Budget router+4-port switch for gigabit? Edgerouter vs MikroTik vs others?

[Paapaa]

What are the best options for router+4-port switch combo used for 1000M/500M internet connection which needs to be split into 4 ethernet connections (4 RJ45 sockets in different rooms)? I have two candidates currently. Not 100% sure I know what features I need, but probably I just need NAT and basic firewalling. No need for QoS or PoE or SFP port, for example.

Edgerouter X
MikroTik hEX

Afaik MikroTik has a bit more bandwidth in typical setup and can actually do 1000M? On the other hand, ER might be easier to setup? What is your opinion and recommendation?

 

[Christos]

Edgerouter X with hardware offload enabled, will saturate easily the 1000mbit connection with NAT, firewall and VLANs.

 

[Tech9]

TP-Link ER605 is similar to ER-X and it's about $60. It's part of Omada system and some features require Omada SDN, but it also has own UI with stand alone mode good enough for simple configurations. Easy to configure UI like a home router. Also does multi-WAN very well:

Omada Gigabit VPN Router

Omada ER605 supports Gigabit Ethernet connections on both WAN and LAN ports and multiple VPN protocols and high-security, high-performance VPN capabilities, making employees’ remote connections to their main offices as secure as if they were in the main office.

www.tp-link.com

 

[Paapaa]

Edgerouter X with hardware offload enabled, will saturate easily the 1000mbit connection with NAT, firewall and VLANs.

I was under impression that it probably will not saturate it. And that MikroTik has more bandwidth despite having the same CPU. But I guess this all depends on the actual connection and settings used.

For example, both Hex make use of 2Gbps bandwidth between CPU and ports. Hence, it could support 1Gbps full duplex routing. ER-X's on the other hand can only do 500Mbps full duplex routing because UBNT either fails to enable it or purposely not enable the full 2Gbps CPU bandwidth.

Source: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/t...testing-it-against-my-er-x.48319/#post-423534

 

[tgl]

Yeah, I've got several ER-X's and I kind of like them, but it's hard to recommend them as new purchases. Ubiquiti's commitment to continued support seems very weak, and performance-wise they are just marginal if you are looking for 1Gbps speeds. See for example this discussion.

 

[Christos]

I've got several ER-X's and I kind of like them, but it's hard to recommend them as new purchases

This is true, however if an ER-X is found at a very low price, it's a good replacement for the ISP's crappy router.

 

[Paapaa]

Yeah, I've got several ER-X's and I kind of like them, but it's hard to recommend them as new purchases. Ubiquiti's commitment to continued support seems very weak, and performance-wise they are just marginal if you are looking for 1Gbps speeds. See for example this discussion.

This is true, however if an ER-X is found at a very low price, it's a good replacement for the ISP's crappy router.

What would be your recommendation for a nice alternative? I've read good things about MikroTik hEX. Are there others which are equally small, capable of 1 gigabit(-ish) speeds and cost way less than $100 or 100e.