Getting started
with Hatch Embroidery 4

Hatch Embroidery 4 is professional embroidery design software made by Wilcom — the world's leading embroidery software brand with over 40 years in the industry. It comes in four levels: Organizer, Personalizer, Composer, and Digitizer, each building on the last.

Whether you want to manage existing designs, personalise items with lettering, auto-digitize artwork from photos, or create professional embroidery from scratch, Hatch Embroidery 4 has a level for you.

See what's new in Hatch 4 →

Organizer — manage, resize, recolor, and stitch out existing embroidery designs. Best for beginners who download and stitch designs from the internet.

Personalizer — everything in Organizer, plus lettering, monogramming, and 66 embroidery fonts. Great for personalizing gifts and apparel with names and initials.

Composer — everything in Personalizer, plus auto-digitizing, vector file import, and 78 fonts. Converts photos and artwork into embroidery automatically.

Digitizer — everything in Composer, plus full manual digitizing, Advanced Appliqué, Multi Blend, PhotoStitch, and 130 fonts. Complete professional creative control.

You can upgrade from one level to a higher one at any time — your designs are always preserved. See the full level comparison →

Hatch Embroidery 4 requires Windows 11 (64-bit) with the latest updates installed.

• Minimum CPU: Intel Core i5 (11th Gen) or AMD Ryzen 5 5000 series
• Recommended CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 / Core Ultra 9 or AMD Ryzen 7/9 9000 series
• Minimum RAM: 16 GB — Recommended: 32 GB or more
• Minimum GPU: Integrated graphics with 2 GB VRAM — Recommended: Dedicated GPU with 4 GB+ (e.g. NVIDIA RTX 4060)
• Storage: 256 GB SSD minimum, 40 GB free disk space
• Display: 1920 × 1080 minimum
• Internet connection: Required for activation, machine file export, and updates

View full system requirements →

Hatch Embroidery 4 is a Windows-only application. It requires Windows 11 (64-bit) and will not run natively on macOS.

However, many Mac users successfully run Hatch Embroidery using Parallels Desktop with Windows for Mac. This is a popular and well-established workaround. Note that this is not an officially supported configuration — Wilcom cannot guarantee full compatibility or performance on all Mac hardware.

If you have a Mac with an Apple Silicon M-series chip, check the Parallels website for current compatibility with Windows 11 ARM.

Check system requirements →

Hatch Embroidery is a perpetual license — you pay once and own it. There is no ongoing subscription fee and no annual renewal required.

FlexPay is available for new licenses of Composer and Digitizer if you prefer to spread payments over 13 monthly installments of US$99. This is a payment plan, not a subscription — once the installments are complete, you own the software outright with no further charges. FlexPay is not available for upgrades or updates from previous versions.

More about pricing and FlexPay →

Follow these steps to download and install Hatch Embroidery 4:

• Visit hatchembroidery.com/download and download the installer (~2 GB)
• Close all other Windows applications before running the installer
• Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts
• Restart your computer when prompted — this step is required
• After restart, double-click the Hatch Embroidery icon on your desktop and sign in with your registered email and password to activate

Hatch Embroidery uses email and password sign-in — no product key is needed if you purchased directly from the Hatch website. Your license is automatically assigned to your registered email address.

To sign in: double-click the Hatch Embroidery desktop icon, enter your registered email and password, and click OK. The software connects to the activation server and opens automatically.

Tick Keep me signed in at sign-in to allow offline use for up to 30 days without reconnecting.