The Best Network Switches
Verified by
Ryan V. Editor-in-Chief
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The Ubiquiti UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE won because it packs the two things a serious home network needs, fast copper and real power, into one quiet box. Clay Archer from DPC Technology tested all eight front RJ45 ports and found they auto-negotiate cleanly across 100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G, and 10G, so you plug in any device and instantly get its top speed with no configuration. Those eight ports also deliver PoE++, giving a power budget large enough to run demanding Wi-Fi 7 access points, 4K cameras, or even a downstream PoE switch. Two 10G SFP+ ports handle your uplinks. Archer praised how it adopts into the UniFi Network app in minutes, giving you one clean view to manage VLANs, watch connected speeds, and read system stats. He also liked the hefty metal build and the fact that it drops neatly into a compact 10-inch rack, which is exactly the form factor a home lab wants.
What It Won't Do
The biggest annoyance is the power supply. Instead of an internal unit, the Pro XG 8 PoE ships with a large 210W external brick that you have to find room for, which undercuts the tidy footprint of the switch itself. Archer also pointed out two downgrades from the previous Enterprise 8 PoE: Ubiquiti removed the signature interactive LCD touch screen from the front panel, and the case lost the heat-dissipating fins that were molded into the older model. Neither hurts performance, but both sting at this price.
The Sedola 12-Port 10GbE switch won best value because it delivers enterprise-grade port density for around $220, and it backed that up under punishing testing. Patrick from ServeTheHome ran it through his six-figure Keysight and Ixia lab rig, hammering it for 20 hours straight with 64-byte packets, the size notoriously hardest for a switch to process, at 120Gbps of Layer 1 traffic. It did not drop a single frame. For the money you get twelve 10GbE ports, eight SFP+ and four 10Gbase-T, which is a configuration that normally costs several times more. It even includes a web interface for VLANs and QoS, features most switches at this price omit entirely. For a home lab or NAS build where you want maximum bandwidth per dollar and can tuck the unit into a closet, nothing here touches its value.
What It Won't Do
You pay for that value in polish. Patrick flagged a fan that produces an irritating pulsating noise, ramping up and down between roughly 37 and 39 dBA, which makes it a poor fit for a desk. The web management interface looks like it was built 25 years ago, and you have to be comfortable trusting off-brand Sedola firmware on your network. It also runs a relatively high power floor, idling near 13 watts and adding about 1.6 watts for every active 10GbE port. This is a closet or rack switch, not a living-room one.
Who Should Buy Which
Ubiquiti UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE
Eight 10-gig copper ports and heavy PoE++ in a silent home-lab-sized box.
- Home labs already invested in UniFi
- Buyers powering Wi-Fi 7 APs or cameras over PoE
- Anyone wanting 10G copper to every device
- Users who value quiet, tidy hardware
- People who want one-app network management
Sedola 12-Port 10GbE Switch
Twelve 10-gig ports that survived a 20-hour line-rate torture test for about $220.
- Home-lab and NAS builders on a budget
- Buyers who want maximum 10GbE ports per dollar
- Anyone who can rack gear in a closet
- SFP+ fiber and DAC cable users
- People comfortable with basic off-brand firmware