Abstract The uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system is the fundamental guarantee for the safe and reliable operation of the data room in the medical, military, communications, and air traffic control industries. Therefore, it is necessary to select and evaluate the performance. The article analyzes the key factors that need to be considered when selecting a UPS, and proposes the steps required for the selection. By modeling the system, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the input and output voltage, the transient response time and the grid switching time are analyzed to illustrate the importance of the system performance evaluation parameters. The 2kVA online UPS system is modeled and simulated in Matlab/Simulink environment. The simulation results show that the performance evaluation parameters play an important role in the operation of the UPS system.