MikroTik hotspot free trial: give new devices a few free minutes
Last updated: 2 October 2026
Trial login gives every device a short period of free internet without a username: ten minutes to check messages, or half an hour a day. The router keeps count per device and you choose the speed.
Before you change a live router: take a backup (how) and turn on Safe Mode in Winbox, so a mistake that locks you out is undone by itself.
1. A slow profile for trial users
Make a separate user profile so free users cannot take the line from paying ones:
/ip hotspot user profile add name=trial rate-limit=512k/1M shared-users=1 idle-timeout=5m512k/1M is 512 kbps upload and 1 Mbps download. See hotspot user profiles for the other settings.
2. Turn on trial in the hotspot profile
/ip hotspot profile print
/ip hotspot profile set hsprof1 login-by=trial,cookie,http-chap,http-pap trial-uptime-limit=30m trial-uptime-reset=1d trial-user-profile=trial| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
login-by=trial,… | Adds trial to the allowed login methods. The value replaces the whole list, so keep the methods you already use. |
trial-uptime-limit=30m | How much connected time each device gets. |
trial-uptime-reset=1d | How long after the first trial login the device gets a fresh allowance. |
trial-user-profile=trial | The user profile (speed and timeouts) for trial sessions. |
With the values above a device has 30 minutes of free use, and a day after it started it may have 30 minutes again. For a one-time taste, make the reset long, for example trial-uptime-reset=30d.
3. The link on the login page
The default login page already shows a "free trial" link when trial is enabled. If you made your own login page, add it back:
$(if trial == 'yes')
<a href="$(link-login-only)?dst=$(link-orig-esc)&username=T-$(mac-esc)">Try free for 30 minutes</a>
$(endif)The link logs the device in as a user named T- followed by its MAC address. No password is needed.
See trial users
/ip hotspot active print where user~"^T-"
/ip hotspot user print where name~"^T-"The router creates the T-… users by itself and removes them when the reset time has passed. To give one device its trial back early, remove its trial user:
/ip hotspot user remove [find name="T-AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF"]What the trial cannot do
- It is counted per MAC address. A phone with a private MAC address that changes, or a user who changes the address on purpose, gets a new trial. Keep the trial short and slow so that this is not worth the effort.
- The allowance is time, not data. There is no data cap on a trial; the speed limit is what protects your line.
- The count lives on the router. Each router gives its own trial, and the count is lost if the trial users are removed.
Sensible uses
- A few minutes so a new customer can see that the Wi-Fi works before buying a voucher.
- Enough time to pay online. For that job a walled garden for the payment page is tighter than a trial, because it opens only the pages you list.
Turn it off
/ip hotspot profile set hsprof1 login-by=cookie,http-chap,http-papWhere RadiusNest fits
The trial is a feature of the router and RadiusNest does not change it. What RadiusNest adds is the paid side: packages with speed, data, time and an end date, printable vouchers, and a report of what was sold. A common setup is a short, slow trial on the router and vouchers for everything after it.
Start the free trial See pricing
Questions and answers
How does MikroTik know a device already used its trial?
It creates a user named T- plus the device's MAC address and counts that user's uptime. When the limit is reached the login is refused until the reset time has passed.
Can I limit the trial by data instead of time?
Not with the trial settings; they count time only. Use a low rate-limit in the trial user profile to keep usage small.
Why is there no trial link on my login page?
Either trial is not in the profile's login-by, or your custom login.html has no trial block. Add the $(if trial == 'yes') block shown above.