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PoE switches

TP-Link TL-SG116P, sixteen-socket switch with every socket powered vs NETGEAR GS308EP, eight-socket managed switch with all sockets powered

More sockets and more watts, or fewer of both with a management interface?

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The TP-Link TL-SG116P powers all sixteen of its gigabit sockets from 120 W, states 30 W per socket and IEEE 802.3af/at, and adds Extend, Priority and Isolation modes. The NETGEAR GS308EP powers all eight of its sockets from 62 W, says PoE+ without the standard's number, and is the only managed switch on its shelf, with VLANs, QoS and per-port power control.

TP-Link TL-SG116P sixteen-port gigabit PoE switch in a black fanless metal case

TP-Link TL-SG116P, sixteen-socket switch with every socket powered

8.0/10

Wins 5 of 9

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NETGEAR GS308EP eight-port gigabit PoE switch in a fanless metal case

NETGEAR GS308EP, eight-socket managed switch with all sockets powered

8.2/10

Wins 2 of 9

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Port against port

Compared on TL-SG116P, sixteen-socket switch with every socket powered GS308EP, eight-socket managed switch with all sockets powered
PoE standard supported IEEE 802.3at and 802.3af Not published
Per-port power budget Up to 30 W per port Not published
Total power budget 120 W 62 W
Powered port count Sixteen Eight
Port count Sixteen Eight
Port speed 10/100/1000 Mbps 1.0 Gbps with auto-negotiation, over Cat5e or Cat6
Managed or unmanaged Not published Managed
Uplink type Not published Not published
Cooling Not published Fanless
On Amazon.com, October 26, 2026 $119 $60

A tick means one listing published something the other did not, or published a better figure. It does not mean the product is better, and the column is not a score out of anything: a maker who says less loses lines here without losing a comparison. The two verdicts below are where the page is settled.

Which of the two, for which household

Buy the TP-Link TL-SG116P, sixteen-socket switch with every socket powered

Take the TL-SG116P for a camera system or a building's worth of phones: sixteen powered sockets, 30 W each, 120 W in all, Extend mode to 250 m at 10 Mbps, and a three-year warranty on its Amazon.com page. It does not say whether it has a fan, and 120 W across sixteen sockets is about 7.5 W each when every one is busy.

Buy the NETGEAR GS308EP, eight-socket managed switch with all sockets powered

Take the GS308EP for a small office or home lab that wants to separate traffic with VLANs, favor voice with QoS and power-cycle a frozen camera from a browser. It is fanless, mounts on a desk or a wall, and costs about half as much — but 62 W limits it to two or three access points or a handful of cameras.

The questions that come up before an order

Can the GS308EP power eight devices at once?

If they are small. 62 W shared by eight sockets is under 8 W each; eight 802.3af devices at their 15.4 W maximum would ask nearly twice that. The page gives no per-socket ceiling.

What does managed add on a PoE switch?

Control: VLANs to keep cameras apart from computers, QoS to favor voice, port monitoring, and switching power off and on per socket. The TL-SG116P offers fixed modes instead, set by a switch on the unit rather than an interface.

Each one, in detail

Every price named in a summary was read on the date that review carries. What a shop asks today is shown beside the product, and it moves.