MikroTik hotspot user profiles: speed, sharing and timeouts
Last updated: 2 October 2026
A hotspot user profile is a set of rules shared by many users: the speed, how many devices may use one login, and when an idle session is closed. Make one profile per plan and put users in it.
Create a profile
/ip hotspot user profile add name=5M rate-limit=2M/5M shared-users=1 idle-timeout=10m keepalive-timeout=2m| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
rate-limit=2M/5M | Upload 2 Mbps, download 5 Mbps. The first number is what the router receives from the customer. |
shared-users=1 | How many devices may be logged in with the same name at once. |
idle-timeout | Log the user off after this long without traffic. |
session-timeout | Longest single session; the user must log in again afterwards. |
Create users in the profile
/ip hotspot user add name=ali password=1234 profile=5M
/ip hotspot user add name=guest1 password=7788 profile=5M limit-uptime=2h limit-bytes-total=1Glimit-uptime counts time online and limit-bytes-total counts data; both are per user, not per profile.
Speed with burst
/ip hotspot user profile set 5M rate-limit="2M/5M 3M/8M 1500k/4M 10/10"The four parts are: normal speed, burst speed, the average at which burst stops, and the time the average is measured over.
See who is using what
/ip hotspot active print
/ip hotspot user print statsWhat profiles cannot do
A profile has no end date. A user stays valid until you remove it, unless you add expiry scripts. See how hotspot user expiry works.
Where RadiusNest fits
A RadiusNest package is a profile with the missing parts added: validity in days, a data quota that is counted across routers, a price, and automatic end. Each user or voucher gets the package's speed from the router exactly as a profile would give it.
Start the free trial See pricing
Questions and answers
Which number in rate-limit is download?
The second. rate-limit=2M/5M gives the customer 2 Mbps upload and 5 Mbps download.
What does shared-users do?
It limits how many devices can be online with the same username at one time. Set 1 so a login cannot be passed around.
Do limits reset each day?
No. limit-uptime and limit-bytes-total are totals for the user. Resetting them daily needs a script, or a RADIUS system that counts per period.