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Best Virtual Routers

Virtual Routers are software that helps you help teams and businesses work more efficiently and get better results. Use the list below to compare the top Virtual Routers options by features, pricing, and reviews, and shortlist the ones that match your workflow and budget.

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2 Best Virtual Routers Options

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MikroTik CHR

MikroTik CHR

RouterOS packaged for virtual machines, with transferable low-cost licences

Cloud Hosted Router is MikroTik's RouterOS built specifically for virtual machines, locally or in the cloud, with drivers optimised for virtualised environments, a cheaper licensing scheme than the hardware editions and licences that transfer between instances. The image is available free from the download page and directly in the Amazon AWS marketplace.

RouterOS itself is the product underneath, a Linux-based operating system providing routing, firewall, bandwidth management, wireless access point, backhaul, hotspot gateway and VPN server functions. That breadth in one package is why the platform is common in service provider and small operator networks where a single device has to do several jobs.

Transferable licensing is the detail that matters for virtual deployments and it is unusually sensible. A licence tied to a machine is an obstacle in an environment where instances are replaced routinely, and one that moves matches how virtual infrastructure is actually operated.

The trial arrangement is equally practical. RouterOS runs for 24 hours without a licence and the timer stops when the machine is turned off, so a full evaluation can be spread across several sessions rather than raced through in a day. For a network engineer testing a configuration against real traffic, that is a more useful trial than a fixed calendar window.

Read MikroTik CHR Reviews

Starting Price: Not published

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Cisco CSR 1000V

Cisco's cloud services router, now end of life in favour of Catalyst 8000V

The Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V is a virtual router running Cisco IOS XE as a virtual machine in a cloud or virtualised environment, bringing enterprise routing, VPN termination and WAN services to infrastructure where a physical router cannot be installed. Cisco has announced its end of life: support ends with Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.2, and customers are advised to migrate to Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software.

The end of life notice is the most important fact about this product and should determine any decision involving it. A team planning a new deployment should be looking at the Catalyst 8000V, and a team already running this one needs a migration date rather than a renewal.

The original design argument remains sound and explains why the replacement exists. Extending a private network into a public cloud with the same operating system, configuration syntax and feature behaviour as the physical estate means one set of skills and one change process, which is worth a great deal to a network team.

Reading the accompanying announcements is worth the time. Cisco publishes end-of-sale notices for individual IOS XE releases and for related products such as the Integrated Services Virtual Router, so the supported combination is a matter of record rather than assumption.

Read Cisco CSR 1000V Reviews

Starting Price: Not published

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Virtual Routers Buyer's Guide

Most Virtual Routers options look alike on a feature grid, so the useful comparison is how each handles your actual process. What follows is a practical breakdown of features, buyers, cost, and the questions worth putting to a vendor.

What is Virtual Routers?

Virtual Routers helps teams bring the operational admin behind virtual routers work into one place rather than several disconnected tools. The practical gain is consolidation: information that would otherwise sit across spreadsheets and email threads stays in one place and stays current. The practical difference shows up in the awkward cases rather than the standard ones.

Key features to look for in Virtual Routers

Treat the list below as a checklist rather than a requirement set, since not all of it will apply to you.

  • Records and profiles built around virtual routers work
  • Scheduling and capacity planning
  • Workflow stages matching how virtual routers operations actually run
  • Invoicing and payment handling
  • Document storage and compliance records
  • Customer and contact communication
  • Reporting on the measures that matter in virtual routers work
  • Role based access for different staff types

Benefits of using Virtual Routers

Where the fit is right, reported gains from Virtual Routers usually include:

  • Workflows that match virtual routers operations instead of a generic process
  • Less adaptation of general purpose software to a specialist job
  • Records and terminology that fit the field
  • Compliance and record keeping handled in one place
  • Reporting on measures that are actually relevant

Who uses Virtual Routers?

Virtual Routers is used by owners and managers in virtual routers work, administrative staff, and the frontline teams delivering it. Fit is decided by how you work rather than how large you are.

How to choose the right Virtual Routers

When comparing Virtual Routers, weigh these factors:

  • How closely the workflow matches your own virtual routers operation
  • Whether sector specific compliance requirements are covered
  • The size of operation the product is genuinely designed for
  • Data migration from whatever you use today
  • How responsive the vendor is to requests specific to this field

Trial a small shortlist against genuine work rather than a vendor scenario, and let the people who will live in the tool lead that evaluation.

How much does Virtual Routers cost?

Vendors in this space normally price per seat or per location each month, tiered by size. Pricing tends to sit above general purpose software, a function of narrow market size rather than margin. Map the pricing model to expected usage a year out rather than today, and confirm the capabilities you need sit in the tier you are pricing rather than one above it.

FAQs of Virtual Routers

Virtual Routers handles the day to day paperwork of virtual routers work, keeping customer records, scheduling and payment in one place.

General tools need adapting to virtual routers workflows and rarely cover the terminology or compliance involved, which is what Virtual Routers is built around.

Scale assumptions vary widely across Virtual Routers, so ask any vendor what a typical virtual routers customer of theirs actually looks like.

Virtual Routers vendors differ on migration, so confirm the import path for your current virtual routers records rather than assuming it is included.

Virtual Routers pricing is commonly per seat or per site and tiered by scale, so budget above what a general purpose virtual routers tool would cost.

Trial Virtual Routers against real virtual routers work rather than a vendor demo, and involve the staff who will use it daily.