What EVE-NG costs: free, Pro or hosted
EVE-NG has a free edition, and its Base licence costs €150 a year before VAT. The other costs are the machine it runs on and the vendor images. Here's each part, with prices checked on 2 November 2026.
In short
- Freemium: free, with admin accounts only (two at a time), "7 nodes per EVE instance" and 63 nodes per lab
- EVE-NG Base: €150 a year before VAT, for all Pro features and 1,024 nodes per lab
- The machine: your own computer or server with Intel VT-x/EPT, or a cloud VM with nested virtualisation
- Hosted: CloudLabBox from £3 a day or £0.50 an hour, with EVE-NG Pro and the images installed
Editions and licence prices
The current EVE-NG download, 7.4.0-2 from 1 November 2026, runs as the free Freemium edition until you add a paid licence. The older free Community edition, 6.2.0-4, reached end of support and end of life in June 2026.
| Edition | Price | Nodes | Users at once |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Free | "7 nodes per EVE instance"; 63 per lab | 2, admin role only |
| EVE-NG Base | €150 for a 1-year licence | 1,024 per lab | 2, admin role only |
| EVE-NG RBL | Base, plus a 1-year licence per extra session: administrator €150, lab editor €350, lab user €300 | 1,024 per lab | One per role licence |
EVE-NG's comparison table shows Freemium with the same feature rows as Base, including Docker, the HTML console with Wireshark capture and connecting links on running nodes. What changes is the node limits and the users. RBL adds lab editor and lab user roles, folder locks and account validity times.
Taxes and currency: a UK buyer saw Base at €180.00 including 20% VAT, or £125.07 before VAT, at checkout on 2 November 2026. The shop shows prices in your local currency and lets a company add its VAT details.
Licence rules worth knowing before you buy
- Licences count people working at the same time: ten at once need ten licences
- A new licence doesn't extend the current one, and leftover days are lost
- The licence is tied to one VM or one computer; you can move it, but only one server with that licence may be switched on
- The server checks in online: EVE-NG's licence token is valid for 24 hours
- Requesting a licence works only when the host, and the hypervisor if EVE-NG runs in a VM, has Intel VT-x/EPT switched on
- EVE-NG's licence terms say it doesn't refund licences
The machine it runs on
EVE-NG runs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and needs Intel VT-x/EPT, or nested AMD EPT. It supports its own machine, Proxmox, VMware ESXi 6.7 or later, Workstation and Player 16 or later, Fusion 8 or later, and Google Cloud VMs. It lists Hyper-V, VirtualBox, AWS, Azure and Apple M-series Macs as unsupported.
Memory is usually what runs out. Each node reserves the vCPU and RAM it's set to when it starts, so add up everything you'll run at once. These are the Add Node defaults on CloudLabBox's own EVE-NG server:
| Node | vCPU | RAM |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco IOSv router | 1 | 1,024 MB |
| Cisco IOSvL2 switch | 1 | 1,024 MB |
| Cisco CSR 1000v | 1 | 4,096 MB |
| Cisco Catalyst 8000v | 4 | 8,192 MB |
| Cisco Nexus 9000v | 4 | 12,288 MB |
| Cisco Catalyst 9000v | 4 | 18,432 MB |
| Arista vEOS | 2 | 6,144 MB |
| Juniper vSRX | 2 | 4,096 MB |
| Fortinet FortiGate | 1 | 1,024 MB |
| Palo Alto PAN-OS | 4 | 8,192 MB |
| Linux | 2 | 4,096 MB |
For example, four IOSv routers and two IOSvL2 switches reserve 6 vCPU and 6 GB. Add two Nexus 9000v switches and you need another 24 GB. EVE-NG also publishes a resource calculator spreadsheet on its download page.
If the Freemium limits suit you and you already have a computer with an Intel CPU and enough memory, EVE-NG costs you nothing beyond the power it uses.
Running it on a cloud VM
Google Cloud is the cloud EVE-NG supports. The VM must have nested virtualisation, which you switch on when you create it, and Google doesn't offer it on E2, memory-optimised, Arm or most AMD machine types. Google also warns that CPU-bound work in a nested VM can run 10% or more slower.
| Item | Iowa (us-central1) | London (europe-west2) |
|---|---|---|
| n2-standard-8 VM (8 vCPU, 32 GB), on demand | $0.388472 an hour | $0.500496 an hour |
| Balanced persistent disk | $0.10 per GiB a month | $0.12 per GiB a month |
The VM is billed while it runs; the disk is billed for as long as it exists, running or not. Network charges and your own time are extra. The licence is tied to that one VM, so rebuilding it means re-hosting the licence. Read what self-hosting EVE-NG in the cloud involves.
Images and vendor licences
EVE-NG doesn't provide vendor images, and its licence makes you get each vendor's authorisation before you use their products on it. So the cost of an image depends on its vendor: some offer free or evaluation images, and many appliances need a licence of their own for full features.
Cisco images bought with Cisco Modeling Labs don't help here: Cisco licenses them for use inside CML only. Read how EVE-NG compares with Cisco Modeling Labs.
Hosted EVE-NG
A hosted workspace replaces the machine, the EVE-NG licence and the image installs with one price. On CloudLabBox each plan is your own EVE-NG Pro workspace with 1,596 images in the Add Node list, sized by vCPU and RAM. Prices are in pounds sterling, paid once, unless you choose monthly renewal on a 1-month plan, which you can cancel any time.
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Fixed Term, a day | Fixed Term, 30 days | On-Demand, an hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | 6 | 8 GB | £3.00 | £45.00 | £0.50 |
| Standard | 12 | 16 GB | £5.00 | £75.00 | £1.25 |
| Professional | 18 | 32 GB | £7.50 | £112.50 | £2.00 |
| Organization | 24 | 48 GB | £10.00 | £150.00 | £3.00 |
- On-Demand credit is used only while you're in the workspace, connected to a device from your own apps, or signed in to the console server, and unused hours don't expire
- Vendor licences aren't included: bring your own, or a vendor evaluation where the image has one
- Every plan includes a read-only Shared folder of guided labs: 684 labs in 39 courses on 2 November 2026
- The free demo gives you 30 minutes with 6 vCPU and 8 GB, enough for a small lab, with no card
What a hosted workspace takes off your hands
The licence is the smallest part of running EVE-NG yourself. These are the jobs that come with it, and what happens to each on CloudLabBox.
- The machine
A computer or VM with an Intel CPU, nested virtualisation and enough memory for your biggest lab. On CloudLabBox you pick a plan by vCPU and RAM, and change it when your labs grow.
- Installing and updating EVE-NG
Ubuntu, the EVE-NG install, its updates and the licence check-in every 24 hours. On CloudLabBox the workspace is ready when you sign in.
- Images
Finding each image, uploading it, naming it the way EVE-NG expects and fixing permissions. On CloudLabBox 1,596 images are already in the Add Node list.
- Disk and running costs
A cloud disk is billed while the VM is stopped, and a home server uses power and space. On CloudLabBox On-Demand time is counted only while you're signed in, and Fixed Term plans are paid once unless you choose monthly renewal.
- Getting at the devices
Securing remote access to the server and each console. On CloudLabBox consoles open in the browser, and a right-click opens a running device in your own terminal, browser, Remote Desktop or VNC viewer, with one-time links.
It also works from any computer with a browser, including an Apple silicon Mac, which can't run EVE-NG itself.
Questions
Is EVE-NG free?
Yes, the Freemium edition. EVE-NG's comparison lists it with two admin users, 7 nodes per EVE instance and 63 nodes per lab, and the same feature rows as the paid editions. The older free Community edition reached end of life in June 2026.
How much is an EVE-NG Pro licence?
On 2 November 2026 the EVE-NG Base licence, which gives all Pro features to two concurrent administrators, cost €150 a year before VAT. A UK buyer saw €180.00 with 20% VAT. Licences for more people cost €150 to €350 a year each, depending on the role.
Does an EVE-NG licence renew or extend?
It's a one-year licence. A new licence doesn't extend the current one, and leftover days are lost, so buy the next one when the current one ends.
Where is EVE-NG's own website?
At eve-ng.net, where EVE-NG publishes its downloads, documentation and licence shop. CloudLabBox is an independent service that hosts EVE-NG Pro workspaces; it doesn't sell EVE-NG licences.
What does it cost to run EVE-NG in the cloud?
It depends on the VM and the hours. On Google Cloud, which EVE-NG supports, an n2-standard-8 with 8 vCPU and 32 GB was listed at $0.500496 an hour in London on 2 November 2026, plus $0.12 per GiB a month for balanced disk, which is billed while the VM is stopped too.
Where these prices come from
Checked on 2 November 2026 on the vendors' own pages. Prices change, so check them before you buy.
Where to go next
See CloudLabBox plans and pricesTry the free demoCompare EVE-NG with GNS3
Spotted a price that's changed? Tell us in the CloudLabBox Discord (opens in a new tab) or at cloudlabbox@gmail.com.