Ubiquiti 2024: Enterprise-Grade Year In Review

UbiquitiPodcastNetworkingMiscellaneous
Written By Evan McCann

Originally Posted: December 22nd, 2024

Ubiquiti 2024: Enterprise-Grade Year In Review

On the December 2024 UI Chat Podcast, we had Cody from the Mactelecom Networks on as a guest. You probably know him from the Mactelecom Networks YouTube channel, or Instagram, or Twitter/X, or TikTok account. If you don’t, you should check out his work as he’s one of the most prolific Ubiquiti video makers and has a ton of good content covering Ubiquiti news and reviews.

On this episode we went through the monthly Ubiquiti news as we always do, but we also took the 2nd half of the episode to review all of the things that Ubiquiti released in 2024. The list of hardware was so long that we didn’t get a chance to cover all of the software and other bits of news that came out throughout the year. That’s what I want to cover in this post, and some of my thoughts on where Ubiquiti is after a very busy year.

As always, you can check out the UI Chat Podcast on YouTube, or your podcast service of choice:

UI Chat December 2024: Enterprise-grade Year In Review on YouTube

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at all the things that Ubiquiti released in 2024. First up, we have the hardware. Any product links below are non-affiliate links to Ubiquiti’s US store.

Ubiquiti Hardware in 2024

  • January - UniFi Swiss Army Knife AP, UISP Switch Plus and Box Plus, U7-Pro, PDU Pro, toolless mini rack stacking kit

  • February - Cloud Gateway Ultra, Ultra switches, Wave Pico, Wave AP micro 360° mount, UISP dual 2.5 Gbps PoE injector, USB-C charge cable, precision rack mount kit

  • March - G5 Turrent Ultra and G5 Dome Ultra, a lot of camera accessories, UniFi Access Intercom, and the EV Station Pro payment terminal and stand

  • April - UXG Max and UDM Pro Max

  • May - EFG and U7 Pro Max announced as coming soon, Pro Max 16-port switches, U6 Mesh Pro AP, Access reader accessories, Enterprise HDD, U7 Pro paintable cover

  • June - U7 Pro Max, U7 Pro Wall, U7 Outdoor, Access Ultra, EV Connect Lite, AI Pro Vision Enhancer

  • July - Cloud Gateway Max, EdgeMAX refreshed with new logo, and G5 PTZ

  • August - UXG Enterprise and EFG, UMR Industrial, Display Cast Pro, UniFi Power Amp, black version of G5 Dome Ultra, SSD version of UCK-G2+, Gate Access Starter Kit, exit button for UniFi Access, RIP SolarSwitch

  • September - Enterprise NVR, Flex Mini 2.5G

  • October - UNAS Pro, Enterprise Campus switches (24/48 port and aggregation), UniFi Device Bridge and Device Bridge Pro, UMR Ultra, and Wave MLO/Gen2 previewed 

  • November - UniFi Protect AI Turret, AI Dome, AI LPR, and AI Port, white version of AI 360, and new camera accessories 

  • December - E7, E7 Campus, and E7 Audience APs, 12U and 42U cabinets

I covered a few of these devices throughout the year:

Mostly, I tried to keep up with the deluge of new devices in my comparison charts.

As you can see there are a lot of devices which I didn’t cover, and many that I don’t have hands-on experience with. More than any year prior, 2024 felt like a fire hose of releases one after another. It was overwhelming to me, and even people like Cody which are used to covering every minor update and release.

While the quantity of new hardware was overwhelming, the more important thing to discuss is the quality. In years past a common complaint was that Ubiquiti seemed distracted. While the core UniFi Network devices like the USG aged, we got new products like the UDM that didn’t satisfy everyone. With the initial release of the Dream Machines back in 2019 and 2020, MSPs and enthusiasts were worried that self-hosted UniFi was going away. It seemed like Ubiquiti only cared about locking you into buying more Ubiquiti hardware.

I think enough time has passed and there is a long enough track record to show that this isn’t the case. UniFi Networks are still modular, and you don’t need to buy into their ecosystem for everything. The other products like UniFi Protect are mature and complete options now, and they work together and compliment each other well. There were some lean years with some less-than-ideal hardware releases and some slow progress in software, but that’s definitely not the case now.

Notable Hardware Releases

  • The Swiss Army Knife is still the weirdest product name they have, but it’s a good option for cheap outdoor Wi-Fi. It’s a sideways upgrade from the older AC-Mesh, but when you consider the accessories like the desktop stand and panel antenna, it’s worth considering.

  • Gateways galore! We got six new gateway options in 2024. At the end of 2023 we got the new baseline Express and UXG Lite, and now we have the full picture of this generation of UniFi Gateways. There’s a model or two for everyone, and all of them are compelling in their own way. The Ultra and Max models are good for smaller setups, and with the UDM Pro Max and the Enterprise models, UniFi can fit into larger networks than they ever could before.

  • Goodbye USG and USG-Pro: 2024 was the year the elder USG and USG-Pro gateways finally got put to rest. Earlier on in the year they were marked as legacy devices, meaning that software and security updates were coming to an end. In UniFi Network 8.6, we got the warning that configuration changes won’t be possible going forward.

    • While I don’t like the idea of forcing upgrades and these devices become e-waste, this was probably the right time. They are old and not powerful enough to keep up with new software features. We also have a ton of gateway options to replace them now. If you’re still running a USG or USG-Pro, take a look at the UXG models or possibly a Cloud Gateway. You’ll see a huge jump in performance and a ton of new features.

  • Wi-Fi 7 APs: U7 Pro, U7 Pro Max with spectral analysis, U7 Outdoor, and U7 Pro Wall. We also got the high-end Enterprise models and outdoor/standard power 6 GHz radios the E7 and the upcoming E7 Campus and E7 Audience.

    • There have been a few rough edges with the U7 models and their compatibility with IoT and 2.4 GHz devices, but that’s not something I’ve personally run into. I think that’s a real shame because it’s distracted from an otherwise impressive lineup of new APs. If you’re considering one of these models, keep an eye on the release notes and the progress they’re making with those issues.

  • New Markets: The UniFi Power Amp made Ubiquiti a Sonos competitor, and the UNAS Pro was an impressive first entry into the world of file storage. These are both fully-featured and mature releases which impress on their own. They also point towards Ubiquiti entering more areas outside of their core of networking. In the past they didn’t always pull that off, but I think these are two good entries. I expect we’ll see more things like this as Ubiquiti' drifts away from being just a network device maker.

  • UniFi Protect got a lot of love. We saw a lot of new camera options, and Enterprise NVR for large scale setups. We also saw a lot of progress on the software, which I’ll cover below.

2024 Hardware: Overall, Excellent

All in all, I think Ubiquiti did a great job with the hardware they released in 2024. It was an ambitious and relentless schedule, and for the most part I think think they pulled it off. The negative things I can point to — the USG going away and the Wi-Fi 7 2.4 GHz/IoT issues — shouldn’t take away from the dozens of great products they released.

I’m mostly interested in their networking products, and there are a lot of models to call out and recommend. Now that the gateway lineup is (likely, mostly) complete, I think there’s a model for everyone and a lot of good choices to build a network around. I’m running a Cloud Gateway Ultra at home and it’s been great for me. If the Max models were out then I probably would have picked one of those instead, but I have no complaints. The Enterprise models pushed the high end upwards, but I don’t have any experience with those, so I can’t say much else.

For UniFi switching, the Ultra is easier to recommend than the Lite 8 PoE or older 1st generation models if you need a small switch for a handful of PoE devices. The 2.5 Gbps version of the Flex Mini was another nice option if you just need a few ports and beyond gigabit speeds. The Pro Max and Enterprise Campus models filled out the top end, complimenting the Enterprise gateways and all of the software features that came along with those.

The new Wi-Fi 5 and 6 APs like the Swiss Army Knife and U6 Mesh Pro filled some holes in their lineup, and the new Wi-Fi 7 models are mostly excellent, especially at the high end. We’ll see more of those in 2025 I’m sure, and hopefully they can get their IoT/2.4 GHz issues ironed out.

I’d typically caution people from being early adopters in new categories like the UNAS Pro or Power Amp, but Ubiquiti seemed to do a good job with their first steps into those new areas. The positive reception of the UNAS Pro and UniFi Drive showed some growth and maturity for them as a company. It appears that they spent the time they needed to get things right from the beginning.

This is a big improvement from how they handled the transition from UniFi Video to UniFi Protect, and the initial state of things like UniFi Talk and Access. I don’t know how they’re juggling so many products, but it seems like they’re doing a better job of expanding their existing product areas and adding new ones.

Ubiquiti Software Releases in 2024

Just as relentless as the hardware releases, we saw a ton of software releases in 2024. UniFi Network went from 8.0 to 9.0, with an absolutely massive list of additions and improvements. UniFi Protect 5.0 brought a new and improved system architecture, better performance, h.265 encoding, ONVIF support, and a ton of features like Vantage Point. UniFi OS 4.0 brought shadow mode, and other UniFi OS releases improved a ton of things with how UniFi Gateways are managed.

If I can complain about anything on the software front, it’s the slower pace of progress with UISP. That’s probably my bias showing, but I wish Ubiquiti paid a bit more attention to UISP hardware and software. We still have EdgeRouters and EdgeSwitches in a very sad zombie state, with long gaps between minor software updates, and an unclear future. UISP hardware devices like the UISP Switches and UISP Routers did move forward with some nice software feature additions, but they pale in comparison to UniFi.

Here’s a month-by-month look at some of the major releases throughout the past year:

  • January 

    • UniFi OS 3.2.x added missing features like IGMP proxy, VLAN magic, hostname IPsec, DNS Shield, Loop provention to the UXG Lite and Express.

    • EdgeRouter 3.0.0 RC 6 with local GUI overhaul, IPsec and Wireguard

    • Connect 3.5.6 added YouTube mode

    • WiFiman released for Windows

    • UniFi Network 8.0.28 fixed some bugs

    • UniFi Talk 2.2.3 with UK support

    • SolarPoint 2.0.1 beta

  •   February

    • UniFi Network 8.1 EA releases with OSPF, Network Viewer, Site Score, custom NAT pools, L3 ACLs, side panels, rotated topology view, and IPv6 improvements

    • UniFi Protect 2.11.21 added animal and audio detections, vehicle type and color classification, multi-language support, and dark mode

    • UniFi OS 3.2.12 released with SFP port and minor bug fixes

  • March

    • UniFi Network 8.1.113 went GA with features discussed in February

    • Protect 3.0.22 added face recognition and person of interest alerts, multi-camera playback and archive to Google Drive

    • UniFi Switch 7.0.44 added ACL rules, PoE usage, PoE and port locating controls added to touchscreens, increased max LAG groups

    • Switch Ultra added custom port profiles and VLAN tagging

    • UISP Router 5.0.0-rc.1 added local web GUI, OSPF, BGP, Wireguard, IPsec, logging improvements

    • UISP Switch 1.8.0 added remote access via UISP and CLI for UISP Switch Plus

    • SolarPoint 2.0.1 GA

  • April

    • UniFi Network 8.1.127 added bug fixes, improved firewall rule visibility, tunnel IPs and OSPF support for site-to-site VPNs

    • UniFi OS 3.2.x added bug fixes for high CPU usage, crashes, and memory leaks

    • Design Center 2.1.0 added more products, product selection wizard, Wi-Fi coverage, floorplan editor and PDF export

    • UISP 2.4.93 added configurable/sortable devices view, local web interface access via UISP, data VLAN and traffic shaping for Wave, new import tool, bug fixes

    • UISP Router/Console 5.0.1 finally goes GA

    • EdgeRouter 3.0 RC 8

  • May

    • UniFi OS 4.0 EA added shadow mode, VLAN magic, IPv6 for local web interface, improved logging and SNMP support

    • UniFi Network 8.2 EAs with ACL rules, custom DNS records, inspection page, BGP support (requires upcoming UniFi OS 4.1), Wi-Fi 7 MLO (requires AP 7.1.3 which we still haven’t seen).

      • Announced as coming soon: 1:1 NAT, SSL/TLS decryption, sandboxing/anti-malware, packet captures

    • UniFi Protect 4.x GA with re-architected NVR core engine, increased camera capacity, enhanced (h.265) encoding, new dashboard, Recording Manager and global settings, bulk export/archive, camera shortcuts and filtering, PTZ patrol mode, and custom GIF support for G4 Doorbell Pro

    • UniFi Access 2.x with centralized location management, visualized unlock activity, enhanced live view, portal for device management, better performance

  • June

    • Site Manager 3.42 beta added Vantage Point, Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) and Update Manager

    • UniFi OS 4.0.6 EA added automatic failover for Shadow Mode, SNMP, improved memory usage and VPN throughput

    • UISP 2.4.126 EA with migration tools, bug fixes

    • UniFi Talk 3.2.0 added number porting in the UK and international mode for 3rd party SIP servers

  • July

    • UniFi OS 4.0.6 went GA with VLAN Magic, SNMP, IPv6 local web interface, screen rotation and bug fixes

    • UniFi Network 8.3.32 with custom NAT, domain whitelisting for Ad Blocking, improved inspections tab and downloadable logs, Suspicious Activity became Intrustion Prevention

    • Site Manager 3.42.6, 3.44.1 GA added Vantage mode for Protect and ISP Viewer

    • EdgeMAX got some small updates to local web interface and security fixes

    • Protext 4.1.31 added Alarm Manager and export to SMB support

  • August

    • UniFi Network 8.4.59 added Passpoint / Hotspot 2.0, packet captures for APs and switch ports, AP Analyzer, Pro AV support and advanced IGMP snooping, UI enhancements, and ability to rename default network

    • UniFi AP 7.1.18 EA added MLO on U7 Pro, Pro Max, Pro Wall, and Outdoor, still no GA release

    • UniFi AP 7.0.66 and 6.6.77 added Hotspot 2.0 / Passpoint, packet captures, as well as roaming, Ethernet negotiation, and roaming fixes

    • Protect Chime 1.7.14 added custom chime sounds and ringtones

  • September

    • Protect 5.0.33 added ONVIF support, archive to Dropbox, device tags, Storage Manager, improved recording service, and ability to pair Chime with multiple doorbells

    • UniFi Network 8.4.622 GA had bug fixes and improved DNS Shield validation

    • UniFi Network 8.5.1 and 8.5.5 EAs added improved dashboard, customizable widgets, NetFlow and SIEM server log export, packet capture on gateways, OpenVPN and IPsec for PBR on S2S VPNs, OSPF Neighbors visibility, WPA2/3 Enterprise mixed mode, egress rate limit for gateways, and stats in the AP Analyzer

    • Network 8.5.5 EA included warning that USGs will not be supported in next release

    • Site Manager 4.0 renamed UniFi OS Settings to Control Plane, added Co-located Consoles, increased Site Magic limit to 20, and added Site Support option for Cloud Keys, NVRs, and self-hosted Network Servers

    • Switch Ultra 1.2.3 added Loop Protection

    • UISP Power 1.1.2 added a local web GUI

    • EdgeMAX EdgeSwitch 1.10.4 includes some bare minimum security updates

  • October

    • UniFi Drive debuts with UNAS Pro

    • Network 8.5.6 goes GA

    • Network 8.6.x EAs add 2.4 GHz enhanced IoT connectivity option, packet capture on WAN ports, improved search, and moved/renamed a few things

    • UniFi OS 4.1.5 EA brought all the features requiring in from recent Network app updates: BGP, NetFlow, packet captures, etc

    • UISP Router 5.1.0-rc.4 added captive portal for setup, improved USPF support, and updated a lot of underlying packages for better stability and security

    • Switch Ultra and Flex Mini 2.0.5 added STP support

    • EdgeRouter 3.0.0-rc.9 followed five months after rc.8, improved the config tree and UISP remote access, IPSec and wireguard bug fixes, and UI improvements

  • November

    • Network 8.6.9 and UISP Router 5.1.0 went GA

    • UniFi OS 4.1.9 went GA for all UniFi OS devices, adding directory Integration, custom certificates (for web GUI), BGP, NetFlow, and packet captures.

    • Protect 5.1.57 added Case Manager, Sensor Manager, long-promised NFC/Fingerprint support for G4 Doorbell Pro, thumbnails in push notifications

    • UniFi AP 7.0.84 EA were one of many in a line of updates attempting to fix the U7 line issues with certain IoT devices and setups

  • December

    • Network 9.0.92 and 9.0.106 EAs with zone-based firewall, CyberSecure add-on for IPS/IDS, Network Application API, link aggregation support for EFG and UXG-Enterprise, SD-WAN hub & spoke networks, and increased default 5 GHz width to 80 MHz

    • Protect 5.1.78 EA added ONVIF PTZ camera controls and improved recording resilency

Miscellaneous Ubiquiti News for 2024

Finally, for a bit of fun, here are some of the miscellaneous news for Ubiquiti over the past year.

  • January - UNVR promo sale, cloud account requirement removed for UniFi Protect remote connections, EFG hit hit FCC, and the 2FA account requirement was announced

  • February - FBI removed Russian malware from EdgeRouters, UWC announced, my $10K setup posts flooded Reddit, techspecs.ui.com got comparison tables and marketing images, and the UniFi Cable Internet was rebooting itself thanks to ISPs pushing out firmware early

  • March - First UWC happens in Chicago, and we suffered through Screengate with slightly misaligned Cloud Gateway Ultra screens. We also got the new UniFi Portal iOS app, “UniFi GPT” AI advisor, and NAS rumors

  • April - UWC London, USG and USG-Pro listed as legacy, G5 PTZ and Access Ultra rumors

  • May - Custom GIF support for G4 Doorbell Pro, Tech Field Day presentations, UniFi Enterprise routing features and Wi-Fi 7 MLO promised

  • June - Cody published Unifi Network Complete Setup 2024 and we got our first podcast review. Slow month!

  • July - UniFi Cloud API and https://developer.ui.com/unifi-api/ announced

  • August - Enterprise partner program and UWC Miami announced, UniFi Integrations video with Alarm Manager, Passpoint, Pro A/V and API

  • September - The wait for UniFi OS 4.1 continued

  • October - Free UISP hosting went away

  • November - Black friday deals

  • December - Holday sale

Hopefully 2024 was as good for you as it was for Ubiquiti’s hardware, software, and stock price. They’re a fun company to pay attention to and write about. I think we’re in for a very busy 2025 as well.

Cheers, and happy holidays!

Evan McCann

Nerd writing about Wi-Fi, Networking, Ubiquiti, and Apple.

Next

UniFi Enterprise Wi-Fi 7: E7, E7 Campus, and E7 Audience Overview