if you are running a small office, a home lab, or a small wireless distribution point with fewer than 200 clients.
Licenses are tied to the storage media (HDD/NAND). If your hardware dies, the license typically cannot be moved to a new device without a replacement key request from MikroTik. routeros l4 vs l5
A critical caveat exists: The Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) version of RouterOS uses a different pricing and feature matrix. On CHR, L4 is limited to 1 Gbps throughput, and L5 is limited to 2 Gbps. However, for physical hardware (RB, CCR, or x86 installations), there is no hard bandwidth cap. I have personally routed 3.5 Gbps of NAT traffic through an L4 RouterOS installation on a Dell R620. The license did not stop the traffic; the CPU did. This reveals an important truth: if you are running a small office, a
Furthermore, L5 unlocks the NV2 protocol’s full potential in TDMA mode. While NV2 works on L4, the license imposes a hidden limit on the number of wireless clients in a single AP’s connection list. L4 caps effective NV2 client handling at approximately 50-70 active clients before the management frame queue saturates. L5 raises this limit to over 200, allowing a single $200 MikroTik device to serve an entire apartment building. A critical caveat exists: The Cloud Hosted Router
For network administrators, WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider) operators, and advanced enthusiasts, the debate often narrows down to two specific contenders: and RouterOS Level 5 .
A WISP is installing a dish on your roof to connect to a tower. You only need one Ethernet port for your PC. Recommendation: L4. You are in "Station" mode, not AP mode. L4 is perfect and cheaper for the ISP.
Level 4 is the standard license pre-installed on most MikroTik CPE devices (like the SXT or LHG series).