For a growing 40-person UK office, both UniFi and TP-Link Omada belong on the shortlist, and the sensible choice depends on who will run the network. UniFi gives the clearest visible hardware budget, with a Wi-Fi 7 access point and a gateway each listed at £79 on the Ubiquiti UK store on 8 November 2026. Omada gives a free cloud management tier, so the software side can cost nothing. Meraki suits teams that want a licensed, supported operating model. Whichever you pick, put the guest network, the support owner and the licence terms in writing before you order.
What does UniFi hardware cost for a small office in 2026?
Ubiquiti's UK store lists the U7 Lite access point at £79. The listing describes a ceiling-mounted Wi-Fi 7 access point with four spatial streams and a 2.5 GbE uplink. The Cloud Gateway Ultra is also £79 and is described as supporting 30+ UniFi devices and 300+ clients, with 1 Gbps IPS routing.
Those are the prices displayed on the store on 8 November 2026. They are not negotiated quotes, and the pages do not settle the VAT basis, so confirm that before you compare them with a supplier's ex-VAT quote.
The sums below are budgeting allowances, not a design. They cover one gateway plus the stated number of U7 Lite access points, and nothing else.
UniFi hardware allowance by number of access points
Displayed hardware subtotal for one Cloud Gateway Ultra plus one to three U7 Lite access points at £79 each, excluding power, cabling, installation and support.
View the data
| Category | Hardware subtotal in £ |
|---|---|
| 1 access point | £158.00 |
| 2 access points | £237.00 |
| 3 access points | £316.00 |
A 40-person office will often need more than one access point, but the right number depends on the floor plan, walls and meeting rooms. A site survey sets the final count. Power over Ethernet switching, cabling, broadband and installation come on top of every figure here.
Is Omada Cloud Essentials really free?
TP-Link describes Omada Cloud Essentials as a free cloud-based version of its Omada controller, with no hardware or software controller to run. Its comparison table lists VLAN configuration, port isolation, fast roaming and mesh across the cloud tiers, and simple password, voucher or form-based portal authentication in Essentials.
The paid Cloud Standard tier carries a device licence fee, according to the same page. Its table lists more authentication options, so check which tier carries each feature you need before you buy. If a single shared guest password and a voucher portal cover your office, the free tier may be all you need.
A free dashboard is still a dashboard. It lets an administrator configure and watch the network. It does not mean someone else will investigate faults or visit the site.
How does Meraki licensing compare?
Cisco's Meraki licensing documentation says Meraki products require valid licensing to operate. It describes Subscription Licensing as keeping the network passing traffic through what it calls Amber Mode if you fall out of compliance, while Co-Term licensing has no Amber Mode and carries a risk of downtime.
That is a useful point for any buyer. Ask the supplier which licensing model your quote uses, who renews it and what happens at expiry. Put the answers in the contract.
What is the cheapest managed Wi-Fi for a startup or co-working space?
On the evidence I could verify, the cheapest costed route is UniFi hardware, at £158 for one U7 Lite and one Cloud Gateway Ultra on 8 November 2026. On the software side, TP-Link describes Omada Cloud Essentials as free. The two are not directly comparable, because I did not find a current UK price for matched Omada access points on TP-Link's pages, so ask for an Omada quote with Cloud Essentials and compare the whole basket.
For a co-working space, the cost that matters most is often tenant separation. Omada's feature table lists VLAN configuration and port isolation across its cloud tiers. Whichever platform you choose, ask for a demonstration that one tenant cannot reach another's equipment before you accept the install.
How does Cisco Meraki pricing compare with TP-Link?
I could not find a like-for-like UK price pair for Meraki and TP-Link hardware with licences, so I will not put a multiple on the difference. What the vendor pages do establish is the charging structure. Meraki products require valid licensing to operate, with the licence model deciding the renewal and expiry behaviour. Omada Cloud Essentials is free, and Cloud Standard carries a device licence fee.
The fair way to compare is to ask each supplier for matched quantities, licence terms, power and switching, support and the renewal price. A Meraki quote that includes licensing and support should be set against a TP-Link quote that adds a support partner, not against hardware prices alone.
Which business Wi-Fi has the best support, speed and reviews?
The pages I checked do not support a ranking. Ubiquiti's U7 Lite listing gives specifications, including Wi-Fi 7, four spatial streams and a 2.5 GbE uplink, but not a response-time commitment. Headline radio speeds are also not the same as real throughput in a busy office, where your wired uplink, access point placement and the number of devices matter more.
I also found no representative independent review score for small-business users of any of these platforms, and vendor case studies do not stand in for one. Judge support on written terms. Ask what is covered, how fast the supplier responds, how replacement works and who you call at 8am on a Monday when guests cannot connect. Then test usability on the tasks your team will actually do, such as adding a guest network, finding an offline access point and recovering access if an administrator leaves.
How should a UK office set up guest Wi-Fi?
Treat guest Wi-Fi as a restricted service rather than a second network name. The Government Digital Service's guidance on sharing workplace wireless networks recommends separating the traffic of guests and other user classes using VLANs or secure tunnelling. Its stated scope is government workplaces, so use it as a sound engineering baseline rather than a legal requirement for every business.
For a shared office, a practical layout has three roles: staff, guests, and infrastructure such as printers and door controllers. Block guests from internal subnets and management pages, then test the result from a real guest device. A captive portal login proves a guest can sign in. It does not prove the firewall rules keep them out of your file shares.
What does UK law say about collecting guest details?
Asking guests for an email address to get online is a different purpose from sending them marketing. The Information Commissioner's Office says in its guidance on electronic mail marketing that you must not send marketing emails or texts to individuals without specific consent, with a limited soft opt-in for your own previous customers. The ICO notes that this guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check the current version.
Keep the sign-in and any marketing opt-in as separate choices. Collect only the fields you need, say what you do with them in a privacy notice, and decide how long you keep them.
Which should a 40-person office choose?
Choose UniFi when you want a visible, itemised hardware budget and someone in the office, or a support partner, will run the network. Choose Omada when free cloud management is the stronger requirement and your authentication needs are simple. Consider Meraki when a licensed model with a defined support relationship matters more than the lowest entry cost.
Before ordering, ask every supplier for the same things: matched access point and gateway quantities, switching and power, licence or hosting charges, support terms and the renewal price. Official UniFi Hosting is a separate subscription from £29 a month, so a hosted route and a gateway route are different costs.
Finally, name an owner for firmware updates, admin access, configuration backups and fault escalation. If nobody in the office can do those jobs, buy installation and support as a service rather than expecting a dashboard to do it for you.
Sources
- Ubiquiti, Access Point U7 Lite, UK store, 2026
- Ubiquiti, Cloud Gateway Ultra, UK store, 2026
- Ubiquiti, Official UniFi Hosting, UK store, 2026
- TP-Link, Omada Cloud Essentials, 2026
- Cisco Meraki, Meraki Licensing, documentation, 2026
- Government Digital Service, Sharing workplace wireless networks, GOV.UK
- Information Commissioner's Office, Electronic mail marketing, 2026
