Best embroidery software for Mac users! I love StitchBuddy and have it installed on all my Mac devices - iMac, iPad and even iPhone. The ease for which you can edit and create embroidery designs while lounging with your iPad is amazing! It keeps a thumbnail image of all your purchased files organized and easy to find when creating new monograms. A complete software system designed specifically for Mac® computers, TruEmbroidery ™ 3 Software offers everything you need to bring embroidery to life. The native Mac® interface is enhanced by OS X® Yosemite features, such as gestures. The software is available in two great packages: TruEmbroidery ™ 3 ELITE or TruEmbroidery ™ 3 ELEMENTS.
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Mac Compatible Embroidery Software
Many people turn to embroidery to channel their creative juices. And why not? Embroidery opens up a whole new world of colors and patterns that are both pleasing to the eye and satisfying to make. But every embroiderer knows of the day they run out of creative steam – no matter how hard you try, you just can’t think of a new pattern to embroider. Or that day when you’re just desperate to get a beautiful design to go on your beautiful silk scarf.
Most embroidery machines come with helpful, pre-loaded embroidery designs. But if you’re tired of using them over and over again, a machine embroidery software can help you open and download new designs from the internet. In addition to that, some of the best embroidery software provides resources like fonts and patterns to help you create custom embroidery that truly projects your own style. All you need to do is to install a good software.
Our top picks:
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Table of Contents
- 2 6 Best Embroidery Software in 2020
What makes a great machine embroidery software?
- Compatibility: Not all software are created equal and not all are compatible with most devices. Before you invest in any software, make sure that it’s compatible with both your computer and embroidery machine. You should also make sure that the file format for your software can be read on your embroidery machine. Otherwise, your software is as good as nothing.
- Patterns offered by the software: The whole point of getting an embroidery software is to add new designs to your arsenal. So make sure to take a peek at the diversity of the patterns provided by the software. You don’t want to hit another creative bottleneck because the type of patterns given by your software is limiting and ugly.
- Customer support: This is especially important for newbies since they need some guidance to help familiarize themselves with the product. Pick a software company that offers great customer support. As a bonus, try and find a company with an informative and interactive forum where fellow embroiders share their experience and troubleshooting methods. Trust us, this will make your life infinitely better and easier.
- Licensing: It’s always tempting to get the free software over the licensed one but free software can be more trouble than they’re worth. For one, they often don’t offer product support since they are not monetarily incentivized to do it. They could also come with unwanted malware that might corrupt your computer if you’re not careful. A licensed software offers so much more security and support if you’re having trouble with it.
6 Best Embroidery Software in 2020
There are a lot of options in the market of embroidery software. We get it — it could get overwhelming when going through all of them. Now that you know what to look for in good embroidery program, let’s look at the best embroidery software in 2019.
In this embroidery software reviews article, we’re highlighting 6 that are great in different areas. Regardless of what you concerns are, there’s bound to be a software on this list for you.
Overall top pick – Embrilliance Essentials
Sale Embrilliance Essentials Embrilliance Essentials is an all-rounder. The amount of features packed onto the software plus its affordable price tag makes it the overall top pick on our list. It helps that it works especially well on Brothers PE770 and SE400.It allows you to customize your designs down to the tiniest details. Automatic stitch recalculation feature makes it possible to resize and color the elements to your design as well as convert the thread brands of your design. One of Embrilliances unique features is the ability to add very large letters and spiral texts to your embroidery. The interactive embroidery design is a great addition as well, since you can now create something that’s truly yours instead of using default designs in the software
Post-design regret is real. To counter that, you can edit and save changes to the design you make again and again. With Embrilliance, you can zip your files to save space in your computer while merging your designs in virtually every existing format.
Now for the downsides.
You can’t import a design into the software by scanning, which means that you can’t put your friend’s embroidery that you love into your embroidery machine. To avoid having issues with the serial number as reported by some users, it’s best to check that out before investing in Embrilliance.
Embrilliance Essentials is the overall winner because of the amount of customization it allows you to do. The demo version is an excellent tool to help you decide if you want to invest in the software. Note: you can’t save your designs in demo mode.
Best for beginners – Embrilliance Stitch Artist Level 1
Stitch Artist softwareEmbroidery Software For Mac Reviews
Embrilliance Stitch Artist is a three-level embroidery software that is catered for a range of skill level. Level 1 is the novice level, where complete beginners learn to get a hang of embroidery software.Its simplicity and intuitive interface makes it a great platform for beginners to start learning machine embroidery on. Stitch Artist mostly focus on design creation; you can use different stitch types and properties to make a custom design. You can also complete projects like running stitch designs, fill simple shapes, fill in backgrounds, applique designs, and unifying components for design compositions with ease
What makes Stitch Artist perfect for beginners is its concern for progression. Since it’s designed for beginners, experienced embroiderers would undoubtedly find limiting. That’s why they made Level 2 and Level 3 for advanced embroiderers. With the increase of level, you’d unlock more features and resources to explore. You don’t have to get Level 1 to get the higher levels, though. You can buy Levels 2 and 3 as standalone programs with a lower price.
Stitch Artist Level 1 is the top contender of the best embroidery software for beginners because they offer enough features without overwhelming the user. It’s also pretty affordable for what it offers. The possibility of expanding the software with Levels 2 and 3 makes it a worthy investment as well.
Best budget and best for lettering – Amazing Designs LETTER IT! Embroidery Machine Software
LETTER IT! budget embroidery program that is also great for letteringWhenever you need something lettered, LETTER IT! is the software to go! The embroiderer can pick from 35 different and unique fonts for your embroidery. You can also choose from a wide spectrum of colors that would go with even the tiniest differences in your designs. It lets you create texts in different formats — a circle, multi-line, single-lined, curved, and vertical. You can even import your own designs into the software and incorporate lettering into your design.
Unfortunately, LETTER IT! is not supported on MacOS. Since its a software for lettering, it offers limited flexibility when it comes to designs. It doesn’t come with a hard copy manual, and the PDF version online might be frustrating to read. But with enough practice, you’d get through it in no time.
Amazing Designs LETTER IT! Embroidery Machine Software is an amazing software for lettering with a modest price tag. The 30-day trial Amazing Designs provide should give you enough insight when using this software, so be sure to try it out before you buy it.
Best for Monogramming – Brother ELS Embroidery Monogramming Software
ELS program by Brother In terms of monogramming, Brother ELS Software reigns supreme.You’re guaranteed a bunch of frames, styles, and fonts to play with when you run this software. To be specific, it comes with 20 built-in pre-digitized fonts, 5 monogram styles, over 40 decorative frames, 3 built-in texts, and 14 decorative fill patterns. Can you even imagine how many different variations of monogram possible on this beast?
It wouldn’t hurt to ask your machine provider, but ELS Embroidery Monogramming Software works well with most machines in the market – even if it is a hat embroidery machine or a multi-needle commercial embroidery machine such as these. Some users have reportedly unable to edit their designs, but this seems to be a problem among a small group of ELS users. Although it works on all Windows OS, it might stop working once you upgrade your Windows from the older version. Some users also have trouble with the activation number. However, since this is an authentic product by Brother, all the solution to your problems is just a phone call away from Brother’s helpful customer service.
The versatility provided by ELS Embroidery and Monogramming Software is a great addition to your must-have embroidery equipment. Since Brother is a named brand with a great reputation, you can always count on their customer service to help you out with the small amount of issues that come with the software.
Best for Organized Embroiderers – BuzzXplore V2 Premiere Embroidery Design Management
BuzzXplore V2 BuzzXplore V2 will keep any number of your embroidery safe. You can import and tweak as many designs as you want, but you won’t find it difficult to find them afterward. If you’re serious about organization, you can arrange your designs according to a wide range of formats. You can also quickly export your designs onto your external hard drive, USB cards, flash drives, and even Bernina drives with the Embroidery Drive Writing Wizard.
Given that it runs exclusively on WindowsOS, you can only run it on a MacOS via a Windows emulator. You can’t convert a graphics file format to an embroidery file format unless you get Buzz-2-Stitches, which is an add-on extension for V2.
BuzzXplore V2 Premiere Embroidery Design Management lives up to its name of being the best organizer for embroidery designs despite having a couple of kinks in file format and device compatibility. Issues encountered on V2 is also fairly easy to solve.
For Advanced Embroiderers – Embrilliance Enthusiast Embroidery Software for Mac & PC
Embrilliance Enthusiast - best Embroidery Software for Macintosh & PC
Embrilliance Enthusiast offers a wide range of options like stitch editing, baste hooping, multiple hooping, mirror x4, and more. You can control your embroidery down to the T with this mac embroidery software since it’s one of the few programs that offer advance thread editor, advanced sizing control, and stitch properties (to see how it fares compared to other software, not mentioned here read our Sew What Pro vs Embrilliance comparison).
Features like Instant Repeat, Scatter, and Carousel make it easier to create and embroider repetitive patterns or designs. It also allows you to save in .png formats; great news for people who like to look at their designs on their phones as a picture. I especially like the multi hooping option as can split a 5×7 design for a 4×4 Brother hoop (e.g. for Brother SE600 embroidery machine)
Some users have complained about the lack of instructions to use the program. This is also part of the reason why we recommend this software to experienced embroiderers in the first place. There might also be a problem with the serial activation number, but that’s easily solvable with a phone call to Embrilliance’s customer service.
Features that allow the embroiderer to tweak and customize their embroideries to their hearts’ content are important for expert embroiderers. Embrilliance Enthusiast definitely fulfills this criterion with their advanced features that are sure to make every enthusiast embroiderer’s lives easier.
Takeaway
- The abundance of embroidery software in the market makes it difficult to decide on which embroidery software to buy. There are many different factors to consider, like price point, skill level, and the features that you actually need.
- Given all the factors, Embrilliance Essentials is definitely our top pick in terms of embroidery software. For a relatively cheap price point, it basically gives you all you’d ever need to make beautiful and personalized designs.
- Although Amazing Designs LETTER IT! is targeted towards lettering enthusiast, it’s affordable price tag makes it possible for budget embroiderers to step into the world of machine embroidery without breaking the bank. It also offers a lot of value for such a modest price.
- We also liked Embrilliance Stich Artist Level 1 as a platform for beginner embroiderers to learn machine embroidering since it’s simple to use. The best part about it is that you can add on more difficult programs to further expand your skills after mastering Level 1.
Do you agree with our picks of embroidery software? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!
Best Embroidery Software for Mac & PC – Embroidery is one of the oldest and most popular skills. Apart from being a hobby for millions of people all over the world, there are tens of thousands of professional embroiders who have turned this passion into a source of income. Thanks to advances in technology, today’s embroidery machines have become smart and can be easily connected to your computer. This helps to render extensively detailed and more beautiful designs on the actual material.
Important Points to Know While Buying Embroidery Software
Before you go on to the list of best embroidery software and select one, these are the top points you need to search for in any embroidery software for Mac or PC before buying it:
Is the embroidery software compatible with your Computer and Embroidery Machine?
This is the most essential question to ask yourself before deciding to download any embroidery software on your computer. Ensure to note down the make and model of your embroidery machine and computer to check with the developer if the particular software is compatible for use.
It is a misconception that embroidery software, in general, is designed to work with every platform or device, hence it is recommended to check the compatibility of the embroidery software against your embroidery machine and computer to ensure the best buy.
What are the types of patterns and designs that the embroidery software supports?
This is one of the most important queries to ask in case you are looking to make designs of your own using software connected to your computer and embroidery machine.
Choose the software that allows you to show your creative streak effortlessly. Select the one with the maximum number of useful features, such as having stencils of popular letters, patterns and designs.
Does the embroidery software come with an efficient customer support service?
Leading embroidery software developers provide excellent after-sales support and services to their customers. There are several forums that can help you resolve some of the most common queries and issues are seen with using the particular software for embroidery designing.
The developer should have an efficient customer care service with real-time support. This is very important if you want to meet the deadlines for delivery of products in case your embroidery software suffers a problem.
Is the embroidery software genuine?
Last, but not least, check to see whether the software you are browsing is genuine and authentic by the developers. Always make sure to keep away from sub-standard software and ensure to choose licensed software for use at all times. This verification applies to free and paid software equally.
Types of Embroidery Software
Here’s a list of the most popular types of embroidery software and apps available on the market in 2020:
Lettering
This type of specialty embroidery software is also known as ‘Monogramming Software’. It is created to specialize in designing numerous types of letter fonts for stitching. There might be features that allow you to mix in other forms of embroidery along with lettering, while others may only allow you to create monograms.
Digitizers
This is one of the most commonly used types of embroidery software. It is designed to render your design or image into a file that is ready for stitching. As it converts your design or pattern into a digital format, hence it is called as a Digitizer Embroidery Software.
Editors
This type of app is an amalgamation of several specialties, including digitizing, vectorizing right till the stitching process. This all-around software is most useful for professionals who need to have features of all types of embroidery designing.
Vectorizers
Vectorizers are another type of popular embroidery software today. These are designed to convert your bitmap images into a vector file format. The software puts the bitmap image through a linear conversion technique that makes it ready for digitizing efficiently.
Best Embroidery Software for Mac and PC
These are the top 10+ best embroidery software for Mac and PC in 2020:
Embrilliance Essentials
It allows users to colorize, resize and transform designs into truly creative embroidery designing and stitching. It works excellently well with Brother SE400 and Brother PE770 embroidery machines.
Brother ELS Embroidery Letting Monogramming Software
Free Embroidery Software For Mac
It is suitable for professional and amateur embroidery designers. Compatible with most popular embroidery machines of today, it comes with over 40 decorative frames and 14 different decorative filling patterns. This is an authentic Brother accessory.
Amazing Designs LETTER IT! Embroidery Machine Software
It allows users to utilize single and multiline embroider text in varying font designs, There are over 35 popular and creative fonts built-in to customize your creativity even more. It is compatible only with Windows OS though.
Embroidery Software For Mac Os
Amazing Designs Monograms “It Stand Alone” Monogramming Software
It is a complete pack rich with an extensive range of advanced features. There are 39 built-in embroidery designs and 25 built-in monogram frames to choose from. This embroidery software also runs only on Windows OS.
Embrilliance Stitch Artist Level 1 Digitizing Embroidery Software
It is the perfect embroidery software for newbies. It is very affordable and has an excellent and easy-to-use GUI. Once you have mastered the numerous basic features of Level 1 then you can easily upgrade to Level 2 and Level 3 consecutively.
Embrilliance Thumbnailer Embroidery Software
It is designed for use with Mac and Windows PCs. It comes with one of the most efficient user-interfaces for embroidery software. The numerous simple to operate features makes it excellent for amateur and professionals alike.
Amazing Designs Digitize N Stitch Software
It is one of the top embroidery software which is suitable for professionals and beginners as well. It is extremely affordable and comes with a wide range of useful features. It easily converts clip art and images into stitching designs and is one of the most popular software on the market in 2020.
Brother PE-Design Plus Embroidery Digitizing/PhotoStitch Software Pack
It is one of the most advanced embroidery software and comes equipped with a PE-Design Plus and Flip-Pal handheld scanner. It is equipped with Premium Embroidery Fleshtone Thread for optimal attractiveness.
Embrilliance Enthusiast Embroidery Software
Embroidery Software Reviews
It allows numerous advanced features, including multiple hooping, stitch editing, Precise Position system, Baste Hoop, instant repeat function, carousel and scatter designs among others. It is one of the best embroidery software for professionals in 2020.
BuzzXplore v2 Premier Embroidery Design Management
It allows users to organize their embroidery designs for better management, apart from helping to locate specific designs and providing extensive graphics support as well. You can easily convert embroidery formats and it also includes embroidery drive writing feature too.
Futura Photostitch
Embroidery Software For Mac Reviews Cnet
It allows users to convert embroidery designs out of photographs. It is most useful for designing quilts mostly. Despite the steeper learning curve, Futura Photostitch is a popular embroidery software today.
Embroidery Software For Mac
Let’s hope that the information given above was successful in helping you to choose the best-suited from the top 10+ best embroidery software for PC and Mac users in 2020.