In this article, I am going to summarise the information about Mikrotik Licenses. (Updated: 22.01.2018)
There are several levels of licenses, which are limiting the functionalities.
Functionalities affected by the licenses are:
Wireless AP, Wireless Client and Bridge, RIP, OSPF, BGP protocols, EoIP tunnels, PPPoE tunnels, PPTP tunnels, L2TP tunnels, OVPN tunnels, VLAN interfaces, HotSpot active users, RADIUS client, Queues, Web proxy, User manager active sessions and Number of KVM guests
Most differences between them are the restrictions for the various tunnels.
- 0 (trial mode), which doesn’t require a key – all of functionalities are restricted to 24hours trial period
- excluding: initial support, no “Number of KVM guests”
- 1 (Free Demo), requires registration – you can use only one session from a function at a certain moment (ex. one OVPN tunnel or one VLAN interface)
- excluding: initial support, Wireless AP, Wireless Client and Bridge, RIP, OSPF, BGP protocols, RADIUS client, Web proxy
- 3 (WISP CPE) – you can’t buy this as a standalone RouterOS version – it comes by default with Mikrotik SXT and other AP routers.
- 4 (WISP), $45 with 15 days initial support
- 5 (WISP), $95 with 30 days initial support
- 6 (Controller), $250 with 30 days initial support
| 4 (WISP) | 5 (WISP) | 6 (Controller) | |
| Wireless AP | yes | yes | yes |
| Wireless Client and Bridge | yes | yes | yes |
| RIP, OSPF, BGP protocols | yes | yes | yes |
| EoIP tunnels | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| PPPoE tunnels | 200 | 500 | unlimited |
| PPTP tunnels | 200 | 500 | unlimited |
| L2TP tunnels | 200 | 500 | unlimited |
| OVPN tunnels | 200 | unlimited | unlimited |
| VLAN interfaces | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| HotSpot active users | 200 | 500 | unlimited |
| RADIUS client | yes | yes | yes |
| Queues | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Web proxy | yes | yes | yes |
| User manager active sessions | 20 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Number of KVM guests | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Most important things in the licenses are:
- You are not able to upgrade a license, you have to buy a new one.
- It is “glued” to the HDD of the device – which means that you can’t transfer the license to another device, but you are allow to move the HDD and the license will be legit.
- It only can be used for one system.
- If you format/overwrite/break the HDD with the RouterOS license – in other words if you did something to your HDD, which in some way erased the license – it can’t be retrieved and you have to buy a new one.
- If the fault for the broken HDD is not yours – you can request a replacement key ($10), but you have to prove that the drive is not destroyed in consequence of your actions – you might be asked to send the HDD to Mikrotik support.
- If you want to format your HDD, you have to use: Netinstall
The installation of the license is really straight-forward:
- Login trough Winbox or Webfig -> System -> License -> Paste key
- Login trough Winbox or Webfig -> New Terminal and paste the key
Reboot is required after pasting the key.