Ubiquiti also makes dedicated appliances called Cloud Keys, which are little Linux computers that run the controller software.

The 1st generation Cloud Key is still for sale, but the 2nd generation is much better. The 1st generation devices often ran into issues with database corruption when powered off suddenly. They are also presumably coming up on End of Life (EoL), and are missing the features and performance of the 2nd generation devices. I would not recommend that you buy a 1st gen Cloud Key, even if you find a good deal. Using a Raspberry Pi, or the hardware you already have, would be a better cheap option.

The Cloud Key Gen2 greatly improves performance and fixes the database corruption issue by integrating a built-in battery, which allows for a graceful shutdown when it loses power. They also have the Gen2+, which adds a 2.5” hard drive bay for use with UniFi Protect. The Gen2+ comes with a 1 TB hard drive, but can be expanded up to a 5 TB 2.5” HDD, or a 2.5” SSD.

Remember, you do not need a Cloud Key. The controller doesn't need to run on special hardware, it can be run on any computer. The controller software is only required to be running for configuration of the network. Everything else is up to you.

UniFi Protect

One of the newest UniFi applications is UniFi Protect, which is their security camera software. UniFi Protect requires either a Cloud Key Gen2+ or an UDM-Pro to act as your network video recorder. There is also a dedicated rackmount NVR that is in the early access store, but Ubiquiti doesn’t like for people to talk about early access items. If you’re not part of their early access store, you can create an account and request access to see the products for yourself.

UniFi Protect supports all of Ubiquiti’s cameras, but only Ubiquiti’s cameras. You cannot hook up other brands of IP cameras to UniFi Protect. To my knowledge, Ubiquiti’s cameras can’t be used with other software, either. Despite those limits, Protect is a decent solution for small setups, and it has a pretty good software stack. Protect can be used in a web browser, or through it’s iOS and Android apps. The video is stored locally on your Cloud Key Gen2+ or UDM-Pro, but you are able to view the video from anywhere via the mobile app or web interface.

The Cloud Key Gen2+ can support up to 20 cameras, but performance suffers if you have a lot of 4K streams at once. The UDM-Pro doesn’t specify it’s limits, but I would consider 20 to be the limit until proven otherwise. That gives you a sense of the scale that UniFi Protect can handle — It’s not going to replace multi-DVR, multi-building, enterprise security camera solutions, but it could be great for a home or small business. If having only one physical hard drive to record to is a deal-breaker, wait for the NVR or look for a higher-end solution.

If you want more detail on UniFi Protect, Chris from CrossTalk Solutions has a great video which covers the basics of UniFi Protect and the software it replaced, UniFi Video.

UniFi Talk and UniFi Access — Be Cautious

UniFi Talk is Ubiquiti’s VoIP software. The 1st generation had three different models of VoIP phones, the UVP, UVP-Pro and UVP-Executive. You can read more about the various models in this data sheet. The current 2nd generation only consists of one model, the UVP-Touch. There is not much information on development of UniFi Talk, but it seems that Ubiquiti has stopped actively working on it. I would not recommend you invest in any UniFi VoIP phones. There are many other options out there for VoIP which are better supported. More information and suggestions for alternatives can be found in this Reddit thread.

UniFi Access is their access control system, which is still in development. Ubiquiti does not like when people discuss beta hardware and items in their early access store, but they do have references to UniFi Access on the UDM-Pro product page. I will add more details when these devices come out of early access. In general, I would be cautious when thinking about investing in these kinds of systems from Ubiquiti, as their track record with supporting and maintaining development on them isn’t the best. Ask people who invested in UniFi SunMAX.

UNMS

Ubiquiti Network Management System (UNMS) is made for EdgeMAX, which is Ubiquiti’s more professional line of networking products, aimed at WISPs, and MSPs. UNMS and EdgeMAX are totally separate from the UniFi ecosystem. UNMS is an optional overlay, which provides some of the functionality of the UniFi controller software. The split between the lines and the features they support is a bit blurry. Willie Howe has a great video which goes over the main differences between a UniFi Security Gateway and an EdgeRouter.

This article is all about UniFi, but I can cover EdgeMAX in a separate article if people are interested. Let me know via my contact page or in the comments below.

Hardware - Briefly

I have a lot of other posts where I discuss UniFi hardware:

I’m not going to reiterate everything from those posts here. Instead, I’ll give a short overview of the various options in the UniFi hardware lines.

Routers/Security Gateways

The classic USG and USG-Pro are the baseline options, which are aging.

The USG was introduced in 2014. It can route at 1 Gbps, but performance quickly suffers as you enable security features, especially Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and the Intrusion Detection System or Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS). With those features all enabled, the USG drops to around 85 Mbps of throughput. If that’s not enough for you, or you prefer a rackmount model, the USG-Pro is available. The USG-Pro raises the IDS/IPS performance to 250 Mbps and adds 2 SFP ports and a 2nd gigabit Ethernet WAN port. The WAN ports on the USG-Pro are either/or. You can use Ethernet or SFP, but only 2 total at one time.

The UDM and UDM-Pro are not straightforward replacements for the USG and USG-Pro, since they both have an integrated UniFi controller and some additional hardware features. The UDM is an all-in-one UniFi controller, router, switch and access point. The UDM-Pro is a rackmount controller, router and switch with support for UniFi Protect, Talk and Access. There are some differences between how the built-in controller works in the UDM line and how all other UniFi controllers work, as well as some features possible on the USG line that aren’t available for the UDM yet. Like most things UniFi, the details get complicated.

Ubiquiti has announced they are working on a new UniFi next-gen gateway, the UXG-Pro. It’s part of a new line of products which are more direct replacement for the USG and USG-Pro. See this Ubiquiti Community post and my preview for more details.

Switches

There are two main generations of UniFi switches to consider. The 1st generation switches have been around for a few years, but they are solidly built, and still are good value for L2 switches with POE. There are a whole array of models in the 1st generation, going from 8-port desktop models, up to 48 ports with 750 watts of POE. A common complaint with these models is their loud fans. It’s possible to replace the fans Ubiquiti puts in with quieter fans, or you can throw it in a network closet and forget about it. If you just need basic switching and POE, the 1st generation models are still worth considering.