A Predator DNC alternative, for shops that don't need fourteen modules
Predator is built for multi-plant factories that want DNC alongside machine monitoring, OEE, and tool management. If you just need programs in your Fanucs, that's a lot of software to carry.
Predator Software has been in this market since 1994 and the suite is genuinely broad — DNC, MDC, tool crib, virtual CNC, document control. That breadth is the point, and for a large manufacturer it's worth real money. It's also why a 12-machine job shop that wanted program transfer ends up wondering what it's paying for.
The difference in one line
Predator sells a factory platform you grow into. We sell one job done properly: getting programs in and out of CNC controls, from a single Windows PC, at a flat per-shop price.
Where the two differ in practice
- Footprint: a modular Windows suite across PCs and servers, versus one native service on one PC that runs headless from boot.
- Licensing: per module and per seat, quoted; versus one flat per-shop figure covering ~25 machines with everything included.
- Who runs it: Predator assumes someone owns it — IT, a systems engineer, a champion. Ours assumes the programmer who already runs the CAM seat.
- Support: an enterprise vendor in the USA, versus the engineers who wrote the software answering WhatsApp from Coimbatore.
- Scope creep: fourteen modules you can adopt over years, versus a tool that will never try to sell you a dashboard.
When Predator is the right buy
Multiple plants, a real IT function, and a plan that goes beyond program transfer — machine monitoring, OEE reporting, tool management, document control under one vendor. If that roadmap is genuinely yours, buy the platform. Replacing it with a focused tool would cost you capability you actually intend to use.
When a focused tool wins
- One shop, 4–25 machines, mostly Fanuc or Fanuc-style controls.
- The only modules ever used were DNC and the program library.
- Nobody on site wants to own a suite, a server, or a licence server.
- Drip-feeding long mold programs reliably matters more than dashboards.
- The budget is a shop budget, not a plant budget.
Moving across
- NC programs are plain text on disk — point the new install at the same folders.
- Converters, serial cards and cabling stay put; so do the control's RS-232 parameters.
- Trial on one machine alongside your current setup, then move the floor over a weekend.
The side-by-side comparison puts Predator, CIMCO and NCnet in one table, and the pricing page explains what changes a quote. If you're evaluating from India, the India page covers rupee pricing, GST invoicing and local converter sourcing.
Questions we get asked
What does ElectronIx DNC not do that Predator does?
Machine monitoring and OEE dashboards, tool crib management, virtual CNC simulation, MDC, and the rest of the Predator module list. We do program transfer, drip-feed, and a per-machine program library — and nothing else.
We only bought Predator for DNC. Is that a reason to switch?
It's the main one. Shops that use one module out of fourteen are paying for an enterprise suite to do a single job, and usually carrying the IT overhead that goes with it.
Do we need to rewire anything?
No. Serial-to-Ethernet converters, serial cards, and the cabling to each control are hardware — they don't care which software is talking to them. Control-side parameters (baud, parity, stop bits, I/O channel) stay exactly as they are too.
How many machines can one PC handle?
Around 25 concurrently, on ordinary office hardware. Past that you're genuinely into the territory where a multi-plant suite earns its keep.
Can we trial it without disturbing the running setup?
Yes. Install the free trial on any Windows PC and connect one machine — the free trial is the full product, not a cut-down demo, so what you see is what you'd buy.
Predator, Predator DNC and Predator MDC are trademarks of Predator Software, Inc. This comparison is ours, written from their public product information — we're not affiliated with or endorsed by them.