Whichever software toolchain you choose should make the most sense for you and your CNCing ambitions. A good, personalized toolchain should meet your:
- previous CNC experience
- previous design experience
- types of projects you’ll be making
- budget
- and computer operating system
To give maximum flexibility, we made the LongMill MK2 software agnostic meaning it can accept input from nearly any software out there. Here’s an example:
- Dan has previous experience in graphic design and now he’s jumped into the world of CNC routers with the goal of engraving his designs onto nice wood slabs.
- He starts by creating his vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator since he’s had previous experience using it for graphic design.
- After having made the artwork, he opens it up in Carbide Create. He prefers Carbide Create because it’s an offline software that is easy to use and capable of v-carving, a great process for cutting intricate designs with a CNC.
- Once Carbide Create has made the machine code file, he opens it up in gSender. gSender is the software he uses to interface with his LongMill, allowing him to easily jog it around, set the origin point, perform probing, and he can use it to load and execute cutting files.
- Every time gSender completes a cutting file, Dan is now able to grab his completed artwork engraving off his LongMill!
In this example, Dan used three pieces of software in his software toolchain. This allowed him to start with a program he was comfortable with for the design aspect (Adobe Illustrator), then move on to a beginner friendly CAM software (Carbide Create), before finally running the generated code file using the machine interface program (gSender). This is just one software combination of many. To help you decide what software would work best for you we’ve done three things:
- Created a Toolchain Wizard which can provide you with smart recommendations after asking you 5 easy questions
- Compiled a list of programs that we’d personally recommend for the average CNCer
- Put every common CNC program into a Master Table (over 80!) that you can search and filter through if you’d like to comb through all the options yourself. This table is what powers our Toolchain Wizard
Toolchain Wizard
This wizard will provide you with general software suggestions based on your CNC needs. Check it out!
Our Recommendations
Many of our go-to software picks tend to be available for free and can range from beginner-friendly to more advanced. We also tend to more highly recommend software that is both Design-and-CAM-in-one since that helps to streamline the process of making projects on your CNC.
Remember that the design step in CNCing can be completely optional. If you’d like to browse a list of sites we put together where people share their CNC project designs either for free or for a price, click the button below. Half of the projects we’ve made ourselves have been off designs we’ve found online; feel free to leverage these resources in your own work with the right permissions.
Design & CAM (beginner-friendly)
If you’re looking for software that takes advantage of most CNC features while remaining easy to pick up, we recommend checking out these software options:
Name | Type | Difficulty (1-4) |
I want to… |
Compatibility | Price |
Vectr | 2D Design | 1 | Use an online tool to design simple signs and other 2D projects | Online | Free |
Easel | 2D Design, 2D CAM, Int | 2 | Make signs, carve simple images, and other 2D projects | Online | Free & paid |
Carbide Create | 2D Design, 2D CAM | 2 | Make signs, v-carvings, and other 2D projects | PC & Mac | Free & paid |
Inkscape | 2D Design, 2D CAM | 3 | Stick with something that’s open-source with lots of features for 2D project design | All desktops | Free |
F-Engrave | 2D CAM | 1 | Use a simple 2D CAM program for engraving and v-carving signs | Windows/PC | Free |
Halftoner | 2D CAM | 1 | Make halftone carvings of normal pictures onto my projects | Windows/PC | Free |
Kiri:Moto | 3D CAM | 2 | Create 3D reliefs, trays, and other parts from 3D models | Online | Free |
CAMLab | 3D CAM | 2 | Create 3D reliefs, trays, and other parts from 3D models | Online | Free |
- Vectr
- Easel
- Carbide
- Inkscape
- F-Engrave
- Halftoner
- Kiri:Moto
- CAMLab
Vectr
Vectr (https://vectr.com/)
Vectr is a simple web and desktop-based vector graphics editor that lets you draw and design online or on your desktop. Though it’s not built out for CNC use, it’s certainly a reasonably powerful option for beginners who want to make simple 2D designs for things like signs. It stands out because of its intuitive layout.
Easel
Carbide
Inkscape
F-Engrave
Halftoner
Kiri:Moto
CAMLab
Design & CAM (advanced)
Name | Type | Difficulty (1-4) |
I want to… |
Compatibility | Price |
Carveco Maker | 2D Design, 2D/3D CAM | 2 | Design baseline and reasonably advanced 2D and 3D carvings | Windows/PC | 15USD/mo |
Vectric VCarve Desktop | 2D Design, 2D/3D CAM | 2 | Design baseline and reasonably advanced 2D and 3D carvings | Windows/PC | 349USD |
Onshape | 2D/3D Design, 2D/3D CAM | 3 | Model in 2D or lay out complex, 3D parts with lots of granular control and plug-ins | Online | Free & paid |
Fusion 360 | 2D/3D Design, 2D/3D CAM | 3 | Model in 2D or lay out complex, 3D parts with lots of granular control and plug-ins | PC & Mac | Free & paid |
- Carveco
- VCarve
- Onshape
- Fusion
Carveco
Carveco Maker (link to site)
Carveco Maker is Carvecos entry-level product yet it comes with quite a bit of power. It has a lot of features similar to Vectrics Vcarve software such as standard toolpaths, 2D drawing, V-carving, and 3D importing but it can also create reliefs from 3D models and images and allows you to perform manual relief smoothing. This is a highly featured software that’s built for semi-professional CNC use and its capabilities reflect that. It’s also impressive how clean the user interface is when factoring in all the features it has. If you’re interested, check out this comparison we did between Carveco Maker and Vectric Vcarve Desktop:Vectric VCarve Desktop vs Carveco Maker – Which Should You Choose
VCarve
Onshape
Fusion
CNC Interfaces
Many of our software picks don’t tend to have a built-in machine interface so we have a couple of independent programs that we’ve found work well. For most users, we recommend using gSender as the go-to interface software:
- This is an open-source program developed by us, Sienci Labs, which you can download for free here: https://sienci.com/gsender/
- We used to recommend highly some other senders, but hearing about their flaws we decided to make gSender as a solution to all the feedback we received
- Detailed instructions on how to use gSender can be found here: https://resources.sienci.com/view/gs-installation/
- gSender is designed to work right out of the box for the LongMill
The full list of GRBL-compatible senders is generally maintained here: https://github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki/Using-Grbl but we’ve put together a more digestible list that you can reference below of the ones we’ve gone through and personally experimented with. All of these work well in most capacities and are easy to learn and pick up:
Name | Type | Difficulty (1-4) |
Notes | Compatibility | Price |
gSender | Interface | 1 | A reliable and lightweight sender based on CNCjs that’s easy to use and has novel expanded features | All desktops | Free |
UGS | Interface | 2 | A good default machine interface that’s lightweight but has good functionality | All desktops | Free |
CNCjs | Interface | 2 | Another great interface option that can be more reliable on certain systems since it’s not Java-based | All desktops & Online | Free |
OpenBuilds Control | Interface | 2 | A newer software that seems to be promising in it’s reliability and additional features | All desktops | Free |
Easel | 2D Design, 2D CAM, Int | 1 | Works directly through Easel in your browser. Quite minimal but can get the job done | Online | Free |
VTransfer | Interface | 1 | Only packaged with Vectric products. Has almost no features so it’s pretty limited | Windows | Free |
bCNC | 2D CAM, Int | 3 | The go-to by many when setting up their CNC to run off a Raspberry Pi. Reliable and python-based | All desktops | Free |
Source Rabbit | Interface | 1 | Based off UGS Classic, it has some additional features while remaining lightweight | All desktops | Free |
- gSender
- UGS
- CNCjs
- OB Control
- Easel
- VTransfer
- bCNC
- Source Rabbit
gSender
gSender (https://sienci.com/gsender/)
This software is designed to be clean and easy to use no matter your previous CNC experience. It has a variety of features such as macros, CNC calibration, surfacing, tool changing, and firmware control. gSender supports many GRBL-based machines and works out-of-the-box on the LongMill CNC.
UGS
CNCjs
OB Control
Easel
VTransfer
bCNC
Source Rabbit
If you’ve got any other questions about the CNC toolchain or need some clarification, feel free to contact us directly or ask via our Facebook and website forums.