Mikrotik RouterOS vs Ubiquiti EdgeRouter EdgeOS

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Mikrotik RouterOS vs Ubiquiti EdgeRouter EdgeOS

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#1589676 11-Jul-2016 13:36

michaelmurfy:

MadEngineer:

You mean replacing the isp provided router that can do over 900Mbps with the EL that can only (cough) do 820Mbps?

Strange - I've got a few people down in Dunedin able to max out their Gigatown connection w/ an Edgerouter Lite. One would assume the Edgerouter Pro would be quicker again ;)

If you're referring to the tests done online those were with earlier versions of the firmware. Now, most traffic is offloaded to the packet processor.

Roger that. Any recent reviews anywhere?

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#1589732 11-Jul-2016 15:26

MadEngineer:

michaelmurfy:

MadEngineer:

You mean replacing the isp provided router that can do over 900Mbps with the EL that can only (cough) do 820Mbps?

Strange - I've got a few people down in Dunedin able to max out their Gigatown connection w/ an Edgerouter Lite. One would assume the Edgerouter Pro would be quicker again ;)

If you're referring to the tests done online those were with earlier versions of the firmware. Now, most traffic is offloaded to the packet processor.

Roger that. Any recent reviews anywhere?

I don't think so. There are many old reviews out there indicating very good performance and plenty of feedback on the Ubiquiti forums regarding firmware. It is widely known it is an excellent router for its price already so there isn't really much to add. Also, not too many people have gigabit connections.

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AICOM

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#1590041 12-Jul-2016 05:46

I just talked to a network engineer who builds systems for large properties with lots of users all of the time, and they told me that Mikrotik out performs Ubiquiti for these types of applications hands down. Any thoughts

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#1590174 12-Jul-2016 10:48

AICOM: I just talked to a network engineer who builds systems for large properties with lots of users all of the time, and they told me that Mikrotik out performs Ubiquiti for these types of applications hands down. Any thoughts

The CRX routers are quick however they're reliant on CPU for routing unless if you use Fasttrack. You'll lose features with using Fasttrack. The ER does it all in hardware so honestly CRX vs ER-PRO = personal preference. Grab what you want.

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#1590226 12-Jul-2016 11:48

AICOM: I just talked to a network engineer who builds systems for large properties with lots of users all of the time, and they told me that Mikrotik out performs Ubiquiti for these types of applications hands down. Any thoughts

That's a bit like saying a Ford is quicker than a Toyota. Without any context is means absolutely nothing.

Both brands have their pros and cons, and without knowing in explicit detail exactly what you're trying to achieve it's not really possible to answer your questions. My recommendation would be to learn both systems and then device what is best for you.

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#1590382 12-Jul-2016 15:30

AICOM: I just talked to a network engineer who builds systems for large properties with lots of users all of the time, and they told me that Mikrotik out performs Ubiquiti for these types of applications hands down. Any thoughts

To evaluate your options you need to work out what would perform the required task acceptably, for some lifespan.

Mikrotik have been in the router game longer and have more features. Ubiquiti are newer but as others have said, have some impressive performance via hardware offload.

Do you need to throttle bandwidth per-user? Do you need to perform content filtering? What do you expect peak load to be? What about 5 years from now? What will the network topology look like?

Answer those questions before you choose a vendor.

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AICOM

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#1590387 12-Jul-2016 15:38

I've decided to use both at two separate properties and see which one kick starts the best. I have hundreds of these projects to do over the next few years so I'll play test dummy to be sure

kamicrazy

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#1590394 12-Jul-2016 15:43

My 2c,

I have more experience with Edgerouter/VyOs over Mikrotiks but over the past year I've been using both in my daily work.

Mikrotik:

Winbox is a great GUI interface - that directly maps to the CLI - meaning if you learn winbox, learning CLI is a transition step.

Easy to make small iterative changes and get them to apply immediately.

Can do some switch stuff in the router, saving the need to buy a separate switch.

Very attractive price points for the low budget power user

Edgerouter:

If your use case is supported by the offloads then you get amazing performance. If not then you are out of luck

I find the GUI to be less than useful and so I do everything via the CLI.

Its a debian server - I had a situation once where I needed to install a different dhcp-relay package. Ran apt-get and got it working in 15 mins.

Everything you learn in Edgerouter CLI then becomes transferable to VyOS, very useful if you ever want to do Cloud networking.

Supports open standards properly (i.e. working openvpn udp implementation vs mikrotiks openvpn udp implementation).

In the end of the day I still prefer Edgerouter over Mikrotik. This is because for some reason I encounter the pain points with Mikrotik more than the usual user. Today for example, I tested a vpn link between a sophos UTM and a CCR. AES-128 SHA1 Group 14 settings, 45 Mb/s throughput, CPU pegged at 100%, Sophos UTM 4% CPU. My boss thought the CCR would have no problems handling 200 Mb/s.

So summing it up, I feel there are a whole lot of use cases where Mikrotiks are just fine. However there are a few situations where Edgerouters are better.

AICOM

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#1592299 14-Jul-2016 00:42

What most customers are really concerned about is security. any idea which brand offers the most secure connection in terms of hack prevention and the privacy of information sent and received through the network? mikrotik vs ubiquiti security?

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#1592300 14-Jul-2016 01:42

AICOM:

What most customers are really concerned about is security. any idea which brand offers the most secure connection in terms of hack prevention and the privacy of information sent and received through the network? mikrotik vs ubiquiti security?

The security of both routers is as secure as the person that sets it up. Honestly, if you don't firewall it correctly then you're going to be open for an attack. Both routers are also very secure if you firewall them correctly. There is no correct answer to the above statement.

It is like saying you have this massive door that can't be broken through by anything and forget to lock it - the router is the door and you're the user that forgets to lock it down.

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#1592330 14-Jul-2016 09:14

Can't say I've heard of a mikrotik hack ... ubiquity however recently had a virus take over their wireless APs and I hear that despite patching it, the vulnerability still hung around.

Mikrotik would be harder to secure for a newbie.

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#1592332 14-Jul-2016 09:25

AICOM:

What most customers are really concerned about is security. any idea which brand offers the most secure connection in terms of hack prevention and the privacy of information sent and received through the network? mikrotik vs ubiquiti security?

When you say "prevention and the privacy of information sent and received through the network" this has absolutely nothing to do with hardware. That's dependent entirely on how you're going to configure a network.

As for hack prevention this will come down to how you configure the hardware so once again has nothing to do with hardware selection. Any piece of hardware can be configured insecurely and hacked if you don't know what you're doing.

AICOM

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#1592333 14-Jul-2016 09:30

I was referring to Mikrotik's software capabilities vs Ubiquiti's software capabilities to be more specific

MadEngineer

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#1592389 14-Jul-2016 11:25

I wouldn't treat them as a firewall appliance. For that you get a dedicated device such as a fortigate that includes virus and antispam functions. That's not the job for a router.

That's not to say their firewall capabilities are lacking.

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deadlyllama

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#1592561 14-Jul-2016 14:34

AICOM:

What most customers are really concerned about is security. any idea which brand offers the most secure connection in terms of hack prevention and the privacy of information sent and received through the network? mikrotik vs ubiquiti security?

If you're having to ask this sort of question on Geekzone, and you're planning to build several large networks servicing in total hundreds of end users...

...stop. You need much, much more help than "which brand of router should I buy." I recommend either employing the services of someone who is adept at network design and configuration, or putting much more effort into learning how to do it yourself.

Advice here will be enough to say "buy these things, set them up this way" but when something goes wrong and your customers want it fixed yesterday, you won't have the skills to fix it.

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