Stand up a virtual PLC lab for a whole cohort in a day. Every student gets their own simulated PLC station — ladder editor, running controller, simulated I/O, plus an HMI builder and a robot cell — in any browser, on any device, including Chromebooks. No hardware rig to buy or maintain, no per-machine install, no admin rights. Every submission is auto-graded, and one instructor can see the whole class at a glance.
Join 1300+ learners practicing PLC programming
Setting up a virtual lab? Create a free account, set up your team, or request institutional pricing.
Why a virtual lab
A physical PLC trainer rig serves one student at a time, so a class shares a handful of benches on a rotation. A virtual lab gives all 30 students a full station at once — nobody waits, nobody is idle, and practice continues at home.
A single trainer rig runs into the thousands; a full lab into the tens of thousands, before maintenance contracts and the panels that age out. A virtual lab is software — no capital request, no firmware that falls behind what graduates meet in the field.
It runs in a browser tab on Chromebooks, locked-down lab PCs, Macs, Linux and students’ own laptops. IT installs nothing per machine and distributes no licence keys — the roll-out that usually stalls a programme simply disappears.
Every submission is marked against test cases the instant a student hits Run, and an admin console shows who is behind before an assessment. The virtual lab does the marking the physical bench never could.
What it replaces
The figures below are typical/published prices from the vendors’ own materials, not invented numbers. The point is not that hardware is bad — you should keep a bench for wiring — but that only a browser-based virtual lab deploys to a whole cohort in a day, on the devices students already own.
| This virtual labbrowser-based | Hardware trainer rigAmatrol / Festo | Desktop PLC softwarePLCLogix / Factory I/O | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stations per class | One per student, all at once | One per rig; class shares on rotation | One per installed machine |
| Typical cost | From free; Pro seats $199/seat/year, reassignable | ~$10,000–$50,000 per lab rig (published) | ~$159/seat one-time, ~$2,980/site (published) |
| Runs on Chromebooks? | Yes — any modern browser | N/A — physical bench, fixed location | No — typically Windows-only desktop install |
| Install / admin rights | None — nothing per machine | Bench space, wiring, maintenance contract | Per-machine install, admin rights, licence keys |
| Auto-graded assignments | Yes — marked instantly on Run | Manual assessment by an instructor | Mostly a programming sandbox; no built-in grading |
| Practice from home | Yes — same browser, any device | No — bench is on campus only | Only on licensed machines |
Competitor prices shown are typical/published figures and may vary by region, version and bundle. A virtual lab does not replace hands-on wiring — see the FAQ on what it does and does not replace.
Inside every station
Every concept below is something a learner builds, runs and is auto-graded on in the browser — the same IEC 61131-3 logic model and the same HMI workflows they will meet on a real plant floor, with no rig and no install.
What you get
Unlimited concurrent virtual stations — every learner runs their own PLC, no rotation, no waiting for a free bench.
No rigs to buy, wire or maintain and nothing for IT to install per machine. Runs on Chromebooks and locked-down PCs without admin rights.
Assign a learning path; every submission is marked instantly, and the admin console shows who is behind before an assessment.
PLC and ladder logic, an HMI builder, a robot cell, and a wiring tutor — the whole automation stack in one virtual lab.
Students export portfolio PDFs of timestamped, name-attributed completions — verifiable evidence that supports your accredited assessment.
Set up a team, invite a cohort, assign a path — a full class can be writing graded ladder logic the same afternoon, no procurement cycle.
Pricing & rollout
Trial the full virtual lab free and run a small pilot before involving procurement. When you roll out a managed cohort, Pro seats are $199/seat/year on annual billing, reassignable when a student leaves, with bulk and academic pricing on request. No minimum seat count. See full pricing →
Tell us your cohort size, the programme you run, and whether you need a purchase order or quotation. We’ll scope the right virtual-lab access — and be straight about what it does and doesn’t replace.
No hardware budget. No install. No admin rights. Create your team account free and stand up a virtual lab for your cohort today — or book a walkthrough and we will scope it with you.