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Though Wi-Fi 7 routers are on their method, for the time being, Wi-Fi 6 is still the most recent generation of Wi-Fi that’s supported by the majority of the present generation of devices and gadgets. And to assist you equip your house with the fastest and most steady web connection possible, we have actually assembled the very best Wi-Fi 6 router choices on the marketplace today listed below.
Nearly every brand-new phone and computer system release supports Wi-Fi 6, and we’re beginning to see assistance turn up amongst peripheral gadgets, too. Did you get an Apple Television 4K or Amazon Fire Television 4K Max media banner for your television? Both of those assistance Wi-Fi 6. Have you handled to score a brand-new PlayStation 5 console yet? That’s a Wi-Fi 6 device too.
Wi-Fi 6 gadgets like those are backwards suitable with older routers, however if you wish to open their complete capacity for faster, much better Wi-Fi efficiency, then you’ll require a Wi-Fi 6 router running your house network. That was a costly proposal back when Wi-Fi 6 very first shown up, however not any longer. Now, looking around, you’ll discover a great variety of Wi-Fi 6 choices offered for less than $100, along with mesh systems, video gaming routers, variety extenders and more. Some get the job done much better than others– however that’s where we can be found in, with extensive, hands-on tests to assist determine the very best upgrade choices for the cash.
Looking for a much faster internet speed?
Anticipate routine updates to this post as we continue to put Wi-Fi 6 to the test in 2023. Whenever we discover a brand-new router that benefits factor to consider, we’ll include it to the list.
Finest Wi-Fi 6 routers of 2023
When a router supports Wi-Fi 6, that indicates that it can utilizing brand-new functions like OFDMA and 1024-QAM to provide faster speeds and lower latency to hectic networks with great deals of linked gadgets. That holds true even with the budget-priced worth choices– and amongst those, the one that carries out the very best is the TP-Link Archer AX21.
The Archer AX21 did an exceptional task in my at-home speed tests. At the end of several days of tests throughout 5 areas in my home, the Archer AX21’s typical download speed on a 300Mbps fiber network was a near-perfect 299Mbps. That consists of triple-digit download speeds in the extremely back of my home, a typical dead zone where a great deal of the routers I evaluate battle to remain linked at all. In 2022, I retested the AX21 after updating my house network to gigabit speeds– it isn’t effective sufficient to peak a connection like that, however it still provided quickly, constant speeds, with my downloads balancing in at 441Mbps.
That level of efficiency was strong enough for the Archer AX21 to vanquish comparable designs from Netgear, Asus and D-Link, and it even kept the speed with fancier routers that cost substantially more. It’s likewise a cinch to establish, thanks to TP-Link’s Tether app for Android and iOS, which likewise provides fast access to standard network settings without bombarding you with advertisements like some other router apps will
All of that makes the Archer AX21 an incredibly deserving choice for little- to medium-size houses, and among the very best worth selects you’ll discover that supports Wi-Fi 6.
Read our TP-Link Archer AX21 evaluation
Wi-Fi Requirement Wi-Fi 6 Speed Score AX3600 Variety As much as 5,500 sq. ft. (2 gadgets) Wireless Networking Security WPA2, WPA3 Bands Tri-Band (2.4 and 2 5GHz)
This was a great year for TP-Link, and it wasn’t even if of the Archer AX21. There’s likewise the TP-Link Deco W7200, which travelled through my speed tests to make an area as my premier mesh router of the year With several gadgets working like a group of routers to spread out a much faster, more dependable signal throughout a bigger location than a single router can, it’s a great choice for big houses– and one that will not set you back quite.
What’s excellent about the Deco W7200, in addition to its complete assistance for Wi-Fi 6, is that it’s a tri-band design with the normal 2.4 and 5GHz bands plus an extra 5GHz band that the system utilizes as a devoted cordless backhaul connection in between the primary router and its satellites. That devoted backhaul is the crucial to opening the very best mesh efficiency, since it keeps those system transmissions different from your routine network traffic. Tri-band mesh routers like those will frequently cost you $400 or more, however the Deco W7200 gets you there for hundreds less.
Certainly, the efficiency was impressive when I evaluated the system out. In reality, of all of the mesh routers that I have actually evaluated in your home, just 2 balanced faster download speeds– the very first expenses more than $200 more than the Deco W7200, and the other expenses more than 3 times as much. That makes the Deco W7200 a flat-out unequalled worth, and a much better, more visible upgrade for many houses than spending lavishly on a high-powered basic router.
Read our TP-Link Deco W7200 evaluation
Wi-Fi requirement Wi-Fi 6 Speed Score AX5700 Variety As much as 2,500 sq. ft. Wireless Networking Security WPA3 Bands Dual-Band (2.4 and 5GHz)
Asus is among the leading names in the video gaming router classification, boasting the very best range of quickly, fancy routers that assure elite efficiency, low latency, and advanced controls for your connection. The Asus RT-AX86U is really among the more downplayed routers because mix– it does not consist of color-changing lights or an oversize, over the top style— however it’s still among the very best video gaming routers you can purchase. Video gaming aside, it is among the very best Wi-Fi 6 routers you can purchase, duration.
Together with using quickly, constant speeds, the RT-AX86U did a much better task at handling latency than any other router I evaluated it versus, and it features a complete suite of tools for enhancing your connection while video gaming, consisting of an adaptive quality-of-service engine and an Open NAT database of video game- and platform-specific port forwarding guidelines. There’s even a Mobile Video game Mode created to quickly focus on traffic to your phone.
To put it simply, the RT-AX86U checks all of packages you ‘d desire from a video gaming router (other than the color-changing lights, I think– though you can get it Zaku-styled if you want to invest a little bit more). Most notably, it makes strong enough usage of Wi-Fi 6 to guarantee that even the non-gamers in your home will value having it around.
At around $250, it’s certainly an upgrade choice, however an affordable one that’s still more economical than a great deal of video gaming routers. And, if you’re considering updating to a brand-new multi-gig web strategy from AT&T, Frontier, Xfinity, Verizon, Ziply Fiber or another supplier offering strategies like those, the RT-AX86U geared up with a multi-gig Ethernet jack supporting inbound wired speeds of approximately 2.5 Gbps.
Read our Asus RT-AX86U evaluation
Speed Score AX1800 Variety As much as 1,500 sq. ft.
Gigabit web speeds are growing in accessibility from a large variety of significant ISPs, and they’re a terrific fit with the much faster cordless transfer rates of Wi-Fi 6. If you have actually made the upgrade to gigabit web speeds in your home, then you’ll certainly desire a Wi-Fi 6 router that can maximize it.
Your best option would be to choose a real upgrade choice like the Asus RT-AX86U, or a premier mesh system– however if you’re on a spending plan or you simply do not wish to invest more than $100 or two, you must move the Netgear R6700AX right to the top of your list. Presently offered for $90, it’s an AX1800 router with complete assistance for Wi-Fi 6 and 5GHz speeds as high as 1.3 gigabits per second.
In our tests on a gigabit network, the R6700AX exceeded similar designs, consisting of the TP-Link Archer AX21, providing download speeds that balanced in at 591Mbps throughout a 1,350-square-foot test environment. At close quarters, those speeds increased as high as 800Mbps. For contrast, the Archer AX21 completed those very same tests with a general average of 435Mbps, and it wasn’t able to strike download speeds any greater than 598Mbps at close quarters.
Read our Netgear R6700AX evaluation
Wi-Fi Requirement Wi-Fi 6 Speed Score AX6000 Variety As much as 5,000 sq. ft. Wireless Networking Security WPA, WPA2 Bands Tri-Band (2.4 and 2 5GHz)
Keep in mind how I pointed out that the TP-Link Deco W7200 exceeded every other mesh router I’ve ever evaluated other than for one? Well, here’s the one that beat it– the AX6000 variation of the Netgear Orbi mesh system.
With that necessary tri-band style and complete assistance for Wi-Fi 6, the AX6000 Orbi blew us away with exceptional signal strength and downright remarkable leading speeds when we initially evaluated it out a year or 2 back. Those speeds have actually held up since– whether we’re clocking leading speeds in our laboratory or screening real-world speeds in your home, actually absolutely nothing else I have actually evaluated carries out also. On top of that, the AX6000 Orbi is worthy of credit for being among the very first mesh routers to use a multigig WAN port and breaking the traffic jam that topped inbound wired speeds at simply a single gig.
Efficiency like that generally comes at a premium, and sure enough, the AX6000 Orbi costs $600 for a two-pack. Like a Mercedes Benz for the mesh classification, it’s more device than many people require, however there’s absolutely nothing incorrect with longing for one– or awaiting the uncommon sale. If it were my cash, I ‘d rather choose that Deco W7200 system and invest the hundreds I ‘d save money on something else, however if you simply desire the very best mesh router efficiency that we have actually seen in our tests, complete stop, cash be damned, here it is.
Read our Netgear Orbi AX6000 evaluation
Wi-Fi Requirement Wi-Fi 6 Speed Score AX3000 Variety As much as 1,500 sq. ft. Wireless Networking Security WPA2, WPA3 Bands Dual-Band (2.4 and 5GHz)
Choosing a mesh router makes a lots of sense if you reside in a big, multi-story house with a great deal of area to cover. In cases like that, it deserves it to focus on getting a system with more than 2 gadgets in the mesh– and Amazon’s Eero 6 Plus gets you there for $300, total with complete assistance for Wi-Fi 6.
The Eero 6 Plus takes the Eero 6 that preceded it and beefs things up with a much faster AX3000 develop and brand-new assistance for full-width 160MHz channels, up from 80MHz. Those broader channels permit the system to move information two times as effectively to suitable gadgets, and they made a big distinction in my efficiency tests, where the 6 Plus completed as a leading 10 finisher amongst the thirty or two fit together routers I have actually evaluated in your home. None of the routers that beat its typical download speeds can beat its worth, which makes the Eero 6 Plus an exceptional choice.
Read our Eero 6 Plus evaluation
Wi-Fi Requirement Wi-Fi 6 Speed Score AX5400 Variety As much as 2,700 sq. ft. Wireless Networking Security WPA, WPA2 Bands Dual-Band (2.4 and 5GHz)
It was a bit too costly for me to advise when it went for $380 for a two-piece setup, however I have actually seen the Asus ZenWifi XD6 discounted to $300 at several outlets in current weeks, that makes it a better worth.
For the cash, you’re getting a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 mesh router that carried out more like a fancier tri-band design in our tests, and one that was totally efficient in enhancing our speeds throughout the whole of the 5,400-square-foot CNET Smart House. In reality, I ‘d presume regarding call it the most capable dual-band mesh router I have actually ever evaluated.
This is a strong mesh router with among the more extensive control apps offered from a significant producer. That makes it a great choice for intermediate and sophisticated users who wish to tweak their house network experience.
Read our Asus ZenWifi XD6 evaluation
How we evaluate Wi-Fi 6 routers
Whenever I take a router into factor to consider, I put it through the very same set of extensive, regulated speed tests to get a common sense of how it carries out compared to other designs. Throughout the pandemic, I have actually been running those tests out of my 1,300 square-foot house in Louisville, Kentucky, however in 2015, we have actually had the ability to move those tests back into the CNET House test laboratory, where we have actually established a 1,350 sq. ft. test environment with a gigabit fiber connection.
There are 5 spaces because test area, so after setting the router up in the very first of them, I run a battery of speed tests in all of them to get a sense of the typical speeds at numerous varieties. For each set of tests, I begin in the very same space as the router with my test gadget, a Lenovo ThinkPad Wi-Fi 6 laptop computer. I link to the router’s network, then I run 3 speed tests and tape the outcomes for upload speed, download speed and latency. Then I relocate to the next space and repeat.
Once I have actually completed in the 5th space, which is farthest from the router, I reboot my connection and repeat all of those tests in reverse space order. This method offers me a common sense at how the router’s efficiency varies when the connection launches close rather than when it begins at a range, as this can frequently affect your speeds. I duplicate this whole procedure 3 times, throughout early morning, afternoon, and night hours. I’ll generally likewise run devoted trial run to inspect the speeds on specific bands, or if the router provides any distinct efficiency settings. All informed, it amounts to numerous speed tests and several days of work for each router I evaluate.
Which Wi-Fi 6 router is ideal for me?
There are 3 main points to think about initially as you’re calling in on a brand-new router: the speed of your house’s web strategy, the size of your house, and the variety of Wi-Fi gadgets under your roofing that require a dependable connection. If you’re residing in a little- to medium-sized house with web speeds of 500Mbps or less, and you simply require a dependable signal for your phone, laptop computer and streaming gadget, then a basic choice like the TP-Link Archer AX21 or the Netgear R6700AX must use a lot of bandwidth and variety to fit your requirements. The 2 are mostly identical unless your house has a high-speed connection, and the AX21 generally costs a little less, so I ‘d advise beginning there.
I evaluate routers by taping their typical speeds throughout 5 spaces in a 1,350 sq. ft. test environment with gigabit web speeds. In my newest batch of tests, the Asus RT-AX86U stood apart for quick efficiency, while the Netgear R6700AX punched above its weight with somewhat faster speeds than the similar TP-Link Archer AX21.
If you have actually got a home filled with clever house gadgets, or several relative who each make routine usage of your Wi-Fi with a range of devices, or if you have actually simply updated your web strategy to include gigabit speeds, you must most likely think about a router with higher bandwidth capacity. The reliable Asus RT-AX86U is the one I ‘d most likely advise initially since it’s been a routine standout through several rounds of CNET tests, consisting of complete rounds of tests on 3 different networks at 3 different places.
Nevertheless, if you’re residing in a bigger house, specifically a multistory house, then it deserves thinking about stepping up to a mesh router like the Eero 6 Plus, the Asus ZenWifi XD6, or the TP-Link Deco W7200, since those several mesh gadgets will assist guarantee a much better, more dependable signal throughout the whole of your house. You might likewise think about spending lavishly on a mesh powerhouse like the Netgear Orbi AX6000, however at an expense of a number of hundred dollars, it’s most likely overkill for many houses.
Wi-Fi 6 router Frequently asked questions
If you have actually got concerns about the ins and outs of Wi-Fi 6, make certain to have a look at my complete explainer on the requirement and what makes it much better than the Wi-Fi of yore. You can likewise reach me by looking me up on Twitter ( @rycrist) or by clicking the little envelope icon on my CNET profile page to send out a message directly to my inbox. In the meantime, I’ll publish responses to any typically asked concerns listed below.
What makes Wi-Fi 6 much better than in the past?
Wi-Fi 6 consists of assistance for brand-new Wi-Fi functions that assist gadgets pass information backward and forward much faster and more effectively. Among the crucial upgrades is 1024-QAM, which means quadrature amplitude modulation, or the technique your router utilizes to send out radio waves that other gadgets can check out as a series of ones and nos– the binary code that comprises whatever you see, check out and experience online. 1024-QAM enables your router to send 10 digits of binary code with each transmission, compared to 8 digits of binary from Wi-Fi 5 routers that utilize 256-QAM. That is among the crucial reasons that Wi-Fi 6 deals leading speeds that are approximately 30% faster than in the past.
Other functions of note consist of OFDMA, or orthogonal frequency department several gain access to, which enhances network performance by enabling your router to send out information to several customers within a single channel at the same time. Think about that like a pizza shipment motorist dropping off several pizzas to several consumers in one journey to conserve gas. There’s likewise Target Wake Time, which lets the router schedule gadgets that require to occasionally sign in so that they do not trigger disturbance with one another. And, though it isn’t particularly connected to Wi-Fi 6, many next-gen routers will support WPA3, the most recent requirement for Wi-Fi security.
Are Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E the very same thing?
Will older gadgets still deal with a Wi-Fi 6 router?
Yes– Wi-Fi 6 is totally backwards suitable, so earlier-gen Wi-Fi gadgets will still have the ability to link to them and get online. They simply will not have the ability to benefit from the brand-new Wi-Fi 6 functions that speed things up for current-gen gadgets.