You don't need expensive software unless you want to digitize. most editing software, some are free, some are reasonably priced. the only one that does free updates for the life of the software is floriani. This means when your operating system is no longer compatible with your software you don't have to buy new software. Most softwares can be used for any machine meaning you don't have to buy brother software for brother machines. Since you are new I recommend that you do trials of different software before you buy. Thats the one thing I regret and if I could go back would have bought a different software. You don't need a software right away so take you time and find the right one. Upgrades depend on the type of software and your computer operating system. some softwares can't be upgraded, but they do have updates sometimes that are free when new operating systems come out, but if operating systems are improved in such a way that make them very different from the original operating system they have to actually redo the software to make it compatible with the new operating system which cost them money to do which is why it cost money to upgrade or get the new system. computers are confusing and someone explained this better than me on another forum, but I hope some of it made sense.