I wasn’t aware that Carbide Create was in this category. I thought it was only sourced by C3D. Anyway, I started there in my latest “life” and got away from it when fellow forumidums suggested CNCjs. CC was my training wheels and was always in the way. gSender is software that lets me focus on what I am cutting in wood. (I’m hoping they can find a way to finance the development, too.)
Gee whillikers, Wally, is that what we were/are? 
I don’t know if there is really any point in offering up alternatives to gSender, but for anyone using VCarvePro or Aspire, Vectric offers Vtransfer. It is a very pared down sended, but it does the job. I don’t believe it is available to anyone using VCarve Desktop, but I’m not sure.
I run VCarve desktop and VTransfer is available to install as an option. Haven’t used it much though since it is (so much) less functional than almost all other senders. It is very basic, but it’s biggest feature IMHO is the ability to send toolpaths directly from VCarve through VTransfer to the GRBL Controller/CNC rather than outputting G-Code. I admit though, I never really did that as I - probably like most - get comfortable with whatever sender works best for me, aka gSender.
I have never had to many issues with gSender at all (or Sienci support for that matter, as others have said) other than back in the early days (remember the Alpha!) with things like runaway movements from long left clicks on the arrows. I get that everyone’s situation and PC/MAC/PI are different, but I am still amazed at all of the trouble sometimes.
Makes me wonder if something else is going on, intermittent USB ports, bad cables, sleep modes, user error or whatever other gremlins that creep into systems that make things not work. Known issues are different like the recall of 1.1.6, which now has been fixed with the release of 1.1.7.
Not trying to minimize anyone’s issues with this amazing sender (my opinion), but there were similar problems like this with UGS and CNCjs - people had stuff happen that I never had issues with. These programs worked for me pretty much all the time, unless I made a boo-boo in my toolpath, or setup of the software.
Old Man ramblings done. Looking forward to trying gSender on my - close your ears Longmill - Fox Alien Masuter CNC with 40w Laser.
@stevendq Thanks for correcting me on vtransfer being available on desktop versions. I wasn’t sure and I guess that I was too lazy to check before posting. 
Like you, I have had issues with UGS and early versions of gSender. I moved away from UGS early in the life of gS and never looked back. I really don’t believe that UGS is in the same league with gS now, but that is simply my biased, unscientific opinion.
Actually, it appears I made a good post Papabear… it got people discussing the issues with gsender, many good comments have been made and alternatives suggested. I’ve learned more about g code senders in this thread then reading the scouring the gsender forum.
As far as running the machine. I have over 15 years running cnc in industrials shops. My son in law who I work with and bought the machine for has 17 years experience and is currently going to school to become a cnc programmer. We have been running the machine since we got it in the spring. Had to take a short break because we got busy working on the son in laws house.
And I didn’t just Willy nilly come onto the forum to whine. I spent over 2 hours trying to get version 1.1.6 to work for me. In the process it crashed my machine twice, potentially damaging it.
Having a short deadline is well, in business to be expected… this statement tells me you understand little about how it works with repeat customers. Which this person was, ran out of time, wanted a personalized gift for his daughter. Just got busy… called me and said hey can you get this done in a couple of days, I said yeah… that’s plenty of time for the project. Which had I not upgraded gsender, was ample time. Including the epoxy pour I had to do.
A lot of really good comments here, I greatly appreciate it. I’ll do some research and see what I can do. I thought about switching to carbide create. But I’m not sure I like it’s limitations. I’ve used usg, not a fan of the interface. Functionally it works ok. So I’m still looking and debating which way to go.
Carbide create is not a gcode sender, it is a CAD/cam program. Carbide Motion is Carbide 3D’s sender gui and will only work with Carbide 3D machines.
gSender is currently the best sender for Grbl based machines.
I am closing this thread. Johan’s most recent post seems to indicate that he has achieved his purpose. He has learned of other code senders and is in a better position to choose one.
I was asked early on in this thread to sanction Johan and/or to close the thread. At that time, while I did not agree with Johan’s position that gSender is garbage, I did not believe that he had violated the rules of the forum. In hindsight, I may well have been wrong.
I have been accused in the past of censoring members and discussion. It comes with the territory, I guess.
If closing this thread is seen by anyone here as censorship, by all means write me or Sienci.