These two things lead to a big user base, not it's excellent interface or superior ability. They are the biggest because they got into educational and it was SUPER easy to steal. IMO-MasterCAM is the biggest not because they are the best. This is more a side note.some one once said to me, 'Ya know why MasterCAM has 10 ways to cut a pocket? Because none of them work.' The reseller channel is very knowledgeable and gets great support from Geometric corporate offices. But if you go to the CAMWorks forum, you will see a lack of tech issues. Now before anyone flames on this, all software has issues. So you machine a ton of widgetkabobs, you can say, 'Machine this the way I machine all my widgetkabobs!' This saves a ton of time especially when doing 4 and 5 axis. CAMWorks has some awesome features, like being able to save the way you machine individual parts and set it as a default strategy. Instead they just sit back, see what sells and then try to kludge it into their product. For how big MC is and how much money they have, they should be blazing trails in the CAM industry. That being said, (getting on my soapbox) MC upsets me with how REACTIVE not PROACTIVE. Feature recognition, tool cribs, working inside SoidWorks.

CAMWorks lead the way with technology that MC is still playing catchup with. That just tells me that it is in more schools and is easier to steal. There are more MasterCAM users out there, but that doesnt mean it's better. This means software and hardware compatibility.

Because CAMWorks is directly tied to SolidWorks it has to keep up. NET Windows code, so it is way more stable when MS comes out with a new version of Windows. It tried to get up with the times with X, but basically put a pretty face on a DOS platform. MasterCAM is pretty much the definition of 'bloatware'. CAMWorks and MasterCAM use ModuleWorks for their multi-axis machining. I can go on and on about this, but I will condense my reply to some bullet points.

Mastercam for solidworks 2020