MikroTik as viable replacement for UniFI

[Morgan Sprouse]

Hello all,

 

I've been running a small IT shop for about a year and a half now. I got started installing UniFI dream machine pro's and the more I use them the more I seem to have issues with them not giving me accurate information in the uniFi console. I was also drawn to them for the "all in one" solution and now that I'm getting better at my networking skills, I'm noticing and being annoyed more and more with the software bugs, lack of strong community support, and more prosumer attitude towards product rollout. I'm thinking of jumping ship now before I get into bed further with them (i.e. buying and installing more products.). I'm not okay with the idea of paying the ridiculous licensing fees of Meraki and the like. I remember watching Linus's video on the MikroTik 10g switch and have started doing preliminary research into them. I need someone with more experience to tell me I am or am not headed in the right direction. is UniFI a necessary evil? I'm due for a network upgrade at my office/home so I'm thinking of installing the first new brand installation at my house so I can learn/teach myself/etc... Thoughts?

 

-Morgan

[brwainer]

Depends on what you’re expecting from the products and your usage case.

 

Can Mikrotik serve well for routing and switching (switches - assume you stay within the CRS3xx line, or anything CSS)? Yes, works great.

 

Does Mikrotik have “next gen” firewall features that UDMP offers? (meaning IDS/IPS, geolocation, maybe one or two others)? No, or at least not supported by Mikrotik, there are third parties that can offer you firewall lists they maintain that are hand built to do something similar to IPS.

 

Does Mikrotik offer acceptable APs? Yes, if old (nothing WiFi 6 yet).

 

Does Mikrotik have an AP system that can compete with Unifi (ease of management, advanced features like fast roaming)? No, CAPsMan is not a competitive replacement for Unifi.

 

Does Mikrotik offer competing products for PtP and PtMP wireless (this is compared to Ubiquiti AirMax and such, not Unifi)? Yes.

 

I have a lot of experience with every product line from both Mikrotik and Ubiquiti. I also have a lot of other vendor experience. There is no single overall vendor that can cover firewall, routing, switching, and wireless. Unifi tries to be this but you’ve seen the mediocre, ill-supported result they have.

 

These are my recommendations for prosumer and small business:

 

Firewall/Router: Untangle (I have a lot more recommendations for enterprise)

Router: Mikrotik, PFSense, OPNSense

Switches and APs: Ruckus ICX7150 switches and Ruckus APs, both in Unleashed; Unifi switches and Unifi APs; Mikrotik CRS3xx and/or CSS switches with Ruckus Unleashed or Unifi APs (in this case the switches and APs won’t have any synergies because Mikrotik switches are all individually managed)

 

There are a lot of competing products that are overall good but I don’t recommend because you are tying yourself to a cloud (Aruba InstantOn, Engenius Cloud, Netgear … I forget the name) or they feel too much of a clone of Unifi with no improvement (TPLink Omada).

 

Summary: Mikrotik doesn’t do firewall features beyond what iptables supports (meaning stateful firewall) and their APs are not competitive in hardware or software. But for routing and switching I recommend them. I have no issue with Unifi switches and APs and encourage you to consider mix and match.