A common Reddit debate is: "Can't I use CAPsMAN to make L4 broadcast Wi-Fi?"
Level 5 is the "middle child" of MikroTik licenses. It bridges the gap between basic professional use and the "unlimited" Level 6 license.
One of the most common mistakes is upgrading a license on underpowered hardware. 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:
licenses lies in the capacity for concurrent users and management tunnels. While both levels unlock the full suite of RouterOS features—such as routing, firewall, and VPN—L5 is designed for larger networks requiring higher throughput and more simultaneous connections. Key Specification Comparison A common Reddit debate is: "Can't I use
Level 5 is effectively the "big brother" of Level 4. It shares the same core designation ("WISP") but removes the arbitrary caps that might hinder a growing network or a central aggregation point.
Before diving deep, here is the high-level comparison of L4 vs L5. A critical caveat exists: The Cloud Hosted Router
MikroTik’s wireless stack (the legacy one, not the new WiFiWave) is heavily license-dependent. An L4 router can run three wireless interfaces. This is ideal for a home router: one 2.4 GHz interface for legacy clients, one 5 GHz interface for modern clients, and one interface dedicated to a wireless bridge. However, a WISP tower cannot survive on three interfaces. A tower requires one 5 GHz backhaul, two 2.4 GHz sector antennas, and two 5 GHz sector antennas—that’s five interfaces, requiring L5.
(wireless access point). Level 3 (L3), by contrast, only allows a device to act as a wireless client (CPE) or for point-to-point links. Software Updates
RouterOS L4 and L5 are not simply two versions of the same software; they represent two distinct philosophies of networking. L4 is the license of the edge—the gateway, the home router, the small office firewall. It says, “You are a leaf node, connecting a few networks to the rest of the world.” L5 is the license of the distribution and core—the aggregator, the tower router, the BGP peer. It says, “You are a hub, responsible for synthesizing many connections into a coherent fabric.”
| Feature | RouterOS Level 4 | RouterOS Level 5 | The Verdict | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Low (~$49) | High (~$225) | L4 wins for budget. | | Physical Interfaces | Unlimited | Unlimited | Tie. | | VLAN Support | Unlimited | Unlimited | Tie. | | Wireless AP Interfaces | 1 | Unlimited | L5 Wins. Major differentiator. | | Wireless Station Mode | Unlimited | Unlimited | Tie. | | **EoIP Tunnels