Which router is better

Our stacked median latency chart below shows the typical latency for every computer on our test network at once, offering some idea of how the whole network will usually perform when you have multiple devices making requests at the same time. Again, the Asus RT-AX88U was able to speedily serve each client simultaneously, with a minimal wait between each request.

Consistently having to wait a few seconds for something to happen is the definition of slow internet. This expanded wireless standard, promoted during the CES and trade shows, will take advantage of deregulated 6 GHz radio frequencies. Laptops or phones that are 6 GHz compatible will be rare in the early days of , but we think the new bands will be useful for wireless backhaul between a router and satellites such as in a mesh-networking kit.

Wired connections are improving as well. Routers supporting 2. Without even getting into the explosion of smart-home devices everything from smart light bulbs to doorbells to washing machines now relies on a decent Wi-Fi connection , most homes these days have two or more personal Wi-Fi devices phone, laptop, tablet per person, as well as smart TVs or a media streaming box such as a Roku or an Apple TV. A busy evening in a typical home could have one person downloading game updates in a bedroom, a second listening to music from a smart speaker, a third watching TV in the living room, and a fourth browsing the web while sitting on the couch—and all of that traffic demands a router that can provide fast performance for lots of devices at once.

The resulting network congestion that such homes experience has made us a lot pickier about what routers we accept as the best for the most people, as well as a lot more interested in features such as Wi-Fi 6 support and mesh compatibility.

Although all modern routers are at least dual-band —offering one slower but longer-range 2. Band steering —specifically load-balancing band steering—lets you use a single network name for all your Wi-Fi bands and allows the router to decide which devices go on 2. Tri-band routers have an extra 5 GHz band in addition to the 2. This third band allows more devices to connect and be busy at once without slowing the network down so much. All The bad news is that AC and AX speed ratings are really, really bogus.

In the real world, for example, AC, AC, and AC all mean pretty much the same thing: a dual-band router with one 2. A rating of AC indicates a dual-band router with four spatial streams each, and a rating of AC means a tri-band router with three spatial streams each, and so on. What about using those extra streams to connect to another device at the same time? With MU-MIMO , the router could talk to the phone using two streams and to the laptop using the other two, simultaneously.

In October , the Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry organization responsible for certifying that Wi-Fi devices work together, announced that it was rebranding Wi-Fi Flagship phones and high-end business laptops are beginning to show up with Wi-Fi 6 support, but budget phones, tablets, and smart devices are stuck with Wi-Fi 5 and will probably stay that way for another year or two.

Although it was competitive in this go-around, it ended up in the middle of the pack overall. The Synology RTac was our runner-up in the previous guide, and it also proved itself competitive this time. However, our new picks outpaced the Synology on price and in our performance tests overall. We still recommend the RTac for folks who love to fiddle with their network settings or those who suspect that they will need to expand their network with a mesh node in the future.

Both had tri-core CPUs, but both seemed not to utilize them well, as both finished behind the single-core Archer A7 in our tests. The DIR-X in particular lost points for having a stripped-down administration interface that looked as if it came from a era router, not from a model.

Both the Linksys and Netgear routers have short, one-year warranties. Priced just above the Netgear RAX40, it was a strong performer in our tests, and it offered multiple QoS settings to tweak its network for gaming. Those antennas helped the router place first in our long-range throughput test, but the rest of its performance numbers were closer to middling. The AX is notable among our test group for having the sole 2.

We tested the Linksys E , E , and E The E and E notably were at the bottom of our performance charts. Neither router supports smart connect aka band steering , and each has a short 1-year warranty. The DIR-X experienced errors during testing, which caused clients to drop off the network, while the DIR-X was in the mid-to-bottom tier on our performance tests. Like Linksys routers, the D-Link routers have a shorter 1-year warranty. Likewise, the Netgear RAX50 had middling results, but was more expensive than other routers we tested.

The TP-Link Archer AX21 finished at or near the bottom of our charts, and was notably one of the slowest in our long distance testing 5. These routers promised more performance from added radios, antennas, extra ports, or a combination of those. We suggest skipping the Synology MRac as a standalone router, but it performed well when we combined it with the RTac in our testing for our mesh-networking guide. We passed all of them over for one reason or another.

The test procedure was actually downloading a 1 MB file over and over as fast as it could. This test measured throughput and speed, and—more important—put a constant load on the router that the other devices on the network had to work around. For example, recent vulnerabilities include the FragAttacks exploit.

Router manufacturers including Asus and TP-Link have posted or are in the process of posting updated firmware on their support pages to take care of these issues.

Joseph Stromberg, 10 simple tips for making your home wifi network faster , Vox, July 28, Jim Salter, Glenn Fleishman, Wi-Fi gets quicker with Steven J.

Joel Santo Domingo is a senior staff writer covering networking and storage at Wirecutter. Add in blazing fast speeds and ultra-stable performance, and it's a winner in every department.

The Asus RT-AC86U manages to marry high speeds with affordability — you don't get the very latest or greatest specs here, but you definitely get enough to make this one of the best wireless routers of , and without breaking the bank.

Asus has been building excellent routers for years now, and this one certainly doesn't let the side down at all. You get some very capable router management software here, covering everything from device prioritisation to advanced security protection, and the router is specially designed to connect up as many devices as you've got.

It's got a low price now, but there's still plenty that impresses here in terms of speed, Wi-Fi range, and traffic management. Not everyone needs or wants all of the advanced features you can find on some of the more expensive routers listed here, and for a more modest choice we recommend the Linksys MR you still get features and performance way above what you would expect from a standard home router, but you don't have to pay a small fortune along the way.

Despite the appealing price, you still get high-speed You can also add several nodes to use the Linksys MR as part of a mesh network too, if needed. The TP-Link Archer AX90 AX is a cheaper alternative to the TP-Link Archer AX - it'll cover a home up to about four bedrooms using its eight antennas, and offers plenty in the way of speed to boost the capacity and efficiency of your home network. A tri-band router with Wi-Fi 6 technology, it'll intelligently assign your devices to the best channel, meaning you'll be able to make the most of your home network and your tech.

Through the intuitive Tether app, you can prioritise certain devices, like your gaming consoles for instance. You'll also get some voice control through Alexa - you can manage your guest network and run speed tests without needing to open the app or your web browser. Now admittedly the Asus GT-AX ROG Rapture isn't going to appeal to everyone in the looks department, but when the performance of a router is this good, do the aesthetics really matter all that much? With support for triple-band connectivity, the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, and a bunch of cool software features, this wireless router is hard to beat.

This router will certainly cost you, but with eight antennas on board, the GT-AX should be able to spread Wi-Fi into the furthest reaches of your home it can also be used as part of a mesh setup. As for those cool software tricks that come built in, they let you do everything from prioritising particular devices to customising port forwarding settings. Anyone shopping for the best wireless router should give the top-of-the-line EXO AC from D-Link careful consideration: tri-band connectivity, six high-strength Wi-Fi antennas, and an abundance of USB and Ethernet ports means this device will do everything you need from your router and then some.

You can combine the router with the various mesh networking options that D-Link manufactures, or use it on its own. There's smart assistant support here too, so you can, for example, turn the internet off with an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant voice command when it's time for the kids to go to bed. In terms of both parental controls and Quality of Service management the D-Link DIR excels, making it an even more appealing proposition for your next router.

If you can't quite stretch to the XR model we've mentioned above, then the Netgear Nighthawk XR is a very decent gaming router from the same series — not quite as much power or range, but with many of the same features that make the XR special. It's definitely worth a look as one of the best wireless routers on the market at the moment. You get the same custom software for managing bandwidth and prioritising traffic as you do on the other Nighthawk models, while the router scores well in all the other areas that matter too: speed, latency, stability and more.

It's a little older now, but that also means you can pick this up for a very good price, and upgrade your router on a tighter budget. Don't be deceived by the looks of the Archer VR from TP-Link also known as the TP-Link AC : this may appear to be a very plain and unassuming router, but it packs in stacks of performance and functionality. This router comes with future-proof Wi-Fi 6 Thanks to OFDMA technology, this dual-band router is excellent for keeping a strong signal at longer ranges with Wi-Fi 6 services compared to the previous Realistically, any solid router, including this one, is a good option for streaming from services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube.

For coverage over a wider area, consider a mesh Wi-Fi system. Our favorite Wi-Fi 6 router offers Mbps speeds and is packed with features.

It's a good middle ground between a budget router and a more expensive model packed with bleeding-edge technologies. Not everyone needs an expensive router. It also features only four gigabit LAN ports for wired Ethernet devices instead of eight.

You get dual-band technology and free built-in parental controls, too. A rock-solid Wi-Fi 6 router at a very reasonable price, but it's slower and omits some features. Gaming routers are a category of their own, promising impressive hardware packed with all the latest features. This Asus route has some seriously high-speed Wi-Fi. This router also features an innovative feature called VPN Fusion, which lets you manually assign specific devices to go through different connections at the router level.

A monster of a router for gamers and anyone else who wants the fastest speed and more bleeding-edge features. A mesh Wi-Fi system combines a router with one or more extenders. You place these units throughout an area—for example, in different rooms throughout your home—and get a stronger signal throughout a much larger area than a single router unit could cover.

Compared to a traditional wireless range extender, a mesh network system is much more seamless. Range extenders generally create their own separate network with its own name, forcing your device to connect to the main router or the extended network.

A mesh networking system has a single Wi-Fi network name, and all the devices are aware of each other and can work together intelligently and seamlessly. It comes with two units and promises coverage for a total area of up to square feet. This is the best Wi-Fi 6 mesh router, thanks to features like QoS quality of service support for prioritizing traffic and optional anti-malware and parental control features. Want more coverage? You can buy additional satellites separately and add them to your AiMesh network.

The best router for a large house is a mesh system with however many satellites you need. It will give you robust and consistent coverage throughout your home or business.

If you want to extend your Wi-Fi network out into the yard, consider placing one of the satellites at the edge of your home. Where other routers offer a complicated web interface, Google offers simple configuration through the Google Home app.

You can also control your wireless network by talking to Google Assistant—for example, you can tell it to reboot your router or turn off the Wi-Fi to specific devices. Nest Wifi points even have built-in smart speakers with Google Assistant.

Or, pick a three-pack to cover up to square feet. You have many more options when you pick a router and modem separately. But some people want that combo unit. You cannot configure the router as a VPN client to route all your internet traffic through the VPN, as you can with our top overall router and top gaming router picks from Asus.

For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.

Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. More Button Icon Circle with three vertical dots. It indicates a way to see more nav menu items inside the site menu by triggering the side menu to open and close. Home Theater. Smart Home. Home Decor. Holiday Decor. Smart Home Devices. Travel Rewards. Gifts for Men. Gifts for Women. Gifts for Baby. Gifts for Kids.

Gifts for Teens. Gifts for Everyone. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Matthew S. Table of Contents. Here are the best Wi-Fi routers of The best router overall The best budget router The best budget mesh router The best mesh router The best gaming router Our methodology What else we considered What we look forward to testing FAQs Glossary The best deals on WiFi routers from this guide Check out our other home tech guides.

Loading Something is loading. Email address. Popular Reviews. Insider Reviews' All-Time Best list. Black Friday deals available now. Is the Dyson Airwrap worth the cost? Best kids winter coats. Air fryers are a sham. The best router overall.

The best budget router. The best budget mesh router. The best mesh router. The best gaming router. Our methodology. What else we considered. What we look forward to testing. The best deals on WiFi routers from this guide. Check out our other home tech guides. Smith is a freelance consumer technology journalist and general-purpose hardware geek with more than 13 years of industry experience.