"Not as polished" is an incredibly generous term. Unless something has radically changed, Mikrotik basically requires remoting in with a command line and understanding all the implementation details. It's like trying to run a FreeBSD box as a router. Ubiquiti's tooling for common workflows is generations ahead, not a coat of polish.
I have one Mikrotik switch and it's the only device on my network that just randomly decides it doesn't want to DHCP renewal and falls back to some random static IP until a power cycle.
Since it's a switch that I rarely touch it's not a big deal, but "not polished" is putting it mildly for sure.
Price & performance is still solid if you just treat it as a VLAN-aware "dumb" switch, though.
I felt the same way and still kind of do, but I was really impressed the other day. My rural neighbour and I decided to share an Internet connection and I set a Mikrotik WAP in "CPE" mode (basically what you'd use if you were connecting to a WISP) and it was incredibly smooth to get going. WiFi radio in the WAP connects to my network, Ethernet coming out of it goes to his home network.
They're incredibly powerful devices no doubt and I have ended up in configuration hell before, but they've definitely gotten better at some of the more common (and less common) workflows.
Once you realize that Mikrotik is NOT a small business router company but started as a WISP supply company for Eastern Europe it becomes much more clear.
They've greatly enhanced the web interface in recent updates, but you still will probably need to find a recipe for what you want to do, but it can do it.
If generations ahead means it's impossible to figure out wtf is going wrong with the hardware/software then that's true. Just like Apple, their ethos makes a lot of sense.
