A network simulator built for classrooms
Teaching networking has a logistics problem before it has a pedagogy problem. Desktop simulators need installing on every machine, in a lab you may not administer, on an image that changes each term. Emulated labs need a server someone has to own. Both fail the same way: the first week of term goes to tooling instead of teaching.
NetForge-AI removes that entirely — students open a URL — and then adds the parts an instructor actually needs: a live shared session, visibility into who is stuck, and assignments that grade themselves.
| Desktop simulators | Self-hosted emulators | NetForge-AI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Install on student machines | Required, per machine | Client access only | None |
| Chromebooks | Usually not supported | Client only, if a server exists | Fully supported |
| Cost per additional student | Licence and admin time | Server capacity | None — each lab runs in the student's browser |
| Who maintains it | Your IT department | Someone on your staff | Nobody on your side |
| Live instructor presenting | — | Shared lab sessions | Join code; topology syncs live to every student |
| Auto-graded assignments | Varies by product | — | Built in — checks run against the live topology |
| Curriculum included | Sometimes, vendor-tied | — | 8 modules · 47 chapters + quizzes + final assessment |
Classroom mode, concretely
An instructor starts a session and shares a join code. Students join from any device with a browser, and the instructor's topology synchronizes to every screen live — add a router, draw a cable, change a VLAN, and thirty students see it happen as you narrate it.
Students can then fork the topology to their own canvas and work independently from the same starting point, which removes the usual five minutes of everyone rebuilding the same diagram before the actual exercise begins.
Assignments that grade themselves
Lab challenges carry machine-checkable success criteria evaluated against the student's live topology by the same engine that runs the simulation. A check cannot disagree with what a ping or a show command would report, because it is the same code path.
In practice that means an assignment like "make PC1 reach the server across two VLANs with inter-VLAN routing" is marked the moment it works, and the instructor dashboard shows who has finished, who is close, and who has not started — which is the information you need mid-lesson, not the following week.
What it costs a department
Hosting a live class is available to any signed-in account, with a free seat cap for evaluation, so you can run a real lesson before any procurement conversation. Paid plans lift the seat cap and unlock the full eight-module course for students.
There is no server to buy, no per-seat install, and nothing for IT to package. If your evaluation ends in "no", you have lost an afternoon rather than a purchase order.
The fastest way to compare simulators is to send one ping. Create a free account, drop two PCs and a switch on the canvas, and watch the ARP + ICMP animation — that's the whole pitch.
Try NetForge-AI freeFAQ
Do students need to install anything?
No. The lab runs in the browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS. There is nothing for your IT department to package, deploy, or update, and no admin rights required on student machines.
Does it work on Chromebooks?
Yes, and this is a first-class use case rather than a compromise — Chromebook labs are exactly the environment where desktop simulators cannot be installed at all.
How many students can join one session?
Free hosting carries a small seat cap intended for evaluation; paid plans remove it. Because each student's simulation runs in their own browser, class size does not create a capacity or performance problem on our side.
Can I set and grade assignments?
Yes. Lab challenges ship with success criteria that are checked automatically against each student's live topology, and the instructor dashboard shows progress in real time during the lesson.
NetForge-AI is an independent educational platform, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any vendor named on this page. Product names are used for identification and comparison purposes only. Details about third-party products reflect their publicly documented behavior at the time of writing; pricing and features change, so verify current terms with the vendor before deciding.
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