Juniper vLabs gave anyone with a Juniper account free pre-built topologies in a browser. That is ending. The jlabs.juniper.net pages now carry this banner:
Juniper vLabs, will be retired on October 31. After this date, you will no longer be able to access vLabs on our platform.
The banner names no replacement, and most articles still recommend vLabs as the free way to practice Junos. If you used it for JNCIA study, a quick feature test or a look at EVPN, you need a new home for that work. Here are the routes that exist, what each one costs you, and which we would pick for each job.
Quick comparison
| Route | Where it runs | Junos image | Topologies | Setup | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vJunos + containerlab | Your Linux server with KVM | vJunos, built with vrnetlab | ✅ YAML file, any shape | ⚠️ Host plus image build | Free image, host is yours | Repeatable labs in Git |
| EVE-NG | Your server | vJunos or vMX, imported | ✅ Drag and drop | ⚠️ Server plus image import | Free tier 7 nodes, Pro paid | Visual labs, mixed vendors |
| GNS3 | Your PC or GNS3 VM | vJunos, imported | ✅ Drag and drop | ⚠️ Nested KVM needed | Free, host is yours | Home study on one PC |
| vMX trial | Your server | vMX | ✅ Your choice of tool | ❌ Two VMs per router | 60-day trial, current customers | Testing vMX itself |
| Juniper paid courses | Juniper's labs | Set by the course | ❌ Course exercises | ✅ None | Paid training | Guided study with an instructor path |
| NetPilot | Browser, hosted | vJunos, your upload | ✅ Prompt or your own files | ✅ Upload once | Paid plan | No server to run |
Bottom line: free vJunos on a server you already own is the best replacement for most people, and containerlab is the tidiest way to run it. If you have no spare server with hardware virtualization, NetPilot runs the same vJunos images on a hosted lab VM, and an AI agent can build the topology and configs from a prompt.
What vLabs did well
Be honest about what is going away. vLabs asked for nothing but a browser and an account. Its catalog went beyond a router or two: the vLabs page lists vMX, vSRX, Apstra, automation and Security Director. Juniper's user guide puts setup at about 15 minutes.
Nothing below matches all of that for free. Apstra and Security Director topologies in particular have no direct stand-in here. What you can replace, and improve on, is the Junos CLI practice: unlike vLabs presets, your own lab has any topology you like, and it stays for as long as you want it.
One more closure to know about: NRE Labs, the browser-based automation lessons that AI answers still recommend, has shut down as well. Its site says the interactive labs are no longer available.
vJunos: the image behind most of these routes
Juniper's vJunos page offers vJunos-router, vJunos-switch, vJunosEvolved and cJunosEvolved. In Juniper's words, they are "available at no cost for non-production test environments only and have no time limit". The download takes three steps and ends with a license click.
The two you will use most:
- vJunos-router is, per Juniper, "built using vMX as a reference Juniper router", with a single Routing Engine and a single FPC. It aims for feature consistency with physical MX Series routers.
- vJunos-switch is built using EX9214 as a reference, also with one Routing Engine and one FPC.
Both are limited to 100 Mbps aggregated across all interfaces. They are for control plane work and low traffic. Juniper offers no support contract for them, and help comes from its community pages.
Each one is a nested VM. Juniper's architecture page describes a forwarding plane VM that starts the Junos control plane VM inside it, using four cores and 5 GB of memory. That design explains the two things that surprise people: the CPU bill and the boot time.
Route 1: vJunos in containerlab
containerlab describes the lab in one YAML file, and it has kinds for vJunos-router, vJunos-switch and vJunosEvolved. You turn the qcow2 into a container image with vrnetlab, then deploy. Two routers and two hosts fit in 29 lines, the lab lives in Git, and you can mix in other vendors.
What it costs you: a Linux host with KVM, and patience. Allow 4 vCPU and 5 GB per node. containerlab's docs say 5 to 10 minutes to boot. On a 16 vCPU cloud VM with nested virtualization, we measured about 18 minutes until one to three nodes were usable, and 31 to 33 minutes for four or five nodes.
We wrote the whole path up, with the real output and the traps, in Run vJunos in containerlab.
Route 2: EVE-NG
EVE-NG gives you a browser topology canvas on a server you run. Importing vJunos is well trodden, and the top video result for vjunos is exactly that walkthrough. It suits people who think in diagrams and want mixed vendors on one canvas.
What it costs you: a dedicated server, and on EVE-NG v7 the free tier stops at 7 nodes. Seven nodes is plenty for JNCIA, less so for a fabric.
Route 3: GNS3
GNS3 is free and runs on one PC, usually through its GNS3 VM. For a single-machine study lab on a strong desktop it is hard to argue with.
What it costs you: vJunos is already a VM inside a VM, and the GNS3 VM adds a layer. Juniper's docs say vJunos "cannot be used in any deployments that launch the instances from within a VM", so run it where KVM reaches it directly if you can. Community threads on r/Juniper report crashes in nested GNS3 setups. We have not tested this route.
Route 4: the vMX trial
vLabs had vMX topologies, so you might go looking for vMX. The vMX page offers a "free 60-day trial for current Juniper customers", so it is not a general study option. Its datasheet describes a virtual control plane VM and a separate virtual forwarding plane, with a 16 GB memory minimum.
If your job is to test vMX itself, this is the route. If you want a free Junos router to practice on, use vJunos-router. containerlab's docs sum up the difference: vJunos-router is "a single-VM version of the vMX that requires no feature licenses".
Route 5: Juniper's paid courses
Juniper's free Open Learning courses are worth taking, but its FAQ says the JNCIA-Junos course has no hands-on labs, only recorded demonstrations. Lab access comes with the paid On-Demand course or the All-Access Training Pass. This is the route to pick if your employer pays for training, or you want exercises written to match the course.
Route 6: NetPilot, the hosted route
NetPilot runs containerlab on a private cloud VM, so the part that vLabs handled, a machine to run Junos on, is handled here too. You download vJunos from Juniper, upload it once under Images, and NetPilot builds it.
Here is how it works in practice. vJunos needs a Large lab VM (16 vCPU). Each node takes 4 vCPU and 5 GiB and boots a VM inside a VM. One to three nodes are usable in about 18 minutes on a quiet VM and up to 37 on a busy one, and four or five in about 31 to 33. Use only as many vJunos nodes as the job needs, and give the host and client roles to Linux endpoints, which start in seconds. Four nodes take every vCPU on the VM.
You can describe the lab in a prompt:
Build two vJunos routers with OSPF between them and a Linux host behind each, then prove the hosts can ping each other.
The agent writes the topology and Junos configs, deploys them, waits out the boot and checks the result on the devices. Or skip the agent: every node has a real console, and the public lab deploys the same way. The trade against vLabs is real, because this is a paid service and you still fetch the image yourself. It does not run vSRX. What you get in return is your own topology, a VM that keeps its labs, and other vendors in the same lab.
Which one should you pick?
- Studying for JNCIA or JNCIS on your own PC or server: vJunos in containerlab, or GNS3 if you want a canvas. Start with our JNCIA-Junos practice lab.
- You think in diagrams and run mixed vendors: EVE-NG.
- You test vMX itself as a customer: the vMX trial.
- You want to practice routing protocols only, on a small machine: cRPD in containerlab boots in seconds, though it is a routing daemon with no real forwarding path, and containerlab says it needs a license file for some features.
- You have no server with hardware virtualization, or a team needs the lab: NetPilot.
- Your employer pays for training: Juniper's On-Demand course.
FAQ
Is Juniper vLabs being retired?
Yes. A banner on jlabs.juniper.net says: "Juniper vLabs, will be retired on October 31. After this date, you will no longer be able to access vLabs on our platform." The banner names no replacement. Juniper's free vJunos images are the closest thing it still offers, and you run those yourself.
What is the best free alternative to Juniper vLabs?
vJunos-router and vJunos-switch on your own Linux server with KVM. Juniper offers both at no cost with no time limit for non-production test environments. containerlab, EVE-NG and GNS3 can all run them. The cost is the host: each node wants 4 vCPU and 5 GB of memory.
Is vJunos-router the same as vMX?
No. Juniper says vJunos-router is built using vMX as a reference router. It is one VM with a single Routing Engine and a single FPC, it is free, and it tops out at 100 Mbps across all interfaces. vMX is the licensed product, and Juniper offers it as a free 60-day trial for current Juniper customers.
Can I run vSRX in place of vLabs?
Yes, on your own host. containerlab has a juniper_vsrx kind and EVE-NG and GNS3 can run it too, but you need the image from Juniper. NetPilot does not run vSRX. It runs vJunos-router, vJunos-switch and cRPD.
Is there a hosted Junos lab with nothing to install?
Yes. NetPilot runs vJunos-router and vJunos-switch on a Large lab VM in your browser, with the image you download from Juniper and upload once. Each node boots a VM inside a VM, so one to three nodes take about 18 to 37 minutes to be usable.