Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (2024)

Overview

What is MikroTik Routers and Switches?

Latvian company MikroTik offers routers and switches.

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Learn from top reviewers

great features at low cost

Rating: 9 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (1)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (2)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (3)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (4)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (5)

November 5, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

our company is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the country and we have a good number of remote sites which connect via internet links to our head office. we hav...

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Umair Ali Khan

Professional - Information Technology

Network Administrator

Pak Suzuki Motor Company

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (6)2 years of experience

Our Experience with MikroTik RouterOS

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (7)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (8)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (9)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (10)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (11)

November 9, 2020

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

Initally, we used it as experimental solution during R&D process. It turned out that the R&D was a big success, and we implemented it widely to our clients as part of ...

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Alex Anwar

C-Level Executive - Corporate

Aerospace IT Specialist

CommunicAVIA Pte Ltd

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (12)10 years of experience

MikroTik Routers and Switches--dare to explore!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (13)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (14)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (15)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (16)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (17)

March 4, 2020

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

For more than four years, we have been using MikroTik Routers and Switches in our core, specifically the Mikrotik CCR-1036 and CCR-1072. What we like is the ease of use, as we...

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Tanner Moreno

Manager - Information Technology

Gerente

Ovnicom

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (18)4 years of experience

MikroTik is my first option

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (19)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (20)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (21)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (22)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (23)

February 23, 2019

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

As a Managed Service Provider, Mikrotik is our first choice when we need to build a new network, upgrade existing networks, or replace faulty routers and switches. Since using...

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Adrian Takacs

Engineer - Information Technology

Infrastructure Engineer

X-Net Solutions

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (24)2 years of experience

An elegant solution for the administration of business networks

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

We arrived at MikroTik by means of an analyst hired in the company who, faced with the problem of networks that we presented, offered us the solution of the MikroTik router bo...

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Carlos Alberto Pedron Espinett

Analyst - Information Technology

Especialista de Desarrollo

ARCA International Group

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (30)1 year of experience

Mikrotik - is it worth the price?

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (31)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (32)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (33)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (34)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (35)

July 13, 2017

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

We currently use 24 routers from Mikrotik, typically for education. Routers are used only by my department. They are used for enhanced education in teleinformatica. Users/stud...

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Marcin Chabowski

Employee - Other

Teacher

Zespół Szkół Elektronicznych in Bydgoszcz

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (36)2 years of experience

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (37)

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Product Details

  • About
  • Tech Details

What is MikroTik Routers and Switches?

MikroTik Routers and Switches Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
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Reviews and Ratings

(28)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (48)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content?

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  • Business Problems Solved
  • Pros
  • Cons

MikroTik router boards have gained recognition for their ability to solve network problems, making them a recommended choice for businesses. Initially implemented in the systems department, the product has successfully expanded its reach throughout the entire company, effectively addressing all network requirements. What started as an experimental solution during the R&D process has evolved into a fully cloud-managed suite with added enhancements and functions not available natively on MikroTik RouterOS.

The affordability, power, and ease of deployment make MikroTik routers a desirable option for various users, including both production and back-end systems. While it may pose a challenge for beginner engineers, it has proven to be a reliable choice for one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the country. These companies utilize MikroTik routers to connect remote sites via internet links to the head office, achieving auto failover between multiple links by deploying MikroTik routers as gateways running BGP with the ISP.

For over four years, MikroTik CCR-1036 and CCR-1072 routers and switches have played crucial roles in providing ease of use and efficient data processing at the core of numerous organizations. Additionally, RB devices have been successfully deployed as Client CPE, delivering excellent results. However, challenges do exist in terms of lacking a direct support channel and incompatibility issues during update processes.

MikroTik has positioned itself as the preferred choice for building new networks, upgrading existing ones, and replacing faulty routers and switches for Managed Service Providers. With seamless infrastructure operation and capabilities such as bandwidth monitoring and traffic shaping, MikroTik routers offer valuable support to diverse industries, such as education. In the education sector, these routers are widely used to teach various network configuration functions like DHCP, MPLS, OSPF, RIP, VLAN, VPN, IP addressing, and WLAN. Furthermore, MikroTik routers are highly useful for teaching routing protocols, making them an indispensable tool for enhanced education in teleinformatica.

Bandwidth distribution prioritization: Some users have praised the product for allowing them to establish a distribution of bandwidth by areas, prioritizing access for departments that need it the most. This feature has efficiently covered the needs of many companies.

Real-time bandwidth statistics: Many users appreciate the product's ability to provide real-time statistics on bandwidth consumption, allowing them to track usage by user, IP, network fragment, department, and unit. This valuable feature helps in monitoring and optimizing network performance.

Cost-effective solution with additional features: Several reviewers have mentioned that adding different DSL connections to increase bandwidth is seen as a cost-effective solution offered by the product. They also note that compared to other brands at a similar price point, this product offers more features which make it an attractive option.

Unintuitive Configuration: Some users have found the configuration of the operating system routerOS to be unintuitive and requiring advanced knowledge in computer science and free operating systems for maintenance. They have expressed frustration with the complexity of the setup process and the difficulty in navigating through the system's settings.

Expensive Load Balancing: Several users have mentioned that load balancing requires multiple MikroTik devices, making the implementation more expensive. This additional cost can be a barrier for small businesses or individuals looking to implement load balancing on their network.

High Cost of Macro Business Solutions: Users have expressed concerns about the high cost of devices for macro business solutions, requiring a significant initial investment in hardware. The expense involved in setting up these solutions may deter some businesses from adopting them, especially smaller organizations with limited budgets.

Reviews

(1-6 of 6)

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great features at low cost

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

November 05, 2021

UA

Umair Ali Khan

Network Administrator

Pak Suzuki Motor Company (Automotive, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (54)

2

years

of experience

Pros and Cons
  • cost effective

  • user friendly GUI

  • built in firewall

  • routing protocols

  • NAT

  • Gigabit ethernet

  • SFP support

Our Experience with MikroTik RouterOS

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (55)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (56)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (57)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (58)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (59)

Incentivized

November 09, 2020

AA

Alex Anwar

Aerospace IT Specialist

CommunicAVIA Pte Ltd (Airlines/Aviation, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (60)

10

years

of experience

Pros and Cons
  • Affordable, it has more features compared to other brand at the same price.

  • Widely available, by today it's easy to obtained one, even online retailers sell it.

  • Highly customizable, you may write a powerful script to enhance the function.

  • Flexible, you can make different configuration approach based on you needs.

MikroTik Routers and Switches--dare to explore!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (61)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (62)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (63)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (64)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (65)

Incentivized

March 04, 2020

TM

Tanner Moreno

Gerente

Ovnicom (Telecommunications, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (66)

4

years

of experience

Pros and Cons
  • Dual Stack IPv4 - IPv6

  • Easy management

  • Multiple secure connection options

MikroTik is my first option

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (67)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (68)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (69)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (70)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (71)

Incentivized

February 23, 2019

AT

Adrian Takacs

Infrastructure Engineer

X-Net Solutions (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (72)

2

years

of experience

Pros and Cons
  • When you are creating a firewall filter rule on a router, the amount of options you have is incredible. For example, most other firewalls or routers will not give you the option to select a connection state, a packet size, specify the packet content etc.

  • You can use the routers in transparent mode, when your router is placed in front of a customer firewall or customer router, allowing only the allocated public IP address to communicate with the Internet and allowing you to allocate a certain bandwidth or speed.

  • The lowest end model routers have the same operating system, features as the more expensive ones making simple for us to test configuration on cheap equipment before commit to buy the more expensive one. The licensing model is very simple as well and easy to understand.

  • The cheapest routers also come with one SFP port, which is great as it is allowing us to connect fiber straight into it. No extra PoE injectors and converter are needed, reducing the number of points of failure.

An elegant solution for the administration of business networks

Rating: 9 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (73)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (74)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (75)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (76)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (77)

Incentivized

August 02, 2018

CA

Carlos Alberto Pedron Espinett

Especialista de Desarrollo

ARCA International Group (Banking, 201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (78)

1

year

of experience

Pros and Cons
  • It allowed to establish a distribution by areas of the bandwidth allowing to prioritize the access to it to the departments that most needed it

  • It allows to obtain real statistics by user, IP, fragment of network, department and unit of the consumption of bandwidth of the company.

  • Different DSL connections were added to obtain a larger bandwidth and thus be able to efficiently cover the needs of the company.

Mikrotik - is it worth the price?

Rating: 10 out of 10

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (79)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (80)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (81)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (82)

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (83)

Incentivized

July 13, 2017

MC

Marcin Chabowski

Teacher

Zespół Szkół Elektronicznych in Bydgoszcz (Primary/Secondary Education, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (84)

2

years

of experience

Pros and Cons
  • Routing protocols.

  • Configuring it is simple and intuitive.

  • IP addressing, and VLAN creation.

  • Multi protocol usage.

  • Mikrotik routers are full of protocols that can be enabled and configured in a quick and simple way.

  • WLAN and hotspot configuration is simple.

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Pros and Cons of MikroTik Routers and Switches 2024 (2024)

FAQs

What is the disadvantage of MikroTik? ›

Expensive Load Balancing: Several users have mentioned that load balancing requires multiple MikroTik devices, making the implementation more expensive. This additional cost can be a barrier for small businesses or individuals looking to implement load balancing on their network.

What is the difference between router and switch in MikroTik? ›

A switch uses the MAC address of a packet to know where to send it. A router uses the IP address of the packet. Many MikroTik devices have both switch and router functions. But the speed they are running can vary.

Is MikroTik a good router? ›

Mikrotik has a reputation for making highly configurable routers but they also have a higher degree of difficultly in that configuration. Setting a router up for the first time can be a bit intimidating if you have never seen anything like this before. One of the best things about this router is the price.

Can I use MikroTik router as a switch? ›

Many MikroTik's devices come with a built-in switch chip that can be used to greatly improve overall throughput when configured properly. Devices with a switch chip can be used as a router and a switch at the same time, this gives you the possibility to use a single device instead of multiple devices for your network.

Why is MikroTik so popular? ›

The article lists 11 reasons why MikroTik is a great networking solution for businesses of all sizes. These include affordability, flexibility, advanced features, scalability, security, centralized management, protocol support, regular updates, a strong community, and good performance. Reasons to use Mikrotik.

Why is Cisco better than MikroTik? ›

One of the most significant differences between Cisco and MikroTik is their pricing. Cisco devices, known for their premium quality and extensive feature set, come with a higher price tag. This makes Cisco more suitable for organizations with larger budgets and demanding networking requirements.

Is MikroTik a Russian company? ›

MikroTik (officially SIA "Mikrotīkls") is a Latvian network equipment manufacturing company. MikroTik develops and sells wired and wireless network routers, network switches, access points, as well as operating systems and auxiliary software.

Why is a router better than a switch? ›

Just as a switch connects multiple devices to create a network, a router connects multiple switches, and their respective networks, to form an even larger network. These networks may be in a single location or across multiple locations. When building a small business network, you will need one or more routers.

What are the five key differences between a switch and a router? ›

Difference Between Router and Switch
ParametersRouter
Maintenance of AddressesA router stores IP addresses in its routing table and maintains its own address.
PortsIt is a networking device with 2/4/8 ports.
DuplexIt is less duplex in nature.
NATIt can easily perform NAT.
8 more rows

Which processor is best for MikroTik? ›

Re: Best Cpu for RouterOS x86.

A quad core i5/i7 will give you the best performance, then it goes core i3, core 2 duo, dual core, atom.

How many devices can a MikroTik router handle? ›

Re: How Many Clients can a Mikrotik Hex Handle? If the question is how many clients can connect - then the answer is 100+ (almost no problem).

What is the best signal in MikroTik? ›

Re: Good Signal Strength

from my experience the best signal is in range -60... -70 and i do my best to keep the clients in this range.

Can a switch replace a router? ›

In practice, what this means is that routers are necessary for an Internet connection, while switches are only used for interconnecting devices. Homes and small offices need routers for Internet access, but most do not need a network switch, unless they require a large amount of Ethernet* ports.

Can I use a router just as a switch? ›

When the routing functionality is not required or desired, many tiny office routers can be utilized for other tasks because they are a collection of many network devices in a small box. Your router can be set up to function as a switch, so in short, yes, you can use the router as a switch.

Can a switch and router be used in the same network? ›

For a modular setup, the switch, hub and router will all be separate devices on the local network.

What can I use instead of MikroTik? ›

The best overall MikroTik alternative is Cisco Routers. Other similar apps like MikroTik are Huawei Routers and Mist Access Points. MikroTik alternatives can be found in Industrial Routers . Have you used MikroTik before?

Is A MikroTik router Secure? ›

Mikrotik out-of-the-box has a default username of “admin” and NO PASSWORD! Yes, this contradicts the industry's best common practices (BCPs). It exposes your brand new Mikrotik device to miscreants constantly scanning the Internet looking for new devices that have yet to change the default username and add a password.

What are the disadvantages of link state routing? ›

However, link-state protocols also have some disadvantages, such as higher complexity, higher memory and CPU requirements, and higher bandwidth consumption. Link-state protocols are more difficult to configure and troubleshoot, because they involve more parameters and algorithms.

What is the purpose of MikroTik? ›

MikroTik RouterOS is an open-source network operating system that provides routing, wireless networking, and firewall services for home and small office networks. The software was developed by the MikroTik company, a Latvia-based maker of routers and other networking hardware.

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