Ubiquiti Enterprise 8 PoE vs Aruba (HPE) Aruba 6400 Switch: 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

Aruba (HPE) Aruba 6400 Switch

★ 3.2 Value Score

Switching Capacity: 14 Tb/s (6405 chassis); 28 Tb/s (6410 chassis), per HPE performance table
Forwarding Rate: 10 Bpps (6405); 20 Bpps (6410) per HPE performance table. QuickSpecs cite 11.4 Bpps for the 6410 family, so this figure is unresolved
Ports: Modular chassis: 6405 has 5 open module slots and 6410 has 10. Modules include 48-port 1GbE/2.5GbE/5GbE PoE (Class 4 and Class 6), 24-port SFP/SFP+/10GBASE-T, and 4-port SFP56 uplink modules. Port count scales with installed modules (6405: 48-240 PoE ports; 6410: 48-480 PoE ports)
PoE Budget: Per-port up to 60W (802.3bt). HPE lists 28,880 W for the 6410 family. Per-chassis PoE budget not confirmed in sources
Layer: L3 (BGP, OSPF, EVPN, VXLAN, VRF)
Stacking support: Not supported. High availability is provided by VSX (Virtual Switching Extension)

✔ Pros: Modular chassis design (5- and 10-slot) lets buyers scale ports and PoE by adding modules; High switching capacity (14-28 Tb/s) for campus core and data center aggregation; Full Layer 3 feature set including BGP, OSPF, EVPN and VXLAN; VSX provides high availability and non-disruptive fast upgrades; Mixed-speed PoE modules (1GbE, 2.5GbE, 5GbE, Class 6 60W) support modern APs and cameras; Gen7 ASIC architecture per reseller listings
✘ Cons: High entry price; chassis plus modules can exceed USD 25,000 once configured; Modular design requires careful module and power planning; Published forwarding-rate and per-chassis PoE budget figures conflict across sources; No stacking, so VSX pairing adds design and licensing complexity; Overkill for small branch or access-only deployments
Est. Price: $12,783 - $25,921

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