Build real networks. See every packet move.

NetForge-AI is a browser-based network simulator and networking course for learning routing, switching, and core IP protocols from beginner to advanced. Drag virtual routers, switches, and PCs onto a canvas, configure them with an industry-standard CLI, and watch packets animate across the topology in real time.

Yes. NetForge-AI covers the core networking topics learners practice — IP addressing, subnetting, VLANs, ARP, ICMP, static routing — and runs entirely in the browser. It is independently developed and not affiliated with any networking vendor or certification body.

No. NetForge-AI is a web app. Anyone can browse the course syllabus without an account; reading chapter content and saving labs requires a free account (no card needed); the lab itself is open to everyone.

Yes. 3D Live is included on every NetForge-AI plan, the Free plan too, and opens without an account: press 3D Live in the lab, or go to netforge-ai.com/lab/world. A little engineer walks through the network you built: step inside any device and watch, step by step and with its real addresses and tables, how it handles each packet. Your plan's lab limits apply inside it exactly as on the 2D canvas — without a paid plan, up to 5 devices per topology.

Yes. In 3D Live, press Play together and invite friends with a link. One of you breaks the network — shuts a port, changes an address — and the others race to fix it, each on their own copy; or press Surprise and the game breaks it for everyone. Players sign in with a free account, a Free host seats 5 friends, and nothing in a game is saved to anyone's lab.

Yes. The network diagram maker at netforge-ai.com/tools/network-diagram-maker draws routers, switches, PCs, servers and cables with their addresses, VLANs, zones and labels, with no account — plus flowchart, UML and entity-relation shapes. Export it as PNG, SVG, PDF, draw.io, CSV or JSON, or press Simulate to run the network in the lab and ping across it — up to 5 devices at a time without a paid plan.

Yes. netforge-ai.com/interview-questions collects the questions interviewers ask on 8 topics, from subnetting to wireless — each with a model answer, the weak answer to avoid, the follow-ups to expect and a lab to prove it — plus a mock-interview flashcard mode. It is free and needs no account.

Yes. Connect an AI app you already use — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code — to NetForge-AI Lab, our MCP server, and it can build, configure and test labs in your account. It is included on every plan, with a free account. NetForge-AI runs no AI for it, so it is not part of ARIA and uses no AI allowance. That is different from ARIA with your own API key, which is ARIA itself running on your AI provider account. Your plan's lab limits apply: on the Free plan one working lab at a time with up to 5 devices, on plans without a device cap up to 150 devices per lab. Setup for each app: netforge-ai.com/mcp.

NetForge-AI simulates Layer 1 cabling (copper, fiber, serial, wireless), Layer 2 switching with MAC learning, VLANs and 802.1Q trunks, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP/RSTP/PVST+) with real root-bridge election, and EtherChannel (LACP/PAgP). At Layer 3 it runs IPv4 static and default routing plus four dynamic protocols — OSPF with DR/BDR election, EIGRP with the bandwidth-and-delay composite metric, RIPv2, and BGP (both eBGP and iBGP). It also models VRRP first-hop redundancy, NAT (static, dynamic pool, and PAT/overload), standard and extended ACLs with Layer 4 TCP/UDP port matching, ARP, ICMP, and DHCP server pools.

Yes. Save keeps your full topology — devices, interfaces, IPs, routes, links — in your account, and Export downloads it as a JSON file. Anyone with NetForge-AI can open that file with Import, or you can hand out a read-only Share link.

NetForge-AI covers core networking topics in switching and IPv4 routing, taking you from beginner to advanced. It is great on its own and pairs well with any study guide, giving you hands-on practice that mirrors real-world configuration tasks.

You can start free. The Free plan (free account, no card) includes Module 1, a lab with up to 5 devices per topology, 3 saved topologies and 1 class of up to 5 students — with no AI included, though you can use ARIA with your own API key. The Lab Only Pass ($15/mo or $129/yr) removes the lab and class limits. The Course & Lab Pass ($25/mo or $219/yr) adds all 8 modules, the Final Weighted Exam and the Verified Certificate. The Lab & AI Pass ($25/mo or $219/yr) removes the lab limits and adds the ARIA AI Agent, with Module 1 of the course. All-Access Max ($35/mo or $299/yr) includes everything, with ARIA in the lab and in every course chapter.

Yes. Anyone with a free account can teach: whoever creates a class is its teacher. The Free plan includes 1 class of up to 5 students; every paid plan gives you unlimited classes and unlimited student seats. Students can join on any plan, a free account is enough, and a class gives them nothing their own plan doesn't include: it still decides which modules they can open and whether ARIA is included.

It keeps a class together across the term. You get one join code and an invite link, a roster with each student's progress, assignments with due dates from the guided builds, the chapter missions or your own checks, work you grade yourself with a score and a comment, and a gradebook you can download as a CSV. Each checked submission is graded on the student's real network. You also see totals of where the class gets stuck, message the class or one student, decide which lab tools students get, and open a live class on a shared canvas whenever you want one. Students are told exactly what you will see before they join.

No. The Free plan, the Lab Only Pass and the Course & Lab Pass don't include AI, but you can use ARIA on them with your own API key. ARIA AI is included, with no API key needed, with the Lab & AI Pass (in the lab) and All-Access Max (in the lab and in every course chapter).

Yes. On every NetForge-AI plan, the Free plan included, a signed-in account can run ARIA with its own API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini or OpenRouter: lab Q&A, the lab Agent, and Q&A in the course chapters your plan lets you read. Your browser sends your questions and lab state straight to that provider, under your account and its terms, and the provider bills you. The key stays in your browser on a separate NetForge-AI page that runs no third-party scripts, and NetForge-AI never receives your key or those conversations.

Included ARIA needs no API key and no setup: on the Lab & AI Pass and All-Access Max it runs on NetForge-AI's account within a monthly AI allowance, which also suits school devices and students too young for an AI provider account. With your own key, ARIA works the same way on any plan, but every request runs on your provider account, under its terms and limits, and the provider bills you. On the Lab & AI Pass and All-Access Max, included ARIA is the default, and you can switch to your own key and back in ARIA's settings.

Yes, through our MCP server rather than ARIA. A ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor subscription isn't an API key, so it can't run ARIA, but you can connect that app to NetForge-AI Lab, our MCP server, and it can build, configure and test labs in your account on every plan. Setup for each app: netforge-ai.com/mcp.

Any model your key can reach, and nothing is blocked: ARIA's settings rate each model recommended, works or may struggle for lab Q&A, the lab Agent and chapter Q&A, and show the suggested minimum for your provider. The Agent needs a stronger model than questions do, because it plans multi-step builds and writes the exact commands the lab runs, so a small model that answers questions well may still miss steps or write commands the lab rejects in Agent Mode.

NetForge-AI charges nothing for it: your AI provider bills you at its own prices for the tokens ARIA uses. ARIA shows the tokens each Agent run used on your account, never a price, because provider prices change. A quick question uses a few thousand tokens and an Agent run uses far more, so ARIA stops a run at a token ceiling you can lower, and your key's settings keep a daily ceiling too.

ARIA is NetForge-AI's AI assistant. In the lab it answers questions about your topology. In Agent Mode it adds devices and cables, types the CLI on each device, runs pings to verify connectivity and diagnoses what fails. It's included with the Lab & AI Pass and All-Access Max, each with a monthly AI usage allowance, and on every plan you can run it with your own API key instead.

No. Plans with ARIA include a monthly AI usage allowance that resets at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month, on monthly and yearly billing alike. Your account shows how much you've used as a percentage. All-Access Max includes 2× the allowance of the Lab & AI Pass. When the allowance is used up, ARIA pauses until the reset; the lab and course keep working. With your own API key, your AI provider's limits and billing apply instead of the allowance.

They cost the same but include different things. The Course & Lab Pass is for the course: all 8 modules, the Final Weighted Exam and the Verified Certificate, with no AI included. The Lab & AI Pass is for building: it adds the ARIA AI Agent to the lab and includes Module 1 of the course. Both remove the Free plan's device and save limits. All-Access Max has everything.

No plan-based limit on devices per topology or on saved topologies. The same technical limits apply on every plan: a topology can be saved, shared or imported with up to 1,000 devices and 4,000 cables, a saved topology can be about 500 KB, and you can have 50 active share links.