Octostitch vs SewArt

Octostitch is desktop embroidery digitising software for craft businesses and hobbyists, with tools to create designs and prepare them for embroidery machines. Stitches appear as you draw, and a sew-out playback lets you review the design. Stitch options include satin with automatic underlay, tatami and guided fills, appliqué, bean stitch, and cut lines. Guided auto-digitising lets you crop artwork, choose threads, remove the background with a brush, and assign stitches. The thread library covers Madeira, Isacord, Robison-Anton, Sulky, Gunold, and Brother. You can also make and share reusable fonts, decorative patterns, and tatami fills. Octostitch imports and exports PES, DST, JEF, VP3, EXP, XXX, HUS, and TAP formats, and runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. The free trial lets you explore the digitising workflow, but saving projects and exporting machine formats require a licence. The one-time price is £40. The purchase includes commercial use with no extra licence or per-design fees.

SewArt converts raster and vector images into embroidery file formats for machine sewing. It accepts BMP, PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, WMF and EMF files, and can produce PES, DST, JEF, EXP, HUS, VIP, VP3 and XXX files. Digitizing tools include automatic and manual methods, pattern fills, stitch-angle choices and a manual satin-fill stitch tool. Artwork preparation options include color reduction, smoothing, color merging and speckle removal. The free 30-day demo is for evaluation, but saved converted files are limited to at most three colors. A SewArt license costs $75 as a one-time purchase, with no additional update fees; the CD option costs $93, paid once and ships only in the US. Windows downloads are offered in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. A Mac download is available but requires Windows emulation software. The maker says output can be converted by SewWhat-Pro or other embroidery editors into additional formats compatible with most home and commercial machines.