Comparison · checked September 2026
Crochet pattern and chart software compared
Crochet pattern software is any tool that helps you design a crochet pattern: a chart editor for stitch symbols, a grid or photo-to-graph generator for colourwork, or a builder that lays out and exports the pattern document. No single tool does all three best, so this page compares nine of them side by side, from their official pages, with the date each fact was checked.
Facts checked on:
The tools side by side
Each cell comes from the tool's own website, help pages or app store listing, linked below under each tool. “Not stated” means we could not find it on an official source, not that the feature is missing. Prices are as shown on the official page, in the currency shown there. Scroll the table sideways on a small screen.
| Tool | Platform | Price | Symbol chart editor | Charts in rounds | Written pattern from the chart | Gauge, size, yarn | Export | Languages | Account needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragonette pattern designer | Web browser (desktop recommended) | Free | Yes, CYC or Japanese (JIS) symbols; each stitch placed into a stitch of the previous row | Yes, joined or spiral; circles, polygons, granny squares | Yes, for every chart, in US terms, UK terms or Hungarian | Yes, finished size and yarn estimate from your swatch | PNG, SVG with stitch key; JSON save file; no PDF | English, Hungarian | No |
| Stitch Fiddle | Web browser, including phones and tablets | Free plan; Premium $33 per year | Yes, grid symbols plus a separate freeform crochet symbol chart with layers | Freeform placement; a round grid is not stated for crochet | Yes for grid and C2C charts; not for freeform symbol charts | Gauge sets the cell proportions; no finished size or yarn calculation | PDF, SVG | English, Dutch | Yes, for most features |
| Crochet Crafters | Web browser | Designing free; Premium €3/month, Pro €5/month; garment patterns €5 each | Yes, over 120 symbols with layers | Yes, the grid switches to rounds with repeat-around | Yes for colour charts and garment patterns; not stated for symbol charts | Garment patterns at a fixed stated gauge; custom gauge “not yet” | PNG, SVG, PDF, written text | English (US abbreviations) | Not to design and export; yes to save |
| CrochetPop | Web browser | Free, no ads | No general symbol editor; a round-by-round motif designer | Yes for motifs and amigurumi shapes | Yes for pixel, filet and C2C charts | Yarn, gauge and flat-circle calculators; size and yarn in the PDF | PDF through the browser's print dialog | English | No; optional account for sync |
| Crochet Chart (iOS) | iPhone, iPad | Free to try; Pro in-app purchase $8.99 | Yes, 70+ symbols including Tunisian, custom symbols from images | Yes, circle, oval and spiral guides | Not stated | Not stated | PDF with legend, image | English | Not stated |
| Crochet Charts (Stitchworks) | Windows, Linux desktop | Free, open source (GPLv3) | Yes, customisable stitch library | Yes, rows or rounds with wedge lines | No; exports the chart as plain text | Not stated | PDF, SVG, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP | Not stated | No |
| Patternum | iOS, Android | Free (Android version contains ads) | Yes, predefined or your own symbols | Not stated | No; you write the pattern text yourself | Fields for gauge, yarn and sizes; no calculation stated | PDF, shareable interactive pattern | English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese | Not stated |
| Bobble | Web browser, installable, works offline | Free Starter; Pro £3.99/month | No; photo to C2C or single crochet graph | Not stated | Yes, row by row for C2C and single crochet | Yes, finished size and yarn per colour from your gauge | PNG and text; PDF on Pro | English | No; Google sign-in for cloud sync |
| knitPro (microRevolt) | Web browser | Free (donations welcome) | No; image to grid | No | No | Stitch ratio only (1:1 for crochet) | English | No |
Each tool in brief
Dragonette pattern designer
Good at: Chart and written pattern come from the same stitch graph, so they always match, with live error checking. Generators for rounds, shawls, amigurumi, hats and sweaters, and grid techniques (filet, C2C, tapestry, mosaic).
Keep in mind: Built for a desktop screen; no PDF export, no accounts or cloud sync yet.
Sources: Pattern designer description
Stitch Fiddle
Good at: A mature, all-round chart editor for crochet, knitting and cross stitch. Grid and C2C charts turn into written rows you can copy, and exports are print-ready PDF or SVG.
Keep in mind: Freeform crochet charts cannot be designed on phones or tablets, and their legend can't be downloaded yet.
Sources: Crochet stitches, Written instructions, Download and print, Account, Pricing
Crochet Crafters
Good at: A free web symbol chart editor that also works in rounds and exports SVG, plus colour charts from photos and a paid generator for sized garment patterns.
Sources: Crochet symbol chart, Premium plans, Garment pattern generator
CrochetPop
Good at: The broadest free set of generators: photo to pixel, filet, C2C, mosaic and tapestry, granny squares, amigurumi shapes and sweaters from your measurements, with checked stitch counts.
Keep in mind: Publishes its own ranking of pattern generators, so it is not a neutral source on the topic.
Sources: Design tools, Motif designer
Crochet Chart (iOS)
Good at: Freeform symbol charts on an iPad, with guides that snap symbols to circles, ovals and spirals, and PDF export with a legend.
Keep in mind: Last updated in November 2022 (version 4.2.3).
Sources: App Store listing, Product page
Crochet Charts (Stitchworks)
Good at: Free desktop software for vector-quality symbol charts in rows or rounds, with charts and legends exported to PDF and SVG.
Keep in mind: No longer maintained: last release 1.2.0 in 2015, and the code repository was archived in March 2025.
Sources: Official site, Source code (archived)
Patternum
Good at: Building a complete, sellable pattern document on a phone: details, size-specific instructions, charts, photos and an automatic PDF.
Keep in mind: Last updated in March 2024.
Sources: App Store listing, Google Play listing
Bobble
Good at: A polished photo-to-graphghan tool that turns a picture into a C2C or single crochet chart with real yarn quantities and a follow-along row runner.
Sources: Official site
knitPro (microRevolt)
Good at: The quickest way to turn a small picture into a printable grid chart PDF, free and without an account.
Keep in mind: Very basic and old: fixed grid sizes, no editing.
Which one should I pick?
- You want a symbol chart and the written pattern from it, in US or UK terms
- The Dragonette pattern designer writes the pattern for every chart it draws, including rounds and amigurumi. Crochet Crafters writes it for colour charts and garments; Stitch Fiddle for grid and C2C charts.
- You want to turn a photo into a C2C or pixel graphghan
- Bobble or CrochetPop, both with yarn estimates; Stitch Fiddle and Crochet Crafters also import photos into grids.
- You design colourwork for crochet, knitting and cross stitch alike
- Stitch Fiddle, the most established multi-craft chart editor, with PDF and SVG export.
- You draw freeform symbol charts on an iPad
- Crochet Chart by Piet Hein van Cleef, keeping in mind it was last updated in 2022.
- You need a finished, sellable pattern document on your phone
- Patternum lays out sizes, charts and photos into a PDF, but you write the pattern text yourself.
- You want a sized sweater pattern without doing the maths
- CrochetPop's free sweater builder, Crochet Crafters' paid garment patterns, or the Dragonette pattern designer's hat, drop-shoulder and raglan generators.
Other tools you may come across
- Chart Minder is a web app for knitting colourwork and lace charts that also handles crochet colourwork grids. Basic use is free; the Pro price was not stated on the pages we could read.
- Crochet Studio (iOS, Android) plans granny-square and stripe blankets with real yarn colours and totals, and generates a written pattern; it has no chart editor.
- YarnCrafted Pattern Builder formats, tests and publishes text patterns; it is not a chart editor.
- CrochetCreator (iOS) places up to 112 symbols on an A4 canvas and has a Hungarian interface.
- Amigurumio announced a drag-and-drop amigurumi builder, but we found no working builder on its site in September 2026, so it is not in the table.
How we compared
We read each tool’s official website, help pages and app store listing on 17 September 2026, and wrote down only what they say. Where a feature is not mentioned, the table says “not stated”; it may still exist. Store prices can differ by country.
We make the Dragonette pattern designer, so read our row with that in mind.
The symbols and terms mentioned here (sc, dc, US and UK terms) are explained in the crochet symbols chart.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free crochet pattern maker?
It depends on the kind of pattern. For symbol charts with the written pattern generated from them, the Dragonette pattern designer is free with no account. For photo-to-graphghan patterns, CrochetPop is free and Bobble has a free plan. For a free round-based symbol chart editor with SVG export, try Crochet Crafters.
Is there free software to make crochet charts?
Yes. Free options checked in September 2026 are the Dragonette pattern designer, Crochet Crafters (designing is free), CrochetPop, the free plan of Stitch Fiddle, Patternum on phones, and the open-source Stitchworks Crochet Charts for desktop, which is no longer maintained.
Which crochet chart maker writes the pattern for you?
The Dragonette pattern designer writes it for any chart, row by row or round by round, in US terms, UK terms or Hungarian. Stitch Fiddle writes grid and C2C charts as rows, Crochet Crafters does so for colour charts and garment patterns, and CrochetPop and Bobble write their pixel and C2C charts.
Can I make a crochet chart on an iPad or a phone?
On an iPad, Crochet Chart is built for freeform symbol charts, and Patternum works on iOS and Android. Stitch Fiddle runs in mobile browsers but not for freeform crochet charts. Web tools such as Bobble work on a phone; the Dragonette pattern designer opens on one but is designed for a larger screen.
Which crochet software calculates yarn and finished size?
Bobble and the Dragonette pattern designer calculate finished size and yarn from your gauge, CrochetPop has separate yarn and gauge calculators, and Crochet Crafters sells garment patterns worked at a fixed gauge. Stitch Fiddle uses gauge only for cell proportions.
Is there crochet pattern software in Hungarian?
The Dragonette pattern designer has a Hungarian interface and writes patterns in Hungarian as well as US and UK English. Among the other tools checked, only the iOS app CrochetCreator lists Hungarian among its interface languages.
How was this comparison made?
Every fact was taken from the tool's own website, help pages or app store listing on 17 September 2026 and is linked under that tool. We make the Dragonette pattern designer, so we have tried to state other tools' strengths plainly and our own limits too. If something has changed, write to hello@dragonettecrochet.com and we will correct it.