We’ve tested a few other routers that we like and have a few more in the queue. These aren’t as great as the ones above, but are worth considering.
Vodafone Pro II from £39 per month: People in the UK looking for a new internet service provider (ISP) should check out Vodafone’s Pro II. While ISPs have traditionally provided their customers with inferior routers, that appears to be changing. The Vodafone Pro II is a tri-band router that supports Wi-Fi 6E and in my testing delivered blazing fast speeds that were comparable to many of my picks above. The range is limited, especially in the 6GHz band, but this service has a range extender that appears to be part of the same network. You can also get a 4G backup that connects to Vodafone’s mobile network to keep you online if your normal internet connection goes down. It’s only available with a two-year Vodafone service contract starting at £39 per month.
Firewalla Gold SE for $449: This quirky wearable device is perfect for people who care about security and privacy. It offers comprehensive tools to monitor all traffic in and out of your home, robust and detailed parental controls, ad blocking, and enhanced security with a built-in firewall and VPN option. It serves as a router, but you may want to pair another router in access point mode for WiFi in your home. It’s expensive and can be intimidating for inexperienced people, but it offers deep insights into your network and an impressive variety of security features without requiring an additional subscription. The Gold SE has two 2.5 Gbps ports and two Gigabit ports and is suitable for users with up to 2 Gigabit connections. If your internet is only one gigabit, try the cheaper but slightly less powerful Firewalla Purple ($359) (8/10, WIRED recommends).
TP-Link Archer BE800 for $600: With a fresh design that’s more reminiscent of a desktop PC than a router, the tri-band beast BE800 (8/10, WIRED Review) performed well in my tests on the 2.4GHz, 5GHz – and 6 GHz band came out ahead or just ahead of it. GHz bands, which proves to be impressively fast for file transfers and downloads. It also has plenty of fast ports, a cool but kind of pointless customizable dot-matrix LED screen, and the Tether app offers a guest network, an IoT network, a VPN server or client, EasyMesh, QoS for device prioritization, and remote management . This was our pick for Wi-Fi 7, but the Asus RT-BE96U beat it in my tests and doesn’t require a subscription. HomeShield Pro from TP-Link for $6/month or $55/year offers full-featured parental controls and network security.
Reyee RG-E6 for $150: This budget gaming router from Reyee almost edged out our budget gaming pick above (TP-Link Archer GX90) after some impressive test results. It’s just a dual-band router, but with support for 160MHz channels, speeds were very good on the 5GHz band. It has a 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN and three Gigabit LANs, but no USB ports. Reyee’s app features prioritization for devices, ports and gaming traffic, separate guest and IoT networks, and basic parental controls. What it lacks is any security and the app is poorly translated. But if that doesn’t bother you, this is probably the best gaming router you can get for the money.
TP-Link Archer AXE75 for $200: Although this tri-band router makes Wi-Fi 6E affordable, its performance was mixed. The 6 GHz band offers high speeds at short range, but decreases sharply with increasing distance. I found the 5GHz band to be a bit inconsistent, recording brisk performance in most of my tests, but relatively slow results on a few occasions. You’ll also need a HomeShield Pro subscription if you want comprehensive parental controls and network security, and all four Ethernet ports are limited to 1Gbps.
Synology WRX560 for $220Note: If you already have the Synology RT6600ax listed above, the WRX560 is a decent additional device for building a mesh network. I had some setup issues that required a factory reset, but once up and running the WRX560 provides a strong and stable signal on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. However, a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router is a hard sell at this price. So if you only need one, it’s worth spending the extra $80 for the RT6600ax.
TP-Link Archer AX5400 Pro for $200: This dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router is almost identical to the Archer AX73 except for the 2.5Gbps WAN port. It delivers relatively high speeds in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and has a channel width of 160MHz in the 5GHz band. The range is good and easily covers my house and garden, but performance was inconsistent. Additionally, moving files locally was relatively slow. There’s support for TP-Link OneMesh, VPN and QoS, but you only get basic parental controls and network security unless you subscribe to HomeShield Pro.
MSi RadiX AXE6600 for $164: This Wi-Fi 6E tri-band gaming router has the familiar red and black Sith spider look, but you can customize the lighting. In most of my tests, it proved to be very fast, reaching near the top of the chart at close range on the 6GHz band and offering average performance on the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands. But the mobile app had limited options, a confusing layout, and was buggy (it crashed for me more than once). The web interface was better and offered more options including open VPN, basic parental controls, guest network and QoS optimization for games. Unfortunately, performance was inconsistent and I suffered random drops twice in one week of testing.
Linksys Hydra Pro 6E for $280: As one of the first Wi-Fi 6E tri-band routers (2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz) to hit the market, the price has dropped significantly since release. It proved easy to set up and has a very straightforward app, although it was often slow to load. It has one 5Gbps WAN port and four Gigabit LAN ports. Performance proved to be reliable and it’s possible to achieve blazing fast speeds at close range if you have a device that supports Wi-Fi 6E. Medium and long range coverage and speeds were average. There are free basic parental controls that let you block websites and schedule downtime, but only on a per-device basis (no profiling or parental filters). You can split bands if you want and give priority to three devices. There is also a guest network option and easy Wi-Fi sharing. Another plus point is that this router works with any other Linksys Intelligent Mesh router (including the Velop Mesh series).
Linksys Hydra 6 for $110: In terms of specs, this compact router is similar to our top pick (TP-Link Archer AX55). It is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router with a Gigabit WAN and four Gigabit LAN ports. Setup was easy and it uses the same Linksys app as the Pro 6E above, so you get free parental controls, guest network, prioritization and band splitting. It proved fast at close range and not bad at medium range, but if your home is larger than 1,600 square feet, there may be problems. However, as an Intelligent Mesh router, it can be combined with other Linksys routers or the Velop Mesh system. Linksys suggests a limit of 25 connected devices. Although it managed more than 40m without issue in my tests, busy households will probably want something stronger.
Reyee RG-E5 for $100: Based on performance alone, this dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router impressed me. It offered excellent coverage, very fast speeds in the 5GHz band, and solid stability. It can also be meshed with other Reyee routers and the app has free parental controls. On the other hand, it lacks security (no WPA3, no 2FA, no anti-malware protection), you have to create a Ruijie cloud account (Ruijie is the Chinese parent company), and the poorly translated app is a bit confusing.