What is the difference in commercial, industrial, home, and family embroidery machines?

There is quite a bit difference in commercial, industrial, home, and family embroidery equipment.

Commercial and Industrial machines

If you are looking to do production work, or work for profit then its suggested that you use an industrial or commercial embroidery machine. Industrial and commercial embroidery machines are the same thing, just different ways of calling them. These are machines that are designed to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in full production, and industrial settings. Commercial machines are generally much stronger and made of much more metals than home or family machines. Most all industrial machines also include a cap system for embroidering on hats. These types of machines usually always have much larger embroidery areas than the home types of machines. Examples of commercial or industrial embroidery machines are Tajima, Barudan, Butterfly, SWF, Toyota, Melco, (some) Brother, ZSK, Happy.

Home and family machines

Home and family embroidery machines are the same things just different names. These are the smaller and (usually) less expensive embroidery machines that usually have 6 or fewer needles. These type of machines are generally not used for full production embroidery. Home embroidery machines also have smaller embroidery space and run slower than commercial machines. Examples of home embroidery brands include Janome, Babylock, Berina, etc. Home machines are usually used just for one time items or doing small embroidery jobs for the family and friends. Home machines are generally seen more often among hobbyist.