The per-port budget and the total budget are two different numbers
A PoE switch carries data and power down the same cable, and it is the power side that decides whether the purchase works. Two numbers govern it and they are routinely confused. The per-port budget is what one socket can deliver, and it follows the standard the switch names: 802.3af, 802.3at and 802.3bt each raise the ceiling, and a device asking for one will not run correctly from a switch offering only the class below. The total budget, quoted in watts for the whole unit, is what every powered socket shares between them; a switch with eight powered ports rarely has eight times the per-port figure behind it, so a full complement of hungry cameras or access points can exhaust the total while each socket individually still looks capable. Note also how many ports are powered — frequently only some of them — and whether consumption is reported per port. Around that sit the ordinary switch questions: port count, port speed written as 1000BASE-T or 2.5GBASE-T, and whether the uplinks are copper or SFP cages. Managed models add VLANs and let a stuck powered device be restarted by cycling its socket, which is the feature people discover they wanted once the ladder is back in the shed. Finally the fan, because a switch dissipating a large power budget usually has one, and rack cases run louder than desktop ones. We compare PoE standard supported, per-port power budget, total power budget, powered port count, port count and port speeds, managed or unmanaged, uplink type and cooling.
802.3af and 802.3at · up to 30 W per socket · 65 W total · seven powered of eight · gigabit · fanless · metal case
A gigabit switch that powers seven of its eight sockets and states both halves of the power question: 30 W at one socket and 65 W for all of them together.
Best for: A small installation of three or four cameras or access points that draw modestly, where the switch has to be silent and sit in the open.
≈ 30 €
802.3af and 802.3at · 250 W total, no per-socket figure · sixteen powered of eighteen · two gigabit uplinks · one-key VLAN mode · unmanaged
An eighteen-socket switch with sixteen powered sockets and a 250 W shared budget, which never states what one socket can deliver and contradicts itself about how it mounts.
Best for: A building with a dozen or more cameras where the total draw is known and the switch will live in a cupboard, and where the per-socket question can be settled with the seller first.
≈ $85 / £100 / 93 €
802.3af and 802.3at · up to 30 W per socket · 250 W total · sixteen powered of eighteen · uplinks numbered 17 and 18 · internal supply · fan-cooled
A rack-mounted eighteen-socket switch with sixteen powered sockets, an internal power supply and fans, which numbers its uplinks and isolates the powered sockets from each other.
Best for: A rack in a cupboard or a small server room carrying a camera installation, where fans are inaudible and an internal supply saves space.
≈ $120 / £85 / 110 €
PoE+ named, no IEEE class printed · 62 W total · eight powered sockets · managed, with VLANs and QoS · per-socket power control · fanless metal case
A managed eight-socket switch with per-socket power control and a 62 W shared budget, whose sockets are called PoE+ without any IEEE class being printed.
Best for: An office or a small business that wants VLANs and the ability to restart a powered device remotely, on devices that draw modestly.
≈ £90 / 78 €
802.3af and 802.3at at 48 V · up to 30 W per socket · 120 W total · eight powered · two copper and two SFP uplinks · unmanaged · fan-cooled
A twelve-socket unmanaged switch with eight powered sockets, two copper uplinks and two SFP cages, cooled by a fan and rated at 120 W shared.
Best for: A cupboard or a small rack where cameras and access points meet a fibre run or a second switch, and where the noise of a fan does not reach anyone.
≈ $50 / £50 / 49 €
802.3at and 802.3af · up to 30 W per socket · 60 W total · eight powered · two gigabit uplinks · 6 kV surge protection · extended mode 250 m at 10 Mbps
A ten-socket switch with eight powered sockets and two uplinks, whose extended reach is stated together with the rate it costs, and whose cooling is never described.
Best for: A run of cameras at the end of a long cable, where reach matters more than rate and where two spare uplinks are wanted for a router and a recorder.
≈ 38 €
802.3af and 802.3at · up to 30 W per socket · 250 W total · sixteen powered of eighteen · two gigabit uplinks · one-key VLAN mode · 4 kV protection
An eighteen-socket switch that publishes both power figures for its sixteen powered sockets, and describes its mounting one way in the title and another in the bullets.
Best for: A camera or access point installation of a dozen or more devices where the draw of each is known, and where the mounting can be settled with the seller before it arrives.
≈ $99 / £95 / 110 €
802.3af and 802.3at · up to 30 W per socket · 120 W total · all eight sockets powered · unmanaged · fanless · metal case with mounting ears
An eight-socket switch that powers every one of them from a 120 W shared budget without a fan, and whose bullets disagree about the port speed and about where the power comes from.
Best for: A small camera or access point installation where every socket may end up powered, and where the switch has to be silent because it sits in the open.
≈ $46 / £46 / 50 €
802.3af and 802.3at · up to 30 W per socket · 120 W total · all sixteen sockets powered · priority mode on sockets 1 to 4 · fanless metal case
A sixteen-socket switch that powers every socket without a fan, sharing 120 W between them, and reserves a fixed priority mode for the first four.
Best for: An office or a shop with a dozen or more telephones, cameras or access points that draw modestly, where a fan would be heard all day.
≈ 113 €
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.
