Head to head
Brother PE800 vs PE900
The same 5 x 7 inch field on both, so the stitched result is identical. Everything that differs is about how a design gets onto the machine.
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The short answer
The PE900 if you embroider weekly. The PE800 if you embroider occasionally.
Both publish a 5 x 7 in embroidery field, so anything you can stitch on one you can stitch on the other, identically.
The PE900 adds a published 650 stitches per minute, 7.4 in from needle to arm, a 3.7 in LCD, wireless LAN transfer and 193 designs. The PE800 publishes 138 designs, a 3.2 x 1.8 in display, and no speed figure at all.
Side by side
| Specification | PE800 | PE900 |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum embroidery area | 5 x 7 in | 5 x 7 in |
| Maximum embroidery speed | Not published by Brother | 650 stitches per minute |
| Needle to arm | Not published | 7.4 in |
| Built-in designs | 138 designs, 11 fonts | 193 |
| Display | 3.2 x 1.8 in | 3.7 in LCD |
| Wireless transfer | No | Wireless LAN enabled |
| Included hoop | 5 x 7 in | Not stated on the product page |
| Sews? | No | No |
Feature by feature, only where they actually differ
Wireless design transfer - the one that changes your day
Without it, every design means finding the file, copying it to a USB stick, walking to the machine, inserting the stick and navigating a file browser. With it, you send the design and it is there.
You will do this hundreds of times over the life of the machine. It is the single largest quality-of-life difference between these two, and it is worth more than the design count and the screen combined.
The published speed
The PE900 publishes 650 stitches per minute. The PE800 publishes nothing.
That does not mean the PE800 is slower - it means nobody outside Brother knows. We are not going to guess, and neither should anyone else. What it does mean is that if speed matters to your decision, only one of these two machines gives you a number to decide on.
The screen
3.7 in against 3.2 x 1.8 in. Matters if you position, resize and combine designs at the machine; matters much less if you prepare everything in software first.
Design library
193 against 138. Real, and the least important difference on this page for the usual reason: most people stitch downloaded files.
What is identical, and it is the important part
Field: 5 x 7 in on both. 35 square inches on both.
Every design that fits one fits the other. Every design that needs splitting on one needs splitting on the other. The finished stitching is the same.
So this is not a capability decision at all - it is a decision about how much annoyance you are buying out of, and that depends entirely on how often you use the machine.
Who should buy each
Buy the PE900 if you embroider weekly or more. Wireless transfer, over hundreds of designs, is worth the difference on its own.
Buy the PE800 if you embroider occasionally and it is meaningfully cheaper. The stitched result is identical and a USB stick a few times a month is not a hardship. It also has the edge of a stated included 5 x 7 in hoop.
Skip this
Neither - get the Brother NQ1600E if the field is your real constraint
If you have found yourself splitting designs on a 5 x 7 in machine, neither machine on this page fixes that. The NQ1600E publishes 6 x 10 in - 60 square inches, 71% more - at 850 stitches per minute, which is 31% faster than the PE900.
It costs more. It is also the only machine of the three that changes what you can make rather than how comfortably you make it.
The picks
Both machines, and the step up if the field is your constraint
Brother
Brother PE900
Upper embroidery-only tier
The PE800 with the numbers filled in: the same 5 x 7 in field, but Brother publishes 650 spm, 7.4 in from needle to arm, a 3.7 in screen and wireless transfer. What you pay extra for is the workflow, not the field.
Skip it if: You embroider occasionally and the PE800 is meaningfully cheaper. The stitched result is identical.
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Brother
Brother PE800
Mid embroidery-only tier
5 x 7 in of field with no sewing head to pay for. If you already own a sewing machine you like, this is the cheapest route to a 5 x 7 in hoop.
Skip it if: This would be your only machine. It does not sew: no straight stitch, no seam, no hem.
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Brother
Brother NQ1600E
Premium embroidery-only tier
6 x 10 in of field at 850 spm, embroidery only. The fastest single-needle machine here that publishes a speed, and the one whose own product page contradicts itself on the design count.
Skip it if: You need to sew as well. The NQ3550W is the same field with a sewing head attached.
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How this was ranked
Machines we claim to have tested: none. Everyone in this category says they tested twenty. We have not tested any, and we say so. What we did instead: built the candidate set from what Amazon actually stocks, read the published specification off each manufacturer’s own page, normalized every measurement into the same units and the same order, did the arithmetic on what each step up buys, and left every figure the maker does not publish visibly blank rather than filling it in. Every number on this page links to where it was published, so you can check the work in about five minutes.
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Questions people actually ask
Frequently asked
What is the difference between the Brother PE800 and PE900?
The field is identical at 5 x 7 in. The PE900 adds a published 650 spm speed, 7.4 in from needle to arm, a 3.7 in display, wireless LAN transfer and 193 designs against the PE800’s 138.
Is the PE900 worth the extra over the PE800?
If you embroider weekly, yes - wireless design transfer removes a USB stick from every single project. If you embroider occasionally, the stitched result is identical and the cheaper machine is the sensible buy.
Do the PE800 and PE900 have the same hoop size?
Yes, both publish a 5 x 7 in maximum embroidery area. The PE800 page states a 5 x 7 in hoop is included; the PE900 page does not state what is included.
How fast is the Brother PE800?
Brother does not publish a maximum embroidery speed for it. The PE900, which has the same field, publishes 650 stitches per minute. We do not extrapolate one from the other.
Do either of these machines sew?
No. Both are dedicated embroidery machines. If you need one machine that sews and embroiders, look at the SE2000 or NQ3550W instead.
Sources
Every specification on this page was read from one of these pages on 1 September 2026.