Stitch Fiddle vs Stitchmate
Less confetti. Less counting.
Cleaner charts. More control.
Same photo, both tools at default settings: 1,705 vs 350 isolated stitches.
The short version
If you're deciding between Stitch Fiddle (often searched as "Stitchfield") and Stitchmate in 30 seconds, decide based on workflow.
Choose Stitch Fiddle if you...
- Want one tool across many crafts (cross stitch, knitting, crochet, diamond painting, fuse beads and more)
- Chart knitting or crochet with stitch symbols, not just color grids
- Want to work on charts together with other people (free on Stitch Fiddle)
- Want a low one-off price for Premium: $5.50 for a month or $33 for a year
Choose Stitchmate if you...
- Care about stitchability: fewer specks, calmer regions, less counting fatigue
- Need blended threads, 3/4 stitches, 60+ thread brands (including hand-dyed), or one-click brand remapping
- Want to import .PAT and .XSD patterns (Stitch Fiddle only supports .OXS)
- Want Pattern Keeper-compatible PDF export
- Want a full editor in the free tier (partial stitches, French knots, selection, transform, confetti cleanup)
Stitch Fiddle covers more crafts, including knitting and crochet charts with stitch symbols, and lets you work on a chart together with other people. Stitchmate wins on conversion quality, editing depth, export workflow, and a free progress tracker that syncs across devices and tracks backstitch.
What "cleaner chart" actually means in real life
More confetti usually means:
- More thread changes
- More parking / more starts and stops
- More "where am I?" moments
- A noisier finish — especially in hair, fur, and busy backgrounds
This is why we measure it. Not to win an argument — to predict how the project will feel on day 4 when your eyes are tired.
Test setup: the same photo at the same size and color count in both tools (for example 200×134 with 25 DMC colors for the dog portrait), default settings, no cleanup. Stitch Fiddle's picture import has an optional Confetti slider; it was left at its default of 0. Confetti measured by ConfettiScope on the generated chart. Results vary by image — the pattern (less confetti = easier stitching) is consistent.
Proof, not vibes: the side-by-side conversions
Click an image to zoom in
Stitch Fiddle — ConfettiScope overlay (1,705 confetti). Scattered speckling in the fur and background.
Stitchmate — ConfettiScope overlay (350 confetti). Dramatically fewer isolated stitches — fur stays smooth, background stays clean.
Stitch Fiddle — ConfettiScope overlay (679 confetti). Lots of them are in the background, where having less detail is generally preferred.
Stitchmate — ConfettiScope overlay (422 confetti). Notice they are concentrated in the eyes and hair, where detail matters most.
Three conversions side-by-side
Different images, same story: fewer specks, stable shapes, designs that look better and stitch easier.
The differences you'll feel on your next project
| Feature | Stitchmate | Stitch Fiddle |
|---|---|---|
| Photo conversion stitchability | Spatial-aware quantization; ConfettiScope measures + fixes | Per-pixel conversion with an optional Confetti slider; more speckling at default settings |
| FLOW score | ✓ (0–100 stitchability rating) | — |
| Thread brands | 50+ (DMC, Anchor, Cosmo, hand-dyed, and more) | 51 floss and bead lines from 14 brands (DMC, Anchor, Cosmo, Madeira, Kreinik, Mill Hill…) |
| French knots and beads | ✓ French knots (no bead stitches) | ✓ Both (Premium) |
| Blended threads | ✓ (2–4 strands, across all 60+ brands) | — |
| Layers | ✓ | ✓ (Premium) |
| Pattern file import | ✓ (.OXS, .PAT, .XSD — drag & drop) | .OXS only (also exports .OXS on Premium) |
| Editor access (free tier) | Full editor, all tools, confetti cleanup, PNG export | 15 charts, up to 300×300, 50 colors per chart, copy/paste. Transforms, partial stitches, knots, layers and PDF are Premium. |
| Partial stitches | Full + 1/4 + 1/2 + 3/4 with paintable workflows | Full + 1/2 + 1/4 (Premium) |
| SVG export | ✓ (paid plans) | ✓ (Premium; also PDF, EPS, Word, Excel and more) |
| Pattern Keeper export | ✓ (all paid plans) | — |
| Realistic preview | ✓ Real-time fabric/stitch simulation | Not documented |
| Multi-craft support | ✓ Cross stitch + needlepoint + diamond painting + fuse beads + C2C crochet | ✓ Cross stitch, knitting, crochet (incl. C2C), diamond painting, fuse beads, latch hook, quilt and more |
| Progress tracking | ✓ Free progress tracker: any device, syncs, backstitch and fractionals, parking and frog marks | Progress tracker for other crafts; not documented for cross stitch |
Why Stitchmate tends to look cleaner (especially on portraits)
Portraits are where pattern makers either shine or fall apart. Two things decide whether the chart feels smooth:
- Confetti — tiny lonely stitches that make you stop and change thread.
- Shapes — whether eyes, hair, and edges stay "together" instead of turning into noise.
Stitchmate aims for calmer shading at real stitch sizes — so it looks clean before you start editing. And if it's still messy, the confetti overlay shows you exactly what to fix.
Partial stitches, backstitch, and blended threads
If you stitch portraits, lettering , outlines, or detailed shading — these aren't "advanced features," they're how the piece becomes readable.
- Partial stitches: fast placement with brush workflows (full, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4)
- Backstitch export: includes legend entries + line styles designed to survive black & white printing
- Blended threads: mix 2–4 strands from any of 60+ brands — blend info carries through to PDF export
- French knots: fully supported in editor, PDF, and file imports
Stitch Fiddle has backstitch too, and its Premium plan adds half and quarter stitches, French knots, beads and layers. Blended threads and 3/4 stitches are Stitchmate-only.
Palette control: how you avoid muddy results
Palette iteration is where charts become stitchable. With Stitchmate you can:
- Merge similar colors to reduce noise (without wrecking the image)
- Adjust brightness and contrast during conversion to improve stitch readability
- Remap to different thread brands without rebuilding from scratch
- Reduce colors in batches and watch the preview update live
Stitch Fiddle's picture import has its own controls: a Confetti slider, a minimum color occurrence, "Prevent close colors", AI background removal, and a choice of thread brand. Stitchmate is built for iterating on the palette after the conversion.
How they compare in practice
Feature lists aren't the whole truth. The other part is how the software responds when you're deep in a 45-minute cleanup session.
Stitch Fiddle's strength is breadth. It has covered knitting, crochet and cross stitch charts for years, plus diamond painting, fuse beads and more. You can work on a chart together with other people for free, it keeps version backups, and Premium adds a text tool and downloads in many formats (PDF, SVG, EPS, Word, Excel, .OXS and more).
Stitchmate is built around the editing loop — GPU-accelerated canvas, instant undo with disk persistence, real-time preview updates as you adjust colors. Selection tools (rect, lasso, magic wand), copy/paste across layers, and brush-based confetti cleanup are all in the free tier.
Neither is "wrong" — they optimize for different workflows. Stitch Fiddle spreads across yarn crafts; Stitchmate goes deep on charted work, with cross stitch, needlepoint, diamond painting, fuse beads and C2C crochet sharing one editor.
Pricing
Stitch Fiddle: a low, one-off Premium price for a month or a year. Nothing auto-renews. Prices from Stitch Fiddle's site as of September 2026.
Stitchmate: flexible — pay per export, go unlimited, or buy lifetime. All one-time, nothing auto-renews.
Stitch Fiddle pricing:
Stitch Fiddle Premium: $5.50 for one month or $33 for a year (about $2.75 a month). Each payment is one-off with no automatic renewal, and Stitch Fiddle offers a money-back guarantee.
Stitchmate pricing: all one-time — nothing auto-renews.
| Option | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Single unlock | $7.99 | Try it once |
| 5-pack | $12 ($2.40 each) | A few projects |
| 10-pack | $20 ($2.00 each) | Regular stitchers — best value |
| Personal Pass | $14.99 for 30 days | Unlimited, personal use |
| Personal Lifetime | $99 | Pay once, keep forever |
| Plus Pass | $24.99 for 30 days | Designers & sellers |
| Plus Lifetime | $149 | Pay once, commercial-friendly |
Free vs premium: what you actually get
| Feature | Stitchmate Free | Stitch Fiddle Free | Stitch Fiddle Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editor workflow | ✓ Full editor included | Limited | ✓ |
| Selection / transform / copy-paste | ✓ | Copy/paste only | ✓ |
| Partial stitches | ✓ (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 — fast brush workflow) | — | ✓ (1/2, 1/4) |
| Backstitch | ✓ Clean legend, B&W friendly | Not in the Premium-only list | ✓ |
| French knots | ✓ | — | ✓ (plus beads) |
| Blended threads | ✓ (2–4 strands) | — | — |
| Layers | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Pattern Keeper export | ✓ (paid plans) | — | — |
| Progress tracking | ✓ Free progress tracker | Not documented for cross stitch | Not documented for cross stitch |
| Maximum chart size | 2,000×2,000 | 300×300 | 1,000×1,000 |
Stitch Fiddle features from its pricing page and help center as of September 2026. Feature availability can change.
The bottom line
Stitch Fiddle is the right choice if you work across yarn crafts (knitting, crochet, cross stitch), want to work on charts together with other people, or want a low one-off price for a month or a year of Premium. The interface is straightforward, and knitting charts are something Stitchmate doesn't offer — though Stitchmate does now cover C2C crochet , and for knitters it has a free gauge and cast-on calculator and knitter's graph paper with cells shaped to your gauge.
Stitchmate is the right choice if conversion quality matters to you — fewer confetti stitches, calmer regions, patterns that are enjoyable to stitch. It also has features Stitch Fiddle doesn't: blended threads, 3/4 stitches, 60+ thread brands including hand-dyed ones, FLOW scoring , Pattern Keeper export, and broader file import — .OXS, .PAT, and .XSD (Stitch Fiddle only supports .OXS). The full editor, photo converter, PNG export and progress tracker are free.
For pattern sellers: Stitchmate's Plus Pass adds a commercial license and custom PDF branding, and every paid option includes a Pattern Keeper-compatible PDF. Stitch Fiddle doesn't offer a Pattern Keeper export mode.
For a broader view, read the full 12-program review (or, for canvas work, the needlepoint chart software review ), or see how Stitchmate compares to WinStitch and PCStitch .
The best way to compare? Try both.
Stitch Fiddle has a free plan. Stitchmate is free to start with PNG export. Open them side by side and see which workflow fits you better.
Works on any device — phone, tablet, or computer. No desktop software required.
All comparisons · All features · 12-program review · Pattern maker · Photo converter · DMC color chart · vs WinStitch · vs Stitchly · vs Musely
Published by Stitchmate, one of the tools compared. Last updated Sep 20, 2026; competitor details are checked against each vendor's own site.
Actively developed — 85 updates in the past year, most recently . See what's new →
Frequently Asked Questions
What are "confetti stitches"?
Tiny isolated stitches that create thread changes and make charts feel noisy. Stitchmate's ConfettiScope measures and visualizes them so you can clean them up before you start stitching.
Which one is better for portraits?
Stitchmate tends to produce calmer shading with less confetti when both tools run at their default settings, which matters most for faces and hair. The side-by-side comparisons on this page show the difference with real photos.
Do both support partial stitches, backstitch, and French knots?
Yes, both have partial stitches, backstitch, French knots and layers. On Stitch Fiddle, half and quarter stitches, French knots, beads and layers are part of Premium. Stitchmate has all of its stitch types in the free editor, including full, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 stitches, and adds blended threads (2–4 strands), which Stitch Fiddle does not have. Stitchmate does not have bead stitches. Its PDF export gives backstitch a clean legend designed for B&W printing.
Does Stitchmate support more thread brands than Stitch Fiddle?
Stitchmate includes 60+ thread brand catalogs in the editor — DMC, Anchor, Cosmo, Madeira, plus hand-dyed brands like Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art — with perceptual color matching (CIEDE2000). Stitch Fiddle lists 51 floss and bead lines from 14 brands, including DMC, Anchor, Cosmo, Madeira, Presencia, Sullivans, Kreinik and Mill Hill beads; hand-dyed brands like Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art are not among them. Stitchmate also lets you remap an entire pattern from one brand to another with a single click.
Do I need an account to try Stitchmate?
No. You can open the editor and start working immediately — no sign-up required. You only create an account when you want to save or export.
What's the cheapest way to export in Stitchmate?
If you export occasionally, the 5 or 10 unlock packs are the best per-pattern value ($2.40 or $2.00 each). If you export constantly, the Personal Pass ($14.99 for 30 days) or Personal Lifetime ($99) is best.
Is Stitch Fiddle free?
Stitch Fiddle has a free plan: 15 charts up to 300×300 with 50 colors per chart, plus copy and paste, picture upload and working on charts with other people. Premium costs $5.50 for one month or $33 for a year, paid once with no automatic renewal, and adds PDF and vector downloads, half and quarter stitches, French knots and beads, layers, a text tool, and charts up to 1,000×1,000. Stitchmate's free tier includes the full editor, all drawing tools and stitch types, confetti cleanup, PNG export and the progress tracker.
Does Stitch Fiddle support Pattern Keeper?
Stitch Fiddle doesn't offer a Pattern Keeper export mode. Every paid Stitchmate option includes a Pattern Keeper-compatible PDF, starting at $7.99 for a single pattern.
Can I import patterns from other software into Stitchmate?
Yes. Stitchmate opens .PAT (PCStitch), .OXS (WinStitch/MacStitch), and .XSD (Pattern Maker) files — drag and drop into the editor. Stitch Fiddle imports .OXS (and exports it on Premium) but does not open .PAT or .XSD.