If you're after the absolute best connectivity between your home server and the rest of your network, there's no question: it's going to be hardwired, preferably with Cat6a or above, or maybe fiber optics if you have compatible hardware. I'm not here to debate whether Wi-Fi will ever be better than Ethernet, because that's never going to be a winning argument.

Instead, I'm here to say that for many tasks, it doesn't matter what network connectivity you use. I've been running a mini PC as a home server over the internal Wi-Fi adapter for some time now, and it's honestly been fine, after a little smart scheduling of tasks to happen when nobody was awake to use the network. I've also run my NAS as the only thing wired to my Wi-Fi router for years, and there have only been a few times that I've noticed enough of a slowdown to reach for an extra-long cable to connect my PC with.

Nobody is trying to dispute that Ethernet is overall the better choice

Although you might be surprised at how little it matters

My network setup was pretty typical until I recently upgraded to prosumer hardware: gigabit fiber-to-the-home, Wi-Fi 6E access points, and gigabit links between the few devices I had wired. I probably didn't need that ISP package, but it was $10 more than the 500 Mbps option, so I figured I might as well. One mini PC acts as a file server running some services and has all-flash storage, while another NAS handles backup tasks.

I've had this setup for years, in both an apartment and a townhouse, and I had to really think about times when the network or the servers slowed down due to wireless links. The biggest issue I have with wireless transmissions is not my home server; it's the video doorbell on the front door, which never connects to its app fast enough to be useful. I unplugged most of my Ethernet cables, and for the most part, it's been fine for my needs.

That's not to say I haven't experienced issues with using Wi-Fi on my servers. The initial setup and data transfer took forever, and I used Ethernet for that because I was also worried that any connectivity glitches would mean restarting the transfer from scratch. And one of those devices serves media files, which would be a problem if I had more than one client in use at once, but we only use one TV at a time, so that's not been an issue.

Wi-Fi is just fine, actually

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with Wi-Fi, but even when real-world performance never matches the marketing numbers, it's still often enough for most uses. I've got Time Machine set up on several Macs, and Synology's backup software on a handful of other devices, but they're all set to run during off-peak hours, so nobody is awake to notice if the network slows down.

It's still plenty of bandwidth for streaming my Jellyfin library around the house, ensuring Home Assistant and a handful of Docker apps have connectivity, and for browsing my photo archives if I need a particular device for work, or to find family photos. The first time any of these services or backup processes run they do take a lot more bandwidth, but subsequent tasks are incremental and take little time or space on the network.

The problems sneak in during heavy usage

With many devices connected to the network, or bandwidth-heavy operations

There are some common home networking situations that will overwhelm Wi-Fi. The first one that comes to mind is running NVR software on your server to store the video feeds from multiple security cameras. That will strain wired networks if you're not careful, so running it wirelessly seems a foolish choice. And if I wanted to run a game server at the same time, the increased Wi-Fi latency would cause lag spikes or rubberbanding, which wouldn't be fun.

Piling smart home devices onto your Wi-Fi will also affect your server, which is something I started to notice as we built out this larger home. At some point, I'll throw money at the problem and switch every wireless IoT device to Zigbee, so they're permanently off the home network. My self-hosted DNS server is also hardwired to the router, because I had it in a container on the server, and any latency issues meant browsing was sluggish, negating one of the benefits of having a DNS server in the first place.

And for those, I'll always reach for a cable

I've now got 10 GbE backhaul in my home network, and am in the process of hardwiring as many devices as possible, but that's because my needs have changed. Most of my workday is spent testing and discussing networking hardware or services for home server use, and I need a mix of networking links to test against so I can flag any real-world issues you might experience. Some devices deserve to be hardwired, especially in enthusiast and prosumer spaces, but you'd be surprised how many things can be handled over Wi-Fi.