Ubiquiti Enterprise 8 PoE vs Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9500: Specs & Price Comparison

Ubiquiti Enterprise 8 PoE

★ 4.2 Value Score

Switching Capacity: 80 Gbps
Forwarding Rate: 59.52 Mpps (Ubiquiti tech specs list 60 Mpps)
Non-Blocking Throughput: 40 Gbps
Ports (breakdown): 8 x 2.5GbE RJ45 (all PoE+; 2.5G/1G/100M/10M) + 2 x 10G SFP+ (10G/1G)
PoE Budget: 120W total PoE; 802.3af/at (PoE+) only, up to 32W per port
Layer: L3 (managed)
Stacking Support: Not stated in official specs
Packet Buffer: 1.5 MB
MAC Address Table: 16,000 entries
Power Consumption: 30W excluding PoE; 150W including PoE output
Form Factor: Compact desktop, wall-mount kit included
Dimensions: 200 x 248 x 44 mm
Management Display: 1.3-inch color LCM touchscreen
Product Status: Listed as 'Enterprise 8 PoE (Vintage)' on Ubiquiti's store; no official replacement or EOL announcement found

✔ Pros: Eight 2.5GbE PoE+ ports suit multi-gig Wi-Fi 6 access points and desktop devices; Layer 3 managed feature set at a low price for the class; 80 Gbps switching capacity and 59.52 Mpps forwarding rate cover small-office and branch loads; Two 10G SFP+ uplinks allow 10G backhaul or fiber links; Compact desktop form factor with wall-mount kit and LCM touchscreen for local status; 120W PoE budget is enough for several PoE+ access points or cameras
✘ Cons: Only 802.3af/at PoE+ (max 32W per port), so it cannot power PoE++ devices such as Ubiquiti's U7/E7 access points; Product is listed as Vintage with no official successor named, so long-term availability and firmware support are uncertain; 120W total PoE budget limits how many high-draw devices can be powered at once; Only two SFP+ uplinks and no stacking support, which limits scaling; Price varies widely across resellers ($479 on Ubiquiti's US store, up to about $688 or more at third-party sellers)
Est. Price: $479 - $688

Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9500

★ 3.3 Value Score

Switching Capacity: Up to 3.2 Tbps (48Y4C); up to 480 Gbps full duplex (40X, Cisco table); up to 12.8 Tbps (9500X, Silicon One Q200). Varies by model
Forwarding Rate: Up to 1 Bpps (48Y4C; one source says 1,440 Mpps, unresolved); up to 720 Mpps (40X); up to 8 Bpps (9500X). Varies by model
Ports (breakdown): Varies by SKU. Examples: 48Y4C = 48 x 1/10/25G SFP28 + 4 x 40/100G QSFP28; 40X = 40 x 1/10G SFP+ + 8 x 10G uplink module; 24Y4C, 16X, 24Q, 32C, 12Q and 48X variants also exist
PoE Budget: Not applicable to most models. PoE+ variants are limited to a few SKUs; budget not confirmed in this research
Layer: L3 (Network Essentials and Network Advantage licensing tiers)
Stacking Support: StackWise Virtual (two-switch virtual stack); not verified against Cisco's current datasheet in this research
Form Factor: 1RU rack-mountable
Research Note: Figures come mainly from third-party reseller datasheets and an older Cisco performance table. Verify per SKU against Cisco's official datasheet before publishing

✔ Pros: Family spans 10G and 25G access/aggregation to 40G/100G uplinks, covering a wide range of core and distribution roles; Layer 3 routing on Network Advantage licensing; StackWise Virtual provides redundant two-switch resilience; 9500X variant offers up to 12.8 Tbps switching capacity for next-generation cores; mature, widely deployed enterprise platform with broad reseller and partner support
✘ Cons: High acquisition cost compared with Catalyst 9300 class switches; PoE is available on only a few SKUs, so most models cannot power endpoints; throughput and port figures differ between sources, so SKU-level verification is required; 40X uplink modules are limited to 1/10G and 40G, unlike the 40/100G uplinks on the 48Y4C; 9500X top-end performance requires newer Silicon One hardware and is not available on earlier SKUs
Est. Price: $9,793 - $39,072

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