is the paid, feature-rich version of the free "Community" edition.
What are the (CPU/RAM) of the server you intend to host this on?
First, let's clarify the baseline. EVE-NG is an emulator that allows you to run virtual network devices (routers, firewalls, switches, hosts) on a single bare-metal server or VM. Unlike simulators like Packet Tracer, EVE-NG uses real operating system images (IOS, IOS-XE, NX-OS, JunOS, PAN-OS, etc.), making your lab indistinguishable from a physical rack.
To help tailor this deployment to your specific needs, please tell me: eve ng pro full
Maria was a senior network architect at a mid-sized financial firm. Her team was responsible for migrating a complex, multi-site infrastructure to a new routing protocol. They had been using the free version of EVE-NG (Community Edition) for two years. It worked fine for small labs, but this migration involved 200+ virtual devices, custom images, and required collaboration across three time zones.
Organizations use EVE-NG Pro to simulate complex WANs, test failover scenarios, and tune Quality of Service (QoS) policies before production deployment. The ability to validate configuration changes in a risk-free environment has helped countless network teams avoid costly outages.
Easily import and design custom node templates for proprietary or niche virtual appliances. 3. Architecture and Technical Requirements is the paid, feature-rich version of the free
| Feature | EVE-NG Community (Free) | EVE-NG Professional (Paid) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Free | Starts at €112.40 per year | | Node Limit Per Lab | 63 nodes | 1024 nodes | | TCP Ports | Fixed: 128 per POD | Dynamic : 1-65000 | | User Accounts | 2 admins only | Up to 32,000 (Admin/User/Editor) | | Docker Support | No | Yes (Integrated) | | Network Quality | No | Yes (Set packet loss, delay, jitter) | | Wireshark Capture | Local wrapper only | Integrated via Docker | | Authentication | Local accounts only | Supports Active Directory & Radius | | Clustering | No | Yes (Up to 8 servers) |
: Save and swap between multiple configuration sets for a single lab topology. EVE-NG Professional vs. Community Edition Community Edition Professional Edition Price ~$160/year (subscription) Max Nodes Multi-user Very limited (2 admin max) Extensive (up to 32K accounts) Hot Swapping No (must stop nodes) Yes (hot-add connections) Link Quality Not available Jitter, Delay, Packet Loss Docker Support No local integration Full Docker & Wireshark integration Installation and System Requirements
An EVE-NG Pro installation is an empty shell without vendor images. The "Full" experience implies populating the backend directories with the proper virtual appliances. EVE-NG organizes these images into three distinct directories based on their virtualization technology: QEMU/KVM Images ( /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/ ) EVE-NG is an emulator that allows you to
EVE-NG Pro runs as a bare-metal installation or as a virtual machine (via VMware ESXi or Workstation). Because it runs true virtual machines (QEMU/KVM), hardware provisioning is critical. Minimum Specifications (Small Labs: 5–10 Nodes)
The full professional tier delivers several enterprise-grade capabilities: Upgrade Eve-ng Community to Eve-ng Professional