PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
★ 4.9 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti in the sources reviewed
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 2.3 Gbps IDS/IPS per Ubiquiti spec page (older listings show 1.5 Gbps)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; third-party reviews report about 800-1,000 Mbps for WireGuard and 300-400 Mbps for OpenVPN
  • Max Sessions: Not published in the sources reviewed
  • New Sessions/sec: Not published in the sources reviewed
  • Interfaces: 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN, 4x GbE RJ45 LAN (one LAN port can be reconfigured as a second WAN for multi-WAN)
  • Form Factor: Compact desktop; UCG-Max-NS variant includes 512GB NVMe storage

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Low entry price at $199 MSRP; Compact desktop form factor; Five-port layout with multi-WAN support via a reconfigurable LAN port; Runs UniFi OS with integrated IDS/IPS, site-to-site and remote VPN options (IPsec, WireGuard, OpenVPN, L2TP); Manages 30+ UniFi devices and 300+ clients per Ubiquiti listing
  • ✘ Cons: Routing and IPS throughput (2.3 Gbps) is modest for multi-gigabit WANs with inspection enabled; Published throughput figures conflict across sources (1.5 vs 2.3 Gbps IPS, varying VPN numbers); Only one 2.5GbE port, with the remaining ports at 1GbE; Vendor does not publish IPsec tunnel, session, or new-connection limits; Some resellers list prices well above MSRP (one US listing at $394.79)
  • Est. Price: $199 - $279

Compare Against

Aruba (HPE) Aruba 9004 Gateway
Aruba (HPE) Aruba 9004 Gateway
★ 4.3 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: 4 Gbps (per Aruba 9000 Series datasheet; some retailer listings state 2-4 Gbps depending on SKU/release)
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: Not published in available sources
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: 2 Gbps AES-CCM; 4 Gbps AES-CBC-256
  • Max Sessions: 64K active firewall sessions (128K maximum datapath/firewall sessions on some releases)
  • New Sessions/sec: Not verified (one unofficial mirror lists 1000 sessions/sec)
  • Interfaces: 4 x 1GbE RJ-45 ports (9004-LTE variant adds 4G LTE cellular)
  • Form Factor: Rackmount branch/campus gateway; rack mount kit (9004-MNT-19) sold separately

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Supports up to 2,048 concurrent clients and 32 APs per gateway; Concurrent IPsec tunnels up to 2,048 for branch VPN deployments; Managed through Aruba Central and part of the 9000 Series gateway family with centralized policy and SD-WAN features; LTE variant (9004-LTE) provides cellular failover; Multiple regional SKUs (US, RW, EG, IL, JP, TAA) for compliance and deployment needs
  • ✘ Cons: Only 4 x 1GbE ports with no multi-gig or 10GbE uplink option; Throughput figures differ between datasheets and software releases, making sizing harder; Threat prevention throughput is not published; Rack mount kit is an extra purchase; Replaced by newer 9012 gateway with higher throughput (6 Gbps firewall)
  • Est. Price: $1,511 - $2,993

Popular Comparisons

Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) vs Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) vs Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) vs Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Max Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) vs Ubiquiti Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG) Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max) vs Fortinet FortiGate 400G