NetPilot
AI-Powered Network Emulation

AI Network Emulator

Describe any network in plain English. Lab runs in ~2 minutes.

Vibe labbing — describe the network in plain English, agent builds it, iterate conversationally, SSH in to verify. Cloud-hosted ContainerLab, 9+ vendors (growing), real CLIs, no VM, no Docker, no image hunting.

Multi-vendor labs in ~2 minutes
Real device CLIs via SSH
Cloud-hosted — no setup
Free tier available
Disponible en Español

What makes NetPilot different

Cloud-native + AI-designed in one product — 2-minute prompt-to-lab vs hours of setup, 9+ network OSes (growing) across GNS3, EVE-NG, CML, and ContainerLab workloads in a single topology.

Cloud-native

Browser only. Nothing to install.
The alternativeEvery traditional emulator (GNS3, EVE-NG, CML, ContainerLab) is self-hosted: VMs, Docker, Linux servers, 16-32 GB RAM, hours of setup.

AI-designed

Describe any multi-vendor topology in plain English. AI designs + generates per-vendor configs + deploys.
The alternativeEvery other emulator is drag-and-drop GUI + hundreds of CLI lines typed per device, per-vendor syntax. No AI assistance.

Multi-turn iteration

"Add an Arista spine and move OSPF to area 0.0.0.1" — AI updates across all affected devices.
The alternativeTraditional emulators: edit YAML / reconfigure GUI / push CLI by hand, device by device, every change.

2 minutes vs days/weeks

~2 minutes from prompt to working multi-vendor lab.
The alternativeDays-to-weeks of infra + days-to-weeks of per-device CLI. No other emulator ships the cloud + AI combination.

See It in Action

Watch how NetPilot builds a complete multi-vendor network lab from a single description.

What Engineers Ask NetPilot

Vibe labbing in action. From OSPF multi-area to MPLS L3VPN to leaf-spine fabrics — describe any topology, iterate conversationally, SSH into any device to verify.

“Build a 3-site MPLS L3VPN with PE routers, route reflectors, and customer VRFs”

Full MPLS backbone, LDP, iBGP VPNv4 peering, VRF definitions, PE-CE routing — deployed and verified

“Set up a Palo Alto firewall between two Cisco network segments with NAT and security policies”

Firewall zones, NAT rules, security policies, Cisco router configs, end-to-end connectivity verified

“Create a leaf-spine fabric with 4 Arista switches and BGP EVPN”

Spine-leaf topology, eBGP underlay, EVPN VXLAN overlay, host connectivity — all auto-configured

“Design a multi-vendor OSPF lab with Cisco IOL routers and Nokia SR Linux”

Multi-area OSPF across vendors, interface configs, area assignments, adjacency verification commands

“Build a DMVPN hub-and-spoke topology with IPSec and EIGRP over tunnel”

DMVPN Phase 3 config, NHRP, IPSec profiles, EIGRP over tunnel, spoke-to-spoke traffic verified

“Create a network change validation sandbox mirroring our production BGP setup”

Production-mirror topology, BGP policies, prefix-lists, route-maps — test changes before deploying live

Every Network Vendor and Protocol

Multi-vendor from day one. Build labs with Cisco, Nokia, Arista, Juniper, Palo Alto, Fortinet, and FRR — all in a single topology.

Network Vendors

  • Nokia SR Linux (built-in)
  • FRRouting / FRR (built-in)
  • Linux Clients (built-in)
  • Cisco IOL Routers & Switches (upload)
  • Arista cEOS (upload)
  • Juniper cRPD (upload)
  • Palo Alto & Fortinet (upload)

Routing Protocols

  • OSPF (Single & Multi-Area)
  • BGP (eBGP / iBGP / Route Reflectors)
  • IS-IS
  • EIGRP
  • MPLS / LDP / Segment Routing
  • Static & Default Routing

Switching & Data Center

  • VLANs & Trunking
  • STP / RSTP / MST
  • LACP / EtherChannel
  • VXLAN / EVPN
  • Leaf-Spine Fabrics
  • Port Security

Services & Security

  • DHCP / DNS / NTP
  • NAT / PAT
  • ACLs (Standard & Extended)
  • Firewall Policies & Zones
  • IPSec VPN / DMVPN
  • QoS Policies

AI-Generated Network Lab Configurations

Describe what you need and NetPilot AI generates the complete multi-vendor configuration — topology, IP addressing, and device configs ready to deploy.

How to Build a Multi-Vendor OSPF Lab

AI generates a multi-area OSPF topology with Cisco IOL and Nokia SR Linux routers. Complete configs for both vendors, area assignments, interface IPs, and adjacency verification — deployed in 2 minutes.

Get AI Guide

BGP Peering Lab: Cisco + Juniper + Arista

Build eBGP peering across three vendors with AI-generated configs. AS assignments, neighbor statements, prefix advertisements, and route verification — all auto-configured.

Get AI Guide

MPLS L3VPN Lab with AI

Complete MPLS backbone with LDP, iBGP VPNv4 route reflectors, PE-CE routing, and customer VRFs. AI handles the complexity — you just describe the topology.

Get AI Guide

Leaf-Spine Fabric Lab in Minutes

AI builds a VXLAN EVPN leaf-spine fabric with Arista cEOS switches. eBGP underlay, EVPN overlay, host connectivity — production-grade data center topology auto-generated.

Get AI Guide

Network Change Validation Sandbox

Mirror your production network and test changes safely. AI generates a sandbox topology matching your environment — validate BGP policy changes, ACL updates, and firmware upgrades before going live.

Get AI Guide

Firewall Lab with AI Configuration

Deploy Palo Alto or Fortinet firewalls alongside Cisco routers. AI generates zone configs, NAT rules, security policies, and routing — test firewall integrations in an isolated lab.

Get AI Guide

AI Network Lab for CCNA/CCNP Practice

Describe any certification lab scenario and get a working topology with real device CLIs. OSPF, EIGRP, VLANs, STP, ACLs, NAT — all auto-configured and ready to practice.

Get AI Guide

How It Works

1

Describe Your Network

Tell NetPilot what you need in plain English: "Build a multi-vendor OSPF lab with Cisco and Nokia routers"

2

AI Builds & Configures

NetPilot AI generates the topology diagram, assigns IPs, writes vendor-specific configs for every device, and validates connectivity.

3

Deploy to Cloud

One click deploys to cloud-hosted ContainerLab. SSH into any device, run show commands, test routing — real CLIs from any browser.

NetPilot vs every other network emulator

Head-to-head against GNS3, EVE-NG, Cisco CML, and ContainerLab across the 4 killing points plus the dimensions that matter.

DimensionGNS3EVE-NGCisco CMLContainerLabNetPilot
Primary use caseHome lab; CCNA/CCNP/CCIE cert studyHome lab; existing Pro on-prem deploymentsSingle-vendor Cisco certification (CCIE exam-grade)DevOps/CI-CD pipelines; raw Docker-native labsEnterprise change validation + rapid multi-vendor labs
Cloud-hosted / browser onlySelf-hostedSelf-hostedVM + nested virtualizationDocker + Linux hostBrowser only
AI-designed topology + configsManual GUI + CLIManual GUI + CLIManual GUI + CLIYAML + CLI by handPlain English → lab
Multi-turn natural-language iterationPer-device editsPer-device editsPer-device editsEdit YAML + redeployConversational across devices
First-time setup4-8+ hours1-2 days2-4 hours1-2 hoursNone — cloud-hosted
Time to working lab1-2 hours (manual)1-2 hours (manual)30-60 min (manual)20-40 min (YAML + configs)~2 minutes
Multi-vendor in one topologyBYOI per vendorBYOI per vendorCisco onlyBuild Docker images per vendor9+ vendors (growing), prompt-driven
Server / hardware required32 GB RAM recommendedDedicated server, 16 GB+VM + nested virtDocker hostNone
Real device CLIsYesYesYesYesYes — SSH to any device
Offline / air-gapped operationFully offline on owned hardwareSelf-hosted on your serverLocal VM on your workstationDocker on your Linux hostCloud-first; enterprise on-prem available
Maintenance burdenVM + image + updatesServer + OS + imagesVM + license renewalDocker + image updatesZero — fully managed
CostFree + your hardwareFree / 150 EUR ProFree 5 nodes / $199 yrFree + your hardwareFree tier + enterprise

Where NetPilot fits vs alternatives

Pick traditional emulators (GNS3, EVE-NG, CML, ContainerLab) when you need:

  • •You specifically need fully offline operation on your own hardware
  • •You have existing infrastructure and image libraries invested
  • •You want raw control over the container / VM host for custom tooling
  • •You only need a single-vendor environment (e.g., Cisco CML for Cisco-only)

Pick NetPilot when you need:

  • •AI-designed topologies + per-vendor configs from plain English
  • •~2 minutes prompt-to-working-lab vs hours of manual work
  • •Multi-turn natural-language iteration across all devices
  • •Cloud-hosted — browser-only, no Docker, no VM, no server
  • •9+ real NOSes (and growing) in one topology

Verdict:Traditional emulators remain the right choice for offline DIY on owned infrastructure. NetPilot is the productized cloud + AI-native choice for teams who want multi-vendor topologies from plain English, deployed in ~2 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about AI-powered network emulation

An AI network emulator is a platform that generates, configures, and deploys working multi-vendor network labs from a plain-English description — instead of hand-wiring topologies, sourcing device images, and writing vendor-specific configs by device. In 2026 the category has distinct tiers: Cisco CML 2.9 added an MCP server for AI-driven Cisco-only labs, GNS3/EVE-NG/ContainerLab pair with external LLMs via custom integrations, and as of 2026 NetPilot is the productized AI-native multi-vendor cloud emulator in this category — 9+ vendors (Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Nokia, Palo Alto, Fortinet, SR Linux, FRR, Linux) in one topology, generated from plain English in ~2 minutes.
Cisco CML 2.9's MCP server (2026) is the strongest official Cisco-integrated option, but stays single-vendor and requires local VM licensing. GNS3 + chatbot plugins or ContainerLab + LLM-generated YAML work for teams comfortable stitching tooling together — but neither ships a turn-key multi-vendor-lab-from-prompt workflow, and both still need a self-hosted server. EVE-NG is proven for team on-prem labs but has no AI lane. As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized cloud-native AI-native multi-vendor option in this category: browser-based, zero infrastructure, real NOS CLIs via SSH, 2-minute lab-from-prompt across 9+ vendors.
Yes. Describe a multi-vendor scenario — for example, "Build a 3-site MPLS WAN with BGP route reflectors, a Cisco PE, a Juniper PE, and an Arista CE" — and NetPilot generates the topology, assigns IP addressing, writes per-vendor configurations, and deploys real NOS CLIs you can SSH into. Multi-vendor is the differentiator vs Cisco CML (Cisco-only) and vs most GNS3/EVE-NG AI add-ons (single-vendor or prompt-template only). As of 2026, NetPilot is the productized AI-native multi-vendor network emulator in this category.
The workflow for enterprise teams: paste a sanitized production snippet or describe the change ("spin up a digital twin of our US-East POP plus the new eBGP peer to Cogent"), NetPilot rebuilds the relevant segment on real multi-vendor NOS in the cloud in ~2 minutes, you run the planned change against the mirror, capture pre/post snapshots, and verify convergence before rolling to production. This is the core change-validation use case — see the dedicated [/network-change-validation](/network-change-validation) hub for the deeper workflow; /network-emulator-ai is the underlying technology.
Yes. NetPilot supports link-down / peer-down / interface-failure scenarios on every deployed lab — either via plain-English prompts ("bring down the backbone link between R1 and R2 and verify OSPF reconvergence") or direct CLI (shutdown the interface via SSH, clear ip bgp * for BGP resets, ContainerLab's destroy-node for full-device failure). Failure injection is a first-class use case for pre-deployment validation and for CCIE-level practice.
Real network operating systems. NetPilot deploys containerized NOS images on cloud-hosted ContainerLab (the open-source framework at containerlab.dev): Cisco IOL (IOS routers + L2/L3 switches), Nokia SR Linux (free under Nokia's open license), Arista cEOS, Juniper cRPD, Palo Alto PAN-OS, Fortinet FortiGate, FRRouting (open source at frrouting.org), plus Linux. Every device has a real CLI you can SSH into — these are not simulated abstractions. Commands behave identically to production equipment.
NetPilot's free tier covers AI-powered lab design + configuration generation + deployment on cloud-hosted ContainerLab with real NOS CLIs. It's the right starting point for evaluation, individual engineering work, and small labs. Pro ($20/month) adds extended lab hours and usage quotas for active engineering work. Enterprise unlocks on-prem deployment, dedicated multi-tenant isolation, SSO, audit logging, and priority vendor-image support — procurement-grade requirements.
Yes. NetPilot's Enterprise tier runs on customer-owned infrastructure — on-prem data center, private cloud (AWS GovCloud, Azure Gov), or fully air-gapped. For fully offline / air-gapped / FedRAMP / IL4 / IL5 regulated environments, DIY EVE-NG, ContainerLab, or GNS3 on owned hardware stay the right choice per our pillars §3 concession — NetPilot Enterprise covers cloud-managed on-prem deployments and air-gapped installs via private registry, but not compliance frameworks we don't currently hold.

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Stop Configuring. Start Building.

Describe any network in plain English and get a working multi-vendor lab with real CLIs — in minutes, for free.