Hatch Embroidery alternative
The Hatch alternative that runs on your Mac.
Hatch Embroidery 4 is a Windows program: on a Mac it needs Windows 11 in Parallels, which Hatch doesn’t officially support, and its trial doesn’t run there. Qepe is native on Mac and on Windows, for €149 a year with every tool.
Not released yet. From the first release: 7 days free, then €149 a year with every tool, beside what the others sell today.
Side by side
| Qepe | Hatch Embroidery 4 Digitizer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price, first year | €149, or €99 for the first 100 shops | US$1,199 |
| Each year after | €149 | Paid once |
| Plans | One, with everything | Four: Organizer to Digitizer |
| On a Mac | Native, on Apple silicon | Only inside Windows, through Parallels |
| On Windows | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 |
| Free trial | 7 days, export included | 30 days, not on a Mac |
| AI credits | 1,000 every year | Not in this plan |
Read on 21 October 2026; prices without tax, and they can change. AI credits: none of the three pages lists them. Names and trademarks belong to their owners and are used only to compare; Qepe is not affiliated with them. The full comparison, with its sources
Why shops choose Qepe
Native on a Mac
No Windows licence and no virtual machine to keep running.
One licence, no levels
Hatch comes in four levels; Qepe has one, with every tool, for €149 a year.
Checked against the artwork
Quality scores every design out of 100, and Fix all corrects what is safe to correct, before the machine starts.
Files read back
Every DST, PES or EXP is read back and compared with the screen before it is saved.
Questions
- Can Qepe open my Hatch .EMB files?
- No. EMB is Wilcom’s own format. Export the design from Hatch as DST or PES, and Qepe opens it to recolour, move or add a name.
- Does Qepe digitize automatically, like Hatch?
- Yes. The Auto Digitizer traces the logo, picks satin or fill for each part, sets the underlay and the stitching order, then runs Fix all and Quality.
- Does it work with my machine?
- Qepe writes DST, PES, EXP, JEF, VP3, U01, XXX, DSB, TAP and PEC for twelve machine makers, from Tajima to Brother.
- Can I try it on my Mac?
- Yes: 7 days with everything on, export included, from the first release.
- How much does Hatch cost next to Qepe?
- Hatch Embroidery 4 Digitizer is US$1,199, paid once, as Hatch’s pricing page showed on 21 October 2026, and it runs on Windows. Qepe is €149 a year with every tool and 1,000 AI credits, on a Mac or a Windows PC.
Your next logo, ready to embroider.
Turn the next logo your customer sends into a checked, machine-ready file, on your Mac or PC.
Not released yet. From the first release: 7 days free, then €149 a year