Absolutely not. We disagree with the current IT industry trend of charging steep licensing fees for cloud platforms or recurring device licenses to unlock or use advanced security features.

As such, UniFi Cloud Gateways offer the best of both worlds:

• A completely free remote management experience via our UniFi Portal at unifi.ui.com.

• The performance and security benefit of an on-premises solution.

• The ability to interconnect multiple locations with Site Magic, our license-free and scalable SD-WAN.

• Intelligent email and mobile push notifications for important system activity.

• Out-of-the box support for advanced security features without needing a license.

Cloud Gateways offer a comprehensive set of advanced security and routing features that are available out-of-the box without the need of a license.

These features include:

• License-Free SD-WAN

• Signature-Based IPS/IDS Threat Detection

• Application-Aware Firewall Rules

• Policy-Based WAN and VPN Routing

• Redundant WAN with Failover and Load Balancing

• WireGuard and OpenVPN Server

• OpenVPN and IPsec Site-to-Site VPN

• Content, Country, Domain, and Ad Filtering

And much more. See Tech Specs for a complete list of features.

UniFi OS is a powerful and intuitive operating system enabling an end-to-end management experience for all of your IT needs.

The benefits include:

• Management from anywhere in the world using our UniFi Site Manager at unifi.ui.com, or our UniFi Mobile Apps (iOS/Android).

• Secure multi-factor authentication, including our seamless single-touch solution with UI Verify (iOS/Android).

• Automatic Cloud Backups and Recovery for UniFi OS and UniFi Applications.

The UniFi Applications that can run on a Cloud Gateway are:

• UniFi Network: The core of the network which manages UniFi gateways, switches and access points providing real-time traffic insights and a visual topology.

• UniFi Protect: A constantly evolving, AI-driven camera platform with smart-detection capabilities that records high-quality video to local storage.

• UniFi Talk: A new approach to business telephony offering a plug-and-play phone system and VoIP subscription with powerful call routing and admin features.

• UniFi Access: A state-of-the-art access control system with modern touch-screen access readers, live video, and mobile app credential support.

• UniFi Connect: A modern Enterprise of Things platform that consists of digital signage, lighting, and electric vehicle charging stations.

Note: UniFi Express only runs UniFi Network.

Migrating from a different model Cloud Gateway or UniFi Console is straightforward. Simply restore the System Config Backup on the new Cloud Gateway.

When migrating from a UniFi Network Server on a Windows/macOS/Linux machine, the UniFi Network Application Backup can also be restored on the new Cloud Gateway.

UniFi SmartPower technology provides resiliency to the Dream Machine Pro Max, Pro, and Special Edition through advanced power redundancy and distribution units. The UniFi Power Backup continuously monitors the Cloud Gateway through the dedicated SmartPower port and provides automatic failover without any interruption in case the primary internal power supply fails.