Methodology

Every page separates three kinds of information, and labels them:

Factual data: specifications from the manufacturers (ports and their speeds, PoE, management features, power, size). Checked by an editor; pages whose figures still come partly from retailers say so.
Derived from the specs: the verdict for each use (great fit, good, limited, not suitable). It comes from the published rules below, applied the same way to every switch, never from a gut feeling.
Editorial opinion: our scores, recommendations, pros and cons.

What each switch is good for

Each rule reads only facts from the specification table. If a fact changes, the verdict changes with it. Ports are counted by type: RJ45 at 1, 2.5 or 10 GbE, SFP (1 GbE) and SFP+ (10 GbE). A port meant only for management still counts as a 1 GbE port.

2.5 GbE network

Great fit: five or more RJ45 ports at 2.5 GbE or faster, or four plus a 10 GbE port.
Good: four. Limited: one to three, or only SFP+ cages (they need 2.5G/10G RJ45 modules, which run hot).
Not suitable: gigabit ports only.
10 GbE RJ45 ports count, because they also run at 2.5 GbE.

10 GbE

Great fit: four or more 10 GbE ports, RJ45 or SFP+. Good: two or three. Limited: one, which serves one device or one uplink.
Not suitable: no 10 GbE port.

VLANs

Not suitable: unmanaged switches. They pass tagged traffic but cannot assign VLANs to ports.
Limited: managed, but without 802.1Q tagged VLANs.
Great fit: fully managed switches (Layer 2 or 3) with 802.1Q VLANs.
Good: smart switches with 802.1Q VLANs and a simple web page.
We say so when the switch is configured from a controller app (UniFi Network) instead of its own web page.

PoE for cameras and access points

Not suitable: no port supplies PoE. A switch that can be powered by PoE does not supply it.
Great fit: four or more PoE+ (802.3at) or PoE++ (802.3bt) ports and a total budget of 50 W or more.
Good: two or more PoE ports. Limited: one.

Homelab core switch

Limited: no VLANs (fine to add ports, not to be the centre of the network), or fewer than eight ports.
Great fit: eight ports or more, VLANs, link aggregation and two or more 10 GbE ports.
Good: eight ports or more, VLANs and at least one 10 GbE port or four 2.5 GbE ports.

10-inch mini rack

Great fit: 10-inch rack ears in the box, or a 10-inch rack kit sold by the maker.
Good: 222 mm wide or less, so it sits on a 10-inch rack shelf. We give the height in rack units (1U = 44.5 mm).
Not suitable: wider than 222 mm. Limited: size not published.

Silent

Great fit: no fan and 15 W or less without PoE. Good: no fan, above 15 W (it gets warm). Limited: it has a fan.

Measured values

We only publish measured figures (power with ports idle and linked, noise) with their source, or when we measured them ourselves, with the conditions. If a page has none, it says so. The maximum power we list is the manufacturer's, without the power the switch delivers over PoE.

Prices

List price: the manufacturer's price, when it publishes one (MikroTik's suggested price, Ubiquiti's store).
Typical price: a price we saw on the date shown.
Many manufacturers publish no price; those switches show none until we check one. Live prices from retailers appear only if they were updated in the last 24 hours, with the date and time.

Scores and recommendations

Scores from 0 to 10 are our opinion and weigh speed, features (management and PoE), efficiency (power, noise and size), build (case, mounting and software) and value. Recommendations are never affected by affiliate commissions: see the affiliate disclosure.

Corrections

Products change often, and hardware versions change specs. If you find a mistake, tell us and we will fix it and update the review date.