Best Wi-Fi routers in 2022 | Laptop Mag
Best Wi-Fi routers in 2022
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Finding one of the best Wi-Fi routers is perchance the almost crucial tech determination you will brand. Information technology's the device that ensures that you have solid connectivity for every other device in your habitation, making information technology the literal foundation of your network. Whether you use your connection purely for entertainment or it's a crucial slice of your piece of work from abode or remote learning setup, it remains vital that it tin keep up with your needs.
After dozens of hours researching the best wi-fi routers available today we have gathered together a collection of the best of the best for a wide variety of different needs. Regardless of your budget, wireless needs or home size we have the best Wi-Fi router for you.
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What is the best wi-fi router?
The best wi-fi router for most people today is the TP-Link Archer AX21, it offers a fantastic blend of value to functioning that will easily encounter the needs of about users. The TP-Link Archer AX21 can cover virtually homes or apartments with enough bandwidth to support multiple users streaming HD or 4K content, surfing the web, or gaming online. It'due south also one of the almost affordable routers to feature Wi-Fi 6.
The TP-Link Archer AX21 is reasonably compact, allowing you to find an ideal central location for information technology without too much difficulty and the iv antennas tin can be rotated and positioned to let for optimal coverage throughout your home. The four additional LAN ports and the USB Type-A port should exist plenty for most users peripheral needs. The solid TP-Link Tether app makes setup and direction of the router easier than browser-based management, but that of course is available as well if yous adopt.
While the TP-Link Archer AX21 is the best wi-fi router for most users, for those that demand more performance, more coverage, or those that want to spend a little less at that place are other splendid options on the market place that will be the right fit for you. Have a expect at the full lineup of our favorite wi-fi routers below and we'll assist you lot identify the perfect fit for you.
Here are the best Wi-Fi routers you can buy today
While the run-of-the-mill appearance of the TP-Link Archer AX21 won't grab you the solid Wi-Fi 6 operation and incredibly affordable toll point should.
TP-Link has delivered a number of our favorite affordable routers in the by and the Archer AX21 follows in that tradition with specs that dramatically outperform its roughly $100 price. The easy-to-use iOS/Android app allows yous to easily set up and handle basic features without turning to the web interface including some unproblematic traffic prioritization. More complex tasks volition still require that you lot turn to the web interface, but many users won't detect that necessary.
Despite its budget cost bespeak you get some higher-end features like Alexa support, including Wi-Fi Simple Setup, which makes setting upward whatsoever Alexa-enabled devices in your home quick and like shooting fish in a barrel.
There are certainly benefits to the higher-finish options covered on this page for some users, but if you are looking to cover a medium-size home (upwardly to 2,500 square feet) and don't have either a bounty of peripherals to connect or incredibly demanding bandwidth needs, the TP-Link Archer AX21 is the best Wi-Fi router for yous.
If you are already bought into the Google Home or Nest ecosystems, and then the Nest WiFi is an like shooting fish in a barrel recommendation. For those who haven't dipped their toes into either nonetheless, this is an splendid entry point. The Nest WiFi is a mesh Wi-Fi router that tin can be purchased individually or with multiple extensions depending on the size of your space. The standard 2-pack is rated for up to three,800 square feet, so it should exist plenty for most homes.
While information technology doesn't offer the fastest top speeds, it will evangelize sufficient bandwidth for the web browsing and Hard disk or 4K video streaming needs of a multi-user household. The added bonus is that you get a built-in Nest Mini equivalent speaker in the router and any additional access points for both smart home interactions and music playback. This tin can manage the balance of your smart dwelling house devices and human activity every bit office of a whole habitation speaker system with other Nest or Google Home speakers.
The relatively pocket-sized size and pleasantly rounded fabric blueprint of the Nest Wifi are boosted points in its favor. Unlike many Wi-Fi routers, yous are going to want to get out this out in the open up due to the smart home/speaker functionality, which is also ideal for delivering a solid Wi-Fi signal around your habitation. For those with complex networking needs, the Nest WiFi may fall curt as it doesn't offer some more advanced options, merely if you want an easy-to-employ solution, the Nest WiFi is i of the all-time.
Affordable and Wi-Fi 6 were mutually exclusive concepts for a router until recently, only the TP-Link Archer AX50 (a.k.a. AX3000) is some other option that proves this is no longer the case coming in under $150.
While gamers or those with all-encompassing smart domicile needs may need more than the iv gigabit LAN ports and USB 3.0 Type-A port available on the TP-Link Archer AX50, it is more than enough for most users. You lot get the most up-to-appointment Wi-Fi 6 tech along with other enhancements like MU-MIMO and beamforming. At 12.99 ten 9.65 x 2.95-inches, it is on the larger side which depending on your setup may non be convenient.
Gamers looking for the highest throughput possible might want to take a look at our gaming-specific recommendation (see below) and those with larger homes (over two,500 foursquare feet) should consider a mesh pick, but the TP-Link AX50 manages to make Wi-Fi half dozen accessible without sacrificing anything that will impact the bulk of users.
While the Asus RT-AX86U Gaming Router would be dramatic overkill for most people, gamers are ane category of Wi-Fi users that will use every concluding bit of performance that they can wring out of the hardware to avoid a single dropped frame.
The dual-ring pattern can deliver up to five.7Gbps over its Wi-Fi half dozen and 160MHz channels. The antennas tin can exist rotated to optimize the betoken depending on the layout of your home and placement of the router (they are replaceable if you want to upgrade them later). The truthful 2Gbps wired and wireless speeds are among the all-time bachelor today.
While the router offers solid coverage for approximately a two,500 square foot dwelling on its ain, information technology's worth noting that additional Asus routers can be added on via the company's AiMesh organisation (it doesn't accept to be the exact aforementioned unit of measurement) to fill in a gap in coverage if necessary.
If you are looking to spend less than $50 on a new router then the TP-Link Archer A7 is the like shooting fish in a barrel respond. Like its larger sibling, the TP-Link Archer C2300, the Archer A7 isn't going to win whatsoever design awards for its simple blackness casing and three antenna array. Sill, the end result is a solid performer for an amazing price.
The app and web-based customization tools are piece of cake to employ and allow you gear up a variety of options to optimize your network for specific activities. For instance, you tin enable parental controls along with some bones security features.
The limitations with the TP-Link Archer A7 are the overall range, which is probably sufficient for a roughly ii,500-square foot domicile and multiple users hitting the network hard with taxing activities like 4K streaming or gaming. The all-time Wi-Fi routers don't have to exist the most expensive options.
If yous go for the spare-no-expense model of tech purchasing, then let me introduce y'all to the Netgear Orbi 6 AX6000, a Wi-Fi 6 router that offers the best speeds of any mesh network selection on the market. The downside is that it costs more than twice what a solid mesh option like the Nest WiFi will give you, and delivers advantages that will become unnoticed by virtually users.
Unless you have a gigabit connexion in your home or are pushing around a lot of data within your habitation network, then you only aren't going to appreciate the faster speeds that are provided by the Netgear Orbi six AX6000. But if you are looking to hereafter proof your dwelling setup, this router is going to be set to stream 4K or 8K video to multiple screens in your abode without breaking a sweat.
Coverage shouldn't be a problem with upward to 5,000 square feet from the two-pack and additional satellites will add another two,500 square feet of coverage each. While the white and silver design of the Netgear Orbi 6 AX6000 isn't offensive by any ways, y'all might not desire it to be a office of your room decor.
While it doesn't have an integrated speaker similar the Nest Wifi, you lot can control the system with voice commands from either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Extras aren't really a big office of the experience with the Netgear Orbi half-dozen AX6000. The same goes for the software, which doesn't have the aforementioned extensive customization options you'll find from a gaming router or even our summit recommendation, the TP-Link Archer C2300. It'due south pretty much only focused on delivering the fastest functioning beyond the widest coverage, and with that, it delivers.
The Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 can be a disruptive choice because information technology'southward a solid, mid-range router with a price closer to what you would await for a mesh network or a high-performance router. So what are you paying extra for? Security.
The Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 offers an abundance of security features broiled in, like 802.11i data encryption and a double firewall that will help anyone on your network stay free from hackers and malware. Beyond that, it also includes a three-yr subscription to Bitdefender Full Security, a comprehensive security suite that, by itself, would cost over $200.
Beyond this functionality, it offers reasonable performance for those with less than 2,000 square feet to encompass in their home and volition deliver enough bandwidth for virtually families. The router also has a nice drove of ports, including 4 1Gbps LAN ports and two USB Type-A ports, significant y'all should have no problem getting whatever smart home or other connected devices upward and running. It'south also worth noting that the antennas are removable and could exist replaced with high-gain or amplified antennas if you demand a bit of a signal boost.
Mesh Wi-Fi routers and smart abode tech have both been popular product categories over the last several years and Samsung has brought them together in the affordable SmartThings Wifi. Available every bit either a unmarried unit of measurement or in a three-pack to accept reward of the mesh features, SmartThings Wifi is already less expensive than most of its competitors and also serves every bit a SmartThings hub, a device to manage your smart home devices that would cost over $100 on its own.
While each individual SmartThings Wifi doesn't take a tremendous range, the combined three-pack should be sufficient to cover at to the lowest degree a 3,500 foursquare foot abode with enough bandwidth to keep all of your family unit'south devices streaming video while giving the required signal to smart home devices. I of the best Wi-Fi routers paired with 1 of the best smart habitation services is a nice combination.
The name isn't terribly memorable, simply the Asus RT-AX88U is an impressive Wi-Fi 6 router and likely to exist i of the best Wi-Fi routers available for some time. Available for between $300 to $350 you won't feel like you are being punished too much for hereafter-proofing your wireless network even if you don't have too many Wi-Fi six devices just withal.
The router comes with a wide assortment of ports to connect including eight 1Gbps LAN ports, and ii USB 3.i Type-A to connect upward any peripherals. Built-in software includes Trend Micro AiProtection that provides both general security and parental control options.
With support for Wi-Fi 6 along with a host of other modern features like MU-MIMO, OFDMA and beamforming it is about equally futurity-proof as they come and ready to handle a houseful of users without a trouble. And if you desire to prioritize the traffic from some devices, say a PS5 or Xbox Series Ten that'due south easy to set up up in settings.
Serious gamers may desire to consider our more gaming-specific selection (see Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 above), but even those with larger homes could even so consider the Asus RT-AX88U as it supports the Asus AiMesh allowing y'all to add additional compatible Asus routers as needed.
How to choose the best wi-fi router for you
While it tin be daunting to look at fifty-fifty this list of the all-time wi-fi routers and identifying which is the right one for you, information technology really comes down to a few critical pieces of information about your needs. If you've made information technology through the list and still find yourself unsure then consider the factors below, which we have also addressed in our descriptions for each individual wi-fi router above, then you lot should exist able to return to the list and narrow it down to the best wi-fi router for you.
Foursquare footage: If you live in a dwelling or flat that is less than 2,000 foursquare anxiety this shouldn't exist much of a business, every wi-fi router on our listing volition cover that space without upshot. Larger homes will demand to consider a more powerful router and those with peculiarly large or unusual layouts will probably exist best served by a mesh option to cover every corner of your space.
Max Data Transfer Speeds: Your needs hither will depend both on what you lot are doing with your network and the number of users on it simultaneously. The more information intensive tasks yous are running and the more users you have the higher you desire this number to be. For a single user even the 1.3Gbps in our lowest stop options will be sufficient in nearly situations, a family unit will probably desire to look to the 2.2Gbps and upwards options, while 6Gbps and beyond are the territory for those with particularly high-end needs or those looking for a future-proof solution.
Extras: A flake of a catch-all here, only if at that place is some specific need or focus that yous have that can help you identify the best wi-fi router for you chop-chop. Are you particularly security conscious? Nosotros gave you an option for that. Practise you want an selection that as well integrates your smart domicile engineering science? We accept a couple of dissimilar options there. Are y'all a hardcore gamer or looking to be able to stream 8K content? Once more there are options above tailored to both of these activities.
Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Virtually of that time was every bit a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart dwelling house devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more. Sean is the resident mobile skillful at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you lot'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Magazine has too proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.
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