There’s a lot to like about TP-Link's current crop of routers between strong speeds, easy-to-use software, and modern designs. TP-Link’s routers are easy to recommend thanks to their relatively low prices without giving up any real-world performance. With Wi-Fi 6, TP-Link has consistently offered some of the best values in terms of price to performance with its software and user experience equaling the best in the business in many areas.

Find an Archer router or Deco mesh that fits your needs

The TP-Link Archer AX80 doesn't look like much with its reused design and AX6000 dual-band connection, but it has the right balance of features to be a sensible high-capacity router. The connection breaks down to 1148Mbps at 2.4GHz and 4804Mbps at 5GHz which essentially doubles the 2.4GHz capacity compared to the Archer AX75. That gives this router 8 data streams which, when paired with MU-MIMO means this router can handle dozens of devices with ease. If you have a lot of smart home tech on Wi-Fi such as smart bulbs, speakers, and cameras, you need plenty of 2.4GHz capacity on tap, which this router has.

On the back, you get a fairly typical TP-Link layout with a 2.5Gbps port that can be WAN or LAN plus four more gigabit Ethernet ports. If you want to use the multi-gig port with a device like a NAS instead of for your incoming connection, one of the gigabit ports can be used as WAN. It's large with eight antennas flanking the router, but if you're short on shelf space, you can wall-mount it.

Setup is easy with the Tether app and TP-Link's HomeShield is available. To get the full set of features, you'll need a subscription, but there are still some nice extras included for free like time-scheduling parental controls and QoS. If you need a router with plenty of capacity for a lot of devices but don't need the latest cutting-edge tech, the Archer AX80 is a great balance.

The TP-Link Archer AX21 is a budget router with more to offer than you might expect. Its AX1800 connection means it has 574Mbps at its disposal for 2.4GHz devices and 1201Mbps at 5GHz. While some cheaper AX1500 routers may seem like a better value, those routers cut back the 2.4GHz speed to 802.11n, meaning much less capacity in areas with weaker signal, such as outside your home. If you’re buying a new router today without spending a fortune, AX1800 should be your minimum spec.

On the back, there are four gigabit Ethernet ports for wired devices, as well as a port for your incoming internet connection. There are four antennas that can be adjusted, which is useful if you plan to wall-mount your router. There is a USB Type-A port for network storage, including Time Machine backups, but it’s only USB 2.0, so it’s not going to be very fast.

Setup is quick and easy with the Tether app or using the web UI, and can be done in just a few minutes. Even so, you’ll want to make sure you update this router to the latest firmware right away, as TP-Link has continued to add features like VPN client mode as well as improving stability.

This router also supports OneMesh, so you can add coverage to your home with a supported TP-Link Wi-Fi extender. Keep in mind that mesh Wi-Fi needs to share your wireless capacity to link the mesh, so if you think you’ll build a mesh, something a little faster like an Archer AX55 is a better choice.

If you’re looking for an affordable mesh system that has enough capacity to keep up with a gigabit internet connection, the TP-Link Deco X55 with its AX3000 connection is a good place to start. This dual-band mesh kit has 574Mbps available at 2.4GHz and 2402Mbps at 5GHz with 160MHz support. Since mesh systems need to share some of their capacity between connected devices and linking the mesh nodes, you need to plan for a bit more speed, especially on the 5GHz band. This AX3000 connection should give users with a gigabit connection most of their internet speed, even when connected to one of the remote nodes.

The nodes are compact and cylindrical, almost looking like a scented candle from across the room, with a matte white finish on the sides and matte black on top. The look of a mesh node is a bit more important than a router since you’ll be placing multiple nodes throughout your home, and they’ll work better if they’re not crammed behind furniture. Each node has three gigabit Ethernet ports, so you can get wired devices connected to the network anywhere there’s a node. You could even place a node in your home office or entertainment center and use the deco like a small wired switch.

When it comes to software, the Deco app has a lot in common with the Tether app used with Archer routers, but the complexity has been pared back. TP-Link gives Deco users access to the most important features to customize their Wi-Fi, but if you’re looking for more advanced settings, you’ll be disappointed. If you want advanced settings, you’ll need to stick with one of the best mesh Wi-Fi systems from a company like ASUS.

Even so, HomeShield is included with some extra security features and solid parental controls. While you can subscribe for some feature improvements and more in-depth parental controls, the free version has the base necessities. This includes the ability to create profiles for each member of the family, set schedules, and block content using filters.

If you’re looking for the fastest Wi-Fi speeds you can get ahead of Wi-Fi 7's launch, the TP-Link Archer AX300 has an incredible quad-band AXE16000 connection. That breaks down to 1148Mbps at 2.4GHz, 4840Mbps at 5GHz-1, 4804Mbps at 5GHz-2, and 4804Mbps at 6GHz. With this router, you get all the speed of an ultra-fast AX11000 router with another band just for 6GHz devices. With some new gaming PCs and the latest flagship phones offering Wi-Fi 6E tech, some people are ready to make use of this new capacity right away. It’s also worth noting that moving some of your devices to 6GHz will alleviate some 5GHz congestion in your home.

If you're buying one of the best gaming laptops, for example, many of the newer models come with Wi-Fi 6E support. One of our favorites, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8, supports 2x2 Wi-Fi 6E out of the box.

This router is quite large at 9.1 inches across with chunky antennas adorning almost every inch. Further down, there are four gigabit Ethernet ports, a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, a 10Gbps Ethernet port, and another 10Gbps port that can be Ethernet or SFP+. SFP+ is like Ethernet, but it uses a fiber connection, allowing for longer runs with thinner cables. If your home has a server cabinet with a high-speed network switch, this could be a useful connection for you.

For software, this router is much like the other TP-Link Archer devices with solid in-browser advanced settings or easier management with the Tether app. HomeShield security is included with the same subscription options and parental controls. You’ll be able to create profiles for members of your home and assign devices to the profile to easily filter content and set schedules. No Xbox after midnight? There’s no discussion necessary; it just turns off if you set it to.

TP-Link was an early leader in affordable Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E tech, and it's continuing that trend moving into Wi-Fi 7 with the Archer BE550. This isn't a race to the bottom, however, with most of the software features of its pricier siblings and the same software. This is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with the 5GHz and 6GHz bands using Wi-Fi 7 with the 2.4GHz band sticking with Wi-Fi 6. That works out to 574Mbps at 2.4GHz, 2880Mbps at 5GHz, and 5760Mbps at 6GHz. Support for 320MHz at 6GHz and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) are included.

While this router has a similar design to the more expensive Wi-Fi 7 routers from TP-Link, it has some differences with the most noticeable being the lack of the front display. Still, this router looks nice with its dark gray plastics and angular design concealing the antennas inside. Around the back, there is a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port for your incoming connections, four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports for your devices, and a USB 3.0 port for network storage.

Like most other high-end TP-Link routers, you set it up with the Tether app or in your web browser. You also get HomeShield which included some security enhancements and parental controls with the option to upgrade with a subscription. This router also supports EasyMesh, so you can build a mesh with other supported routers, including the more expensive BE800 model. That makes the BE550 a good option to expand your TP-Link EasyMesh coverage.

New Wi-Fi standards are great because they’re able to make better use of resources to deliver fast and secure network connections. But they often require you to upgrade your devices to get the advantages. The TP-Link Deco XE75 is a Wi-Fi 6E mesh system that can use the 6GHz band to link the mesh nodes without eating up a 5GHz bandwidth. Additionally, if you live in an area with a lot of Wi-Fi hotspots, the 6GHz band can sidestep the congestion to keep speeds high.

The Deco XE75 has a tri-band AXE5400 connection with 574Mbps at 2.4GHz, 2402Mbps at 5GHz, and 2402Mbps at 6GHz. This is a fairly common configuration as seen in a few other mesh systems like eero Pro 6E and Nest Wifi Pro, but TP-Link also allows you to create a separate 6GHz SSID in software, so you can force your 6GHz devices to connect to the 6GHz band. On the back of the nodes, there are three gigabit Ethernet ports for wired devices. There’s no multi-gigabit Ethernet on this model, but if you want it, you can upgrade to the Deco XE75 Pro with a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port.

On the software side, setup is quick and easy with the Deco app and can be completed in just a few minutes. The app also gives you access to the base settings most people are looking for as well as HomeShield. HomeShield includes security enhancements and parental control settings. You can set up profiles for each member of the family with specific content filters and schedules for each. The free version of HomeShield has enough features for most people but if you’re looking for a bit more, you can upgrade your HomeShield experience with a subscription.

For the most part, the best gaming routers are just powerful routers with plenty of capacity overhead to smooth over usage spikes on your home network. For gaming, the most important thing is ping — the latency between the game server and your gaming machine — not speed. Even so, a lot of gamers are asking more and more of their connections all the time, from 1080p 60fps live streams or even just keeping a couple of Twitch streams running on a second monitor.

TP-Link splits the tri-band AX6600 connection of the GX90 into a 2.4GHz band with 574Mbps of capacity, a lower 5GHz band for general devices with 1201Mbps, and a dedicated gaming band with a massive 4804Mbps. This gaming band keeps your devices separate so your smart TV streaming Netflix isn’t competing with your console on the same spectrum. Unfortunately, for some people, the full capacity of the gaming band won’t be available due to using DFS spectrum, which can be immediately disconnected if a radar signal from an airport is detected. It will then have to fall back to a narrower 5GHz band.

Still, for most people, this configuration makes a lot of sense, and if you’ve got access to internet service faster than 1Gbps, an included 2.5Gbps Ethernet port means you can use it. In the software, you’ll be able to pick which port you want to use for your internet connection so if you have a fast NAS you’d like to use with the faster port instead, you can. Also in the software, you can enable or disable a game optimization feature that’s designed to put gaming traffic first in line.

TP-Link HomeCare is included with free access to security enhancements and parental controls. The parental controls included profiles, scheduling, and content filtering like HomeShield, but unlike HomeShield, there is no paid tier, so you get all available features right off the bat.

While Wi-Fi 6 will get you the best bang for your buck, Wi-Fi 7 is already trickling its way to our homes in the form of some new Android phones and wireless routers. Wi-Fi 7 offers strong speed improvements compared to Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E routers. The Archer BE800 has 1376Mbps of capacity at 2.4GHz, 5760Mbps at 5GHz, and 11520Mbps at 6GHz. The biggest increases come at 6GHz, and it's no surprise with this Wi-Fi 7 router supporting 320MHz wide channels which is double the largest size on WI-Fi 6 or 6E. Current mobile devices will only get around 2880Mbps on this router, but there's still plenty of use for that extra 6GHz capacity, such as EasyMesh.

TP-Link's previous proprietary mesh solution, OneMesh, was underwhelming in that you had to use specific Wi-Fi Extenders to build a mesh. EasyMesh solves that by opening up mesh compatibility with all EasyMesh routers and the BE800 is one of the first to support it. That means you could even get multiple BE800 routers to build your mesh and the fast 6GHz band will have plenty of speed for the mesh connection and connected devices despite only being tri-band. It's worth noting that EasyMesh support is still in its early days with only a handful of other TP-Link routers supporting it, but there are quite a few with planned support, including the Archer AXE300 above.

If wired speeds mean as much to you as wireless, this Archer is still a powerhouse with dual WAN/LAN 10Gbps ports on the back. One is Ethernet while the other can be either Ethernet or SFP+ so you can connect to a fast NAS or even run a fiber connection to another building on your property. There are four more Ethernet ports, each running at 2.5Gbps, so whether you use wired or wireless, multi-gig connections are supported.

It's impossible to ignore the design as well with striking gray plastics used on the outside with sharp angles. The display on the front uses white LED lights to show off designs like emoji and animations. It can also be set to show the weather or a customer text message. You won't be wall-mounting it, but it also looks nice enough to leave out in the open with no antennas to look at.

Upgrade your home network with a fast TP-Link router

Getting the right router for your home comes down to getting enough speed for your internet connection, enough capacity for all of your devices, and plenty of coverage for your whole home. A mesh system like the Deco X55 is a great fit for many people with plenty of capacity for a gigabit internet connection and an entire family connected to it, but if you don't need the coverage of the mesh, you're wasting money by buying multiple nodes.

For most families, the Archer AX80 is a great fit with plenty of capacity for dozens of devices. Its AX6000 dual-band connection has a plenty of 5GHz capacity for heavier tasks with double the 2.4GHz capacity of an AX5400 router, which is good for smart home tech. It's easily set up with TP-Link's Tether app and, of course, TP-Link's HomeShield keeps things secure and makes it easy to stay in control of what your kids are seeing online without needing to hover over their shoulders.