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Craft Studio vs Pattern Keeper
These are different kinds of tools, and it's worth being clear about that. Pattern Keeper is an Android app for stitching from purchased PDF charts — the community standard for stitch-by-stitch tracking. Craft Studio is a design studio: you create the chart yourself, keep a project journal, and publish to a community. If you're here because you're on iPhone, or because you want to make patterns rather than just stitch them, read on.
Side-by-side comparison
How Craft Studio stacks up against Pattern Keeper on the features that matter to makers.
What it's for
Designing your own charts: a layered editor, photo import, palettes, motifs, and publishing — plus a journal for the stitching itself.
Stitching from charts you already own: it parses machine-generated PDF patterns for on-screen markup.
Platforms
Any modern browser — iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Chromebook. One account, synced everywhere.
Android only. An iOS version has been "planned" for years but hasn't shipped.
Progress tracking
A project journal with progress photos and notes per project. No stitch-by-stitch tally — that's Pattern Keeper's home turf.
Excellent stitch-by-stitch tracking: mark stitches done, daily and total counts, symbol search and highlighting.
Making your own patterns
A full editor: layers, edge-aware photo import, full DMC catalog and brand palettes, motifs and alphabets, grids to 1,000 × 1,000.
None — it's a reader, not a design tool.
PDF handling
Generates clean, machine-readable PDFs with symbol keys from your own designs.
Reads machine-generated PDFs well; scanned or hand-made PDFs often fail to parse.
Pricing
Everything for $9.99/month or $99/year after a 7-day free trial — every craft, export format, and feature included. Cancel anytime; your saved patterns are never deleted.
One-month free trial, then a $9 one-time purchase.
Pattern Keeper details and prices checked August 2026. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Which one is right for you?
Every tool has strengths. Here's our honest take.
Choose Craft Studio if…
- You're on iPhone or iPad and tired of waiting for a Pattern Keeper iOS release.
- You want to design and publish your own charts, not just stitch purchased ones.
- You want your designs, WIP journal, and community in one place.
Stick with Pattern Keeper if…
- You're on Android and mainly stitch purchased PDF charts.
- Stitch-by-stitch tracking with counts is your core need.
- You want a $9 one-time purchase, not a subscription.
Frequently asked
- Is there a Pattern Keeper for iPhone?
- No — Pattern Keeper is Android-only, and while an iOS version has been described as planned for years, it hasn't shipped. Craft Studio runs in the browser, so it works on iPhone and iPad today.
- Does Craft Studio track my stitches like Pattern Keeper?
- Not stitch-by-stitch. Craft Studio's project journal tracks each WIP with progress photos and notes. If cross-off-every-stitch tracking is what you're after and you're on Android, Pattern Keeper genuinely is the best tool for that.
- Can I use both together?
- Yes, and many makers would: design your chart in Craft Studio, export the PDF, and stitch from it however you prefer. Craft Studio's PDFs are machine-generated with symbol keys — the kind of PDF chart readers are built to parse.
Ready to try it?
Start a 7-day free trial with full access — import your existing patterns as images and keep designing where you left off.
Start your free trial