Ubiquiti UniFi Switch Lite 8 PoE review

This is a compact eight-port switch built around the UniFi ecosystem. All eight RJ45 ports run at 10/100/1000 Mbps. Four of them supply PoE+. There is no SFP or SFP+ port, so every connection, including the link to your router or another switch, uses copper.

The switch is configured through the UniFi Network Controller, and it supports in-band Ethernet management. That makes it most useful if you already use UniFi gear and want one place to manage everything.

The switch is Layer 2 managed. The feature list includes VLANs (up to 1,000), IGMP snooping, 802.1X, IP and MAC ACLs, port isolation and LACP. For a network of this size, that covers the usual segmentation jobs: separating IoT devices, guests and a lab from the main network.

Full L3 routing is not listed. If you want the switch to route between VLANs, the specifications don't show that it can, so you would need a router or gateway to do it.

Owners report easy setup and quick provisioning. The specifications list configuration through the UniFi Network Controller.

Four ports provide PoE+ (802.3at), with up to 30 W on any one port. The total PoE budget is 52 W. A single demanding device can therefore draw close to the limit of a port, but several of them cannot all run at full power at once.

Owner feedback matches this. A recurring complaint is that only four ports support PoE. One source also says the switch may struggle to power high-demand PoE devices. With a 52 W total, it suits a few access points, cameras or phones better than a row of power-hungry devices.

The four non-PoE ports are still useful for ordinary devices such as a NAS, a server or a desktop. If most of your gear needs PoE, count carefully before buying.

Switching capacity is 16 Gbps, and the non-blocking line rate is 8 Gbps. Those figures match eight gigabit ports. The limit is the port speed itself. There is no 2.5GbE or 10GbE port, and no SFP+ uplink to add one.

Every port is gigabit. If you move large files between a server and several clients at once, or you expect to upgrade to faster links, this switch gives you no path to do that on its own ports.

The switch is fanless, and owners praise its quiet operation. That matters if it sits on a desk, in a living space or in a cupboard near where you work. Heat dissipation is listed at 27.3 BTU/hr excluding PoE output.

Maximum power consumption is 8 W excluding PoE output, and 60 W including it. The switch ships with a 54VDC/1.1A power adapter, so it uses an external supply rather than a built-in one. Factor that in if you plan to mount it somewhere tidy.

The switch suits someone building a small UniFi network who wants VLANs, ACLs and controller management in a silent unit. With four PoE+ ports and a 52 W budget, it fits a modest set of PoE devices. With gigabit-only ports and no SFP or SFP+ uplink, it does not suit anyone who wants room to grow in speed or to connect by fibre.