In the area of network management software from Ubiquiti, there are two products, UniFi and UISP. In this post we'll aim to provide a detailed comparison of UniFi and UISP, helping you make an informed decision about which one suits your needs the best.

If you want fast and reliable UniFi or UISP hosting, check out HostiFi with expert support, regular backups, managed updates and prices from $19 per month.

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What is UniFi?

UniFi is a well flushed out network management solution, sometimes known as software defined networking (SDN). Ubiquiti offers a wide array of devices under the UniFi brand, including switches, routers, access points and cameras. The ethos behind each line of equipment is central management, and each UniFi device doesn't typically have its own GUI. With HostiFi UniFi hosting, you can manage UniFi network devices, which encompasses switches, gateways and access points.

What is UISP?

UISP, formerly known as UNMS has an interesting usecase. While it isn't required to be used to get the devices to work like UniFi, it does add some great benefits if you do decide to manage your devices with it. With UISP, you can add EdgeMAX, sunMAX, airMAX, UISP Routing & Switching, UFiber, airFiber, UISP Wave and LTU devices. Then, for these devices it offers alerts, statistics, backups, firmware update management and event logging.

The target market is primarily Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs), but it can be used by literally anyone. For ISPs, it has some powerful free features, such as a fully fledged customer relationship management (CRM) system and advanced automatic billing with automatic service suspension for non payment issues. Startup WISPs can easily hit the ground running, with very little upfront cost.

Key Differences

1. Target Audience

- UniFi is primarily designed for WiFi and network management in either businesses or homes. These can be individuals, IT teams or MSPs.

- UISP caters mainly to ISPs, WISPs and MSPs that have EdgeMAX routing and switching devices or PtP airMAX wireless links.

‍2. Feature Set

- UniFi has a lot of features for managing WiFi networks, such as guest hotspot captive portals, billing for WiFi access and scheduling. For routing, there is IDS/IPS intrusion prevention and packet analysis with DPI. More recently, Ubiquiti has added traffic rules, allowing different types of apps and websites to be blocked or speed restricted.

- With UISP, it mainly focuses on ISP-specific features, such as customer management, billing, and network monitoring. It has support for viewing statistics, backups, updating firmware and much more.

3. Scalability

- UniFi servers can handle a large amount of devices. HostiFi has plans ranging from 25 devices, all the way up to multiple 1,000s. UniFi devices are suitable for small to medium-sized networks and can be scaled up to a certain extent.

- UISP servers can manage, again, a large amount of devices. Many HostiFi customers are large MSPs managing thousands of devices.

4. Management Interface

- UniFi is accessible either via a web browser or UniFi mobile app.

- UISP is accessible either via a web browser or UniFi mobile app.‍

5. Integration

- UniFi doesn't integrate as openly as UISP, but many third party WiFi hotspots do work with UniFi.

- UISP has support for many third party APs and plugins. The billing side has support for PayPal and Stripe.

Recommendation

UniFi and UISP target very different use cases. If you have a hotel to outfit with networking and WiFi, then UniFi would be the best choice. If you are trying to get connectivity to a remote village over large distances, Ubiquiti's airMAX devices would be the best choice and then managing those can be done via UISP.

Reach out to our team if you have any questions or book a free demo to learn what HostiFi can do for you.