Cisco CML, without the node licence.
Multi-vendor. Browser-native.
Cisco Modeling Labs is the official reference for Cisco gear - and if you only ever lab Cisco, it does that job well. But its node count is tied to what you pay (5 free, 20 for $199/yr, 40 for $349/yr), and it stays firmly Cisco-centric. netplex. runs in your browser, mixes Cisco with Juniper, Arista, Nokia, FRR and anything else in one topology, and the free tier gives you up to 1,000 nodes per lab.
CML Free stops at 5 nodes. The next step up is a $199/year subscription for 20. Your topology size is a line item, renewed every year and capped by tier. netplex.'s free Associate tier runs up to 1,000 nodes in a single lab - so the limit is your host's RAM, not your licence.
Great for Cisco.
Limiting for everything else.
Node count is a paywall
CML Free caps at 5 nodes. Personal is $199/year for 20; Personal Plus $349/year for 40. Want a real CCIE-scale topology? You are into Enterprise node-pack licensing that runs into the thousands per year. The size of your lab is a purchasing decision.
Cisco-centric by design
CML ships Cisco reference images - IOSv, IOSvL2, Cat8000v, NX-OSv, IOS XRv, ASAv. That is its strength for Cisco study, but building a mixed Cisco + Juniper + Arista + Linux topology is not what it is built for.
Annual subscription, renewed forever
Personal and Personal Plus are yearly subscriptions. Stop paying and your lab licence lapses. For a home lab or a study year, that is a recurring cost on top of the hardware you already bought to run it.
A VM/appliance to run and feed
CML runs as an appliance - on ESXi, bare metal or a beefy workstation - and the reference images are RAM-hungry. Standing it up and keeping it patched is its own task before your first lab boots.
Personal tier is single-user
CML Personal is a one-person licence. Sharing a lab with a study group or a team, with separate workspaces, is not part of the Personal model - that is Enterprise territory and enterprise pricing.
Locked to the images it blesses
You lab the versions and platforms CML packages. Dropping in an arbitrary vendor qcow2, a container NOS, or a niche appliance is not the CML workflow - so your lab is only as broad as Cisco's image set.
Cisco CML vs netplex.
No licence cap. Any vendor.
| Feature | Cisco CML Free / Personal / Enterprise |
netplex. tier shown per row |
|---|---|---|
| Nodes on the free tier | 5 | Up to 1,000 per lab — free |
| Node count tied to licence | Yes — 5 / 20 / 40 / node packs | No — bounded by host RAM |
| Multi-vendor (non-Cisco) images | Cisco-centric reference set | Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, FRR, any qcow2 |
| Official Cisco images bundled | Yes — the core value | Bring your own (licensing is yours) |
| Runs in browser | Yes — web UI | Yes — full browser Studio |
| Client footprint | VM / appliance (ESXi, bare metal) | Nothing local — thin client |
| Cost to start | $0 (5 nodes) → $199/yr (20) → $349/yr (40) | $0 — Associate, 1,000 nodes |
| Container nodes (Docker) | Not the model | Yes — any Docker image |
| Import EVE-NG / GNS3 / Containerlab | No | Yes — .unl, .gns3project, .clab.yml |
| REST API | Yes — good API | Read (Associate) · Read/write (Architect) |
| Terraform + Ansible | Community providers | Architect · beta |
| Link impairment (delay / jitter / loss) | Yes | Architectnetem + OVS |
| Multi-user / teams | Enterprise only — Personal is single-user | Teamauth, RBAC, quotas |
| Classroom / student pods / grading | Not built in | Classisolated pods, grading |
| Licence model | Annual subscription, node-capped | Free tier forever · no node licence |
CML tiers and pricing from Cisco's Modeling Labs store and DevNet docs (2026): Free 5 nodes, Personal $199/yr 20 nodes, Personal Plus $349/yr 40 nodes, Enterprise node packs. Confirm current pricing with Cisco. netplex. rows are code-verified.
Straight with you — where CML still wins
CML ships genuine, licensed Cisco reference images (IOSv, NX-OSv, IOS XRv, Cat8000v, ASAv) and is the platform Cisco itself points cert candidates at. With netplex. you bring your own images - the licensing for them is yours to sort out, and we don't ship Cisco IOS. If your world is 100% Cisco and you want vendor-blessed images in the box, CML is a legitimate buy. netplex. wins the moment you want more than 5 free nodes, more than one vendor, or a browser instead of an appliance.
Your lab size is RAM, not a licence SKU.
netplex. is a server platform you install once - then the size and shape of your labs is bounded by the host, not by which subscription tier you bought.
1,000 nodes on the free tier
The Associate tier runs up to 1,000 nodes in a single lab at no cost. No node-pack to buy, no annual renewal to keep them.
Truly multi-vendor
Put Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, FRR, VyOS and plain Linux in one topology. Drop in any qcow2 or Docker image - the pipeline profiles it for you.
Nothing to install locally
Install netplex. once on a host; everyone drives it from a browser. No ESXi, no appliance to patch on each machine.
Bring your existing labs
Import EVE-NG .unl, GNS3 .gns3project and Containerlab .clab.yml - consolidate every format in one place.
Real multi-user
Logins, RBAC, teams and quotas are built in - not reserved for an enterprise SKU. Each user gets their own workspace.
Classroom built in
The Class tier gives each student an isolated pod with a live lab, plus reset and grading from one screen.
Stop counting nodes
against your licence.
Start on the free Associate tier - up to 1,000 nodes, any vendor, in your browser. Bring your own images and build the topology CML's tier wouldn't let you.
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