a color chart of the same pattern |
| Key | Legend, downloadable as a separate file with Premium | DMC numbers with skein counts, plus a floss shopping list |
| Large charts | Choose the number of pages when downloading | Split across pages with overlap |
| Other formats | SVG, EPS, Word, Excel, PNG and more | PDF |
| Stitching aids | Progress tracker with row counter and stitch highlighter | Printed chart |
That's a long list in Stitch Fiddle's favor, and it's accurate. The question is how much of it you'll use.
## What Stitch Fiddle does well
**The free version is genuinely usable.** Fifteen charts, 50 colors and grids up to 300 × 300 cost nothing, and the pricing page says the free version "stays free forever". Picture upload is in the free column, so you can convert a photo without paying.
**Premium is cheap and doesn't trap you.** $33 buys a year. The pricing page says payments are one-off with no automatic renewal, your charts stay accessible after Premium expires, and there's a money-back guarantee. That's a friendlier model than most subscriptions.
**It's a real editor.** You can draw stitches square by square, copy and paste parts of a chart, mirror, rotate, fill and swap colors, and with Premium use layers and an automatic chart check. The import help page is candid that details often need finishing by hand after a photo conversion, and gives you the tools to do it.
**It goes beyond full crosses.** You can draw backstitch lines, set to snap to full, half or quarter stitches, and Premium adds half and quarter stitches, knots and beads. For a name under a portrait or whiskers on a cat, that matters. [Backstitch in cross stitch](/blog/backstitch-cross-stitch) explains when a photo chart needs it.
**More than one thread brand.** When you start a cross stitch chart, Stitch Fiddle offers DMC, Anchor and Madeira palettes, plus a search for more and your own colors.
**Flexible downloads.** Its download page lists PDF, SVG, EPS, Word, Excel and image formats, with PDF and SVG up to 1,000 × 1,000. SVG files open in Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity Designer with the symbols, grid and legend on separate layers, which is useful if you design patterns to sell. The pricing page says your designs are your property.
**It's not just cross stitch.** If you also knit, crochet or do diamond painting, one account covers all of them.
## Where a generator fits better
The case for us isn't that we do more. It's that some people don't want to learn a design tool to make one gift.
**No finishing work.** The chart you preview is the chart you print. Cropping, width and color count are the decisions, and for most photos they decide most of the result. [How many colors a photo pattern should use](/blog/how-many-colors-cross-stitch-pattern) covers the one setting people struggle with.
**Skein counts are done.** The PDF's color key gives every DMC number with the number of skeins to buy, and a shopping list you can tick off in the shop. Stitch Fiddle's help page on ordering supplies suggests comparing screen colors with the colors in shops and says there's no easy formula for how much yarn you need. If you'd rather work floss out yourself, [how much embroidery floss you need](/blog/how-much-embroidery-floss-do-i-need) shows the arithmetic.
**Both charts, no setup.** Every PDF has a symbol chart and a color chart of the same pattern, so you can stitch from whichever suits your eyes and your lighting. In an editor, you choose how colors and symbols appear before you download. [Symbol chart vs color chart](/blog/symbol-chart-vs-color-chart) explains when each one wins.
**Page overlap on big charts.** Large charts are split across pages with an overlap, so you can find your place at a join. Stitch Fiddle's download page describes choosing how many pages to split a chart over; it doesn't mention overlap. [Page overlap on large charts](/blog/cross-stitch-pattern-page-overlap) covers why it helps.
**Re-exporting a photo is free.** If the size or colors turn out wrong after you've paid, re-export the same photo as often as you like at no charge.
The limits, plainly: our charts are full cross stitches only, with no backstitch, half or fractional stitches. You can't edit individual stitches. Colors are DMC only. Charts top out at 250 stitches wide, far below Stitch Fiddle's 1,000. There's no progress tracker and no knitting or crochet.
## Price, worked through
Stitch Fiddle is cheaper for almost everyone who counts only money. Here's the arithmetic from each site's listed prices, as of September 2026:
| Charts | Stitch Fiddle | Us |
|---|---|---|
| 1, as a printable PDF | $5.50 (one month of Premium) | $5.99 |
| 3 in one month | $5.50 | $7.99 monthly, or $17.97 as singles |
| 6 spread over a year | $33 (a year of Premium), or $5.50 for each month you need it | $35.94 as singles |
| Many across a year | $33 | $5.99 each, or $7.99 for each month you subscribe |
So why pay more? Because the price buys different things. Stitch Fiddle's $5.50 buys a month of access to an editor, and the chart you get depends on the time you put in. Our $5.99 buys a finished chart with the floss worked out. If you enjoy the design stage, Stitch Fiddle is excellent value. If you don't, the time is the real cost. [What a custom cross stitch pattern costs](/blog/custom-cross-stitch-pattern-cost) sets both against paying a designer.
One detail worth reading on Stitch Fiddle's own pages: the import help page gives 200 colors as the Premium maximum for picture upload, while the pricing table lists 250 unique colors per chart. Both are well beyond what most photo charts need.
## What the photo conversion actually does in each
Both tools start the same way: you upload a photo, set a size and choose how many colors. After that they diverge.
**In Stitch Fiddle,** the import help page says you set the number of stitches for the longest side, the other side follows the image's proportions, and colors are selected automatically from the image, with custom colors for picture upload listed as a Premium feature. It accepts JPG, GIF and PNG. Then you open the chart and edit, and the page suggests adding symbols when two colors look similar.
**In our generator,** you crop first, set the width in stitches and the number of DMC threads, and the chart's height follows your crop. Every square becomes a full cross stitch in the nearest DMC color, and the preview shows the result before you pay.
Neither tool can rescue a poor photo. Most disappointing charts from any converter come from dark, busy or loosely framed photographs. [Cropping a photo for cross stitch](/blog/crop-photo-for-cross-stitch) is the cheapest fix, whichever tool you use.
## How to compare them with your own photo
1. **Crop the photo once**, and use the same file in both tools.
2. **Match the size.** In Stitch Fiddle the number is the longest side; with us it's the width. Convert so the charts come out the same.
3. **Match the color count** as closely as you can.
4. **Look at the eyes and the largest smooth area.** Those show detail and scattered single stitches most clearly.
5. **Think about the thread.** Stitch Fiddle's colors come from the palette you chose; ours are always DMC numbers.
6. **Decide honestly whether you'll edit.** If you already know you'll want to fix stitches by hand, add lettering or draw backstitch, that settles it for Stitch Fiddle.
## Which to choose
- **You want to design, edit stitches, or add backstitch, half stitches or lettering:** Stitch Fiddle.
- **You stitch with Anchor or Madeira:** Stitch Fiddle.
- **You make many charts, or also knit and crochet:** Stitch Fiddle Premium.
- **You need a chart wider than 250 stitches:** Stitch Fiddle.
- **You want a DMC chart from a photo with skein counts, both chart types and page overlap, without editing:** us, at $5.99.
Still weighing up the wider field? [Cross stitch pattern generators compared](/blog/cross-stitch-pattern-generators-compared) covers the main tools, [our Stitchmate alternative guide](/blog/stitchmate-alternative) compares us with the other big editor, and [cross stitch software vs an online generator](/blog/cross-stitch-software-vs-online-generator) is for people considering desktop programs. If you'd rather skip the editor, [upload your photo](/#start) and see the preview first.
## Frequently asked questions
### How much does Stitch Fiddle Premium cost?
As of September 2026, Stitch Fiddle's pricing page lists $5.50 for one month, or $33.00 paid in advance for a year, which works out at $2.75 a month. Payments are one-off with no automatic renewal, so Premium simply expires at the end of the period. The basic features stay free.
### Can I turn a photo into a cross stitch pattern with free Stitch Fiddle?
Yes. Stitch Fiddle's pricing table lists picture upload in the free version, with charts up to 300 by 300 stitches and 50 colors per chart. Premium raises that to 1,000 by 1,000 and adds, among other things, PDF and vector downloads, half and quarter stitches, layers and custom colors for picture upload.
### Is Stitch Fiddle cheaper than this generator?
Usually, yes. One month of Stitch Fiddle Premium is $5.50, less than our $5.99 per photo, and it covers as many charts as you make that month. Our $7.99 monthly plan is the closer comparison. The difference is the work: Stitch Fiddle hands you an editor, and we hand you a finished DMC chart with skein counts.
### Does Stitch Fiddle work out how many skeins to buy?
Not that its help pages describe. Its page on ordering supplies suggests comparing screen colors with shop colors and says there is no easy formula for how much yarn you need. Our PDF's color key lists a skein count for every DMC number, plus a floss shopping list you can tick off.
### Can I add backstitch or half stitches with this generator?
No. Our charts are full cross stitches only, one DMC color per square, and there's no stitch-by-stitch editing. Stitch Fiddle lets you draw backstitch lines, and its Premium version adds half and quarter stitches, knots and beads. If you need those in the chart itself, Stitch Fiddle is the better fit.
### Who should use Stitch Fiddle instead?
Anyone who designs as well as converts: people who want to fix stitches by hand, add lettering or backstitch, use Anchor or Madeira thread, or work in knitting, crochet and other crafts too. It's also the cheaper choice for someone making many charts. A generator suits people who want a photo charted and nothing else.
## Sources
- [Stitch Fiddle — Premium pricing (prices in USD, free vs Premium features, no automatic renewal)](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/premium/pricing)
- [Stitch Fiddle — Help: Import picture (file types, size, automatic colors, editing after import)](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pej-wc93j/import-picture)
- [Stitch Fiddle — Help: Download & Print (file types, size limits, splitting over pages, SVG layers)](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pe3-3svb1t/download-print)
- [Stitch Fiddle — Help: Lines (backstitch in cross stitch charts)](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pdw-7v0u6b/lines)
- [Stitch Fiddle — Help: Order supplies (comparing colors, no easy formula for amounts)](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/help/1pek-c4t7aj/order-supplies)
- [Stitch Fiddle — Create a cross stitch chart (DMC, Anchor and Madeira floss palettes)](https://www.stitchfiddle.com/en/chart/create/cross-stitch/other)