We primarily use the solution for the internet.
B2B Product Management at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Scalable with good pricing and excellent reliability
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable."
- "Better security is always better. If they can continue to improve in this area, that would be ideal."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
We are a mid-sized provider and we are acquiring smaller providers. MikroTik is a brand that is used across these ISPs and we have the experience with the product within our company. There's a familiarity with the solution we appreciate. The reason that we decided to keep this brand is that it's reliable. It offers good IT Station reports.
The solution is stable.
The product has proven to be scalable.
The pricing is good. There's a good ratio of pricing to performance, which is why we use that product.
What needs improvement?
Better security is always better. If they can continue to improve in this area, that would be ideal.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for a couple of years at this point.
Buyer's Guide
MikroTik Routers and Switches
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about MikroTik Routers and Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has proven to be very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. The performance is consistently very good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability has been excellent. If a company needs to expand it out, it's not a problem. They can do so.
A lot of our work is B2B with mid-sized clients that might have dozens of users.
How are customer service and support?
I've never directly dealt with technical support. I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they are. I don't have the direct experience to be able to comment.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also have experience using Cisco (for more demanding installations) and Huawei. Our company tends to use Huawei in B2C situations.
How was the initial setup?
It's my understanding that the installation process is quite straightforward. It's not too complex or difficult.
We have administrators and technicians that can handle deployments. We are doing remote installations. We have one technician usually on-premise. They physically connect the device and another technician remotely configures the device. We have some configuration templates. It's quite easy and quick for our team to deploy everything.
What about the implementation team?
We can handle the deployment for customers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very reasonable. It's not too expensive.
I don't handle licensing costs. I'm not sure how payments are set up and whether a company would have to pay monthly or yearly.
What other advice do I have?
I'm not an IT guy. I'm a business product manager. I'm more of a product or marketing guy. Therefore, I'm not overly technical.
We're service providers for a variety of organizations.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We're pretty happy with the product.
I would recommend the solution to other organizations.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Engineer in Computer Sciences at a government with 201-500 employees
Stable with good routing features and a large amount of online documentation
Pros and Cons
- "The pricing is very reasonable. It's not too expensive."
- "The initial setup can be a bit difficult. The configuration can take a lot of time."
What is most valuable?
The routing features are the solution's most valuable aspects.
What needs improvement?
Next year, we are planning to buy a hardware firewall from Sophos. The firewall and the VPN features in MikroTik are a little bit hard to set and are not user-friendly in terms of configuring those features.
The protection of the web servers, VPN, and spam mail management, will be better in the Sophos model which we want to buy. We'll still use MikroTik for routing between our objects, however, for the main firewall features and VPN features, we want to use something more specific for this job.
There's a new VPN protocol called WireGuard. It's very good to implement MikroTik in the router as firmware. It is more configurable, with WireGuard. It's very practical.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution maybe for five or six years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is extremely stable. We don't have issues with crashing. There aren't bugs or glitches. It's good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. If a company needs to expand it, they can do so easily.
Ultimately, the whole company is using it as it s is the main router for distributing internet services.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't use technical support. If we need to troubleshoot, we tend to get our answers from the internet. We have access to forums and we have a lot of local technical support and knowledge. It's not official technical support. It's from the providers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We didn't previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can be a bit difficult. The configuration can take a lot of time. We only have one person in our company that can do this. It's somewhat impractical. If he's not at work, we can run into issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very reasonable. It's not too expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We're currently looking to replace some aspects of MikroTik with Sophos and will use Sophos next year as the main firewall.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with the company.
Originally, we had little MikroTik routers installed at first. Afterward, we bought a cloud core router and we've had that at this point for six or seven years.
We use the solution both at our company and for our clients.
I'd advise new users to take some time and learn about the configurations. They need to be prepared for a bit of a learning curve when it comes to implementation. However, after that, it's not a problem to use it.
Overall, I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
MikroTik Routers and Switches
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about MikroTik Routers and Switches. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Firewall Engineer at a marketing services firm with 1-10 employees
Useful hotspot capabilities, reliable, and many use cases
Pros and Cons
- "I have found one of the most valuable features to be the hotspot network."
- "They need to create a license for IBS. I have a lot of clients that have spam on their networks."
What is our primary use case?
I mainly use this solution for hotspot networks but also for lots of other things, for example, to connect more than one type of server, merging more than one connection together, firewall, multiple ID cameras, wireless device to connect different sites, and VPNs.
What is most valuable?
I have found one of the most valuable features to be the hotspot network.
What needs improvement?
They need to create a license for IBS. I have a lot of clients that have spam on their networks. We need to purchase a firewall inside of this solution in order to make their networks secure from spam and to protect the blocking of wanted public IDs that are put in it. Additionally, there is an antivirus needed.
In the next release, there could be an improved user interface.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. However, we do sometimes have some issues but they are normally fixed in an update.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 10 people using the solution in my organization.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not used the support. I have always found information on the internet to solve my problems.
How was the initial setup?
The installation can take anywhere from one hour to one day depending on the environment and the skillset of the person installing it.
What about the implementation team?
I have done the implementation of the solution. There are times where I need an additional technician to assist me.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When I compare the price of this solution to competitors it is priced a little high. There is not a license required for this solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others for a hotspot network.
I rate MikroTik Routers and Switches eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
I.T. Manager at a university with 51-200 employees
The two most valuable features to me are the firewall and traffic bonding. The interface could be more user friendly.
Valuable Features:
The two most valuable features to me are the firewall and traffic bonding.
Room for Improvement:
The interface could be more user friendly and more intuitive in terms of what information or features are found where. I also wish there was a dashboard, kind of like landing page with all the basic system analytics.
Deployment Issues:
We've had no issues with deployment.
Stability Issues:
We've had no issues with stability.
Scalability Issues:
We've had no issues with scalability.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Lowered infrastructure and maintenance costs. We did have some stability issues with different versions.
What is most valuable?
Winbox
How has it helped my organization?
Lowered infrastructure and maintenance costs.
What needs improvement?
Wireless.
For how long have I used the solution?
7 years
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sometimes, software issues, some stability problems on different versions.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service: Pretty good.Technical Support: Pretty good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes, Cisco. Cisco is very expensive for smaller businesses.
How was the initial setup?
Easy enough to deploy if you have networking knowledge.
What about the implementation team?
In-house.
What was our ROI?
Very good.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Cisco, Juniper.
What other advice do I have?
Try to do dome certification courses first, do not deploy Mikrotik gear without solid knowledge about networking, TCP/IP, etc.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Hi Adrian, can have your personal email? Currently I'm in the middle of deciding MikroTik or Cisco, wish you can help me.
IT Specialist at ITISEL
Transforms a computer into a reliable network router
Pros and Cons
- "It's very user-friendly."
- "Sometimes, when I need to reboot or change software, MikroTik crashes."
What is most valuable?
The main reason we use this solution is for the price — it's very cheap.
Personally, I know that Fortinet, Cisco, and Palo Alto are great products, but my customers are just interested in the lowest price. I can't change their minds, it's up to them.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a few years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
MikroTik Routers and Switches are both scalable and stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't had to contact technical support. I enjoy studying configuration on my own.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I hope to stop using this solution and switch over to FortiGate soon.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not hard, but it's not necessarily easy either. Upgrading can be difficult with MikroTik. Sometimes, when I need to reboot or change software, MikroTik crashes. When this happens, I need to physically change the configuration.
What about the implementation team?
We have our own small team that handled deployment.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others who prefer price.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of five.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Suited for small business, stable and easy to setup, but there are limitations to scalability
Pros and Cons
- "This is a good solution."
- "There are limitations to how many users you have simultaneously."
What is our primary use case?
We are using this solution for multiple things.
It provides a hotspot gateway, triple PoE, login ID, authentication, and login tapes.
We use it to provide a connection for our clients.
What is most valuable?
This is a good solution.
What needs improvement?
This solution is good, but my network is growing and it is no longer sufficient for us. We are considering a Hybrid model or we will replace MikroTik with another good OEM, such as Cisco, or Juniper.
There are limitations to how many users you have simultaneously. It's a max of 300 users.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using MikroTik Routers and Switches for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have not had any issues with stability, but we experience some issues later as the box capacity is limited to 300 users.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable but it has its limitations. The box has a capacity of 300 using it simultaneously.
If my users keep growing, then we have to replace this solution.
Now currently one of our clients has 200 to 250 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is handled by another team.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is not an issue.
What other advice do I have?
For a small business, MikroTik is good but if you grow, then MikroTik cannot support it.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior System Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Great wireless connectivity with a price-performance ratio to match
Pros and Cons
- "This solution is easy to configure and it's very flexible."
- "The batch management could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We mainly use this solution for switch and routing.
What is most valuable?
This solution is easy to configure and it's very flexible.
What needs improvement?
The batch management could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is both very stable and scalable; we haven't experienced any issues with bugs.
How are customer service and technical support?
We haven't had to contact technical support. We have a team of six engineers that handle all maintenance related issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For switches, we use Cisco. We are familiar with them and so are our clients. They are comfortable with the higher price.
How was the initial setup?
The complexity of the initial setup depends on the client. The deployment can take a few weeks.
What other advice do I have?
MikroTik Routers and Switches are great. If you are having issues understanding how to properly use them, study materials and video lessons are available for a low-cost.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give MikroTik Routers and Switches a rating of eight.
The price-performance is great. I am sure there is a better solution out there (maybe Cisco ISR), but it would be more expensive.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
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Updated: November 2024
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Mikrotik devices are very capable, but the UI could be a bit better (it is a bit confusing, especially compared to competing devices). They generally do very well on pricing, too.