The EVE-NG Alternative.
Browser-native. Nothing to SSH into.
netplex. does everything EVE-NG Pro does — browser console, API, multi-user, image pipeline — all included in the free tier. No fixpermissions. No MAC-locked licence. No 63-node wall.
You know these problems.
We fixed all of them.
The fixpermissions tax
Every image upload requires SSH-ing in to run /opt/unetlab/wrappers/unl_wrapper -a fixpermissions. Get the folder name wrong and the image silently doesn't appear. There's no error — it just isn't there.
The 63-node wall just became a 7-node wall
EVE-NG Community capped you at 63 nodes per lab. With V7 the free tier is the new "Freemium" - 7 nodes (their release notes), and the CEO has said publicly the old Community Edition "is going to EOL". A realistic CCIE Enterprise topology doesn't fit in 7 nodes. Pro is $160/yr per concurrent session, with no public enterprise pricing. netplex free: 1,000 nodes per lab.
No browser console in Community
The HTML5 browser console is a Professional-only feature. Community requires installing a native client pack on every machine you use — Windows, Linux or Mac. Mac M-series telnet failures have been an open forum thread for years with no resolution.
MAC-locked licence
EVE-NG Pro is hardware-locked to one server's MAC address. A server rebuild, a NIC replacement, or a cloud migration means a relicence call to the vendor. Timing that during an outage is its own adventure.
AMD CPUs officially unsupported
EVE-NG's official position: "EVE-NG recommends Intel CPU. EVE-NG does not support AMD." If you bought an AMD Ryzen or EPYC server, you're in unsupported territory — and the newer Cisco images (CSR1000v, vMX v19.x) fail on AMD/VMware anyway.
1–2 day setup, no recovery docs
A fresh EVE-NG deployment takes 1–2 full days. Docs have inconsistent formatting, grammar issues, and missing troubleshooting guidance. The Professional Cookbook is paywalled. When things break, the community is your only option.
EVE-NG vs netplex.
Both free tiers, side by side.
netplex. Associate is free with no time limit. EVE-NG Community is also free. Here's what you get in each.
| Feature | EVE-NG Community Free |
EVE-NG Pro ~€150 / yr · MAC-locked |
netplex. tier shown per row |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max nodes per lab | 63 | 1,024 | 1,000 — free |
| Modern browser UI (React canvas) | No — dated Flash-era UI | No — same UI | Yes — all tiers |
| In-browser consoles (SSH · serial) | HTML5 console | HTML5 console | Integrated · all tiers |
| Integrated packet capture | Local client pack only | Integrated (Pro pack) | Browser-native · all tiers |
| Licence-free nodes (FRR · VyOS) | No | No | Yes — all tiers |
| EVE-NG .unl · GNS3 import | — | — | Yes — all tiers |
| Link speed cap | None (good) | None (good) | 50 Mbps (Associate) · None (Professional+) |
| Image pipeline (auto-convert · boot-test) | Manual — SSH + fixpermissions | Manual — SSH + fixpermissions | 8-stage automated · all tiers |
| One-click app nodes (Wireshark · Kali) | No | No | Professional |
| Snapshots · Git backup | No | No | Professional |
| Fault injection (link · node up/down) | No | No | Professional |
| REST API | No | No | Read (Associate) · Read/write (Architect) |
| Ansible + Terraform | No | No | Architect · beta |
| QoS impairment (delay · jitter · loss) | No | Yes | Architect |
| Multi-user · roles | No (2 admin accounts only) | Yes | Team |
| SSO / AD | No | Yes | Class / Enterprise |
| AMD CPU support | Not supported (official) | Not supported (official) | Yes — KVM on any x86_64 |
| Licence portability | N/A | MAC-locked to one server | No MAC-lock — all tiers |
| Setup time (first lab running) | 1–2 days | 1–2 days | Under 5 minutes |
EVE-NG figures from the official features-compare page (June 2026). netplex. figures from pricing.html.
Your EVE-NG labs come with you.
30 seconds, not 30 hours.
Import your .unl file and every node, link, interface assignment and saved configuration transfers automatically. No manual rewiring.
Export from EVE-NG
Right-click your lab → Export, or grab the .unl file directly from /opt/unetlab/labs/
Import in netplex.
Labs → Import → EVE-NG (.unl) and drop the file. The importer maps device kinds automatically.
Start your lab
Select all, press Start. Console in from the browser — no client pack, no PuTTY.
Nodes + links
All topology objects carry across — node positions, interface assignments, link types.
Saved configs
Startup configurations embedded in the .unl file come across too. RAM-only state does not.
GNS3 too
Same importer handles .gns3project files and containerlab YAML. One workflow for every format.
Not a port. A ground-up rebuild.
EVE-NG was designed in 2007. netplex. was designed for the way engineers work in 2026 — browser-first, API-first, team-first.
No client software, ever
Console access, packet capture, topology editing — all run in the browser. There is no native client pack. It works on any machine with a modern browser, including Mac M-series.
Image pipeline — drop and walk away
Upload an image and the 8-stage pipeline auto-classifies, converts, sets permissions, organises and boot-tests it. No SSH. No fixpermissions. If it fails, you get a plain-English explanation.
Topology sharing is a link
Share any lab with a URL. Recipients can view the live topology in their browser, or clone it to their own account with one click. No file exports, no version mismatches.
Full automation toolbox on one seat
A full REST + WebSocket API, API keys and a CLI ship today, with a Terraform provider and Ansible collection in beta — all on the single-seat Architect tier. No enterprise contract required for one engineer.
Licence runs anywhere
No MAC address fingerprinting. Move the server, change the hardware, migrate to the cloud — the licence follows the appliance, not the NIC.
IPv6 labs
OSPFv3, BGP4+, SLAAC/DHCPv6 and SRv6 run natively between your nodes over the L2 fabric today. Dual-stack templates, canvas labels and an IPv6 NAT gateway are in development.
Got a specific EVE-NG problem? Jump straight to it.
Ready to run your first
EVE-NG import?
Start on the free Associate tier. Import a .unl file. Open a console in your browser. No client pack, no SSH session, no fixpermissions.
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