MikroTik hotspot shared users: one login on several devices
Last updated: 2 October 2026
The shared-users setting decides how many devices can be online with the same hotspot username at one time. It lives in the user profile, and it is the reason behind the error "no more sessions are allowed for user".
Where the setting is
/ip hotspot user profile printEvery user profile has a shared-users value. The default is 1: one device per login. A second device that tries the same username is refused.
Allow more devices on one login
/ip hotspot user profile add name=family-10M rate-limit=5M/10M shared-users=3
/ip hotspot user add name=house12 password=4455 profile=family-10MOr change an existing profile:
/ip hotspot user profile set 5M shared-users=2The change applies to new logins. Sessions that are already open stay as they are.
What happens to the speed
Each device that logs in gets its own session and its own queue with the profile's rate-limit. Three devices on a 5 Mbps profile can use up to 5 Mbps each, not 5 Mbps between them. If you want the devices to share one speed, sell one device per login, or put a shared limit in place yourself with a queue.
Time and data limits on the user (limit-uptime, limit-bytes-total) count all of that user's sessions together.
"no more sessions are allowed for user"
This message means the username is already online on as many devices as shared-users allows. Find the open session:
/ip hotspot active print where user="house12"The usual reasons, and what to do:
- The login really is in use elsewhere. The customer gave the password to someone. Nothing is broken.
- An old session of the same customer is still listed. They left without logging out and the router has not noticed yet. Remove it, and shorten the timeouts so it clears by itself next time (see session and idle timeouts).
- The phone changed its MAC address. A private MAC address makes the same phone look like a new device while the old session is still open.
- The customer moved to another access point or band and came back with a different address before the old session ended.
/ip hotspot active remove [find user="house12"]RADIUS logins use the profile "default"
A user that is checked by RADIUS does not exist in the router's user list, so it has no profile of its own there. The router gives it the user profile named default, unless the RADIUS reply names another one with the Mikrotik-Group attribute. So for RADIUS users the device limit on the router is the shared-users of the default profile:
/ip hotspot user profile print where name=default
/ip hotspot user profile set default shared-users=1A RADIUS server can also count sessions itself and refuse a login that is over the limit. If it does, set the router's value at least as high as the largest number the server allows, or the router refuses first. More on what a reply can carry: RADIUS attributes.
Choosing a number
| You sell | shared-users |
|---|---|
| Vouchers, one person, one phone | 1 |
| A person with a phone and a laptop | 2 |
| A household or a room | 3 to 5, with a price to match |
A high number on a cheap package is an invitation to pass the password around. See also stopping customers re-sharing the hotspot.
Where RadiusNest fits
Each RadiusNest package has a "devices at the same time" number. It is checked centrally at every login, on every router you have connected, so a login cannot be used on one extra device per router. An extra device is refused and the open sessions are in the live online list, where you can disconnect one.
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Questions and answers
What is the default value of shared-users?
One. A username can be online on a single device at a time unless you raise the number in its user profile.
Do several devices on one login share the speed?
No. Each device gets its own session with the full rate-limit of the profile.
Why do I get "no more sessions are allowed" when nobody else uses my login?
An earlier session of yours is still open on the router, often after a private MAC address change or leaving without logging out. Remove it from the active list.