Free tool
Drop in a stitch file and read the stitch count, the number of thread colors, and the design size. It reads .PES, .DST, .EXP, and .JEF files right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no signup.
Drop a stitch file here
.PES, .DST, .EXP, or .JEF. Or click to choose one.
The file is read on this page, in your browser. It is not uploaded anywhere.
What you get
Email me my results
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Machine embroidery is priced on stitches. Every 1,000 stitches is a known amount of thread, bobbin, machine time, and standing next to the machine while it runs. A customer sends a logo and asks what it costs, and the honest answer is that you don't know until it's digitized and the file tells you.
Once you have the file, though, the count is right there in it. You don't need the machine or the digitizing software open to see it. This page reads the file's stitch data and gives you the number, the color changes, and the size, so you can quote from the real count instead of a guess.
A stitch file is a list of needle moves. Each record says how far to move in tenths of a millimeter, and a few special records say stop for a new color, jump without stitching, or trim. The tool walks that list, counts the needle-down moves, counts the stops, and tracks the farthest the needle went in each direction, which is the design size.
DST, JEF, and PES files also carry a count in their header, written by whatever software saved the file. Usually it matches. Sometimes it includes jumps, or it was never updated after an edit. When the two disagree, the number shown is from the stitch data, because that is what the machine actually runs, and a note under the results tells you what the header said.
A needle-down move. Jumps and trims move the hoop without sewing, and a color change is a stop. None of those are stitches here. If your machine's screen shows a slightly higher total, it is probably counting the jumps.
The stitching line is the count in thousands times your rate. At $1.50 per 1,000, a 9,600-stitch left-chest logo is $14.40 of stitching. That is one line of the price, not the price. The garment, the hooping, and a one-time digitizing fee on a new design go on top, and most shops bill a minimum stitch count so a tiny name doesn't come out at $3.
The button under the results carries the count into the embroidery pricing calculator, which does the whole sum with every line shown.
No. The page reads the file with your browser's own file reader and never sends it anywhere. You can turn off your internet after the page loads and it still works. Close the tab and the file is gone.
Different programs count different things. Some include jump stitches and trims in the total, some don't, and some report the count from the file header instead of the stitch data. This tool counts needle-down stitches from the stitch data itself, which is the number the machine runs. When the header disagrees, it tells you both.
A color change is a stop where the machine waits for the next thread. A design with three colors has two color changes. Both numbers show, since some shops charge per color change past a certain point, and some read the file's thread list instead.
PES (Brother, Baby Lock), DST (Tajima, and the format nearly every commercial machine takes), EXP (Melco, Bernina), and JEF (Janome). If you have a different format, most embroidery software will save a copy as DST.
Multiply the stitch count in thousands by your per-1,000 rate for the stitching line. A 9,600-stitch logo at $1.50 is $14.40. Then add the blank, the hooping, and a one-time digitizing fee if the design is new. The button under the results carries the stitch count into the pricing calculator, which does that whole sum with the math shown.
Because the stitching is a small part of the work. A 2,000-stitch name takes the same hooping, thread change, trimming, and pressing as a 12,000-stitch logo. That is why most shops bill a stitch floor, usually 4,000 to 6,000 stitches, whatever the file says. The pricing calculator has that floor built in.
Broidry is order-management software for machine embroidery shops. Upload a design once and it keeps the stitch count, the thread colors, and the size in your library. When that design goes on an order, the quote prices from the real count at your rates, and the customer sees the math.
The reader above stays free either way.