UniFi USB4/TB4 to 10GbE Adapter Review (UACC-Adapter-RJ45-USBC-10GE)
UniFi USB4/TB4 to 10GbE Adapter Review
Given the preponderance of 10 Gb Ethernet solutions available in the UniFi portfolio, it’s actually kind of weird that the brand has waited until almost halfway through 2025 to launch a convenient USB to 10G NIC adapter. To put it into perspective, the first generation of Thunderbolt to 10 GbE adapters arrived way back in 2018 from brands such as QNAP, StarTech, and Akitio. Despite this, however, there is still increasing demand for these convenient 10G upgrade alternatives to desktop PCIe card options, due to the growing support of USB4 client hardware, as well as its backwards compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4. This means that even particularly modest mini PCs and laptops now have the opportunity to scale up towards 10G easily. So, what exactly sets this new adapter from UniFi apart from the already quite oversaturated market of Thunderbolt/USB to 10 GbE adapters? Is it just the same thing with their own badge on top? Does it deserve your money and your data?
Feature | Specification / Details |
---|---|
Model | UACC-Adapter-RJ45-USBC-10GE |
Price | $199 USD |
Interface (Input) | USB-C (Compatible with USB4, Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4) |
Interface (Output) | 10GBASE-T Copper Ethernet (RJ45) |
Controller | Marvell AQC113 (PCIe Gen 3/4 x1, x2, x4 support) |
Compatibility | Windows, macOS, Linux (limited support on open-source NAS software) |
Backward Compatibility | USB4, Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 (No support for USB 3.2 Gen 1/Gen 2) |
Power Source | Bus-powered via USB-C |
Cooling | Passive (thermal pad + internal heatsink, no active fan) |
Build | All-metal chassis, compact and lightweight design |
Performance | Full 10GbE saturation possible; tested with CrystalDisk/AJA for sustained transfer |
Thermals | ~44–45°C under full load, ~40°C idle |
Auto-Negotiation | Supported (2.5G / 5G / 10G) |
Distance (10GBASE-T) | Up to 20 meters (longer possible, but performance may degrade) |
Notable Limitations | No USB 3.x support; slower heat dissipation due to compact, passive-only design |
Best Use Case | Portable 10G upgrade for laptops, mini-PCs, and client devices without PCIe expansion slots |
UniFi USB4 and TB4 to 10GbE Adapter Review – Quick Conclusion
UniFi have not really reinvented the wheel here. They were not the first to roll out Thunderbolt/USB 10G network adapters, and they certainly won’t be the last. It’s still a little confusing why it took the brand this long to roll out its own convenient accessory, but at least they’ve launched it with the latest controller on board—leading to a great deal more flexibility in its deployment on different client hardware, as well as reduced power consumption compared with the first generation of such adapters. The price of $199 lands pretty squarely between more cost-effective options in the market right now that use the previous generation controller, and the new generation of adapters arriving from brands like QNAP that feature the same hardware architecture as the UniFi option but are around $50 to $100 more. The design of this adapter is smaller and lighter than other options in the market by quite some margin, and as it is bus-powered and has no active cooling, the device is eminently portable and low-impact. All that said, it lacks the ridging and venting of other options in the market. Equally, we are on the cusp of just how big the evolution of USB4 network controllers is soon to become, and later this year we are likely to see the first generation of USB4 to 25G or 2x10GbE adapters arrive—clearly, these will scale in cost and won’t arrive for a great deal of time, but for those looking at this adapter as a means of future-proofing, you may well see the benefits in holding out a little bit longer. Nevertheless, UniFi have again released a great, solid network adapter here that does nothing wrong, and although they’ve arrived a little late to the party on this one, it’s still a very solid offering.
UniFi USB4 and TB4 to 10GbE Adapter Review – Design
As I’ve already mentioned, there are already a decent number of USB-C to 10 GbE network adapter options in the market, and given UniFi’s unique design choices, I’m always interested to see how Ubiquiti goes about designing their own version of something that the market already has—but more importantly, what exactly are they bringing to it that doesn’t already exist in the marketplace.
In the case of this adapter, the main three things that this adapter seemingly introduces over the status quo are:
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Their adapter is smaller in size and lighter in weight than pretty much every other adapter in the market for 10 GbE via USB-C.
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Their adapter has a lower power consumption than practically all other USB-C to 10 GbE Ethernet adapters.
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Their adapter uses a much more up-to-date and recent controller than any other Thunderbolt to 10G adapter released before 2025.
Those first two points are going to be very attractive to users who have been weighing up the need to buy an adapter over the last few years that connects via USB-C, but we are going to have to drill down a little bit later into why that third point is quite important to users with older generation equipment. But we’ll get back to that later.
The adapter is pretty damn small, as its completely metal external chassis is fanless. The adapter relies heavily on a controller-mounted heatsink internally that is connected to a thermal pad attached to the external metal casing. The USB Type-C input provides both data and power via a single interface, and this adapter supports Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4. That also means that it will most certainly work with future generations of USB and the slowly rolling-out Thunderbolt 5 protocol. Crucially though, it’s worth noting that this adapter does not support USB 3.2 Gen 1 or Gen 2—domestic USB that a lot more value devices either exclusively have or the port that is more commonly found on everything else. So, despite the 5 to 7-year release difference between this adapter and the first generation of Thunderbolt to 10 Gb Ethernet USB bus-powered adapters, compatibility on especially legacy equipment is not guaranteed.
It is also worth touching on that adapters like this are chiefly designed for users that have client hardware that cannot support a traditional PCIe upgrade card for adding improved network interfaces. If you have the facility to add 10 Gb Ethernet via a PCIe slot, I would always recommend that instead of an adapter like this. It will end up being far more power efficient and considerably lower in price. But for those in a pinch that need a portable and easy-to-adopt network upgrade on their system, this is a great choice.
If you are in the market for improved network connectivity and 10 GbE is a bit too rich for your blood or your needs, you can still get hold of incredibly cost-effective USB to 5 Gb Ethernet adapters for as little as $30 right now. They also allow connectivity with legacy USB 3.2 connections as well. So, if you don’t actually need full 10 GbE, and your switch supports auto-negotiation with 5 GbE, you could save a bunch of money.
Check Amazon for a $30 USB to 5GbE Adapter HERE – Check AliExpress for $30 USB-to-5GbE Adapter HERE
Do keep in mind that there are affordable USB to 5 GbE adapters in the market. I’m actually kind of surprised that UniFi haven’t integrated a USB to 5 Gb Ethernet adapter into their lineup already, as there is definitely a growing demand for this middle choice in network connectivity at the home and prosumer level—especially as more routers and network switches roll out with both 2.5 GbE and 5 GbE support.
UniFi USB4 and TB4 to 10GbE Adapter Review – Hardware
The physical connection on the other side of this UniFi adapter is a 10GBASE-T copper connection. This is generally perfect up to about 20 meters, and although you can use it over longer distances, at that point you tend to experience some resistance and a drop in latency. A fiber SFP option would have been great, but if they were only going to launch one version—now or ever—almost certainly the one users would want for convenience is going to be the copper option. The adapter also supports auto-negotiation as you’d expect, and although some client hardware will require you to install the AQC113 driver, it is broadly available for the majority of platforms ranging from Windows to Mac and custom Linux builds. That said, support in most open-source NAS software is still a little patchy.
In terms of performance, I’m pleased to say that when connecting with a 10 GbE NAS system via a 10G copper switch, this adapter comfortably hit 10 GbE saturation very easily. Consistent testing by CrystalDisk and AJA using a NAS equipped with a 10 GbE port and SSDs allowed this adapter to run consistently with repeated 1 GB tests over 10 GbE for 15 minutes with sustained performance. Clearly, the performance you’re going to achieve with an adapter like this will be heavily based on both the network activity and the target IP device, but even this limited testing showed that this adapter is more than capable of hitting those performance numbers.
When the adapter was running full-flow, and after 10 minutes of sustained use, it was hitting around 44 to 45°C. When idle, the adapter rested at around 40°C when not in use. One slight complaint I had was that the adapter did not especially quickly dissipate the gathered heat during testing—and that didn’t come as a huge surprise. As this adapter lacks any active cooling system internally, lacks the ridged heatsink design of a lot of other USB-to-10G adapters on the market, and is notably more compact than other options, it was inevitable that temperatures might get a little spicy. Nevertheless, I am a little disappointed at how slowly heat was dissipated between uses, and that is sadly a price many users who want a compact adapter like this are going to have to pay.
Now I want to discuss the network controller inside this UniFi USB4-to-10G adapter, as I think it’s going to be an important area of distinction for buyers considering this new $200 10G adapter versus cheaper or more expensive alternatives that have been in the market for more than 5 years. The first generation of Thunderbolt-to-10G adapters that arrived way back in 2018/2019 featured the AQN-107 controller. This was designed exclusively for Thunderbolt connections and was a controller running on a PCIe Gen 3 x4 mounted connection in those adapters. This more modern controller is the AQC113, and alongside arriving in a smaller physical size with lower power consumption, it crucially runs on a flexible PCIe Gen 3/4 x1, x2, or x4 architecture as needed.
The reason this is important is that when Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 arrived on client hardware as more flexible and affordable alternatives to Thunderbolt 3, it also allowed client hardware creators to be a little bit more flexible on the allocated PCIe lanes that they would dedicate to USB4/Thunderbolt 3. As good as all this sounds, that meant that more modern hardware with USB4/TB4 (which is backwards compatible with TB3) often had much poorer or inconsistent performance when using the older generation TB3 10G adapters—because the adapter wasn’t flexible enough to adapt to the more dynamic deployment of USB4/TB4 on modern hardware. That is why the new controller and its flexibility may well run consistently better and more efficiently on modern hardware, as both the client and the adapter are more flexibly positioned to adapt to the unique deployments they may encounter.
Several of the existing USB-C to 10G network adapters in the market released over the last 5 years are soon to be updated with newer controllers (with QNAP recently upgrading their existing adapter with the new controller and increasing the price from $199 to $249 already). This is why I touched on earlier the importance of UniFi choosing the newer-gen controller for their adapter. It ensures far greater compatibility with modern USB4/TB3 architecture, as well as better flexibility for users on older-generation devices.
UniFi USB4 and TB4 to 10GbE Adapter Review – Verdict & Conclusion
Unless you properly dig down into just why both the internal hardware and the necessity for a device like this exist, chances are there are a lot of traditional 10G users who are going to question why you’d spend $200 on a USB adapter when there are cheaper and more power-efficient PCIe options on the market. Equally, there are going to be those who’ll point at UniFi releasing this adapter in 2025 and—without looking into how the hardware in these adapters has changed—will question why it took UniFi so long to jump on this bandwagon. To both of those kinds of users, I think they are either missing the point or need to spend a little bit more time looking at how this kind of technology has both changed and evolved for the better in the last few years. The original hurdles for users to scale up their network connectivity have evolved rapidly, and now even the most basic low-powered and low-priced Chromebook is not incapable of scaling up towards 2.5G and 5G network connections. Equally, as Thunderbolt and USB continue their tit-for-tat upgrades periodically, the network peripherals available to most users are evolving just as quickly. This new adapter takes advantage of the continued miniaturization of a lot of those components—and their growing comparative affordability.
I genuinely and wholeheartedly recommend the UniFi USB4 to 10 Gb Ethernet adapter. I also want to add that there are cheap alternatives in the market—if you’re a Thunderbolt 3 user, there are much cheaper alternatives for 2.5G and 5G. If you only have USB 3.2, those are also options to consider. And finally, keep your eyes on the end of 2025, as the controllers that made this adapter possible are going to start rolling out towards dual 10G and 2.5G solutions in due course. They will, of course, scale up in price too, but if you’re looking at this adapter for the sake of future-proofing rather than immediate deployment, you might want to hold off a little while longer. For everyone else, this is a fantastic and convenient network upgrade for content creators and prosumers alike.
Pros of the UniFi 10GbE / USB-C Adapter | Cons of the UniFi 10GbE / USB-C Adapters |
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