Self-hosting your UniFi controller works perfectly fine for your home setup, but if you are working on multiple networks for clients, you don't want to rely on this. This is where managed hosting steps.

Services like HostiFi that take care of deployments, updates, backups and much more. UniFi Hosting done for you by companies specizalized in this, so you can focus on your networks. HostiFi was one of the first to jump in this space. A reliable and secure solution used by many MSPs. However, there are a few drawbacks. In this article, we'll look into some cheaper and more-feature-rich solutions that are as reliable and secure.

Lets dive in!

What's up with HostiFi

HostiFi has been the go-to solution in this market for a long time. They're pretty good at automating UniFi controller setups and making sure everything runs smoothly. They cover backups, updates, monitoring and customer support. These are the basic necessities that make HostiFi a reliable hosting solution.

Why look for a HostiFi alternative?

HostiFi's pricing starts cheap, but if you setup includes more than 25 devices it becomes expensive very quickly. The next tier starts at $99 for 250 devices. That's a 10x jump. There are more reliable options out there that only cost a fraction of HostiFi and still offer the same grade of service quality.

The $99 tier includes update testing & scheduling, custom domains and chat & email support. These feel like basic necessities that should be included in every plan.

The alternative market is quite thin, to be honest. There are only a few other managed hosting solutions. Pricing is just one part of the puzzle. In this industry reliability, security and great support are just as important (maybe even more).

UniHosted

UniHosted is relatively new. We launched late 2023. However, Dries (co-founder) has been in the UniFi hosting space since 2019. We felt there was room for an affordable UniFi hosting solution that is more feature-rich, while maintaining service quality. In addition to offering the basic hosting features (like instant deployment, backups, 24/7 monitoring, tested updates and round-the-clock support), we saw room to expand beyond that.

In our "Pro" offering we supply our customers with Alerts & Notifications, Video support & onboarding and custom Wi-Fi Channels.

We're also the only hosting solution with a free-plan. This way you can test the waters and see how it works before buying. The free plan is limited to 5 devices and is hosted on a shared server (business plan has dedicated VPS). It allows you to test and seeing whether UniHosted meets your standards.

UniHosted starts at $59 a month for in the "Basic" plan. This plan includes up to 125 devices and is comparable to HostiFi's $99 plan in terms of features. All basic necessities for reliable and security hosting are included. From there our pricing scales to $199 in our "Pro" plan that includes up to 500 devices. As mentioned, not only do have a higher device limit, we also offer our customers more features like Alerts & Notifications, Video support & onboarding and custom Wi-Fi Channels.

UniFi Hosting (by Ubiquiti)

UniFi Hosting is another option, backed by Ubiquiti itself. This sounds likes the most logical options, since UniFi is created by Ubiquiti. However, its not...

UniFi-hosting-homepage.png

It looks cheap at $29 for up to 1000 devices, but this is deceptive since support is not factored in. If you want to go without support, this is the cheapest option out there.

However if you are a MSP and manage the networks of multiple clients, you need a great support component. If you want to get this from Ubiquiti, you're paying north of $1000/year... per site!! Let that sink in: per site. For MSPs with dozens of client sites, that becomes unmanageable.

If you need help setting up or managing anything and expect responsive support, UniFi Hosting quickly becomes the most expensive option on the list.

Managed hosting vs. Self-hosting

Choosing a managed-hosting service over a self-hosting method is always recommendd (especially if you work with client networks).

Managed hosting:

Instant deployment: Less hassle setting up new networks.
Well-tested updates: No need to worry about updates anymore
Scalable Network Management: Grow as you like without a hassle.
24/7 monitoring: Get issues fixed before they become problems.
Security and Compliance: Sleep easy with top-grade security measures and compliance coverage.

Final Thoughts

We built UniHosted to provide a reliable managed-hosting solution that is more affordable and feature-rich than HostiFi. If you're looking for an alternative to HostiFi, UniHosted should be right up your alley.

Best HostiFi alternatives for 2025