Real-world capacity of Unleashed with R750 as Preferred Master (75-80 APs)?

[Hung_May]

Hi everyone,

I am currently working on the Wi-Fi infrastructure design for a new hotel and resort project. We are strongly considering an all-Unleashed deployment to avoid the overhead of a physical controller.

Our current design consists of 75 to 80 Wi-Fi 6 APs (a mix of R650s for the ballroom/restaurant, H550s for the guest rooms, and some R350s/T350s for common/outdoor areas). To ensure the Unleashed cluster has maximum processing power and stability, we plan to deploy a high-end R750 specifically configured as the Preferred Master AP.

While the official datasheet states that Unleashed can handle up to 128 APs, I have heard rumors from a few local system integrators that in practical, real-world scenarios, Unleashed starts to struggle or become unstable once it passes the 25-30 AP mark. They usually push for a Virtual SmartZone (vSZ) or hardware controller at this scale.

I would love to hear some real-world feedback from this community:

Does anyone have Unleashed deployments running smoothly with 70-80+ APs in a high-density hospitality environment?

Is the "30 AP limit" rumor just a legacy issue from the older Wi-Fi 5 days (e.g., using an older R500/R600 as Master), or is it still a valid concern today, even with a powerhouse like the R750 running the cluster?

Any insights, shared experiences, or best practices would be greatly appreciated before we lock in the final design.

Thanks in advance!