I used to inform folks to skip Wi-Fi 7 routers as a result of they had been way more costly than Wi-Fi 6 or 6E. However after testing and evaluating 34 routers at our CNET Lab, I’ve modified my thoughts. I noticed simply how way more velocity you may get for the value of a Wi-Fi 7 router.
A Wi-Fi 7 improve is a worthwhile funding for future-proofing your private home community, particularly when our CNET survey discovered that 86% of Individuals already expertise Wi-Fi drops. Your own home’s Wi-Fi router is the gateway to the web and to your gadgets. It impacts each side of your on-line life.
“The router is the center of your private home community,” mentioned Gianmarco Chumbe, CNET’s lab engineer who leads router testing. “Identical to the center pumps oxygen and vitamins in every single place it is wanted, your router pumps knowledge to your entire gadgets. And simply as a foul coronary heart can have an effect on your complete well being, a foul router can wreck the web expertise in your house.”
As all the time with tech merchandise, there’s loads of jargon to wade by, and it is onerous to inform what’s advertising and what is going to really enhance your web expertise.
Over the previous yr, our engineers at CNET Labs have evaluated greater than 30 Wi-Fi routers, connecting them to a laptop computer and wheeling it round our 15,000-square-foot testing facility to measure velocity, responsiveness and sign energy. Here is the efficiency you actually get with a Wi-Fi 5, 6, 6E or 7 router.
The Netgear Nighthawk RS700S was the quickest Wi-Fi 7 router in our lab checks, and the quickest general.
Key takeaways
- Keep away from the dual-band entice: If a Wi-Fi 7 router says “dual-band,” preserve procuring. Our lab knowledge proves that solely tri-band fashions supply the large efficiency good points and entry to the 6GHz frequency wanted to justify an improve.
- Future-proof your private home community: With the common American family’s knowledge consumption skyrocketing, investing in a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router is essentially the most dependable strategy to safeguard your web speeds for the subsequent decade
- You needn’t spend $600 for top-tier speeds anymore: Whereas high-end fashions nonetheless exist, our checks of over 30 routers reveal that costs have dropped considerably. Now you can get a lightning-fast Wi-Fi 7 router for lower than $200.
- TP-Hyperlink dominates the worth class: Because of their unbeatable steadiness of value and uncooked throughput, TP-Hyperlink fashions fully dominated our lab checks and finest record rankings.
Throughput: Wi-Fi 7 routers actually are quicker
Are Wi-Fi 7 routers quicker than earlier generations? The quick reply is sure. Wi-Fi 7 routers recorded the very best complete throughput scores by far: 3,169Mbps throughout all three bands mixed, in comparison with 1,309 Mbps for Wi-Fi 6E routers.
That wasn’t completely shocking — the excitement round Wi-Fi 7 has been targeted on the addition of the ultrawide 6GHz band — nevertheless it was eye-opening to see that mirrored so starkly in our take a look at outcomes. Wi-Fi 6E helps the 6GHz band, too, however Wi-Fi 7 remains to be miles forward in velocity. Why such a big hole in efficiency?
“Wi-Fi 7 introduces a number of key upgrades that set it other than tri-band Wi-Fi 6E routers,” David Coleman, who’s the director of wi-fi networking at Excessive Networks, wrote to me in an e-mail. “For instance, Wi-Fi 7 helps 320MHz-wide channels — double the dimensions of the widest channels in Wi-Fi 6E — which means it could possibly ship a lot greater knowledge charges.”
Consider it like a freeway: Wi-Fi 7 routers have twice as many lanes for site visitors to move by as Wi-Fi 6E routers. Additionally they have a characteristic known as Multi-Hyperlink Operation, which permits gadgets to make use of a number of bands concurrently and 4K-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), which interprets digital data into symbols for wi-fi transmission, and Coleman advised me it could possibly increase transmission effectivity by as much as 20% in comparison with Wi-Fi 6E. You by no means know the way these back-of-the-box options are going to translate in a real-world atmosphere, however in Wi-Fi 7’s case, it far exceeded my expectations.
Along with complete throughput scores, Wi-Fi 7 routers outperformed earlier generations by sustaining a robust sign even at longer distances. The 15 Wi-Fi 7 routers we examined averaged 515 Mbps at 50 ft throughout all three bands, nicely above the 383 Mbps of the Wi-Fi 6 routers we examined. A part of the upper throughput charges is the addition of the 6GHz band, however Wi-Fi 7 routers nonetheless outperformed Wi-Fi 6E considerably throughout the board.
In 2026, we’re giving lab awards to the routers which are the perfect at one factor. After we curate our greatest record or editor’s selection awards, we take value and options into consideration. To earn a CNET Lab Award, although, we solely take a look at one metric. On this case, the routers that examined finest for throughput (velocity) and acquired a 2026 Lab Award are:
To see how we ranked routers based mostly on value, options and efficiency, take a look at CNET’s lists of the best Wi-Fi routers, best Wi-Fi 7 routers and best mesh routers.
Jitter and packet loss weren’t affected as a lot by Wi-Fi customary
Wi-Fi 7 routers did not carry out considerably higher in our secondary metrics, jitter and packet loss. Generally, we search for a jitter rating beneath 1 millisecond when evaluating Wi-Fi routers. There have been just a few exceptions — the Netgear Nighthawk RS100 clocked 2.83ms on the 5GHz band — however virtually each router we have examined has come again comfortably beneath this threshold.
Packet loss was a barely completely different story. We usually search for packet loss scores beneath 1%, nonetheless no Wi-Fi customary reached this general on 5GHz. As a result of packet loss is such an vital metric for functions like on-line gaming, it is perhaps value manually switching to 2.4 or 6GHz, if out there, for these actions.
Most dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers aren’t well worth the further price
Router corporations are savvy entrepreneurs, and so they know that for lots of us, our router analysis ends as soon as we see the Wi-Fi customary. Aiming to capitalize on the Wi-Fi 7 hype, a number of manufacturers have began releasing “dual-band” Wi-Fi 7 routers. Which means it is lacking an important side of Wi-Fi 7: Entry to the ultrawide 6GHz band.
The 2 least expensive Wi-Fi 7 routers we examined — TP-Hyperlink’s Deco BE5000 and Deco BE3600 — each price $100 proper now, nevertheless it’s what’s known as “dual-band” within the router world, which suggests it will solely get you on the two.4 and 5GHz bands.
I will not go so far as to say dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers are completely a advertising gimmick — they nonetheless sometimes embody nifty Wi-Fi 7 options like MLO and 4K-QAM modulation — nevertheless it’s a bit like shopping for a brand new gaming console and utilizing your outdated controllers. You may nonetheless get some advantages, however for those who’re already investing, is not it value getting the complete suite of upgrades?
This level jumped out at me after I plotted every router’s complete throughput rating together with its present promoting value within the chart under. The higher proper quadrant is completely tri-band Wi-Fi 7 routers, which means it could possibly use all three bands, together with the 6GHz band.
The Netgear NightHawk RS700S (higher proper quadrant in inexperienced) stood out with a complete throughput rating of 4,346Mbps: 92Mbps on 2.4GHz, 1,586Mbps on 5GHz and an eye-popping 2,668Mbps on 6GHz. Along with the quickest Wi-Fi 7 router that we examined, Netgear additionally had the quickest mesh system. Its Orbi 970 (higher proper quadrant in inexperienced) is technically a quad-band router, because it makes use of 4 distinct bands concurrently by including a devoted 5GHz band to permit the principle router and its satellites to speak.
Within the chart above, you possibly can see the grey and purple coloured dots clustered collectively. These are the dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers and Wi-Fi 6 routers. The twin-band Wi-Fi 7 routers are just about indistinguishable from Wi-Fi 6, and in a few instances, dual-banded Wi-Fi 7 was really costlier and had worse throughput scores.
As a gaggle, the dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers did worse than the Wi-Fi 6E routers (yellow). With Wi-Fi 6E, you should have entry to the 6GHz band, nevertheless it does not include the opposite helpful Wi-Fi 7 options like MLO and 4K-QAM. I might a lot reasonably pay $127 for the quickest Wi-Fi 6E router in our checks, just like the TP-Link Archer AXE75, than shell out for a dual-band router simply because it has a Wi-Fi 7 label on the field. Even the quickest Wi-Fi 6 router, the TP-Link Deco X55 Pro, outperformed all however two of the dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers at a fraction of the value.
There’s extra to routers than uncooked throughput, however the dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers did not distinguish themselves in our jitter, packet loss or sign energy checks, both. The underside line is for those who see “dual-band” subsequent to Wi-Fi 7 in a router description, our take a look at knowledge reveals it isn’t a very good buy.
CNET Labs technician Samantha De Leon makes her means round 61 marked places to check the sign energy of every router.
Wi-Fi 7 routers are costlier. Are they value it?
When Wi-Fi 7 routers first hit the cabinets a few years in the past, the associated fee was round $1,000. Costs have come down loads since then, with a handful out there for beneath $100, although most of these are dual-band routers.
However on the entire, you may nonetheless pay a premium for Wi-Fi 7. Of the 34 routers we examined final yr, Wi-Fi 7 routers had a mean price of $293, in comparison with $124 for Wi-Fi 6E, $178 for Wi-Fi 6 and $53 for Wi-Fi 5. Some higher-end Wi-Fi 7 choices skew these numbers, however there nonetheless aren’t loads of really “finances” Wi-Fi 7 routers out there.
To learn the way a lot bang to your buck you actually get, we divided every router’s value by its throughput rating to present us a “value per Mbps” metric. (We have been using this equation for years at CNET to check web plans.) The outcomes present that there is nonetheless important worth throughout all Wi-Fi requirements.
Our CNET decide for finest general Wi-Fi router, the TP-Link Archer BE550, topped the rankings when value and worth. At $200, it isn’t precisely low cost, nevertheless it delivered a mixed throughput of three,269Mbps throughout all three bands in our testing: 127Mbps on 2.4GHz, 1,259Mbps on 5GHz and 1,882Mbps on 6GHz. That was considerably quicker than a number of routers that price greater than twice as a lot.
If there’s one overarching takeaway from the price-per-Mbps evaluation, it is merely time to go away Wi-Fi 6 routers behind. When you purchase any new gadgets over the lifetime of the router, Wi-Fi 6 will not be capable to unlock its full potential. Whereas cheaper, there is a steep sufficient drop in efficiency that the financial savings are not value it.
There are just a few exceptions. TP-Link’s Deco X55 Pro
and Archer AX21 are each nice worth picks — the AX21 is the the router I use myself — however you are more likely to overpay than you might be with Wi-Fi 6E or 7.
You may want Wi-Fi 7 gadgets for Wi-Fi 7 speeds
One of many major issues to contemplate earlier than shopping for a Wi-Fi 7 router is whether or not you’ve gotten the gadgets to benefit from it. Solely Wi-Fi 7-capable gadgets will be capable to use these fancy options like MLO, 4K-QAM and, most significantly, the 6GHz frequency.
Sign-strength checks are carried out at 61 marked places round CNET Labs for frequency bands. The Wi-Fi image is the placement of every router. Inexperienced signifies a stronger sign, whereas yellow and pink point out a weaker one. The additional you get from the router, the decrease your sign energy and speeds.
When you’ve purchased a brand new system up to now yr, there is a good probability it is Wi-Fi 7-enabled. The most recent Google Pixel 8 and 9 Series each have Wi-Fi 7, as do the newest Microsoft Surface laptops laptops. In different instances, the Wi-Fi 7 query has a fuzzier reply. The iPhone 16 and 17 series are technically Wi-Fi 7 gadgets, however solely help a most of 160MHz channels, not the ultrawide 320MHz that significantly boosted speeds over Wi-Fi 6E.
The underside line
Most individuals in all probability needn’t spend greater than $200 on a standalone Wi-Fi router — the excellent news is our take a look at knowledge reveals you do not have to. The TP-Link Archer BE550 prices $200 and had the perfect price-per-Mbps rating of any router. One other TP-Hyperlink, the Archer AXE75, was the quickest Wi-Fi 6E router general and is at present promoting for $113.
Except for price, although, Wi-Fi 7 is the longer term. (Wi-Fi 8 is coming, however not till 2028.) Wi-Fi 7 routers have been round for greater than two years, and up till now, my recommendation has been to not improve to at least one but. With a price ticket of $600, the Netgear NightHawk RS700S carried out astonishingly nicely in our checks, however most individuals haven’t got wherever close to the variety of gadgets that may require that form of horsepower for that value.
I am beginning to rethink. Two issues have occurred that modified my thoughts: Wi-Fi 7 routers have come down in value considerably, and we’re consuming extra bandwidth than ever. A recent report from the broadband analytics firm OpenVault discovered that the common American family used 767GB per thirty days within the final quarter of 2025, which was 69GB greater than the yr earlier than.
“It is simply mind-boggling, as a result of that was the common utilization 12 to fifteen years in the past,” OpenVault CEO Mark Trudeau advised me of that 69GB bounce. “It is not going to be for much longer earlier than we have crossed the terabyte threshold.”
Wi-Fi 6 routers aren’t prepared for that future. I query whether or not Wi-Fi 6E routers are, both. After spending months with our CNET Labs testing knowledge, Wi-Fi 7 is the one customary I really feel assured will sustain along with your web wants a decade from now. (Simply keep away from the dual-bands.) And with good tri-band Wi-Fi 7 routers out there for lower than $200, it is sensible to spend a bit extra to future-proof your community.
How we measured router efficiency
We have examined over 30 Wi-Fi routers at CNET Labs over the previous yr, and all of them have gone by the identical analysis course of. You’ll be able to learn extra about how we test Wi-Fi routers, however these are the important thing metrics we give attention to:
- Throughput: That is an important knowledge we accumulate on routers. Throughput measures the precise quantity of information {that a} router can transmit over a given time period. It is sometimes measured in megabits per second, or Mbps — the identical unit you may see when looking for web plans. Taking a look at throughput removes the ISP from the equation and spotlights precisely how a lot site visitors a router can deal with without delay. Throughput measurements are taken at three distances from the router: 7 ft, 25 ft and 50 ft.
- Jitter: Jitter measures the variations in latency, or the time it takes for knowledge to reach at its vacation spot. When you’re in a video assembly, and there is a delay in audio or somebody’s video freezes, jitter is the rationale.
- Packet loss: This metric measures the share of packets that failed to succeed in their vacation spot. Consider it like sending a package deal. Jitter tells us the variations in time that it took the package deal to reach; packet loss tells us how usually the package deal didn’t arrive in any respect.
- Sign energy: This take a look at reveals how nicely every Wi-Fi router broadcasts its sign whereas coping with interference from partitions and different electronics in your house. We taped targets at 61 places round our 15,000-square-foot testing facility and carted a laptop computer round to measure the sign at every one.
- Wi-Fi bands: Our CNET Labs engineers took every of the above measurements on each Wi-Fi band out there on every router, for Wi-Fi 5 and 6 routers, which had been restricted to the two.4 and 5GHz bands. On newer Wi-Fi 6E and seven routers, we additionally measured every knowledge level on the 6GHz band.
