Is there any reason to use SwOS instead of RouterOS on devices that support both? As in - does SwOS provide any feature ROS doesn’t?
Swos is suitable for limited hardware. Lighter than RouterOS so when you have good hardware run RouterOS.
Question was related to announced CSR317 which is supposed to support both thus I’m quite confused. It totally doesn’t look like “limited hardware” at least not more limited than current CRS series which supports ROS.
Leaving software lighter you can get high processing of packages.
I think this is the concept
I think you missing the question and it’s a good one.
What reason would you have to use swos vs routers (except if you haven’t managed to learn the difficult paths of the switch menu).
All switching is hardware (or should be) so there is no performance benefit.
RouterOs then has all of its built in advantages (routing for management etc).
Maybe it’s something similar to ubnt edgeswitch and Unifi switch. Unifi switch fits a small portion of the market ( although small) but it fits it well, for everything else there is edgeswitch. With MT , swos is small, it only does switching, it’s easier to maintain and par for par easier than RouterOs to setup. I just hope this breathes some life into swos.
The amount of 260gsps I buy is unreal. Would love a 24 port version
Unsure myself… personally if your running a big network I think SwOS is too limited… no SNMP v3 (security)… .. dude is limited … no winbox… I have switched to HEX PoE from 260GSP for this reason. As long as you use the switch chip it shouldn’t be less than wirespeed anyways.
-Eric
Can’t you just install SwOS on 24 port CRS then? I mean well it’s just OS. If you can install WRT on MTK hardware then why not SwOS? It’s available from download page, anyone tried?
Just because it’s an OS doesn’t mean that it can just be installed anywhere, swos can only be installed on rb260/260gsp
While I understand the limitations, and I do, if u are looking for a really easy device to config that supports vlan, gigabit, port isolation and port locking swos is the way to go. While RouterOs supports these features, you can’t say it’s any easier to setup and sometimes that’s important, not always but sometimes 
Anyway, unless swos gets bumped up to support more features I won’t be using it on the new crs
I thought it’s based on Linux kernel like RouterOS. I never saw in my life device not capable of booting Linux as long as arch is supported and there’s a way to provide boot image.
Personally I see no reason to run SwOS on a device that supports both… Just use the Switch features in SwOS…
There are reasons:
1.Fast SwOs reboot in compare to RouterOs. Better for backbone.
2. Easy to setup port isolation.
3. Simple RSTP(useful for backbone backup link) using switch chip. On routeros you can do rstp only through bridging(using cpu).
I found SwOS very useful.
Unfortunately there are bugs and no winbox. But it worth it.
I pretty much have a concept that if you want switch functionality, buy a switch; if you want router functionality, but a router. I don’t cross that. In the case of the newer MT products that will boot into either, the question is what do you want it to do? As my signature says, I do have one of those devices. I actually ordered a CSS, and received a CRS. As I had no need for a router but I did need a managed switch that I could power from 12V DC, I have it booted into Switch OS.