The 10 Best Small Wireless Router, Tested And Researched

Dan Simmons By, Dan Simmons
Updated
Best Small Wireless Router
Best Small Wireless Router

The Rundown

1. Best Overall: TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Router

The TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Router is the perfect solution for your home network. Featuring advanced WiFi security with WPA3, this router offers the latest wireless security technology to keep your home network safe. Read Review

2. Runner Up: NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router

The NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router is the perfect solution for busy households or businesses. With its recommended coverage for up to 30 devices, you can reliably stream videos, play games, surf the internet, and connect smart home devices without interruption. Read Review

3. Best Efficient: TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 Router

The TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 Router is the perfect home or office network solution. It features advanced WiFi 6 technology, which communicates more data to devices using revolutionary OFDMA technology. Read Review

4. Best Quality: NETGEAR Nighthawk 6-Stream Router

The NETGEAR Nighthawk 6-Stream Router delivers blazing-fast speeds and next-generation WiFi 6 technology for exceptional performance and uninterrupted HD video streaming, gaming, and web conferencing. Read Review

5. Best Design: WAVLINK Smart Wireless Router

The WAVLINK Smart Wireless Router is the perfect solution for your home's network needs. It features four 100Mbps LAN ports, one 100Mbps WAN port, and ultra-fast speeds to keep your devices connected at top speeds. Read Review

Are you looking for the best small wireless router for your home? A reliable and powerful router is essential to your home internet setup, and finding one that suits your needs can be challenging. Whether you're looking for a basic router with basic features, or a more advanced model with extra features, there are plenty of options. To make your search easier, we've rounded up the best small wireless routers on the market.

These routers are designed to offer the best performance and features for various uses, from streaming media to gaming. We've closely examined each router's specs and features to ensure you get the most out of your purchase. So whether you're a budget-conscious consumer or a power user looking for the best of the best, we've got you covered. Read on to learn more about your home's best small wireless routers.

After extensive research and analysis over a few hours, we think the best small wireless router is TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Router. This top router has four external antennas, ensuring stable wireless connections and wide coverage throughout your home. You can consider NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router as an alternative if you're still undecided. Other suggestions on this list are worth considering, and we've put up a useful shopping guide to help you decide!

Our Top Picks

TOP Choice #1 TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Router
Our Score:
9.9
TP-Link

The TP-Link AC1200 Wireless Router is an excellent option for home networks. It provides simultaneous connections at 2.4GHz with speeds up to 300 Mbps and 5GHz speeds up to 867 Mbps, delivering a total bandwidth of 1200 Mbps. This allows fast internet browsing, smooth video streaming, and lag-free gaming. Equipped with four external antennas, it ensures stable wireless connections and comprehensive coverage throughout your home.

Additionally, the router offers support for IGMP Proxy/Snooping, Bridge, and Tag VLAN, optimizing IPTV streaming for uninterrupted enjoyment of your favorite shows. It also features an Access Point Mode, allowing you to convert a wired connection into a wireless network, making it an ideal choice for a home wireless router. Security is a top priority, and the router incorporates the latest Wi-Fi security protocol, WPA3, providing enhanced cybersecurity for your network. With WPA3, you can browse the internet with confidence. However, this device may sometimes heat up a bit. 

TOP Choice #2 NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router
Our Score:
9.8
NETGEAR

The recommended usage of this router is for up to 30 devices, making it an excellent choice for streaming videos, gaming, internet browsing, and connecting smart home devices. It offers 4 x 1 gigabit Ethernet ports that allow easy connection to nearby wired devices such as computers, game consoles, and streaming players, ensuring even faster speeds. The router has advanced technology, including a powerful dual-core 1GHz processor, three amplified antennas, Beamforming+, MU MIMO, Dynamic QoS, Smart Connect, Amazon Alexa Voice Controls, and more.

Furthermore, it features a convenient 1 x 3.0 USB port, enabling you to share a storage drive or printer with any connected device or create personal cloud storage accessible from anywhere. For parents, there are Smart Parental Controls that offer various functionalities such as pausing device internet access, monitoring site history usage, filtering websites, setting online time limits, scheduling device internet access, and more. Additionally, it provides NETGEAR Armor, a comprehensive security feature that safeguards your network and connected devices with top-notch security. Nonetheless, the router's user interface may be a bit confusing. 

TOP Choice #3 TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 Router
Our Score:
9.6
TP-Link

Your home will experience increased speed, performance, and capacity once you install this WiFi 6 router. It handles everything from your data to your devices in ways never possible. Even with your smart home, mobile, and other electronic devices connected to your network, you will have the greatest buffer-free 4K/HD streaming and gaming experience thanks to speeds of up to 1.8 Gbps and a powerful CPU. 

Together, beamforming and the four antennas cooperate to optimize your WiFi and direct more of the signal strength onto the devices you use, resulting in more robust and reliable coverage. With the groundbreaking OFDMA and MU-MIMO, the Archer AX21 communicates data to numerous devices concurrently, making it possible for the whole family to connect more without causing the connection to slow down. Whether you prefer the intuitive Tether App or the robust web interface, you can set up your Archer AX21 in minutes. However, the only downside of this device is that the user interface is not so user-friendly.

4 NETGEAR Nighthawk 6-Stream Router
Our Score:
9.5
NETGEAR

This other powerful router delivers uninterrupted connectivity in larger households with many devices. It covers an impressive area of 2,500 sq ft and simultaneously supports up to 25 devices. Powered by advanced WiFi 6 technology, this router guarantees high-speed and dependable connectivity for all your online activities, including streaming, gaming, and web conferencing. It is compatible with any internet service provider up to 1Gbps, connecting to your existing cable modem and replacing your WiFi router. Moreover, it comes with four 1G Ethernet ports, making connecting devices such as computers, game consoles, and streaming players easy.

Additionally, this router has a 3.0 USB port that allows you to share a storage drive with any connected device and create personal cloud storage accessible from anywhere. It is also equipped with NETGEAR Smart Parental Controls that enable you to monitor your family's online activity, promote healthy internet habits, and build trust with your children. These features ensure the safety and security of your family online. The only downside is that it may be a bit hard to set up for some. 

5 WAVLINK Smart Wireless Router
Our Score:
9.3
WAVLINK

The dual-band AC1200 WiFi router has been upgraded to deliver a high-speed network of 1200Mbps, providing seamless streaming with reduced buffering, making it an ideal choice for 4K streaming. It complies with the IEEE 802.11ac/a/n/g/b standards, ensuring compatibility with various devices. With its four Ethernet ports operating at 100Mbps, you can easily connect computers, game consoles, streaming media players, repeaters, and other wired devices, allowing ultra-fast speeds. The router features one WAN port and four LAN ports, providing flexibility for various connectivity needs.

It has four external adjustable antennas to enhance WiFi coverage, each with a 5dBi gain. These antennas extend and focus the WiFi signal, ensuring comprehensive coverage and stable connectivity throughout the home. Moreover, it offers three operating modes: Router, LAN Bridge (AP), and WISP. Router mode supports connection types such as PPPoE, DHCP (dynamic IP), and static IP, catering to different network configurations. The LAN Bridge (AP) mode functions as an access point, seamlessly integrating wired and wireless networks. Lastly, the WISP mode serves as a WiFi repeater or extender. Nevertheless, its Wavlink software could be improved. 

6 ASUS RT-AX55 WiFi 6 Router
Our Score:
9.2
ASUS

With 802.11AX (WiFi 6) support and 80MHz bandwidth, you can experience better capacity and efficiency for all your online needs with this router. Its ability to support MU-MIMO and OFDMA techniques sets it apart, efficiently allocating channels and communicating with multiple devices simultaneously. You can enjoy faster wireless connections with a total networking speed of about 1800Mbps - 574 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1201 Mbps on the 5GHz band, thanks to its 80MHz bandwidth and 1024-QAM technology.

You can also protect your home network with AiProtection Classic, powered by Trend Micro. And when you're away from home, ASUS Instant Guard gives you a one-click secure VPN. Moreover, with NitroQAM (1024-QAM) technology, you can get up to a 25% data rate, four times faster than the older standard, which is limited to 256-QAM. With seamless roaming and advanced features, by adding any AiMesh-compatible router, you can enjoy uninterrupted connectivity throughout your home or office. However, the router needs to be rebooted sometimes, but it's not a big deal.

7 Linksys Hydra Pro Mesh WiFi Router
Our Score:
9.0
Linksys

You will encounter lightning-fast internet speeds with the latest Wi-Fi 6E technology on the Velop Intelligent Mesh router! This advanced system offers an interference-free signal and blazing-fast rates on the 6 GHz band. With up to four times the channels of older Wi-Fi router systems, this innovative mesh router provides unparalleled coverage and performance. Also, it is compatible with all internet service providers and 100% backward compatible with Wi-Fi 5 and older devices. 

Moreover, this router offers maximum flexibility and convenience. Its coverage extends to 2,700 sq. ft. and can support up to 55+ devices, ensuring that every corner of your home or business is fully connected. This advanced mesh router is designed to deliver gigabit Wi-Fi speeds to every corner of your home or business, even in hard-to-reach areas, so that you can say goodbye to lag and buffer and hello to seamless streaming, gaming, and browsing. Unfortunately, this router may not support the TWONKYMedia server. 

8 WAVLINK AC1200 Wireless Router
Our Score:
8.9
WAVLINK

【Easy to Setup】This wifi router is easy to set up and if you encounter any problems during the setup process please feel free to contact us📧. WAVLINK AC1200 WiFi Router comes with a 1-year warranty. 🛒Package includes:1 x Wireless Router;1 x RJ-45 Network Cable;1 x DC 12V Power Adapter;1 x Quick Installation Guide.

【Router/WISP/AP Operating Mode】WAVLINK wifi router supports router mode, access point mode and WISP mode.Router/AP Mode is ideal for converting wired networks into wireless networks;WISP mode is used to boost WiFi signals and extend WiFi coverage of existing wireless networks.Works with all internet service providers,such as Comcast,Charter,AT&T,Verizon,Xfinity,Spectrum, RCN, Cox, CenturyLink, Frontier,etc.(A modem is required for most internet service providers).

【Stable WiFi Connection】The wireless router with 4x 10/100Mbps LAN ports and 1x 10/100Mbps WAN port is perfect for different networking needs, allowing you to connect to your wired devices directly. 4 x 5dBi omni-directional and foldable antennas enhance the router's reception sensitivity and transmission capability, maximising WiFi range and greatly improving network performance.

9 Linksys E2500 Wireless Router
Our Score:
8.8
Linksys

Wi-Fi Generation: Wi-Fi 4

UNII Band: Yes

Wireless LAN Standard: IEEE 802.11n

10 TP-Link AXE16000 WiFi Router
Our Score:
8.6
TP-Link

iF DESIGN AWARD 2022 Quad-Band Router- AXE16000 Quad-Band Wi-Fi delivers Wi-Fi speeds up to an unprecedented 15.6 Gbps( 6GHz, 4804 Mbps; 5GHz-1, 4804 Mbps; 5GHz-2, 4804 Mbps; 2.4GHz, 1148 Mbps)*

TP-Link HomeShield – TP-Link's premium security services keep your home network safe with cutting-edge network and IoT protection. Free features: 1. Network Security Scan 2. Basic Parental Controls 3. QoS 4. Weekly/Monthly Reports 5. IoT Device Identification, HomeShield Pro paid service ads more robust protections and features for, 5.99/Month, 1-Month Free Trial

Maximized Coverage - 8 x antennas provide maximized Wi-Fi coverage

Product Images, Product Titles, Product Highlights from Amazon Product Advertising API

What to Look For in a best small wireless router?

To buy any product seems easy, but to choose the best one is not straightforward. The time you take to research its outcome is significant. The same matter also comes to best small wireless router of 2024 that we include in this article. But you can relax instead of spending too much time learning the products. It’s our duty!

Here are the main features of best small wireless router that all of you guys should keep in mind when deciding to make a purchase:

Booster Club

When it comes to wireless routers, most ISPs offer several tiers of service. If you’re ever in a situation where you need more speed for streaming or gaming, you can always upgrade your service. A connection speed of around 200 megabits per second should be able to handle a family’s worth of activities like this.

Security

To secure your router, you should use the latest available encryption standard. This is likely WPA2 or WPA3, depending on the age of your router. You’ll need to enter the password just once into each wireless device you use; afterward, the device will remember it.

USB Ports

USB ports on a router are used for connecting to a flash drive, an external hard drive, or a USB printer if the router has a built-in print server.

WiFi Standards

As of early 2021, the tech world is starting to transition away from the WiFi standard known as WiFi 5 and towards WiFi 6, which is faster and boasts better support for more devices connected at the same time. Older, WiFi 5-certified devices like smartphones and laptops can still be used with WiFi 6 routers, but you won’t receive the full benefits of WiFi 6 unless the device you are using is certified for the new standard. For more information on WiFi 6, be sure to read this article.

App-Based Management

Every new router comes with apps meant to simplify the task of setting up and making adjustments to your WiFi network. The apps make it easier than ever before to monitor which devices are connected to your network and adjust which devices get priority. These apps can also alert you when an update is available for your router.

LAN Ports

Many internet-connected smart home devices, such as Philips Hue and Samsung SmartThings products, require a LAN port-connected hub to function. If you need more LAN ports than the router has, you can expand the number available by adding an Ethernet switch. This is sort of like a power strip that adds open Ethernet ports.

Quality Of Service

Wireless Routers offer a great way to optimize the performance of your computer. You can change the router's settings to work best for streaming videos, making Skype calls, playing games, or streaming music. This will give those applications more of the bandwidth—so, for example, your Netflix movie doesn't pause and rebuffer because someone in your house is downloading a large file.

FAQs

What should I consider when purchasing a small wireless router?

When purchasing a small wireless router, consider the size of your home or office and the number of devices that will be connected to the router. Additionally, consider the needed features, such as data speeds, security settings, and parental control settings. Finally, check the router's reviews to ensure its good performance and reliability.

What is a small wireless router?

A small wireless router is a device that connects to your home network and allows you to access the internet wirelessly. It typically has four ports for connecting devices like computers and game consoles and a built-in Wi-Fi antenna to broadcast a wireless signal.

How do I set up a small wireless router?

Setting up a small wireless router is usually fairly easy. First, you'll need to connect the router to your modem with an Ethernet cable and power it on. Then, you'll need to access the router's setup page through a web browser. Finally, you'll need to configure the router's settings, including the Wi-Fi network name and password and any other security settings.

What type of security should I use for my small wireless router?

The type of security you should use for your small wireless router will depend on the type of router you have. Most routers come with WPA2 encryption enabled, which is generally considered the most secure option. However, you should always check with your router manufacturer for the best security settings for your model.


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About Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons is a writer who loves home theater and HiFi audio. As the editor of TheAudioInsights, he has helped countless people enjoy the best possible sound quality in their homes. He is an audiophile who takes great pleasure in helping others find the perfect audio equipment for their needs. When he's not writing or editing, Dan enjoys listening to music and spending time with his family.