Editorial, 21 Aug 2026. Specs from maker pages and recent street reports. We have not burned these units in. Affiliate tags are not live.
Cheap PoE for two access points
You need enough watts and enough ports. You do not need a controller religion on day one.
The short list
| Box | PoE | Street, 2026 | Buy if |
|---|---|---|---|
| TP-Link TL-SG1005P | 5 ports, 4× PoE+, 65W total, fanless, unmanaged | The default two-AP brick. Maker page lists 65W / 30W per port. | Two APs or a camera plus an AP. No VLANs. |
| TP-Link LS108GP / similar 8-port budget PoE | More ports, still cheap | Varies. Read the watt budget, not the port count. | You already know camera number three is coming. |
| UniFi Switch Lite 8 PoE | 4× PoE+, 52W, fanless, managed | $109 on the UI store, 22 Jun 2026 listing. | You already live in UniFi. 52W is easy to outgrow. |
| TP-Link TL-SG1016PE | 16 ports, 8 PoE+, 150W, smart managed | Often cited around $140. | A house with cameras. Not a first apartment AP pair. |
APs
Ceiling or high-shelf, wired backhaul, one per floor. A $40 mesh satellite hopping on Wi-Fi is not an AP. If you are already UniFi, stay UniFi so you are not running two apps. If you are not, a current TP-Link Omada EAP is the less preachy path.
Add the AP draw (often 10–20W) before you celebrate a 52W switch. Two APs plus two cheap cameras will surprise you.