Best Captive Portal Software for UniFi: 8 Options and How to Choose

Updated October 2026

Short answer: The best captive portal software for UniFi is MyPlace. If you just need terms-acceptance with no data capture, UniFi’s built-in portal is free and fine.

UniFi access points include a basic hotspot portal, but most hospitality businesses outgrow it quickly: it can’t validate emails, build a marketing list, or sync guest data anywhere useful. This guide compares 8 captive portal software options that work with UniFi guest WiFi, including the built-in option, and shows how to choose between them based on what you actually need: WiFi authentication methods, network access control, branding, data capture, or marketing workflows.

How we picked: MyPlace is our product, so read our entry knowing that. We’ve listed where each competitor genuinely wins, and every integration and pricing claim was checked against the vendor’s own pages in October 2026.

Choosing for marketing? Five things to check first

Captive portal software is usually evaluated as an IT purchase. If you run marketing for a restaurant group or hotel, the network side is table stakes; these five things decide whether guest WiFi produces anything you can use:

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• Branding and splash control: your logo, colors, offers, and terms on the login page, editable per location without a developer.
• Email validation: real-time verification at login, so you build a campaign-ready list instead of a file of typos and fakes.
• Review requests: automated Google review invitations after the visit, triggered by the WiFi login.
• CRM and email sync: guest data flows into the tools you already run campaigns from (HubSpot, Mailchimp, Klaviyo), not a CSV you export by hand.
• Multi-location management: one dashboard, per-venue splash pages, and roll-up reporting across sites.

The comparison table below covers all eight options on these points plus the network fundamentals. MyPlace is built around this marketing workflow, and StayFi does the same job for vacation rentals. IronWiFi, Art of WiFi, UniFi’s built-in portal and the open-source options are network-first. Purple and Cloud4Wi focus on enterprise access and analytics.

Comparison at a glance

What to look for in a UniFi captive portal

You’ll see this category sold as captive portal software, hotspot management, or guest WiFi management. The job is the same: authenticate guests, control network access, and decide what happens to the data. Five things separate the tools:

Integration method. UniFi supports external captive portals through what Ubiquiti calls the One Way Method: the controller redirects guests to an external portal, the portal collects the login, then calls the UniFi API to authorize the device. Tools built on the official UniFi API work with cloud-connected and self-hosted controllers alike. Check the tool supports your setup: UniFi Dream Machine, Cloud Key, or self-hosted controller.

Authentication options. Email login is the standard for hospitality. Depending on the tool you can add social login, SMS, vouchers, PPSK, QR codes, or SSO through Microsoft Entra ID and Google Workspace. More options matter if you serve mixed audiences (guests plus staff, or members plus visitors).

Branding and splash page control. The splash page is the first thing every guest sees, so check how much of it you control: logo, colors, and imagery; custom terms and privacy text; offers or custom questions at login; and multi-language support for international guests. UniFi’s built-in portal covers basic logo-and-terms customization. Dedicated captive portal software adds per-location splash pages, seasonal updates without touching the controller, and brand templates you set once and roll out across every venue.

Network access control. Session duration, bandwidth limits, device limits per user, and guest isolation from your internal network. Any serious tool handles these; the difference is how much you can manage centrally across locations.

What happens to the data. This is where tools diverge most. Some validate emails in real time and sync to your CRM or email platform; others store a raw list you have to export. It matters more than it used to: 58% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from brands that use their data to personalize experiences (Trade Desk/YouGov). If the goal is marketing, data quality and integrations are the deciding factor, not the splash page.

1. MyPlace

MyPlace is a guest engagement platform built for hospitality: restaurants, hotels, bars, and entertainment venues running UniFi networks.

It connects to your UniFi controller through the official UniFi API or as an external portal (One Way Method), and works with the Dream Machine, Cloud Key, self-hosted controllers, and multi-site setups. No extra hardware. Guests log in with email or social accounts, emails are validated in real time, and returning guests reconnect automatically.

What separates MyPlace from network-focused tools is what happens after login: captured guest data feeds automated review generation (Google and TripAdvisor) and syncs to marketing tools like HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Klaviyo. Across 500+ locations, MyPlace customers collect verified guest emails at about $0.22 each, versus roughly $1.91 for manual collection methods. AVA MediterrAegean in Winter Park, part of the multi-venue Riviera Dining Group, generated 64 Google reviews in 30 days, 95% of them five-star. Session limits, bandwidth control, GDPR/CCPA consent records, and multi-location management are handled from one dashboard. If you don’t run your own controller, MyPlace offers hosted UniFi controllers for $10/mo.

Best for: hospitality businesses, from a single restaurant to a multi-location group, that want UniFi guest WiFi to produce emails and reviews, not just access.
Pricing: from $49/mo per location, 14-day free trial.

2. StayFi

StayFi is guest WiFi built for vacation rentals. Hosts and property managers use the WiFi login to collect guest contact details they can market to later. It works with new or existing UniFi access points, and StayFi also sells its own hardware.

It’s designed around rental properties rather than restaurants, bars or hotels, so it fits best when the WiFi lives in a holiday home, not a busy venue.

Best for: vacation rental hosts and property managers running UniFi.
Pricing: from $19/mo, plus $99 for StayFi hardware (StayFi doesn’t state the billing unit).

3. Cloud4Wi

Cloud4Wi is a guest WiFi and network access platform for workplaces and retail chains, supporting UniFi alongside enterprise vendors like Cisco and Meraki.

Its focus is secure guest access and location data across many sites. Smaller hospitality operators usually don’t need this weight.

Best for: workplaces and retail chains that need secure guest WiFi and network access control.
Pricing: from $200/mo on the Professional plan, billed annually.

4. IronWiFi

IronWiFi is a cloud RADIUS and captive portal service aimed at IT teams. It brings 802.1X, RADIUS authentication, and directory integrations (Google Workspace, Entra ID, Okta) to UniFi networks.

If your requirement is security-first network access control, per-user credentials, certificate-based auth, detailed logs, IronWiFi is built for exactly that. It’s not a marketing tool, and hospitality teams without IT support will find it heavier to run.

Best for: schools, government and IT teams that need secure WiFi login (RADIUS).
Pricing: guest WiFi from $13 per access point per month with a $65 monthly minimum.

5. Art of WiFi

Art of WiFi makes captive portal software only for UniFi. You can run it on your own server, with a one-time licence per site and unlimited access points, or have Art of WiFi host it for you. It covers vouchers, paid access, Microsoft Entra ID sign-in, Mailchimp sync and webhooks.

It suits IT teams and integrators who want to own the server and the data. There’s no review generation, and a self-hosted server is one more thing someone has to look after.

Best for: IT teams and UniFi integrators who want to host the guest portal themselves.
Pricing: not published, available on request (one-time licence per site if self-hosted, monthly or annual if hosted).

6. Purple

Purple is an enterprise WiFi and analytics platform for large venues: airports, stadiums, shopping centres and universities. It supports UniFi among many hardware vendors, and has merged with the splash page provider Splash Access.

Purple’s strength is scale: enterprise SLAs, footfall analytics, and deployments across hundreds of sites. For a restaurant group it’s typically more platform (and more procurement) than the job needs.

Best for: large venues and enterprises with dedicated IT and a need for location analytics.
Pricing: free Connect tier, paid plans quote-based.

7. UniFi built-in hotspot portal

Every UniFi controller ships with a native hotspot portal. It handles the basics: a landing page, terms acceptance, simple password or voucher access, and payment options through the Hotspot Manager.

The honest assessment: it’s genuinely good for what it is, and it’s free. But it wasn’t built for marketing. There’s no email validation, no marketing-list management, no CRM sync, and limited branding control. Guest emails, where collected, sit in the controller rather than anywhere you can run a campaign from.

Best for: businesses that need access control and terms acceptance with zero budget, and don’t need the guest data.
Pricing: free with UniFi hardware.

8. Open-source captive portals

pfSense and OPNsense are open-source firewalls with a captive portal built in. With UniFi, the firewall sits in front of your UniFi access points and runs the guest login itself, so it replaces UniFi’s own gateway and portal for guest traffic. PacketFence is open-source network access control used by campuses and large organisations, and its setup guide covers Ubiquiti equipment.

You get free community editions and full control over the login flow and data. The trade-off: you need your own firewall or server and someone to run it. None connects to marketing tools out of the box, and anything beyond a login page, such as email capture or review requests, means custom code.

Best for: IT teams and providers that want full control and are happy to run their own firewall or server.
Pricing: free community editions. pfSense Plus from $129/yr per install, OPNsense Business Edition 149 EUR/yr, PacketFence cloud from $5,000/yr.

How to choose UniFi captive portal software

Match the tool to the job, not the feature list:

• You want marketing outcomes (email list, Google reviews, repeat visits), at one location or twenty: MyPlace.
• You run vacation rentals: StayFi.
• You want enterprise authentication (RADIUS, 802.1X): IronWiFi.
• You want to host the portal yourself, or need vouchers and paid access: Art of WiFi.
• You’re a large venue or enterprise with analytics needs: Purple or Cloud4Wi.
• You want free and basic: UniFi’s built-in portal.
• You have IT staff and want full control on your own hardware: pfSense, OPNsense or PacketFence.

Whichever you pick, confirm three things: it supports your controller type (UDM, Cloud Key, or self-hosted), it uses the official UniFi API or supported external portal method rather than firmware hacks, and the guest data ends up somewhere you can actually use it.

Frequently asked questions