MikroTik switch
Hacker ApprovedNetwork switch in Networking & smart home
People recommend MikroTik switches for inexpensive 10G uplinks and low power use in home networks. The most common caveat is odd layer 2 configuration and a feature-heavy RouterOS interface.
People recommend MikroTik switches for inexpensive 10G uplinks and low power use in home networks. The most common caveat is odd layer 2 configuration and a feature-heavy RouterOS interface.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Inexpensive 10G switches
“They were the first I found that had 10Gb uplinks, inexpensively and with low power usage. L2 configuration is janky (like every other switch) but workable.”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router” “they are inexpensive and definitely more than good enough for a fancy home LAN”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Man discovers his parents' coffee machine used 1TB of data in 10 days” “Mikrotik makes 10G switches that can do it for under $200”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Wanted to download an ISO, ended up writing a kernel exploit” - Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Vxlan over WireGuard or WireGuard over Vxlan?”
Good speeds for home network
“a few Mikrotik switches, some old enterprise gear, and an adapter gets you some good speeds”
Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper” “Works fine, and it makes remote disks quite a bit nicer than when they are over 1gbit.”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed” “they are inexpensive and definitely more than good enough for a fancy home LAN”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Man discovers his parents' coffee machine used 1TB of data in 10 days” Works fine, zero complaints
“I'm using 2 Mikrotik switches with their simplified UI to operate VLANs. Zero complains.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router” “Works fine, and it makes remote disks quite a bit nicer than when they are over 1gbit.”
Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Odd layer 2 and MAC behavior
“They were the first I found that had 10Gb uplinks, inexpensively and with low power usage. L2 configuration is janky (like every other switch) but workable.”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router” “weird MAC setup almost nobody else uses on a few low-volume models”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “UniFi 5G”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MikroTik switchThis page | 14 | 4 | 78% | 9 | 3 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Ubiquiti Flex Mini 2.5G | 6 | 1 | 86% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Mikrotik makes 10G switches that can do it for under $200”
“the buying experience was so much better”
“they are inexpensive and definitely more than good enough for a fancy home LAN”
“Works fine, and it makes remote disks quite a bit nicer than when they are over 1gbit.”
“The problem is that people might login to it for the first time and see all of the feature set of RouterOS v7 available”
“They were the first I found that had 10Gb uplinks, inexpensively and with low power usage. L2 configuration is janky (like every other switch) but workable.”
“I'm using 2 Mikrotik switches with their simplified UI to operate VLANs. Zero complains.”
“Mikrotik doesn't vendor lock their ports, but the bigger manufacturers do”
“enterprise grade Mikrotik switch that also had obnoxious fans by default”
“it's still the most compact 10G switch available”
“used a dremel tool, some radiators, and a bit of thermal glue to make my Mikrotik switch work reliably”
“Out of the box it's a dumb switch and that is all I want.”
“now it’s become a task I dread”
“a few Mikrotik switches, some old enterprise gear, and an adapter gets you some good speeds”
“MikroTik just released a 400G switch in under two grand.”
“The lack of support for hardware EVPN is one of the many reasons that Mikrotik is not considered for professional deployments.”
“I loved my mikrotik switches when I was just messing around”
“weird MAC setup almost nobody else uses on a few low-volume models”
“This has been a massive boon.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.