Best Longarm Quilting Machines for a Quilting Business (2026)

Handi Quilter sells the Moxie as everything you need to start, frame included. It has a 15-inch throat, a full-color display, speeds up to 1,800 stitches per minute and stitch lengths of 4 to 18 per inch, with a choice of Cruise or Precision stitch regulation or Manual mode. It uses a high-speed rotary hook with a large-capacity M-class bobbin and comes with a ruler foot and an open-toe foot.

The standard 8-foot HQ Loft frame needs a room about 12 by 7 feet, per Handi Quilter's diagram, or 10 feet long with one end against a wall; our longarm room size calculator runs the numbers for your room. If space is tight, the Moxie also fits Handi Quilter's 5-foot Little Foot frame. Handi Quilter's own price range for Moxie packages was $4,945.50 to $10,082 when we checked, depending on frame and computerized add-ons.

Grace lists the 16X Elite with a 16-inch throat, extra lighting in the throat, needle and bobbin areas, a 7-inch touchscreen with help guides, and four stitching modes: Precise, Cruise, Manual and Baste. Its patented Edge Warning system helps keep stitches inside your quilting area, a bobbin estimator tracks thread, and the motor reaches 2,100 stitches per minute.

The Amazon bundle pairs it with Grace's Q-Zone Queen, an 8-foot, 2-rail rolling frame with steel rails and height-adjustable legs that Grace rates for a maximum quilt area of 82 inches in its queen setting. Grace also recommends its Q-Zone Hoop frame for tight spaces, since a hoop frame quilts any size quilt in sections.

The 19X Elite is Grace's larger frame machine: a 19-inch throat, which Grace says quilts blocks up to 17 inches depending on the project and frame layout, and a motor rated up to 2,600 stitches per minute. It has the same four stitch modes (Manual, Cruise, Precise and Baste), Edge Warning technology and a built-in bobbin estimator as the 16X Elite.

Grace says it is compatible with every quilting frame it sells, from the Q-Zone Queen to the Quilter's Evolution Elite rolling frame in 8, 10 or 12 foot lengths. The Amazon listing pairs it with the Q-Zone Hoop frame. For a quilting business, the bigger block size means fewer advances of the quilt on each pass.

Handi Quilter describes the Moxie XL as the Moxie with new features: 18 inches of throat space, touchscreen controls and bright lighting. It fits the same frames as the Moxie, the 8-foot Loft (10 feet with the extension) and the 5-foot Little Foot, so the room it needs is the same.

Handi Quilter's price range for Moxie XL packages was $7,645.50 to $12,782 when we checked, depending on frame and Pro-Stitcher. It suits a Handi Quilter buyer who wants a bigger throat without moving up to the Amara's larger Studio3 frame.

The Little Rebel is Grace's all-in-one machine: piece a quilt with the sewing foot and feed dogs, then slide on the quilting plate and change to a quilting foot to free-motion quilt, which Grace says takes less than a minute. It has a 13-inch throat, 8.5 inches of throat height, built-in optical-encoder stitch regulation, an M-class bobbin and speeds up to 1,600 stitches per minute.

You can stand at a frame (Grace pairs it with the Cutie Breeze tabletop frame, the Q-Zone Hoop frame or the 8-foot Q-Zone Queen) or sit down using the included quilting extension base. For a new quilting business, it is the lowest-cost way here to try stitch-regulated quilting before buying a full longarm.