If you’re putting together a DIY project that needs a network connection, like a NAS or a home media server, plugging into your main network is the end goal, but could cause some problems if you’re still experimenting. DIY projects by their very nature can result in a lot of trial and error, and if you’ve got other members of your home using your home network, they might not think that restarting the router or needing to assign custom IPs to every new device is quite as interesting as you do. For the most part, you won't need another router for DIY projects, but if it involves networking, it's not a bad idea to do your testing on a separate router.

Why you might want an extra router

Many excellent Raspberry Pi beginner projects, for example, involve networking, whether it's building a server or even a media streaming device. If you’re looking to get into networking with a DIY project, using a second router can be a good way to learn the ins and outs of setting up a network for your project. Starting out with a separate router can be a good way to minimize the impact on the rest of your home, or maybe you just have a Zoom call that day that you can’t afford to miss.

You may also prefer to use a router that's a little bit more open, such as one that runs OpenWRT, like something from GL.iNet. While you could certainly use one of the best Wi-Fi routers available, you would likely spend more on features you don’t really need for your DIY project. Similarly, if you just need a few wired connections, a switch is much cheaper than a full router.

There’s also the simple fact that your main router may be across your home with no easy access to wired connections. If you’ve only got a single Ethernet cable running to a room, or the router supports repeater mode, it could even act as an extension to your network, giving you a few handy Ethernet ports where you need them.

If you’re thinking about installing custom firmware on your Wi-Fi router, it’s a good idea to have a backup in case something goes wrong and you need to get back online in a hurry. You could even pick something fairly cheap, like an Asus RT-AX57 that can be later repurposed as a mesh node.

Another common reason that people may want a second router that also applies to DIY projects is for a VPN. Adding a VPN to a router can make it easy to connect multiple devices through that VPN without needing a client or special configuration for each device. If you want to stream or browse as if you’re in another country, a second router with that VPN enabled is one of the easiest ways to do it, and it doesn’t take up any of your primary router’s resources.

One last, but important, consideration is if you use a shared connection. For example, if your landlord provides your internet connection and you don’t have control of the router it’s connected to, you can’t really be sure who or what has access to your networked devices. Using your own router can put you back in control of your network.

You probably don’t need a new router

If your DIY project doesn’t need a ton of networking features, and you really just need an internet connection for it, you probably don’t need an extra router at all. If you want to keep the device separate from the rest of your local network, some newer routers allow you to create multiple VLANs on a single router. This is often marketed as an IoT network, which allows devices to connect to the internet without interacting with the rest of your home network. Guest networks also work similarly, and are usually pretty quick to turn on and off, as well as setting up custom bandwidth or usage limits.

The problem with using a fully separate network is, for example, if you’re making a home media server, you want it to be accessible from your other devices. Still, if you’re connecting your project to your main network, make sure it's using a fairly modern form of security, like WPA-2 so you don’t have to compromise your network to use it. Also, you should probably just use a wired connection, like one of the best Ethernet cables, to connect anything like a server to make sure that speeds stay high.