GCarve

Is VCarve free?

No: VCarve Desktop and VCarve Pro are paid licences from Vectric, and Vectric offers a trial so you can try them first. If you're looking for free software that does the same kind of work, here's where GCarve fits.

What GCarve gives you for free

• The whole app in your browser: design, every toolpath type, 3D simulation and G-code export
• V-carving with a true medial axis, inlays (female + mirrored male), chamfer and prism carving
• Variables and constraints: name your sizes, type math into any field, and change one number to resize the design and its toolpaths
• A database of 2,100+ machines and 29,000+ bits, so feeds start sensible and stay inside your machine's limits
• Your Vectric post-processor (.pp) and tool database (.vtdb) work as they are

Other free options

Machine makers ship free software too (Carbide Create for Shapeoko, Easel for X-Carve). They're good for their own machines; GCarve works with any router and adds V-carve inlays, 3D reliefs, variables and the machine and bit databases.

Please don't download "free VCarve" from file-sharing sites: cracked CAM software is a common way to get malware onto the PC that runs your machine.

More detail: GCarve vs VCarve.