No. 8 of 26 ·Network Automation Software

NAPALM

Mac · Linux · Self-hosted · API

Freedom report

Two barsScore 6.4

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely2 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

NAPALM is ranked #8 of 26 in network automation software on Freedom251. It runs on API, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted. There is a free plan.

NAPALM plans and pricing

All plans

NAPALM Free Open-source Python library · install with pip · device and driver support varies github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on network automation software

Free plan: Yes
Deployment: self_hosted
Configuration management: Yes
Network testing: Yes
Supported platforms: Arista EOS, Cisco IOS, Cisco IOS-XR, Cisco NX-OS, Juniper JunOS

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The record

Purpose: NAPALM is a Python library for interacting with network devices from different vendors through a unified API.
Configuration and data: The library provides methods to connect to devices, manipulate configurations, and retrieve data.
Core device support: The documentation lists core drivers for Arista EOS, Cisco IOS, Cisco IOS-XR, Cisco NX-OS, and Juniper JunOS.
Community drivers: NAPALM also supports community-driven drivers in addition to its core drivers.
Configuration operations: The documented configuration methods include replace, merge, compare, commit-confirm, and rollback, with availability varying by platform.
Data retrieval: Documented getters retrieve information such as device facts, configuration, interfaces, BGP neighbors, and environment data, with support varying by driver.
Deployment validation: NAPALM can compare live device state with YAML-defined expectations and produce a compliance report.
Integrations: The project README identifies integrations with Ansible, SaltStack, and StackStorm.
Installation: The project documents installation with pip install napalm and states that the package includes all currently available core drivers.
Runtime requirement: The repository README states that NAPALM 5.1.0 and later supports Python 3.9 and later.
Platform caveats: The device support documentation warns users to review platform-specific caveats before using the library.
Security policy: GitHub reports that the project has not set up a SECURITY.md file and has no published security advisories.
License: The GitHub repository identifies the project license as Apache-2.0.
Support: The README points users to the napalm channel on the network.toCode() Slack team for help.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Network Automation Software in 2026#8 of 26

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Sources

github.com/napalm-automation/napalm· checked 4 Oct 2026
napalm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/· checked 4 Oct 2026
napalm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/support/· checked 4 Oct 2026
napalm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/validate/· checked 4 Oct 2026
napalm.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation/· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/napalm-automation/napalm/security· checked 4 Oct 2026