The best free graphgan generators in 2026, actually tested.

Free: Everything. Upload a photo and get a tapestry, filet, cross-stitch, or knitting chart up to 150 stitches wide with the aspect ratio preserved; free written row-by-row instructions in single crochet and corner-to-corner (C2C); a chart editor and from-scratch designer; a row tracker with shareable progress links; a materials list with real yarn colorways and per-color yardage; bobbin-count and ends-to-weave estimates; and printable numbered charts. Patterns use the open SLPN format, so nothing is locked in. No account required.

What costs money: Nothing. The site earns disclosed affiliate commissions if you buy yarn through its links; the tools themselves have no paid tier.

Best for: Crocheters who want the chart and the written pattern and the project math (bobbins, yardage, ends) without paying or registering. Full disclosure: StitchingLab is our site — that is exactly why this page verifies every competitor claim against the live product rather than asserting from memory.

Free: A genuinely powerful chart editor for crochet, knitting, and cross-stitch: up to 15 saved charts, 50 colors per chart, and grids up to 300 × 300. If you want to draw a graphgan by hand, cell by cell, this is the deepest free editor in the category.

What costs money: The two things this roundup is about. Uploading a picture to convert it into a chart is premium-only, and so is converting a chart into written knitting or crochet instructions. Premium also lifts limits to unlimited charts, 250 colors, and 1,000 × 1,000 grids. Price: €2.25/month billed yearly (€27/year), or €4.50 for a single month.

Best for: Designers who mostly draw charts from scratch and want the strongest editor available, and who don’t mind a small subscription for photo conversion and written instructions.

Free: Image-to-pattern conversion for crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, and beading, with output as a graph, a word chart (written color counts), or both — one of the few free tools that writes anything out. The cap: patterns top out at 100 stitches across, and you must register a free account to reach all the menu options.

What costs money: Width. Charts 300 or 500 stitches across are “Premier” subscription features; the price isn’t shown until you start the subscription flow, so we won’t quote one.

Best for: Anyone who wants a free word chart and is working at 100 stitches wide or less — and doesn’t mind an interface that has visibly not changed in about a decade.

Free: Still online and working as of our check. Upload a photo (up to 18 MB), pick a size and stitch density, and download a printable cross-stitch chart. It calculates the embroidery floss colors and quantities you need, free.

What costs money: Nothing — it’s free.

Best for: Cross-stitchers only. It has no crochet or knitting modes and produces no written instructions, so it doesn’t make graphgans — it appears on graphgan lists mostly because a cross-stitch grid can be squinted at as a crochet grid. If you want an actual graphgan pattern, use a tool that outputs one.

Free: Photo-to-graphgan conversion with an unusually wide stitch-style list — single crochet, half-double, Tunisian simple stitch, block stitch, bobble, mini bean, C2C, and mini C2C — plus written instructions as PDF or text, a row spreadsheet export, a row-by-row reader, and yarn and finished-size estimates. All free at our check.

What costs money: Nothing advertised. The caveats are maturity rather than money: the site is labeled Beta, and where “My Projects” patterns are actually stored isn’t documented — export the PDF rather than trusting the site as your only copy.

Best for: Crocheters who want free written instructions in a stitch style beyond single crochet and C2C — its bobble, bean, and Tunisian options are ones we don’t offer.