mikrotik vs ubiquiti

[R.C.Anderson]

Interested in people's opinions on each for a home environment. I've dabled with both (currently running a mikrotik router & a ubiquiti WAP), and have messed around more with mikrotik devices generally.

My general opinion of them, is that Mikrotik is generally available cheaper for the same feature set (i.e. number of ports/POE capability, SFP+ connectivity etc), but ubiquiti devices offer a more centralised, user friendly interface.

Is that generally the case? Any other considerations? I'm planning to upgrade my home network somewhat later this year when I have a house move, so looking at which route to go down.

 

[Caged]

Your summary is pretty much there. Ubiquiti has a more polished UI and nicer looking hardware but you can only do the stuff that the UI exposes to you. The MikroTik range is a lot more flexible but with a steeper learning curve and their access points are terrible. Then on the flip side Ubiquti have nothing that looks like a hAP ax2 in their lineup.

Both companies seem equally hostile to their paying customers suggesting they might be doing things wrong.

 

[Ad_Augendae]

I don't have a problem with my Mikrotik ax gear at all, but then again I use it every day. Just my two cents!

 

[R.C.Anderson]

Your summary is pretty much there. Ubiquiti has a more polished UI and nicer looking hardware but you can only do the stuff that the UI exposes to you. The MikroTik range is a lot more flexible but with a steeper learning curve and their access points are terrible. Then on the flip side Ubiquti have nothing that looks like a hAP ax2 in their lineup.

Both companies seem equally hostile to their paying customers suggesting they might be doing things wrong.

good to know I'm along the right lines then. If that's the general concensus, I'll probably go mikrotik for the infastructure, as it looks like most compariable things are 1/2 - 3/4 the price with mikrotik compared to ubiquiti.
When you say mikrotik waps are terrible, what do you mean? What makes them bad?

 

[R.C.Anderson]

I don't have a problem with my Mikrotik ax gear at all, but then again I use it every day. Just my two cents!

good to know. TBH I know some small/medium business get along just fine with both, so I doubt there'd be anything particularly wrong with either approach

 

[Steveocee]

I used to stand by Mikrotik for routing and switching and UBNT for WiFi.
Given how the UniFi platform has developed I am now swinging more so towards "just go UniFi" as it will do 95% of what most people want.

 

[alex24]

I have Mikrotik router and unifi APs. They are probably best that way round but there is a cognitive penalty to running a mixed setup and given the learning curve for Mikrotik I’d probably go all UniFi on balance if I had a do-over. But the Mikrotik routers and switches are better value and feature set than UniFi in my limited experience.

 

[Ad_Augendae]

I have Mikrotik router and unifi APs. They are probably best that way round but there is a cognitive penalty to running a mixed setup and given the learning curve for Mikrotik I’d probably go all UniFi on balance if I had a do-over. But the Mikrotik routers and switches are better value and feature set than UniFi in my limited experience.

I am using capsman which to me puts all the radio functions in one place, far superior tbh. I am in a happy place with it all atm though.
Watching and using Mikrotik for the last 18 months or so has been quite a painful journey, but they now seem to be getting there. They have been tripping over themselves trying to make all the old stuff work with the new stuff to a point, also a new driver set for the old stuff including capsman. Now they are trying to keep their Old Equipment sub base happy IE stuff with 16mb flash etc as well as using a new driver. they are being brow beaten and having to slim packages down. I mean what other company goes that far.
I can't wait for the new Netmetal ax gear complaints to start, fingers crossed. People that compare old wifi5 to wifi6 gear make my head hurt the most.

 

[Steveocee]

I am using capsman which to me puts all the radio functions in one place, far superior tbh. I am in a happy place with it all atm though.
Watching and using Mikrotik for the last 18 months or so has been quite a painful journey, but they now seem to be getting there. They have been tripping over themselves trying to make all the old stuff work with the new stuff to a point, also a new driver set for the old stuff including capsman. Now they are trying to keep their Old Equipment sub base happy IE stuff with 16mb flash etc as well as using a new driver. they are being brow beaten and having to slim packages down. I mean what other company goes that far.
I can't wait for the new Netmetal ax gear complaints to start, fingers crossed. People that compare old wifi5 to wifi6 gear make my head hurt the most.

I've always wanted 'tik to do well with WiFi but when the competition are already in a better price point with new AX gear established in the market, it's a tough argument to go with MikroTik unless you need some bizarre routing setup.

WiFi7 is just around the corner, 'Tik will be same as they were with AX, even AC wave 2, dare I say RoS7. A long way behind the curve.

 

[Ad_Augendae]

I've always wanted 'tik to do well with WiFi but when the competition are already in a better price point with new AX gear established in the market, it's a tough argument to go with MikroTik unless you need some bizarre routing setup.

WiFi7 is just around the corner, 'Tik will be same as they were with AX, even AC wave 2, dare I say RoS7. A long way behind the curve.

In their words, moving forward ie wifi7 will be a lot faster because they are using chipset manufacturer drivers now.
Yes I agree with your points, however when I was searching for a new solution Mikrotik turned my head with the specs that I was looking for, and in that respect I got what I wanted. Does it make sense to have an 1800Mhz Quad Core cpu on your ceiling just for WiFi... maybe not, but I do like two Ethernet ports and capacity for it to be it's own Router if should be required. We are after all talking about £100-£130 quids worth of gear depending what you buy of course.