MikroTik RouterBORD 5009UG+S+ with Marvell Armada ARMv8 CPU, 876538 (Marvell Armada ARMv8 CPU (4-cores, 1.4GHz per core), 1GB of DDR4 RAM, 1GB RB5009UG+S+in, Ethernet WAN,)

I've been using an RB2011 for around 10 years now. It's stayed relevant through firmware updates, and is still supported, demonstrating a great value on this alone, as most routers are not supported with security updates for more than a few years. The only real issue I had with the RB2011 is that its older MIPS processor couldn't keep up with increasing internet speeds, capping out at ~300Mbps NAT (in the home it worked at line speed easily). So, the RB5009 brings in a more modern ARM CPU with more memory and updated switching, and the familiar (to me) interface. I can hit nearly the full 1Gbps that FIOS claims, so this is a big improvement. These have MANY features, and it is easy to configure it to be quite insecure, but it does have a default baseline that is pretty decent. Really the only thing a home user would want to change is IP>Services and enable only winbox and HTTP from 192.168.88.0/24 (default subnet, inside your home) and disable the others. That and change the password, which the default is no longer blank but on a sticker that comes with the router. The RB5009 also adds a 10Gbps SFP+ and a 2.5Gbps port (ether1). This will allow for the expansion of a 2.5/5/10 Gbps network in your home AND support higher ISP speeds when those improve, too (which is a limitation on the RB4011). This model doesn't have POE, but there is a version that does. I just use separate switches for this, for more flexibility. Overall, I'm happy with the performance and the ability to configure it to my needs. This is not a novice device at all, but it's not as hard as people make it to be if you stick with the default configuration. There are certainly worse devices that cost a lot more.

This router is a really well designed piece of hardware. It supports VLANs, hardware acceleration for routing and switching between VLANs, a ton of Linux features, open source software like Wireguard, OpenVPN, etc. It does all of this really well with few exceptions. I've got this setup with VLANs, multiple link bonds, routing, switching, even IPv6. The chip it uses for moving packets in hardware, 88E6393X, is pretty versatile, though this is where weak points emerge. It's clear some features just weren't part of its design. Multicast IGMP snooping will break hardware routing in weird ways, and some features just don't work together. Check the Router board switch chip features page on Mikrotik's website before you buy this expecting it do certain things. I've got RouterOS working now with accelerated NAT, accelerated switching between VLANs, and multicast is acceptable, but it's been a journey, and it's buggy. Why does multicast matter? IPv6. It doesn't work, at all, without this working. I have hosts that lose their temporary IPv6 addresses randomly, can't communicate with IPv6 randomly, and weird affects with DLNA and other UPnP use cases across even the same VLAN but forwarded across the switch ports, let alone intravlan. All in all, it's really good, but there are limitations. For the price, you can't really beat this for features.

Very robust router for home and small/medium offices. I’ve been using MikroTik routers for 15 years and have never experienced a hardware issue. Setup isn’t easy—if you want easy, just don’t use routers and stick to Ubiquiti. This one can be PoE powered (port 1) and can run small Docker containers, perfect for Pi-hole. It has tons of features, but the ones I love are: 1. You decide if a port is WAN or LAN—you can have as many WANs as you want. 2. VLAN support to isolate devices (you’ll need to configure this on any chained switches and Wi-Fi APs too). 3. Route selection based on origin or destination. Which is very useful for sending traffic through a VPN. 4. Multiple ISPs with failover. 5. Traffic analysis. 6. Graphing. 7. Parental controls. The only thing I dislike is the scripting—man, scripting in MikroTik is hard, even for AI.

Mikrotik makes fantastic products, and with their free RouterOS you can fully customize your network security. I've been using Mikrotik for 4+ years now, and haven't had any problems other than just mis-configuring the device. I totally recommend this version, as it comes with an arm64 4-core CPU for really fast network packet filtering and transmission. Edit: I've now worked with multiple of these, and so far they've all been working great. I will say this: A recent purchase of this model came with an incorrect default username/password or bad default configuration. I couldn't access the system via winbox or http using default creds/resetting it/blank password. Though it's unprofessional that such a great product would pass QA with an incorrect default configuration/creds, it was quickly resolved by using Mikrotik's NetInstall tool, and flashing the device using the latest RouterOS arm64 npk. Because of the great support this device has and all the online resources and documentation Mikrotik provides, the issue I encountered here still doesn't cause it to lose any rating stars. I still highly recommend the product.

I love Mikrotik, and it never fails to deliver. The RB5009 was a nice upgrade from my 4011 which was a nice upgrade from my Hex. All of the configurations were compatible with a little tweaking. It's been great, and it just sits there working away without ever needing so much as a reboot. These are not consumer grade routers so don't expect to just get one and drop it in without doing some research as you will not have a great experience. Other than that, they are all great devices.

I love hate this thing. It is clever hardware and performs flawlessly, routerOS exposes all the knobs and is ultimately rewarding, but it has NO SERIAL PORT for console access, so a friend dredged up a discontinued WOOBM wifi dongle, and also cobbled together a DB-9 to USB franken-cable chain to null modem my way in. Thinking caps on, buyers!

This works very good in my network.

Outstanding connectivity options especially considering the price of these. I was able to keep a 10gb internal network with my current ISP offering internet over the much faster 2.5gb port. Mikrotik offers limitless options for configuring these as well. Will definitely use again.