A Free Beadographer Alternative for Photo-to-Bead Patterns
Beadographer is a capable bead-design studio — 17 weaving layouts, real bead libraries, a fair $14.99/year membership. MakeBead comes at the same craft from the other direction: photos in, finished charts out — peyote and brick stitch with true staggered geometry and word charts, loom, and every fuse bead brand — with PDF export, cloud saving and sharing that are simply free. Here's the honest comparison.
MakeBead vs Beadographer at a Glance
| MakeBead | Beadographer | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — everything included | Free tier + $14.99/yr membership |
| Save & reopen projects | ✓ free cloud save + sync | Membership only (cloud) |
| PDF export with word charts | ✓ free | Membership only |
| Photo → pattern conversion | ✓ core feature, per-craft geometry | ✓ (image-to-beads tool) |
| Peyote / brick stitch | ✓ true staggered charts + word charts (Delica 11/0) | ✓ + multi-drop variants |
| Other weaving stitches | ✗ loom (straight grid) only beyond peyote/brick | ✓ 17 layouts: herringbone, RAW, Huichol, medallion… |
| Bead libraries | Miyuki Delica 11/0 (curated) · fuse brands: Perler, Hama, Artkal, Nabbi, MARD | Miyuki Round & Delica, TOHO lines · generic fuse beads |
| Bead-by-bead editor | ✓ paint, erase, fill, replace, undo | ✓ full drawing toolset |
| Row tracking while beading | ✓ pegboard tracker + numbered word-chart rows | ✓ beading mode |
| Pattern gallery & sharing | ✓ public gallery, likes, share links (free) | File sharing with members; no on-site gallery |
| Bead inventory | My Colors (paste codes, palette import/export) | ✓ collection manager (membership) |
| Other crafts in one place | ✓ cross stitch, diamond painting, kandi, crochet family, knitting | ✗ beads only |
| Languages | 11 | 4 (EN, DA, FR, RO) |
Feature comparison verified against the live Beadographer app and its published free-vs-membership table in July 2026. Beadographer is an independent app — no affiliation. Spotted something outdated? Use the Feedback button and we'll correct it.
What Beadographer Does Well
No free tool touches its stitch range: peyote and brick in 1/2/3-drop variants, herringbone, right-angle weave, Huichol, medallions, warped squares and more, on genuine Miyuki and TOHO bead libraries with a bead-collection manager. The free tier is honest — full design tools, image conversion, no ads — and the membership is cheap for what it unlocks. If you hand-design complex off-loom weaves, it's the right studio, and its beading mode tracks your rows while you work.
Where MakeBead Takes Over
Two places. First, the photo path: MakeBead is built conversion-first, so a pet photo or logo becomes a peyote, brick stitch, loom or fuse bead chart in seconds — staggered geometry drawn correctly, word charts written automatically, bead counts per Delica tube or Perler bag. Second, the free path: saving, cross-device sync, sharing, the public gallery and PDF export with word charts cost nothing here. Add real fuse-bead brand palettes, the crochet and cross-stitch families under the same account, and 11 languages.
Switching Takes One Upload
- Pick your geometry: peyote, brick stitch, loom — or fuse beads with your brand's palette.
- Upload a photo (or start from a gallery template), set the width, and limit the colors to what you own.
- Check the word chart, fix any bead in the editor, then export the PDF and save to your free account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MakeBead free where Beadographer charges? ▾
The two features Beadographer reserves for its $14.99/year membership — saving your designs and exporting PDFs with diagrams and word charts — are free on MakeBead, along with sharing and the pattern gallery. Beadographer's free tier is genuinely usable for designing; it just can't save or export PDF.
What does Beadographer do better? ▾
Stitch variety, clearly: 17 layouts including herringbone, right-angle weave, Huichol, medallions and multi-drop peyote/brick variants, plus Miyuki Round and TOHO bead libraries and a bead-inventory manager. If you design complex off-loom weaves stitch by stitch, Beadographer is the deeper drawing tool and its membership is fairly priced.
What does MakeBead do better? ▾
The photo path and the free path. MakeBead is conversion-first: any image becomes a peyote, brick stitch, loom or fuse bead chart in seconds, with true staggered geometry, word charts (rows 1&2 strung, then row-by-row bead counts by Delica code) and per-tube bead counts — all exportable to PDF and savable to the cloud for free. It also covers fuse bead brands with real palettes (Perler, Hama, Artkal, Nabbi, MARD), plus cross stitch, diamond painting and the crochet family, in 11 languages. Checked against Beadographer's live app and pricing page in July 2026.
Does MakeBead have peyote and brick stitch charts like Beadographer? ▾
Yes — dedicated tools for flat even-count peyote and brick stitch, drawn with the real half-bead stagger on a curated Miyuki Delica 11/0 palette, with word charts and finished-size estimates from Delica gauge. Beadographer covers more exotic stitches (herringbone, RAW, Huichol); MakeBead covers the two most-used ones deeper on the photo-conversion side.
Can I track my rows while beading? ▾
Beadographer has a beading mode for tracking rows; MakeBead's bead tools have a Start Crafting tracker for pegboard work, and every seed-bead tool prints numbered word-chart rows you can tick off. If in-app row tracking for weaving is essential to you, that's currently a Beadographer strength.
Is MakeBead affiliated with Beadographer? ▾
No. Beadographer is an independent app by a small team, running since 2020 — this page is our own feature comparison, verified against their live app and published pricing in July 2026. If anything here is out of date, tell us via Feedback and we'll fix it.