# MikroTik router

59 Hacker News commenters recommended MikroTik router and 26 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (6 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for detailed control and strong performance per dollar, with a steep learning curve and a clumsy interface that suits people who already know networking.

## Why people recommend it

- Detailed control over network settings (5 comments): "I would put mikrotik ahead of ubiquiti in terms of giving control to do stuff. But.... more of a learning curve." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170042)) "I appreciate that Mikrotik exposes all of the layers and connections between them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48978749)) "Mikrotik for a router is fine if you like the detailed control it gives you" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46725536))
- Strong value for the price (4 comments): "The equipment is a fantastic deal for what you get but you need to know what you're doing to get the best performance out of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977934)) "in terms of the vast capabilities of mikrotik equipment at its price point, no there is absolutely no real competitor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47902829)) "You can do a lot of routing on a $70 Mikrotik, although they might not be "easy"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47578614))
- Hardware and features few others offer (3 comments): "I will concede the hardware is nice and they offer things nobody else really does." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48985251)) "MikroTik is one of the only companies that sells a router without WiFi at a non enterprise price." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48934107)) "it will not only provide you with an enterprise grade router, it will also provide you with the functionality I mentioned above" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46105181))
- Free software and updates, long life (3 comments): "There is no contract with MikroTik. You buy the hardware, that's it. The software and updates are free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48975432)) "Mikrotik router and unifi everything else has kind of been my go-to for at least 10 or 12y now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971534)) "still performing great and handles most of the use cases without issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971773))

## What people warn about

- Hard to configure, complex RouterOS (4 comments): "their UX is terrible for anyone who doesn't specifically know how to configure a MikroTik router" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971975)) "there's no way I could configure the extremely complicated RouterOS on my Mikrotik without AI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48933709)) "Seemed like it was written by DOS people from the 70s or 80s, made difficult on purpose." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971779))
- Software and GUI feel poor (3 comments): "I love their hardware, but their software is absolutely awful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48972127)) "The biggest issues with Mikrotik are the features not implemented in the gui, or the way config is interpreted between versions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929849)) "I wanted actual Linux, not a nerfed version of it that made scripting miserable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48973769))
- Occasional unexplained problems and misconfiguration (2 comments): "Sometimes it just works. Sometimes it causes crazy issues." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48363923)) "I remember I misconfigured it, and can't really Google around or ask LLM to fix it, because my Internet is down now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48971841))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [GL.iNet travel router](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gl-inet-travel-router.md): 54 recommend
- [Ubiquiti UniFi Travel Router](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unifi-travel-router.md): 35 recommend
- [OpenWrt One](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openwrt-one.md): 34 recommend
- [Ubiquiti UniFi 5G](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unifi-5g.md): 17 recommend
- [AVM Fritz!Box](https://hackerapproved.com/p/avm-fritz-box.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=MikroTik+router&tag=YOURTAG-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://mikrotik.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "MikroTik router", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mikrotik-router/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).