Quick Answer: The Brother PE800 (about $700) and Brother PE545 (about $480–$550) are both single-needle Brother home embroidery machines, and the comparison boils down to one spec: hoop size. The PE545 tops out at a 4x4 inch hoop; the PE800 takes a 5x7 inch hoop. Everything else — 135 vs 138 built-in designs, 10 vs 11 fonts, about 400 vs 650 stitches per minute — is a minor difference. If you’re unsure what size designs you’ll stitch, buy the PE800; a bigger hoop can always stitch a smaller design, but a 4x4 machine can’t grow into a 5x7 project.
People shopping Brother’s embroidery lineup often assume the PE800 is just a pricier, fancier version of the PE545 — more features, more polish, more machine. It isn’t. Both are single-needle machines built around the same basic workflow (hoop it, load a design from USB, stitch). The PE800 doesn’t do anything the PE545 can’t do in miniature. It just does it in a bigger hoop.
PE545 vs PE800 at a glance
| Spec | Brother PE545 | Brother PE800 |
|---|---|---|
| Max hoop size | 4x4 in | 5x7 in |
| Built-in designs | 135 | 138 |
| Built-in fonts | 10 | 11 |
| Stitch speed | ~400 stitches/min | ~650 stitches/min |
| Design transfer | USB + Wireless LAN | USB only |
| Needle threader | Automatic | Automatic |
| Price (street) | about $480–$550 | about $700 |
1. Brother PE545 — Best If Your Designs Genuinely Fit 4x4
Brother PE545
- 4x4 inch hoop — enough for a single initial, a small two-letter monogram, or a kids'-name patch.
- 135 built-in designs, 10 fonts, automatic needle threader.
- Wireless LAN transfer in addition to USB — a feature the pricier PE800 skips.
- Replaced the discontinued Brother PE535 at essentially the same street price.
The PE545 is the right call only if you’ve already confirmed your projects fit inside a 4x4 inch square — single initials, small patches (our patches guide covers the stabilizer side of that), kids’ names, small logos. Buying it to “save money for now” and upgrade later is the trap: there’s no upgrade path on the same machine, only a second purchase. It’s also our top pick in both the best cheap embroidery machine and best embroidery machine for beginners roundups.
2. Brother PE800 — Best If You Want Room to Grow
Brother PE800
- 5x7 inch hoop fits full monograms, left-chest logos, and towel borders a 4x4 machine can't.
- 138 built-in designs, 11 fonts, faster stitch-out at roughly 650 stitches per minute.
- Color touchscreen and USB design loading — no proprietary cartridges.
- No wireless transfer; if that matters, Brother's PE900 adds it on the same 5x7 hoop.
Whichever one you order, it's worth queuing up something to listen to while you hoop your first few projects — a free Audible trial comes with a free audiobook.
The PE800 is our overall pick for most buyers — see our full best embroidery machine roundup for why — because the extra ~$200 over the PE545 buys hoop room that’s very hard to add back later. It isn’t a “better” machine feature-for-feature; a few specs (designs, fonts, speed) edge up slightly, but none of that is the real reason to pay more. The hoop is.
So which one should you actually buy?
Ask one question: will any design you want to stitch be bigger than 4x4 inches? Towel borders, multi-line monograms, most adult-size left-chest logos, and anything with more than a couple of letters usually need more than 4x4. If the honest answer is “maybe” or “I don’t know yet,” buy the PE800 — a 5x7 hoop can still stitch a small 4x4-sized design just fine, so you lose nothing by having the room. The PE545 only wins if you’re certain your projects stay small, in which case the $150–$220 you save is real money, not a compromise. Comparing against the step up from here? See our best multi-needle embroidery machine guide for when a 4x4-vs-5x7 decision stops being the relevant question entirely.
The bottom line
The Brother PE545 and PE800 are the same basic machine wearing two different hoop sizes. Buy the PE545 only once you’ve confirmed your designs fit inside 4x4 inches; buy the PE800 if there’s any real chance they won’t. Everything else in the spec sheet — built-in designs, fonts, even the PE545’s wireless transfer — is a rounding error next to that one decision.