More complex networks (e.g. in commercial settings, or the homes of I.T. nerds) will often consist of a router plus one or more switches and/or wireless access points, probably spread out across a site with multiple ethernet drops. A typical router sold for home consumers (like yours I'm guessing) is a combination of all three of those in one convenient package, which is enough for most home use cases.
Companies like Ubiquiti (under the UniFi brand), Meraki, etc. make these products such that they can all work together as an ecosystem, e.g. so you can log into a single dashboard and manage the network as well as every individual device's configuration from one place. This is the difference between a so-called "managed" switch (or wireless access point) versus an ordinary dumb one. UniFi also makes PoE security cameras that are managed through their ecosystem in the same manner.
This sort of ecosystem is useful for people doing I.T. in commercial settings. You can use a single interface to manage a network in a huge office building with hundreds of devices, or to manage lots of smaller networks spread across different sites. This "UniFi Express" product seems more suitable for the latter, e.g. in cafes or small retail settings where you might just use it on its own or add a small number of additional switches/APs. It's similar to your home router+AP combo, but it also contains the management software I described before which is capable of adopting more UniFi devices and provides remote administration.
Companies like Ubiquiti (under the UniFi brand), Meraki, etc. make these products such that they can all work together as an ecosystem, e.g. so you can log into a single dashboard and manage the network as well as every individual device's configuration from one place. This is the difference between a so-called "managed" switch (or wireless access point) versus an ordinary dumb one. UniFi also makes PoE security cameras that are managed through their ecosystem in the same manner.
This sort of ecosystem is useful for people doing I.T. in commercial settings. You can use a single interface to manage a network in a huge office building with hundreds of devices, or to manage lots of smaller networks spread across different sites. This "UniFi Express" product seems more suitable for the latter, e.g. in cafes or small retail settings where you might just use it on its own or add a small number of additional switches/APs. It's similar to your home router+AP combo, but it also contains the management software I described before which is capable of adopting more UniFi devices and provides remote administration.
Edit: If you're curious, TP-Link's equivalent to UniFi is called Omada: https://www.tp-link.com/us/omada-sdn/