MikroTik Cloud Hosted Router (CHR)

v7.25FreemiumReleased 22 Oct 2026

RouterOS as a virtual machine image for Proxmox, VMware, Hyper-V, VirtualBox and cloud servers. By MikroTik

Windows
macOS
Linux

Official sourceNo bundles

By the ToolsBharat teamUpdated 22 Oct 2026How we check

Quick answer

MikroTik Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) is freemium software for Windows, macOS and Linux from MikroTik. RouterOS as a virtual machine image for Proxmox, VMware, Hyper-V, VirtualBox and cloud servers. Download it only from mikrotik.com. The latest version we track is 7.25 (22 Oct 2026). ToolsBharat links straight to the publisher's own download page, with no bundled offers.

Latest version:: 7.25 (22 Oct 2026)
Publisher:: MikroTik
Official site:: manual.mikrotik.com
Licence:: Freemium — Proprietary — free tier limited to 1 Mbps upload per interface; paid perpetual licences P1/P10/P-Unlimited
Requirements:: A supported hypervisor (VMware, Proxmox/KVM, Hyper-V Gen 1, VirtualBox, Xen) or cloud provider

Our verdict

CHR is full RouterOS packaged as a disk image for virtual machines — popular with ISPs for PPPoE/BNG servers, VPN concentrators, RADIUS labs and practice before touching live routers. The free licence runs indefinitely with every feature but caps upload at 1 Mbps per interface; paid perpetual licences lift that to 1 Gbps (P1, $45), 10 Gbps (P10, $95) or unlimited (P-Unlimited, $250). A 60-day trial of the paid tiers needs a MikroTik.com account. Images come as RAW, OVA, VDI, VHD, VHDX and VMDK, each with a SHA-256.

Key features

Images for VMware ESXi/Fusion, Proxmox/KVM, Hyper-V, VirtualBox and Xen
Runs on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Hetzner, Linode and Vultr
x86-64 and arm64 images, each with a published SHA-256
Same RouterOS features as hardware routers

Pros

Pro: Free tier is great for labs and training
Pro: Licences are perpetual and transferable

Cons

Con: Free tier is limited to 1 Mbps upload per interface
Con: Hyper-V needs a Generation 1 VM; bhyve is not supported

What's new in 7.25

See what changed in 7.25 in the official release notes

Version history

Version 7.25Latest
22 Oct 2026
SHA-256
The developer does not publish one
Source
Release notes

Official downloads by platform

For Windows, use the Download button. Other platforms go straight to the publisher's own page or official store.

Requirements

OS: A supported hypervisor (VMware, Proxmox/KVM, Hyper-V Gen 1, VirtualBox, Xen) or cloud provider
Architecture: 64-bit CPU with virtualisation support; arm64 images also listed
Disk: 128 MB or more
Also needs: 256 MB RAM minimum (1024 MiB recommended)

Licence

Type: Freemium
Licence: Proprietary — free tier limited to 1 Mbps upload per interface; paid perpetual licences P1/P10/P-Unlimited
Publisher: manual.mikrotik.com

Where these facts come from

Checked 30 Oct 2026

FAQ

Is MikroTik CHR free?

The free licence never expires and has all features, but upload is limited to 1 Mbps per interface. For real traffic you need P1 (1 Gbps), P10 (10 Gbps) or P-Unlimited, bought once and tied to the CHR's system ID.

Which CHR image do I download?

Match the image to your hypervisor: VMDK or OVA for VMware, VHDX for Hyper-V (Generation 1 VM), VDI for VirtualBox, and the RAW image for Proxmox/KVM or cloud servers.

What is the default CHR login?

MikroTik's guide gives user 'admin' with no password on first boot. Set a strong password immediately, especially on a cloud server with a public IP.

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