EQ8 alternatives: quilt design software compared (2026)

The short answer

No other app does everything EQ8 does. EQ8 is still the deepest quilt design program you can buy, with more than 6,000 blocks built in and printing for almost everything you sew. What’s changed is where quilters design: more of us want to plan on an iPad, a Chromebook or in a browser, and EQ8 runs only on Windows and Mac.

So the best alternative depends on what you want it for. And you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can keep EQ8 for detailed work at the desk and use a lighter app elsewhere. You don’t have to stop using EQ8. Use both.

What to look for

• Your devices. Do you want to design on an iPad, a Chromebook, a Windows PC, a Mac, or all of them?
• Your EQ8 projects. If you have years of work in EQ8, can the new app open it? Very few can.
• How you pay. A one-time purchase, a subscription, or free.
• What you sew. If you love foundation paper piecing, appliqué or printed templates, check that the app prints them at the size you need.
• Whether it’s looked after. An app that hasn’t been updated in years may stop working on a new device.

At a glance

“Not mentioned” means we found no claim of EQ8 import on the product’s own pages.

The options, one by one

Electric Quilt 8

The one the others are measured against. EQ8 costs $239.95 once, for Windows or Mac, and running it on both costs another $24.95. It comes with more than 6,000 blocks and 6,000 manufacturer fabrics, and prints yardage estimates, foundation patterns, rotary-cutting charts and templates at any size. It doesn’t run on iPads or Chromebooks. If you’re on a Mac, read our guide to EQ8 on macOS 27 and 28.

QuiltLab

A browser-based design app that calls itself “the modern alternative to EQ8.” It has a free plan, and a Maker plan at $96 a year, billed annually. Maker lists “EQ8 import and quilt tracing”. QuiltLab doesn’t say which parts of an EQ8 project come across, so try a copy of one file during its 7-day free trial.

NiftyFifty

Free design tools that run in any browser, including on an iPad or a Chromebook, with nothing to install. Its foundation paper piecing maker prints mirrored cut-apart foundations with a ¼″ seam allowance, and the patterns you design are yours to use commercially.

PreQuilt

A browser app for planning quilts in color, with the major solid fabric color cards preloaded and a fabric calculator that suggests how to cut. It’s a subscription. Its Market plan ($100 a year) lets pattern designers sell digital coloring pages of their patterns.

TideStitch

A newer app designed for iPad and Mac that also runs on iPhone. It’s free to try for up to four designs, then $29.99 once, or $49.99 once for the Complete version with the Studio add-on, which adds foundation paper piecing. It promises no subscription, and shows your fabric tiling at true scale.

Quiltler 3

An iPhone and iPad app with a browser studio that runs on any computer, including Windows. You can save your first quilt free; after that it’s a subscription ($7.99 a month or $49.99 a year on the App Store). It says plainly that it does not import EQ8 project files.

Fern Mountain Quilt Architect

A focused tool for foundation paper piecing, for Mac and Windows. It turns photos or sketches into patterns, promises designs free of Y-seams, and prints cutting templates with seam allowances. It’s $49.99 as a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store.

QuiltPop and Quiltography

QuiltPop is a free iPhone and iPad app for laying out quilts and printing foundation paper piecing blocks at home. Quiltography is an iPad app ($14.99) with a yardage calculator and stash tracking, but its App Store listing shows it hasn’t been updated since September 2016.

Where Quarter Inch fits

Quarter Inch is quilt design software for iPad, Mac and the web. It isn’t released yet, so it isn’t in the table. Here’s what we’re building, so you can judge it for yourself when it arrives:

• It will open your EQ8 projects on your Mac, your iPad or any browser, with a plain-English report of exactly what came across for every file. Opening and viewing them will be free.
• It will check before you cut: seam allowances, yardage and cutting charts, worked out in fractions.
• It will print at true size, with a 1″ test square on every page.
• You’ll pay once. No subscription, and your own quilts will never be behind a paywall.

If that sounds useful, the Switching from EQ8 page explains how moving will work. Quarter Inch is independent and not affiliated with The Electric Quilt Company.