Embird is wonderful. Part of the difference in cost is that you buy Embird as you need it or want it and PE Design you buy the program which includes everything, even stuff you may never use. For example, with Embird, you buy the basic program which you use for editing. Then if you decide you want to learn digitizing, you can buy the Studio module, but if you don't want to learn to digitize, you don't have to buy it.
Embird is very user friendly and easy to learn. I got PE Design 5 when I got my first embroidery machine and could never figure it out, so bought Embird and love it.