Two ways digitizers price their work
When you're comparing digitizing quotes, the first thing to figure out isn't the number — it's the pricing model behind it. Most shops use one of two approaches: per-design pricing, where you pay a flat rate based on design size, or per-stitch pricing, where cost scales with how many stitches the file actually contains.
How per-design pricing works
This is the model we use: $10 for any design under 5 inches, $18 for any design over 5 inches, regardless of how dense or detailed the stitching is. You know your cost before the design is even digitized. A simple one-color wordmark and a dense, multi-color crest of the same size cost the same.
How per-stitch pricing works
Per-stitch pricing charges a rate per thousand stitches (often shown as "per 1K stitches"). A small, simple design with a low stitch count can come in cheaper than a flat-rate shop. But a small, dense design — think a detailed crest or a photorealistic logo — can rack up a stitch count fast, and the final price can end up well above what a flat-rate digitizer would charge for the same physical size.
Which one protects you better as a buyer
Per-stitch pricing isn't inherently a bad model, but it makes your final cost harder to predict upfront — you often don't know the exact stitch count until the design is already digitized. Per-design pricing trades a little bit of "maybe I could've gotten it cheaper" for a lot of budgeting certainty, which is usually the better trade for brands and agencies ordering repeatedly.
Quick comparison
| Per-design (Stitch Official) | Per-stitch | |
|---|---|---|
| Price known upfront | Yes | Only after digitizing |
| Dense designs cost more | No | Yes |
| Easiest to budget for | Yes | Harder |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do some digitizers charge per stitch?
Per-stitch pricing ties cost directly to machine run time, which can make sense for shops billing by production cost. The tradeoff is less pricing predictability for the buyer.
Can per-stitch pricing add up faster than per-design?
Yes — a small but stitch-dense design (like a detailed crest) can end up costing more per-stitch than the same size design would under a flat per-design rate.