CML-Free runs five nodes. CML Personal ships with 20 Cisco nodes and Personal Plus with 40, and neither can expand. Cisco licenses its reference images for use only inside CML, does not support CML on Apple Silicon, and permits the Free and Personal tiers for non-commercial use only. If you are looking for Cisco Modeling Labs alternatives, one of those limits is usually why, and each one points to a different fix. Find the limit you are hitting in the table below, then jump to the section that covers it.
Table of contents
Start with what stops you. The tier limits and license terms below come from Cisco's CML product page and the CML license agreement.
|
The limit |
Why it happens |
The CloudMyLab option |
|---|---|---|
|
Your topology needs more nodes than your tier |
CML-Free runs five nodes; Personal ships with 20 and Personal Plus with 40, and neither can expand |
Hosted EVE-NG Pro with a paid license, or CML Enterprise on hosted servers |
|
You need vendors beyond Cisco |
CML ships Cisco reference images; other vendors mean building custom node types yourself |
Hosted EVE-NG Pro or hosted GNS3, with the images you are licensed to use |
|
Your computer cannot run the lab |
Every running node needs its own CPU and memory, on an Intel host with VT-x and EPT |
Hosted CML: your CML license, our servers |
|
You work on an Apple Silicon Mac |
Cisco states that CML does not work on M series chips |
Hosted CML or hosted EVE-NG Pro, opened from the Mac |
|
A team needs the same labs |
Personal and Personal Plus are single-user |
Hosted EVE-NG with role-based licensing, or CML Enterprise hosted |
|
The lab is for work |
Free, Personal and Personal Plus are licensed for non-commercial use |
CML Enterprise or a paid EVE-NG license on hosted infrastructure |
|
You want labs as code |
You want topologies in YAML and Git |
Containerlab labs hosted by CloudMyLab |
Every option in the right-hand column runs on CloudMyLab infrastructure. Hosted CML is bring-your-own-license: CML licenses are not sold by CloudMyLab and come directly from Cisco, and we host CML without any affiliation with Cisco. For EVE-NG, CloudMyLab is an official hosting partner, tested and approved by EVE-NG Ltd. Hosted CML, EVE-NG and GNS3 are reachable through a browser, VPN or jump host, and the free 24-hour trial covers hosted EVE-NG Pro and hosted CML.
Cisco's product page describes CML-Free as "five nodes", CML Personal as shipping "with 20 Cisco nodes" and Personal Plus "with 40 Cisco nodes", and says both Personal tiers "cannot expand". A VRF-lite or multi-area OSPF topology passes five nodes quickly, and an SD-WAN or data center design can pass 40.
You have two ways forward. The first keeps CML: CML Enterprise "ships with 20 Cisco nodes and can expand by up to another 300 nodes", and you can run it on a hosted CML server sized for the topology. The second moves the lab to EVE-NG: EVE-NG lists its paid Base and RBL licenses at 1,024 nodes per lab, so with hosted EVE-NG Pro the real limit becomes the server's CPU and memory, not the license tier. Our guides to what each CML tier allows and the EVE-NG editions cover the details.
CML ships Cisco's reference platforms, such as IOSv, IOL, CSR 1000v, Catalyst 8000V and 9000v, IOS XRv 9000, NX-OS 9000 and ASAv. Cisco's CML FAQ says custom node types "can include third party network elements or hosts", so another vendor is possible, but you build and maintain each node definition yourself.
If your lab mixes Cisco with Juniper, Arista, Palo Alto, Fortinet or Linux hosts, EVE-NG and GNS3 are built around that kind of mixed-vendor topology. On hosted EVE-NG Pro or hosted GNS3, you upload the images you are licensed to use, with onboarding and image-upload help included, and build the topology in one place. For a side-by-side of the two emulators, see EVE-NG vs CML.
No, and this matters before you switch. Cisco's CML license agreement states that the "Cisco Virtualization Reference Platforms are for use only within the CML environment. They may not be used independently or be exported for use in any other way."
So moving from CML to EVE-NG or GNS3 also means moving to images you are separately licensed for. If your lab is Cisco-only and you rely on CML's reference images, keeping CML and changing where it runs is usually the shorter path.
Cisco's CML system requirements start at 8 GB of memory and four or more physical Intel cores with VT-x and EPT, and every node you run adds its own CPU and memory on top. Heavier images such as Catalyst 9000v or Catalyst 8000V reach a laptop's limits after only a few nodes.
This is the limit that does not need a new emulator. Hosted CML keeps the same CML, the same reference images and your own license, on servers we run and support. Our guide to running Cisco Modeling Labs as a hosted service explains how it works.
Cisco states it directly: CML is "officially supported only on systems with Intel processors. CML does not work in M series chips." That rules out running CML locally on any Apple Silicon Mac.
The fix is to run CML, or EVE-NG Pro, somewhere else and use the Mac as the client. With hosted CML or hosted EVE-NG Pro, the lab runs on our x86 servers and you open it from the Mac through a browser, VPN or jump host.
CML Personal and Personal Plus are "single user only", and the license agreement permits them for "a single named individual User on a single server/workstation". A study group, a training cohort or an engineering team cannot share one Personal license.
Two options fit a team. CML Enterprise is built "for organizations with many users", and under its license the number of users is unlimited, limited only by the hosting platform; you can run it on hosted CML servers. Alternatively, EVE-NG with a role-based (RBL) license gives admin, editor and user roles, with folder and edit locks per user, on hosted EVE-NG Pro.
The CML license agreement permits CML-Free, Personal and Personal Plus for "non-commercial use (including evaluation use by a commercial entity employee)". Evaluating CML at work is allowed; building your team's change-validation lab or a customer proof of concept on a Personal license is not.
For work labs, the licensed options are CML Enterprise or a paid EVE-NG license, and both run on hosted infrastructure. Proof of concept and change validation are typical uses of CloudMyLab's hosted emulators, with onboarding and image-upload help included.
Some engineers leave CML because they want their topologies as code: a YAML file in Git, versioned and reviewed like the rest of their automation. Containerlab defines labs that way, and it runs container-native network operating systems.
If that is where you are going, CloudMyLab can host Containerlab labs for you, so the lab runs on managed infrastructure instead of a workstation. Talk to us through the hosted emulators page.
The quickest way to check an alternative is to rebuild one lab you already run. The free 24-hour trial covers hosted EVE-NG Pro and hosted CML: bring a topology that hits your current limit, run it on the hosted server, and compare.
If your reason was CML itself, such as the image set or the license model, start the trial on EVE-NG Pro. If your reason was the machine underneath, such as RAM, a Mac or the setup, start it on hosted CML and keep the labs you already have.
The best Cisco Modeling Labs alternative depends on which CML limit you hit. Node caps, other vendors and team roles point to EVE-NG Pro or CML Enterprise. A small computer or an Apple Silicon Mac points to CML on a hosted server. Labs as code point to Containerlab. CloudMyLab hosts each of these, so the move is a change of setup rather than a rebuild from scratch. For the rest of the landscape, see our guides to EVE-NG alternatives and Packet Tracer alternatives.
CML-Free itself runs five nodes for non-commercial use. GNS3 is free software, and EVE-NG's free Freemium mode runs seven nodes per EVE instance. Each still needs a capable server and the device images you are licensed to use. Hosted EVE-NG Pro and hosted CML both have a free 24-hour trial.
Yes. Cisco documents CML Enterprise and Personal deployments in AWS and Azure on instances with nested virtualization. CloudMyLab also hosts CML for you: you bring your own CML license from Cisco, and the server, setup and support are ours.
No. Cisco's CML license agreement states that the Cisco Virtualization Reference Platforms are for use only within the CML environment and may not be exported for use in any other way. On EVE-NG or GNS3 you use images you are separately licensed for.
Not on Apple Silicon. Cisco's system requirements state that CML does not work on M series chips and is officially supported only on systems with Intel processors. Running CML on a hosted server and opening it from the Mac avoids the problem.
Five nodes. CML Personal ships with 20 Cisco nodes and Personal Plus with 40, and neither can expand. CML Enterprise ships with 20 nodes and can expand by up to another 300.