Best UniFi Captive Portal Software

It depends on what you want the portal to do. UniFi's own hotspot portal covers passwords, vouchers, RADIUS, Facebook sign-in and paid access through Stripe, and it can hand guests over to an external portal server. Its list of portal options has no email field. CaptiFi plugs into that external portal option and keeps a guest list with each guest's marketing consent recorded, on every plan; from Essentials the same plan sends email campaigns and review requests. Essentials is $69 a month, every plan starts with a 30-day trial (you add a card to start), and the CaptiFi device comes on every plan against a refundable deposit of $99.

Yes. With captive portal software like CaptiFi, you can require guests to enter their email address or phone number before accessing your UniFi WiFi network. The emails are captured automatically and can be used for marketing campaigns, review requests, and customer analytics.

Yes. CaptiFi works with UniFi controllers including the UniFi Dream Machine (UDM), UniFi Dream Machine Pro (UDM-Pro), UniFi Cloud Gateway and a self-hosted UniFi Network Server. It connects through the external portal option in UniFi's settings.

Yes. A UniFi console behind another router, on an ISP using CGNAT, or behind an ISP router you do not control connects through the Remote Tunnel: the console dials out to CaptiFi, so no inbound ports or port forwards are needed. It runs on Dream Machines, Cloud Gateways and Cloud Key Gen2 and Gen2 Plus hardware, installs with a one-line command over SSH and reconnects by itself after a reboot. Consoles CaptiFi can reach connect with a UniFi API key instead. See the UniFi setup guide.

CaptiFi Essentials is $69 a month, or $59 a month billed yearly, in GBP, USD, EUR, CAD, AUD or NZD. Email campaigns and review requests come with Essentials and above; integrations and the API come with Growth ($129 a month), with no per-integration add-ons. The CaptiFi device comes on every plan against a refundable deposit of $99, and every plan starts with a 30-day trial. Beambox lists £29, £45 and £60 a month per location on monthly billing, with yearly plans also available, and a 30-day trial that includes the first Beambox device. Spotipo lists $59 or $79 a month, or $49 or $66 a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial and no card needed. UniFi's own portal is part of the UniFi Network application. Competitor details are from each company's own website, checked 28 Oct 2026.

UniFi's own hotspot portal decides who gets online: a password, vouchers, RADIUS, Facebook sign-in, paid access through Stripe, or a hand-off to an external portal server. Its list of portal options has no email field. CaptiFi uses that external portal option and adds a branded login page that collects each guest's name and email with their marketing consent recorded, review requests and email campaigns from Essentials, analytics, and, from Growth, integrations with Mailchimp, Square POS, Twilio SMS and loyalty platforms like Leat.

Yes. CaptiFi has setup guides for 9 vendor ecosystems: UniFi, TP-Link Omada, Cisco Meraki, Cisco Catalyst, Aruba Instant On, MikroTik, Ruckus, Fortinet and DrayTek. If your venues run different hardware, they all sit in the same CaptiFi account.