Thanks for the recommendation and apparently VyOS operation model has recently changed [1].
The developers are entitled for their choices of operation model but imagine if Ubuntu had used this business model it will most probably not become popular and consistently be in the top 10 at DistroWatch for more than a decade.
"Starting with VyOS 1.2 the release model of VyOS has changed. VyOS is now free as in speech, but not as in beer. This means that while VyOS is still an open source project, the release ISOs are no longer free and can only be obtained via subscription, or by contributing to the community. "
The developers are entitled for their choices of operation model but imagine if Ubuntu had used this business model it will most probably not become popular and consistently be in the top 10 at DistroWatch for more than a decade.
"Starting with VyOS 1.2 the release model of VyOS has changed. VyOS is now free as in speech, but not as in beer. This means that while VyOS is still an open source project, the release ISOs are no longer free and can only be obtained via subscription, or by contributing to the community. "
[1]https://docs.vyos.io/en/latest/contributing/build-vyos.html