Free CNC Machine Monitoring Software

Two machines, permanently free. Not a 14-day trial, not a demo account, and no credit card — real monitoring of real machines so you can see what your shop is losing before you spend a dollar.

By Ryan Lenhart · Updated Oct 5, 2026

Most "free" CNC monitoring offers are trials. You get 14 or 30 days, a sales call, and then a contract. That is not enough time to learn anything — the first week is spent connecting machines and the second week is spent arguing about whether the numbers are right.

FEAI Machine Monitor takes a different approach: two machines are free, permanently. You can run it on your bottleneck cell for a year and never pay. When you want more machines, you upgrade. When you do not, you keep using it.

What you get on the free plan

There is no feature crippling on the core monitoring. Free OEE is the same OEE. Free downtime analysis is the same analysis. The limit is the machine count.

Why we give two machines away

Because the hardest part of selling monitoring is not the software — it is proving the data is real on *your* machines. Once a shop owner sees their own bottleneck machine cutting 52% of a staffed shift instead of the 80% everyone assumed, the conversation about monitoring the other machines takes care of itself.

Two machines is enough to:

• Prove the connection works on your controls
• Find the first big loss on your most important cell
• Get supervisors used to looking at a timeline every morning
• Build a before-and-after case for a process change

What you need

1. A Windows 10 or 11 PC on the shop network. It does not need to be powerful — an office PC or a dedicated mini-PC near the floor is fine.
2. Machines with accessible MTConnect data. The app reads supported CNC machines through an MTConnect Agent or compatible MTConnect endpoint. Many newer controls support MTConnect as a standard or optional feature, and some shops already have agents running.
3. Network access from the PC to each machine's MTConnect endpoint (usually an IP address and a port such as 5000).

Not sure where your machines stand? Read Already Have MTConnect? and the connection test guide. The app also includes connection diagnostics and an offline Demo Shop, so you can learn the screens before a single machine is connected.

Getting started in five steps

1. Create your free license at monitor.factoryedgeai.com with Google or email.
2. Download and install the Windows app from the downloads page. The installer's SHA-256 checksum is published there.
3. Activate by copying your Installation ID into the license screen.
4. Add two machines on the CONNECT tab: enter each endpoint's IP, port, and path, or try Scan LAN to look for MTConnect endpoints on your network.
5. Set an ideal cycle time for each machine's typical part so performance and OEE are meaningful.

Then leave it running for a full week before drawing conclusions. One shift is an anecdote. Five days is a pattern.

Which two machines to start with

Choose for learning, not for convenience.

• Your bottleneck. The machine everything waits on. Every hour found there is an hour for the whole shop.
• The machine everyone argues about. If one cell "always runs fine" according to the floor and "never hits its numbers" according to the office, data ends the argument.
• Two of the same model on different shifts. A side-by-side comparison exposes process differences quickly.

Avoid starting with your oldest, least-connected machine. Prove the value on a machine that connects easily, then work through the harder ones.

Free monitoring vs spreadsheets and paper logs

Many shops already "track" production on paper or in Excel. That is better than nothing, but it misses most of the loss.

Manual notes still matter — a timeline shows *that* a machine stopped, and a person knows *why*. The best setup combines both: automatic timelines plus a short reason code on the big stops.

Is free OEE software good enough?

OEE is simple arithmetic: availability × performance × quality. The math is identical on every plan of every product. What makes OEE trustworthy is the input data — accurate run and stop times from the machine, and an honest ideal cycle time. Try our OEE calculator to see how each factor moves the result, then read CNC OEE Software for how monitoring produces OEE automatically.

When to upgrade

Upgrade when two machines have proven the data is right and the habit is forming — usually when supervisors start asking "what about the other machines?" Paid plans scale by machine count and add FEAI Intelligence features that rank improvement opportunities across the shop.

Start free

No credit card, no trial clock, no sales call required. Start free — 2 machines.