If you're considering straight nftables, do straight nftables. The syntax isn't bad for editing/reading directly. The userspace tool has quirks but you'll get the hang of it. I run my config through a templating engine (the same ruleset goes to cloud VMs etc).

My main router is virtualized on a Ryzen 5600G that also does other tasks. I have two other wifi APs that are just low power x86 boxes that also run Kodi.

Getting back to the original topic, I've still got Mikrotik for switches. The hardware is decent, the software is janky. I've got three different flavors of config - SwOS, RouterOS, and old RouterOS that requires a different type of config because the older switch chips were never updated to the newer config commands.

Mikrotik continues to hold their software too tightly instead of making the transition to a hardware company. They've built so much routing functionality, that's just pointless on devices that are switches. Yet there is some switch functionality that isn't available on SwOS. And SwOS is web-only with a binary config backup, rather than something conducive to centralized administration.

I'd love to find some low power white box 1Gb+10Gb switches that could run straight open Linux, or even using my existing Mikrotik switches that way if someone were to forcibly open their the environment.