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 has no node limit at all.
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 has no node limit 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 | No node limit 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, no node limit |
| 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 | Full REST API - all tiers |
| Terraform + Ansible | Community providers | Architect · beta |
| AI agent access (MCP) | No | Professional · beta |
| Multi-host distributed fabric | No | Architect · beta |
| Link impairment (delay / jitter / loss) | Yes | Yes - all tiers (netem) |
| Multi-user / teams | Enterprise only - Personal is single-user | Not currently offered |
| Education / student pods / grading | Not built in | Not currently offered |
| 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.
CCIE-scale labs. Not CCIE-scale invoices.
Mix Cisco with Juniper, Arista, Nokia and FRR in one topology, on the free tier.
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.
No node limit on the free tier
The Associate tier has no node limit 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.
AI agent access via MCP
A real MCP server ships alongside the REST API - point any AI agent (Claude, Cursor, whatever you already use) at a running lab and it can see the topology, read configs and run commands. · beta
Scale beyond one machine
An orchestrator schedules your topology across as many worker hosts as you own, stitched together with encrypted VXLAN. · roadmap, beta
Cisco CML to netplex.
The questions people actually ask.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Stop counting nodes
against your licence.
Start on the free Associate tier - no node limit, any vendor, in your browser. Bring your own images and build the topology CML's tier wouldn't let you.
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