Machine embroidery pricing can look confusing from the outside: stitch counts, digitizing fees, blank markups, setup charges. But most of it comes down to a simple idea — charge for the time your machine spends stitching, charge for the item you're stitching on, and cover the one-off work of preparing the design. This guide explains the standard per-1,000-stitch approach, walks through a full quote, and shows how to check whether a job is worth taking.
How do you price machine embroidery?
Most machine embroiderers charge for stitching by stitch count, as a rate per 1,000 stitches. Then they add the blank item (shirt, cap, towel) with a markup, plus any digitizing or setup fee. At $1.00 per 1,000 stitches, an 8,000-stitch design costs $8.00 to stitch, and on a $8 blank with a 50% markup, the item sells for $20.
Stitch count works because it reflects how long a design ties up your machine — bigger or denser designs take longer and cost more.
What should you charge per 1,000 stitches?
There's no single standard rate. Published pricing guides, such as ImprintNext's embroidery pricing guide, describe rates from around $0.50 to several dollars per 1,000 stitches, depending on the market, the complexity of the design and the order size. Many shops also set a minimum stitch charge so small designs still cover setup.
Rather than copying a rate, choose one and check it using profit per machine hour (explained below). If a typical job earns too little per machine hour, raise the rate or add a minimum.
What does a complete quote look like?
An order of 12 shirts, each with an 8,000-stitch left-chest design:
| Part of the quote | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Stitching per shirt | 8,000 ÷ 1,000 × $1.00 | $8.00 |
| Blank per shirt | $8 blank + 50% markup | $12.00 |
| Price per shirt | $20.00 | |
| 12 shirts | $240.00 | |
| Digitizing (charged to customer) | One-time | $40.00 |
| Order total | $280.00 |
What does the order cost you?
| Cost | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Blanks | 12 × $8 | $96.00 |
| Stabilizer, thread and backing | 12 × $0.75 | $9.00 |
| Hooping and finishing labor | 12 × 3 min at $20/hour | $12.00 |
| Digitizing | Paid to a digitizer | $40.00 |
| Total cost | $157.00 |
Profit: $280 − $157 = $123.
How do you check if a job is worth taking?
Your embroidery machine can only run so many hours a day, so machine time is the real constraint. Divide the stitch count by your machine's real average speed (including trims and color changes):
- 8,000 stitches ÷ 700 stitches per minute ≈ 11.4 minutes per shirt
- 12 shirts ≈ 2.3 machine hours
- $123 profit ÷ 2.3 hours ≈ $53.81 profit per machine hour
That figure is the most useful number in embroidery pricing. It lets you compare a 12-shirt order with a 50-cap order, and it tells you whether your per-1,000 rate is high enough. Profit per machine hour goes deeper into it.
What other fees are common?
- Digitizing fees for turning artwork into a stitch file — see should you charge customers for digitizing?
- Setup fees per order, for hooping setup and thread changes.
- Extra charges for additional locations, 3D puff or specialty threads.
- Bulk discounts for larger orders — covered in embroidery bulk pricing.
It's also worth reading about how to price embroidered hats.
