Which UniFi Cloud Gateway Is Best?
Compare UniFi cloud gateways to find the best fit for your network size, throughput and budget. Our guide breaks down specs to simplify your choice.
Ubiquiti's UK store now lists fourteen UniFi cloud gateways, from a £79 desktop box to a £2,785 enterprise firewall. On the store page they look much alike. In practice they differ sharply in how many cameras they can record, where those recordings are kept, and how many devices they can power — the things that decide whether one box can run a whole site.
We have pulled every model's published specifications into one place and built a selector around them. Set your budget, camera count and port requirements, choose the storage you would fit, and the table shows which gateways qualify and roughly how many days of footage each would hold.
UniFi Cloud Gateway selector
Every control updates the table straight away. Gateways that fail a requirement are hidden; tick Show excluded to see them greyed out, with the reason shown, so you can see what you would be trading. The cheapest gateway that meets everything is highlighted. Where Ubiquiti hasn't published a camera limit at your chosen resolution, the gateway is tagged so you can check before relying on it.
The selector needs JavaScript. The full specification table below works without it.
| Gateway | Price | IDS/IPS | Internet ports | LAN ports | PoE | WiFi | Camera limit | Recording storage | Estimated retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Gateway UltraUCG-Ultra | £79 | 1 Gbps | 2.5G | 4 | None | None | No Protect | None | — |
| Cloud Gateway MaxUCG-Max | from £159 | 2.3 Gbps | 2.5G | 4 | None | None | 5 × 4K | M.2 NVMe · up to 2 TB | — |
| UniFi Express 7UX7 | from £159 | 2.3 Gbps | 10G | 1 | None | WiFi 7 | No Protect | None | — |
| Cloud Gateway FiberUCG-Fiber | £220 | 5 Gbps | 10G SFP+ + 10GbE | 6 | 1 port | None | 5 × 4K | M.2 NVMe · up to 2 TB | — |
| Dream Router 7UDR7 | £220 | 2.3 Gbps | 10G SFP+ + 2.5G | 4 | 1 port · 15.4 W | WiFi 7 | 1 × 4K | microSD · 64 GB supplied | — |
| Dream Machine ProUDM-Pro | £300 | 3.5 Gbps | 10G SFP+ + 1G | 10 | None | None | 24 × HD | 1 × 3.5″ HDD bay | — |
| Dream Machine Special EditionUDM-SE | £395 | 3.5 Gbps | 10G SFP+ + 2.5G | 10 | 8 ports · 180 W | None | Not published | 1 × 3.5″ HDD bay | — |
| Dream Router 5G MaxUDR-5G-Max | £395 | 2.3 Gbps | Built-in 5G + 10G SFP+ | 5 | 1 port · 15.4 W | WiFi 7 | 5 × HD | microSD · 64 GB supplied | — |
| Cloud Gateway IndustrialUCG-Industrial | £460 | 5 Gbps | 10G SFP+, 10GbE, 2.5G | 5 | 5 ports · 270 W | WiFi 7 (5 GHz) | 5 × 4K | microSD · 128 GB supplied | — |
| Dream Machine Pro MaxUDM-Pro-Max | £475 | 5 Gbps | 10G SFP+ + 2.5G | 10 | None | None | 15 × 4K | 2 × 3.5″ HDD bays | — |
| Dream WallUDW | £765 | 3.5 Gbps | 10G SFP+ + 2.5G | 19 | 12 ports · 420 W | WiFi 6 | 4 × 4K | microSD · 512 GB supplied | — |
| Dream Machine BeastUDM-Beast | £1,195 | 25 Gbps | 25G SFP28 + 10GbE | 13 | None | None | 40 × 4K | 2 × 3.5″ HDD bays | — |
| Enterprise FirewallEFG | £1,659 | 12.5 Gbps | 25G SFP28 + 2.5G | 5 | None | None | No Protect | None | — |
| Enterprise Firewall CoreEF-Core | £2,785 | 79 Gbps | 100G class | — | None | None | No Protect | None | — |
How the retention estimate works
Recording time depends on three things: how much storage the gateway holds, how many cameras are writing to it, and how much data each camera produces. The selector uses this calculation:
days = storage (GB) × 8,000 ÷ (cameras × bitrate in Mbps × 86,400 × share of the day recorded)
The bitrate is the figure that moves the answer most, and it is an assumption, not a Ubiquiti specification. The defaults are 4 Mbps for HD, 6 Mbps for 2K and 10 Mbps for 4K. Real cameras vary with the model, the quality setting and how busy the scene is, so replace the default with your own figure where you have one. The gauge fills at 30 days.
What the specification sheet won't tell you
Not every gateway records
The Cloud Gateway Ultra, UniFi Express 7, Enterprise Firewall and Enterprise Firewall Core run UniFi Network only. They cannot host Protect cameras or Access door entry, so a site needing either will need a separate recorder.
microSD is a buffer, not an archive
The Dream Router 7, Dream Router 5G Max, Cloud Gateway Industrial and Dream Wall record to microSD. That suits one or two cameras or short motion clips. For continuous recording, choose NVMe or hard drives.
Speed tests and PPPoE
Every gateway here runs the built-in speed test, but it runs on the gateway itself without IDS/IPS, so it can read higher than a PC behind it. Many UK full-fibre lines use PPPoE, which is heavier work; the older 3.5 Gbps models are the ones most likely to fall short on fast lines.
Redundancy has a price
Shadow Mode gateway failover needs two identical units and is offered on the Dream Machine Pro Max, Dream Machine Beast and Enterprise Firewall. Two-bay models mirror their drives, so recordings survive a single drive failure.
Where we would start
These are starting points for typical business sites with around five access points. Every site differs, so use the selector to test the details against your own requirements.
We specify and install UniFi networks and CCTV for businesses across London, Kent and Sussex, with remote support in the United States and worldwide. See our Ubiquiti services, CCTV installations and network installation pages for more.
Not sure which gateway fits your site?
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