How we recommend routers

Where the specs come from

Each of the 143 products in the catalog was checked against the manufacturer's own product page, tech-spec sheet, datasheet, user manual or press release. Retailer listings and review sites are not used as the source of a spec. Every product page lists its sources and the date the specs were checked (the current catalog was checked on October 20, 2026).

• Unknown stays unknown. When a manufacturer doesn't document something (for example, whether a router supports Smart Queue Management), we show "Not published" rather than guess. That doesn't mean the feature is missing.
• Claims are labeled as claims. Coverage area and device counts are the manufacturer's numbers. Real coverage depends on your walls and layout.
• Prices are manufacturer prices. The price shown is the one on the manufacturer's own site on the date we checked it (which can include a sale), or the launch price where the manufacturer doesn't sell directly. Each one links to where it came from. Retailer prices change daily, so we don't show them unless they were checked within the last day.
• Confidence. Each product is marked high or medium confidence. Medium means a source was ambiguous or a page was unavailable and some fields rely on a secondary manufacturer document.

The previous catalog contained made-up models, placeholder prices and stock photos. It was replaced in October 2026; every old entry was kept, merged or removed with a recorded reason.

How the router finder ranks products

The finder (engine version 2026.10.4) works in three separate steps, and shows you the output of each.

1. Compatibility (objective)

A product is left out if a verified spec rules it out:

• It has no built-in Wi-Fi (gateways), or it's a travel router, or it's discontinued.
• Its fastest internet port is more than 10% slower than your internet plan (for plans above 1 Gbps). The 10% allowance is there because plans are sold as "up to" speeds and a 2.5 Gbps port carries a 2.5 Gbps plan.
• You set a budget and the cost of covering your whole home is higher. For a mesh kit that means enough packs for the coverage estimate; for a mesh-capable router, one router per access point. Products whose price, or full-coverage cost, isn't published are left out when you set a budget, because we can't confirm they fit.
• You marked a must-have (VLANs, cloud-free management, a VPN server) and the manufacturer documents that it doesn't have it.

If the manufacturer simply doesn't say, the product stays in and the result shows a "keep in mind" note instead.

2. Coverage estimate (a rule of thumb)

From your home's size, floors and wall material we estimate how many access points (a router plus any mesh units) you'll probably need:

Homes with two or more floors over 1,200 sq ft get at least one access point per floor. These are deliberately cautious round numbers, not measurements: placement, layout, interference and your devices matter more. A professional site survey is the only way to know for sure.

3. Suitability (editorial points)

Compatible products get points for things that match your answers, and each point is shown to you as a reason:

• Newer Wi-Fi generation, and the 6 GHz band on Wi-Fi 7.
• Fitting the coverage estimate: one router for a home that needs one access point; a mesh kit with enough units, or a mesh-capable router, for larger homes.
• An internet port that handles a multi-gig plan.
• For gaming and video calls: Smart Queue Management (most), then general QoS. Multi-Link Operation counts only a little, because its benefit depends on your devices.
• For big uploads or wired PCs: multiple multi-gig ports.
• For smart-home and advanced users: documented VLANs, WireGuard, and management without a cloud account.
• For busy homes (40+ devices): tri-band radios.

4. Order and picks

Before points are compared, products are grouped in this order:

1. Products that can cover your home come first. If the estimate is two or more access points, a single router without mesh support is ranked below every mesh kit and mesh-capable router, whatever its points.
2. Within that, products that document every must-have you picked come before products where the manufacturer doesn't say.

Points then order products within each group. When two products have the same points, the one with a known full-coverage cost comes first, then the newer Wi-Fi generation, then the lower cost, then the name in alphabetical order. A tie on points means the products are about equally suited; the order between them isn't a judgement.

We show up to three picks: best overall (first in that order), best value (the lowest full-coverage cost among options in the same group that score within 20% of the best overall pick and cost less than it) and a premium pick (an option in the same group that costs more, scores within one point of the best overall pick and has at least one concrete, documented hardware advantage over it, such as a newer Wi-Fi generation, a faster internet port, more multi-gig ports or more units; the advantage is stated on the card). If no option meets those conditions, that pick isn't shown.

If nothing passes the compatibility step, we tell you which requirement is blocking everything and show the closest alternatives instead of an empty page. We try setting aside one requirement at a time (budget, then internet speed, then must-haves) and then combinations of them, and we say which ones were set aside.

When we suggest a consultation

The finder suggests talking to a person when any of these is true: the home is over 5,000 sq ft; the main walls are block or brick and there are two or more floors; the estimate is four or more access points and not every one can be wired to the router with Ethernet; or there are 80 or more devices. These are cases where a rule of thumb is least reliable.

How the network planner works

The network planner (version 2026.10.6) recommends a whole setup rather than one product. It uses the same catalog, the same coverage rule of thumb and the same compatibility checks as the router finder, plus a catalog of 86 access points, PoE switches and MoCA adapters.

1. Setups it considers

• One router, when the estimate is one access point (or you didn't give a home size).
• A mesh kit, with enough packs for the estimate.
• A router plus matching mesh units, for routers whose maker documents mesh support (priced as several of the same router; smaller units can cost less).
• A gateway, a PoE switch and wired access points, in one management system (UniFi, Omada) or with standalone access points. Only when Ethernet can reach the access points.
• Keep your router and tune it, offered first and at no cost when you have a recent router of your own and the home isn't too large for it. If you tell us the model, it goes through the same checks as new equipment (internet port, published throughput, must-haves).
• Build on what you own: when you name a model that supports mesh, more units of the same system (priced only for what you add); when you own a UniFi console or Omada gateway, wired access points and a PoE switch with your gateway kept. These are shown together, whatever their rank.
• MoCA backhaul: when you have coax but no Ethernet, mesh setups with a MoCA adapter at each unit. MoCA adapter makers don't publish prices, so these totals are marked incomplete and can't pass a budget.

PoE is sized the way switches allocate it: by each device's IEEE class at the switch (802.3af Class 3: 15.4 W per port; 802.3at, PoE+: 30 W; 802.3bt Type 3: 60 W), all devices on a switch sharing its one budget. An access point whose published maximum draw is more than its stated class can deliver to the device (12.95 W for 802.3af, 25.5 W for 802.3at) is treated as the next class up and needs a port of that class. Cameras are assumed to be 802.3af Class 3 and share the access points' switch, or get their own PoE switch. When a switch's advertised PoE budget needs a separately sold power supply, the supply is added to the parts list at its manufacturer price.

Outdoor units are left out of whole-home plans, and travel routers and discontinued products are never used.

2. Requirements (never traded off)

A setup is ruled out, with the reason shown, if it covers fewer access points than the estimate, if its internet port is more than 10% slower than a plan above 1 Gbps, if its maker's published routing throughput (or, when you need IDS/IPS, its published throughput with IDS/IPS on) is more than 10% below your plan, if the total of all its parts is over your budget (or a part has no published price when you set one), if the manufacturer documents that a must-have is missing, if it needs Ethernet to access points you said can't be wired, or if no switch in the catalog has enough PoE ports and power for its access points.

3. Scores

Setups that pass get six scores from 0 to 1, each with stated reasons:

• Coverage: access points against the estimate; wired links score higher than shared wireless links.
• Speed and latency: Wi-Fi generation, internet port headroom, documented Smart Queue Management or QoS when gaming or calls matter, multi-gig ports, capacity for busy homes.
• Ease of setup: the type of setup times how hard the platform is to manage. Consumer app-based systems count as beginner-friendly; UniFi, Omada, GL.iNet, Firewalla and similar as intermediate; MikroTik RouterOS and pfSense as advanced.
• Control and security: documented VLANs, VPN server, management without a cloud account, current product.
• Cost: the cheapest complete setup that passed, divided by this setup's total.
• Data confidence: lower when parts have medium-confidence specs, unpublished prices, or when we had no home size.

The overall score is a weighted average. Default weights: coverage 3, speed 2, ease 2, control 1, cost 2, confidence 1. "Set it and forget it" raises ease to 4; "full control" lowers it and raises control; gaming or big uploads raise speed. In Advanced mode you can set the weights yourself. Weights only reorder setups that passed step 2.

Three rules come before the score: setups whose must-haves are all documented rank above those where the manufacturer doesn't say (for IDS/IPS, that means a published throughput figure); setups with a part whose key specs we couldn't re-confirm (low data confidence) rank after confirmed ones; and gear rated "advanced" ranks after everything else unless you asked for full control or advanced settings.

4. Categories

Labels such as "Best value" or "Best ports for multi-gig internet" are chosen from the ranked setups by fixed rules: best value is the cheapest complete setup scoring within 10% of the best overall; best budget option is the cheapest complete setup; mesh, prosumer, gaming (documented SQM), multi-gig ports (an internet port at least as fast as your plan and a LAN port within 10% of it; a published routing figure at the plan speed ranks first, and the label names ports because most makers don't publish routing throughput), smart home (documented VLANs) and long-term (Wi-Fi 7, current, not cloud-only) each take the highest-ranked setup that meets the rule. Labels go only to setups whose must-haves are documented and whose parts aren't low-confidence, whenever such a setup exists. A label is only shown when a setup qualifies.

5. Slowest link

For each setup we list the slowest link between your internet plan and a device: the internet port, the fastest LAN port (a wired device plugs into a LAN port; WAN ports carry the internet connection, so they don't count), the access point's Ethernet port for wired access points, and the link rate a typical two-stream phone or laptop can reach on that Wi-Fi generation and channel width (from the IEEE 802.11ax and 802.11be rate tables: for example 1,201 Mbps for Wi-Fi 6 at 80 MHz, 2,882 Mbps for Wi-Fi 7 at 160 MHz). Device links are rated at no wider than 160 MHz, even on routers that support 320 MHz, because typical phones and laptops don't go wider (Apple, for example, lists its Wi-Fi 7 devices at 160 MHz and up to 2.4 Gbps). Link rate is not throughput; real transfers are lower.

Routing and security processing are part of the path too. Where the maker publishes routing throughput, or throughput with IDS/IPS on (when you ask for IDS/IPS), it's a stage in the calculation, labeled as the maker's figure under the maker's test conditions. Where it isn't published, the plan says so instead of assuming a number: "the maker doesn't publish routing throughput, so this assumes the router can route at its port speed". Wireless links between mesh units aren't estimated either, and the plan says that too. When a device's Wi-Fi link rate is less than twice the path's limit, the result warns that Wi-Fi devices will see less than that limit, because real Wi-Fi throughput is well below the link rate.

Limits

Coverage is a cautious estimate, not a survey. Plans don't know your floor plan, where the internet comes in, or your neighbors' Wi-Fi. Prices are manufacturer prices and exclude cable, mounts and installation. When a plan says "you'll also need", the item isn't in our catalog or isn't priced.

Affiliate links and independence

We don't use affiliate links at the moment; if we add them, this still applies. The ranking code never reads affiliate or store data, so a commission can't move a product up or down. See our disclosure.

What we don't do

• We don't run lab tests or publish our own speed measurements.
• We don't use reviews or star ratings from other sites in the ranking.
• We don't use AI or machine learning to rank products. The rules on this page are the whole method.

Updates and corrections

The catalog is versioned (current version 2026.10.20.5) and published in full at /data. If you find a spec that doesn't match the manufacturer's page, tell us; we recheck it against the source and update the date.