Joe TriesSmart Wi-Fi routers
For a smart home, the router specs that matter are not the headline speed. They are how many devices it holds without falling over, whether it handles 2.4GHz clients gracefully, and whether it happens to include a Thread radio.
- In the catalog
- 12
- Work without a hub
- All of them
- Most common radios
- Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 7, Wired Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6
- Price range
- $130 to $600
What decides compatibility
- Device count is the real limit in a smart home. Dozens of low-traffic clients stress a cheap router more than one heavy user.
- Smart devices are mostly 2.4GHz. A router that cannot be persuaded to expose a 2.4GHz network makes some device onboarding painful.
- A guest or IoT network keeps chatty devices off the network with your laptops on it.
- Some routers include Thread and act as a border router for Matter devices.
Smart Wi-Fi routers we list
Filter and compare these in the catalog
ASUS RT-BE96U
ASUS · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$600
Netgear Nighthawk RS100 WiFi 7 Router
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$130
Netgear Nighthawk RS200 WiFi 7 Router
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$200
Netgear Nighthawk RS300 WiFi 7 Router
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$300
Netgear Nighthawk RS500 WiFi 7 Router
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$400
Netgear Nighthawk RS600 WiFi 7 Router
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$450
Netgear Nighthawk RS700S WiFi 7 Router
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$550
TP-Link Archer BE805
TP-Link · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$600
UniFi Cloud Gateway Max
Ubiquiti · Wi-Fi router · Wired Ethernet
No hub·
$199
UniFi U6 Pro AP
Ubiquiti · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$159
UniFi U7 Pro AP
Ubiquiti · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
No hub·
$189
Netgear Nighthawk RAX45 (AX4300 Wi-Fi 6)
Netgear · Wi-Fi router · Wi-Fi
Discontinued
No hub·
$200