5 Best 26 Port Gigabit Switches in 2026

If you only read one review on this page, make it this one. The NETGEAR GS324T is the switch we would put in almost any home lab, network closet or small office, and it is hard to find anyone who regrets buying it.

The layout is simple: 24 gigabit ports on the left, 2 SFP slots on the right, all in a metal case that sits on a desk or bolts into a rack. There is no fan, so it makes no sound at all. You could keep it in a bedroom and never know it was there.

The real draw is how easy it is to manage. It belongs to NETGEAR's S350 Smart Managed Pro series, so you get VLANs, QoS, IGMP snooping, LACP link aggregation, port mirroring and SNMP monitoring through a clean web page. And if none of that means anything to you yet, that is fine. It works as a plain plug-and-play switch on day one, and the settings are there when you are ready.

Owners love it, and complaints are hard to find. One buyer runs four of these S350 switches across nine VLANs and calls them robust and easy to set up. Another upgraded from an unmanaged switch just for link aggregation and says it took minutes. Someone who swapped out an older NETGEAR GS724TP said the new interface alone made the upgrade worth it.

So what is the catch? The SFP slots run at 1 Gbps, not 10G, and you buy the modules separately. There is no PoE either. NETGEAR backs it with a 5-year warranty, and it supports Energy Efficient Ethernet (802.3az), which you can switch on to save a little power on idle links. New to managed switches? Our guide to managed vs unmanaged switches explains what all those features actually do.

Picture a ladder, a ceiling camera and a power outlet nowhere nearby. That is the problem the NETGEAR GS324TP solves. It is the GS324T with Power over Ethernet on all 24 ports, so one network cable carries both data and power to each camera, access point, VoIP phone or video doorbell.

Each port can deliver up to 30 watts, and the switch shares a 190W budget between them. It figures out how much power each device needs on its own, and the web page shows you exactly what every port is drawing. You can schedule PoE so access points go dark overnight, and when a camera freezes, you can turn its port off and on again from your desk instead of hauling out that ladder.

It is also surprisingly compact. At 13 by 8.1 inches and 1.7 inches tall, it fits on a shelf just as easily as in a rack.

The feedback is remarkably consistent. Owners call it reliable, easy to manage and good value, and one says it runs flawlessly alongside an Orbi mesh system. A buyer who replaced a dead Cisco switch found each camera drawing less than 3.5 watts. Another had been through several PoE brands for a home security setup over five years and says this was the first one that simply stayed stable.

The trade-off is noise. PoE switches need fans, and owners are split: some find it quiet, others would not want it in an office. One reviewer also had trouble with older 100 Mbps devices. And while 190W covers a typical home camera system plus a few access points, it will not run 24 power-hungry PTZ cameras at once. Our guide to Power over Ethernet shows how to add up your budget. Like the GS324T, it comes with a 5-year warranty.

Some gear just refuses to go out of style. The NETGEAR GS724Tv4 has been a quiet favorite in home labs and small offices for years, and it is still one of the smartest buys if you want features the newer S350 models skip.

On the outside, it looks familiar: 24 gigabit ports, 2 SFP slots, a fanless metal case and no noise at all. Inside, it goes further. It supports up to 32 static routes, so it can move traffic between a few VLANs without a separate router. It handles 256 VLANs instead of 64, and it adds layer 2, 3 and 4 access control lists for anyone who wants fine-grained rules about what can talk to what.

A lot of buyers worry about hidden subscriptions with business gear. One reviewer clears that up: you do not need to pay for anything. Every feature works from the local web interface.

Owners keep coming back to the same praise: easy to install, a friendly management page, great VLAN support and good value. One home lab owner runs multiple VLANs and two internet providers through it behind a pfSense firewall. An IT consultant dropped it into a client's office to replace a dying switch and says it has run perfectly since. Another calls it the best managed switch they have ever used.

Then there is the warranty, which beats everything else here: limited lifetime coverage with next business day replacement, as long as you register the switch with NETGEAR within 90 days. The downsides? It is an older design, the interface looks dated next to the S350 series, and a small group of owners did run into problems. Pick it if you want the routing and ACL features, or simply the peace of mind of a lifetime warranty.

Want every advanced feature without paying NETGEAR prices? The MokerLink 26-port managed switch is the bargain of the group, and on paper, it has the longest feature list of the five.

You get 24 gigabit ports, 2 SFP uplinks, a fanless metal rack case and enough switching capacity to run all 26 ports at full speed at once. Then comes the alphabet soup: VLANs, QoS, link aggregation, spanning tree, IGMP snooping, ACLs, IP-MAC-port binding, DHCP snooping, storm control and 802.1X login, managed through a web page, SNMP or a command line.

One nice touch is SFP monitoring. If you run fiber, the dashboard can show the temperature and signal strength of each module, which makes tracking down a flaky link a lot easier.

Most owners are happy with it. Buyers say it feels solid, sets up quickly and offers great value. One owner noticed that speeds through the switch matched a direct connection with no switch at all, which is exactly what you want to hear. Another uses it as the main hub for a whole house wired from a fiber router and says it does exactly what it promises.

It is not quite as polished as the NETGEAR picks. A small number of owners reported problems such as slow connections, and a few say it runs warm, so give it some airflow in the rack. If you mix it with other brands' gear, test your VLAN setup before you rely on it. The 1-year warranty is the shortest here, which is the trade-off for the lower price. For a home lab, it is a great deal. For a business network, we would spend a little more on a NETGEAR.

Not everyone wants to log in to a switch. If you are wiring up a camera system or an office full of IP phones and just want everything to power on and work, the TRENDnet TPE-TG262 is built for you.

All 24 ports are gigabit PoE+ at up to 30 watts each, backed by a big 380W power budget, twice what the GS324TP offers. That is enough to run all 24 ports at around 15 watts each, which covers most cameras and access points. The power supply is built in, so there is no bulky brick, and the metal case fits a standard 19-inch rack. Two SFP slots handle fiber if you need it.

There are no settings at all. Plug in your devices, connect one port or SFP slot to your router, and you are done. It is also NDAA and TAA compliant, which matters for government installs.

The real-world stories are good when it works. One office runs all of its IP phones and an access point from it, and linked a second building with a fiber module. Another owner has powered five security cameras from one since 2018 without a single problem. Owners also tend to describe it as well made.

Not every review is glowing. A handful of owners had a unit stop working, which is exactly where TRENDnet's Lifetime Protection on the switch earns its keep, though the fans and internal power supply get 1 year. The fans are also audible, so it belongs in a closet or rack rather than on your desk. If you want PoE you can schedule and monitor, the GS324TP is the better fit. If you want the most power with no setup at all, this is the one.