UniFi - LAN IN vs LAN OUT and LAN LOCAL Explained

Alex Lowe

Last updated: October 9, 2026

UniFi's legacy firewall (before UniFi Zone-Based Firewall was introduced in UniFi 9 with UXG firmware 4.1+) advanced rules can have the following types:

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

To learn more about our hosting plans, create an account or book a free demo to get started.

Internet In

Internet Out

LAN In

LAN Out

LAN Local

Guest In

Guest Out

Guest Local

Internetv6 In

Internetv6 Out

LANv6 In

LANv6 Out

LANv6 Local

Guestv6 In

Guestv6 Out

Guestv6 Local

The most common question that we get is whether you should use LAN IN or LAN OUT when creating firewall rules to allow traffic between VLANs

To better understand the difference between the rule types it's important to picture yourself from the router's perspective

LAN IN is traffic is traffic incoming to the router from the LAN destined for somewhere else

LAN OUT is traffic leaving the router destined to the LAN from the router perspective

Generally if you want to allow or block something it will be done on LAN IN

If you want to block traffic going from the LAN to the router itself you can use LAN LOCAL as the destination

About HostiFi

HostiFi provides hosting for Ubiquiti software platforms, with servers for UniFi and UISP. We also offer network consulting, with HostiFi Professional Services.

Get the Ubiquiti Top 20

Each month our team sifts through Ubiquiti news and content from around the web and delivers 20 of our favorite links to your inbox.

View recent issues

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

🤩

Discovered 3+ things that I did not know and will have a material impact on my business.

Newsletter Subscriber

🤩

All the info I want/need in a single clean thread! Perfect!

Newsletter Subscriber

🤩

Providing super valuable information to keep the community in the know. Awesome links page, Thank You.

Newsletter Subscriber