RouterOS is licensed software, and that surprises people who bought a box in a shop. The short version: if you bought MikroTik hardware, the licence is already on it, it never expires, and you are unlikely to ever buy another one. The longer version is worth ten minutes, because the word "level" turns up in the specifications of every model and it invites you to read more into it than is there.
Two kinds of identity
A licence is tied to an identifier, and which identifier depends on what you are running. MikroTik hardware and x86 installations have a software ID. A Cloud Hosted Router, RouterOS as a virtual machine, has a system ID. You find yours with:
/system license printOn a RouterBOARD this prints the software ID and the level. On a CHR it prints the system ID and the state of its licence. Both are also in the License menu in WinBox and WebFig.
What a level actually limits
Levels run from 0 to 6, and what changes between them is a short list of counters, not features:
- the number of simultaneous tunnels, counted per type: PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN;
- the number of active hotspot users;
- the number of active User Manager sessions;
- on the older wireless driver, whether the radio may work as an access point at all, and in which mode.
And the rule that makes the rest of the table unnecessary: if something is not on that list, the licence does not restrict it. Firewall rules, VLANs, routing protocols, queues, WireGuard, the number of interfaces: none of it is licensed. A level 4 device routes as fast as a level 6 one with the same processor.
The low levels are history or edge cases. Level 0 is a trial state, level 1 is a free demo with almost everything set to one, and level 3 is meant for client radios and is not sold. In practice you will see level 4, 5 or 6 on the devices you buy, and which one a model has is part of its specifications. Do not guess from the price: read it from the device.
All licences share the same terms. They never expire, they cover unlimited interfaces, they are valid for one installation, and software upgrades are included for as long as the device lives.
Why you rarely buy one for a RouterBOARD
Because the thing you would be buying is a higher counter, and most networks never approach the counters. A router for a home, an office or a shop terminates a handful of VPN tunnels at most and runs no hotspot. The level it shipped with is not in your way and never will be.
You buy an upgrade when you run into one of those counters in a real way: a hotspot with more concurrent guests than your level allows, or a concentrator terminating more PPPoE or L2TP sessions than it may. That is a WISP or a campus problem, and if it is yours, you will know the number you need before you buy.
One useful detail if you are reading old forum posts: on devices with the newer wifi-qcom drivers, access point mode is available regardless of the licence level. The wireless level restrictions people remember belong to the older driver. See Packages.
If you do buy one, the key is a block of text you paste into the terminal, or into the License menu in WinBox, after which the device reboots. Keys are bought in your account on MikroTik's site against the software ID of the device. There is also a prepaid key, which is a licence you buy before you know which device it is for and convert later.
The software ID of a RouterBOARD is bound to the device's storage. Netinstall does not remove the licence, but hardware that has had its storage replaced is a different device as far as licensing is concerned. If a licence really has gone missing, upgrade the device to the current RouterOS version and request it back through your MikroTik account with the software ID and the serial number.
CHR: free is a real option
Cloud Hosted Router is RouterOS as a virtual machine, on your own hypervisor or at a hosting provider. It is licensed differently, and generously.
The free level runs indefinitely, with every RouterOS feature available, and one limit: upload is capped at 1 Mbit/s per interface. For a lab, a test setup, a WireGuard endpoint for management traffic or a route reflector, that is genuinely enough, and it is why so many people have a CHR running somewhere without ever having paid for it.
The paid levels lift that cap and nothing else: P1 to 1 Gbit/s per interface, P10 to 10 Gbit/s, and P-Unlimited to no cap. They are perpetual, bought once, and they can be moved to another CHR instance later. You can also try a paid level for sixty days at no cost, which requires an account at MikroTik and a request from the instance itself.
Two things to know before you deploy a CHR in production:
- A licensed CHR has to check in. It contacts MikroTik's account server now and then to renew its status, and it shows the deadline. Miss it, because the machine has no way out to the internet, and the instance behaves as if the trial had run out: it keeps routing, but you can no longer upgrade RouterOS or change packages.
- Clones inherit their origin. Copying a running CHR copies its licence state, so you cannot get a fresh trial that way. Make your copies from the downloaded image before first boot, and if two instances end up with the same system ID, there is a command to generate a new one, for a free instance only.
An x86 installation on ordinary server hardware is licensed like MikroTik hardware, by software ID, and needs a key of its own.
Related: Packages, Choosing your device, Glossary.