I agree with Richard to the effect that the free/captive CAD/CAM applications that come with some hobbyist machines is a dead end if one intends to embrace CNC, but that's regardless of whether or not they stick with a budget machine or upgrade to something more substantial. Using "brand name" software means it's almost universally usable no matter what machine might come along down the road and that makes it worthy for both whatever investment is required to acquire/access it as well as the effort required to learn and use it. While I'm certainly capable of learning new software, I'm very happy that I learned the Vectric software from the get-go and it's been consistent even when I upgraded it to the "flagship" level. I'm only using that as an example since there are several really good choices available that one can learn and stick with.