GCarve

VCarve on a Mac

VCarve Desktop and VCarve Pro are Windows programs. Mac shops usually run them inside Windows in a virtual machine (Parallels on Apple silicon), or keep an old Windows PC by the router.

What about Vectric Spark?

In 2026 Vectric released Spark, a native Mac program aimed at people starting out: cut-outs, profiles, pockets, V-carving and laser work. It's its own program, not VCarve Pro for the Mac: the tools, layout and workflow differ from VCarve on Windows, so moving between them means learning a second program.

The browser option

GCarve runs in Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox on any Mac, Apple silicon or Intel, with nothing to install and no Windows licence. It does the same everyday router work:

• Import SVG and DXF, draw shapes, editable text, booleans, offsets, true-shape nesting
• Profile (tabs, ramps), pocket, drill, bore, V-carve with a true medial axis, chamfer, prism, inlay, flute and 3D relief toolpaths
• 3D cut simulation, a safety check on every export, and an air-cut test file
• G-code for 60+ controllers, and your existing Vectric .pp post-processor and .vtdb tool database
• Import G-code you already have, to simulate it or re-post it for another machine

Projects live in your account, so the Mac in the office and the PC in the shop see the same job. Native desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux are coming.

Comparing features? See GCarve as a VCarve alternative.