“Gaming router” is more of a marketing term than a legitimate designation. Sometimes it tells you the router comes with gaming features like device prioritization, but often it just means flashy lights and futuristic designs. Don’t fall for it. The main metric you should pay attention to is jitter, which tells you how often your gaming experience will be interrupted by lag. We tested 31 of the top Wi-Fi routers to find the ones that remove lag from the equation as much as possible.

What’s the best gaming router of 2025?

The best gaming router for most people is the . It’s a Wi-Fi 6E router, which means you’ll get access to the same ultrawide 6GHz band that Wi-Fi 7 routers use. More importantly, the Velop Pro 6E had the lowest overall jitter scores of any router we tested — the most important ingredient to a lag-free gaming experience. 

Linksys Velop Pro 6E

Best gaming router overall

Avantaje: 
-Lowest all-around jitter and packet loss scores
-Access to the ultrawide 6GHz band
-Great price for a tri-band router
-Minimalist design that blends in with surroundings
-Solid range for a single router
-Three-year warranty

Contra:
-Throughput scores were mediocre overall
-Bare-bones quality of service (QoS) settings

Why I like it: While it’s marketed as a mesh system, the Linksys Velop Pro 6E is a great deal as a standalone router, too. It’s almost unheard of to see a tri-band router for under $150. You usually have to pay a premium to get access to the ultrawide 6GHz band, and while it’s not as wide as the 6GHz band on Wi-Fi 7 routers, the Velop Pro 6E still returned speeds of 628 megabits per second through it. I also loved how low-profile this router looks. With a clean, all-white design, this is one router I wouldn’t be tempted to hide behind the couch. 

Who is it for: Gamers, pure and simple. The Velop Pro 6E was absolutely elite where it counts for online gaming: jitter and packet loss. It had a jitter score of 0.19ms on the 2.4GHz band, 0.02ms on 5GHz and 0.05ms on 6GHz — all well under the 30ms that’s considered good for online gaming. Its packet loss scores were also exceptional, clocking in at 0.06% on 2.4GHz, 3.06% on 5GHz and 0.05% on 6GHz. No matter which band you’re gaming on, you’ll get a seamless experience. 

Who shouldn’t buy it: If you’re not going to be doing any gaming at all, there are better routers out there. The Velop Pro 6E was actually fairly pedestrian when it came to throughput, ranking in the bottom third of wireless routers on all three bands. That’s still plenty of speed for gaming — especially if you’re relatively close to the router — but there are better routers out there if you don’t need to prioritize ultra-low jitter.

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D-Link Aquila Pro M30

Best budget gaming router

Avantaje: 
-Excellent jitter scores, especially on the 5GHz band
-Can add other D-Link routers to create a mesh system
-Four gigabit Ethernet ports
-Works with Alexa and Google Assistant

Contra:
-Limited range on 5GHz 
-Throughput scores were average on both bands

Why I like it:

While it’s marketed as a mesh system, the D-Link Aquila M30 works just fine as a standalone router. Its test results didn’t exactly jump off the screen, but for a cheap gaming router under $100, you won’t find better performance. 

Who it’s for:

The D-Link M30 is strong where it matters for gamers: jitter and packet loss. It brought in a jitter score of 0.03ms on the 5GHz band, which was behind only our best overall gaming router, the Linksys Velop Pro 6E. Its packet loss scores overall weren’t quite as impressive — 0.11% on 2.4GHz and 6.38% on 5GHz — but at a close range or through a wired connection, you likely won’t experience any issues. 

Who shouldn’t buy it: If you live in a bigger home or will be gaming in another room than your router, it’s probably worth spending a little more on a mesh system or the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro, our pick for the best gaming router for larger homes. That’s because the D-Link M30 returned pretty weak signal strength results — especially on the 5GHz band.

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Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX6000

Best Wi-Fi 6 gaming router

Avantaje: 
-World-class performance on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands 
-Only one router had a lower jitter score on the 5GHz band — perfect if you want to prioritize work or gaming
-Endlessly customizable settings for gaming
-Dedicated gaming Ethernet port

Contra:
-Designed for gamers — and it looks like it
-No 6GHz band, so you won’t be able to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7
-Signal was easily blocked by walls on the 2.4GHz band

Why I like it:

This thing just works. The test results jumped off the screen: it was the only wireless router to score top five on both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands in our throughput tests, which measure how fast a router can transmit data to a device wirelessly. The 5GHz band was particularly impressive. We established a baseline of 939Mbps through a wired connection on 5GHz; when we moved the GT-AX6000 50 feet away, it barely budged at 927Mbps. For comparison, the Netgear NightHawk RS700 — a router that costs more than twice as much — only got 80Mbps from that distance. It also clocked a near-zero 0.03 jitter score on the 5GHz band. In other words, the time it takes for an action to register on the screen is nearly instantaneous. That’s the kind of performance that’s worth paying a little extra for. 

Who is it for: 

The GT-AX6000 comes with a ton of nice bells and whistles for gamers — WAN and LAN aggregation, game console prioritization, simple port forwarding — but this router checked every box in general. It also has the latest WPA3 network security standard, automatic firmware updates and parental controls that let you filter websites and apps on specific devices. 

Who shouldn’t buy it: If you only have a handful of devices connected to the internet at a time, you probably don’t need to shell out $220 for a high-performing router. I also wasn’t crazy about this router’s design. All the red lights made me feel like I was mainlining Mountain Dew Code Red. There are some clever ways to hide a wireless router without blocking its signal, like stashing it in a crate or wicker basket, but I wouldn’t hold it against anyone who thought this was too much aesthetically. The main drawback from a technical standpoint is that it doesn’t give you access to the ultrawide 6GHz band. For that, you’ll need to shell out for a pricier Wi-Fi 6E or 7 router. 

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Asus RT-AX86U Pro

Best gaming router for larger homes

Avantaje: 
-Impressive range for a single router
-Excellent throughput performance, even at longer distances
-Incredibly low jitter scores on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands
-Can add another ASUS router to create a mesh system
-Four 1Gbps LAN ports with a dedicated “gaming port”

Contra:
-No 6GHz band, so it doesn’t take full advantage of Wi-Fi 7 devices
-Packet loss was relatively high — especially on the 5GHz band 

Why I like it: It all comes down to range. The signal strength maps pictured above might not look like much, but the Asus RT-AX86U Pro outperformed nearly every other wireless router we tested. Speeds barely dropped off when we moved further away from the router — 906Mbps on the 5GHz band from 50 feet away, compared to a baseline of 939Mbps with a wired connection. It also comes with every network security feature we looked for: WPA3 certification, automatic firmware updates and adjustable parental controls.

Who is it for: Anyone living in a larger home with multiple floors. Short of investing in a full-fledged mesh system that utilizes multiple routers, this is as good as I’ve seen a router perform when it comes to travelling through walls and across vast spaces. If your home is more than 2,500 square feet, you might still need a mesh system or Extensor Wi-Fi to completely eliminate dead zones, but the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro has such strong throughput performance to begin with, you might not even notice the dropoff across rooms. 

Who shouldn’t buy it: Even though it’s marketed toward gamers, I would steer them to our best overall or best gaming router picks. That’s because the RT-AX86U Pro had higher packet loss scores than I would have liked, falling in the bottom third of Wi-Fi routers we tested. It was still in the range that’s considered acceptable for most internet users, but gamers might notice a frozen screen or moments of high lag on the 5GHz band.

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Factors to consider when buying a gaming router

There’s a lot of jargon to wade through when you’re comparing gaming routers. Is it worth splurging on one that supports the new Wi-Fi 7 standard? Does your home require a mesh system or will a single router do the job? What in the world is 4K-QAM modulation? That’s what I wanted to know, so I dug into the details on a personal quest to find the best router for gaming.

Before buying any gaming routers, I recommend looking at CNET’s beginner’s guide to gaming lag to see how you can reduce your latency. You may not need a new router at all, and in many cases, moving your wireless router to a different spot or adjusting the antennas of your current router could improve your network and your online gaming performance. 

If you’ve tried all that and your gaming connection still needs an upgrade, here are some key things to keep in mind when shopping for routers.

Wi-Fi technology

These days, you’ll mostly see three Wi-Fi standards when shopping for a Wi-Fi router: Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. (Some Wi-Fi 5 routers are still on the market, but you can safely pass them by at this point.) These numbers refer to the generation of standards; Wi-Fi 7 is the seventh iteration of Wi-Fi standards. 

All of these standards were developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a worldwide association of technical professionals. When a device uses the latest standard, an organization called the Wi-Fi Alliance gives its stamp of approval to devices that meet its qualifications. 

• Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be): Uses 2.4, 5 and 6GHz bands and doubles the channel size of the 6GHz band from 160 to 320MHz. A typical Wi-Fi 7 laptop could reach “potential maximum” speeds of 5.8Gbps — 2.4 times faster than the 2.4Gbps possible with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, according to Intel. Multi-Link Operation (MLO) also allows Wi-Fi 7 devices to simultaneously connect on two bands, providing improved reliability and ultra-low latency.
• Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax): The first Wi-Fi standard to add in the 6GHz band along with 2.4 and 5GHz. 
• Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax): A massive upgrade over Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 was the first standard to allow your router to divide the channel it’s using — 2.4 or 5GHz —  to send its signals through smaller frequency allocations. This allowed for much faster speeds than the previous gen.
• Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac): Wi-Fi 5 used the 5GHz band exclusively. It was the first Wi-Fi standard to exceed 1Gbps maximum speeds, but its range is significantly less than Wi-Fi 6. 

If that sounds confusing, you’re not alone. The jump from Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7 has been particularly technical. Even though both use the newly opened 6GHz band, only Wi-Fi 7 routers will get the MLO feature. 

“Whenever I spoke with the Wi-Fi Alliance, they always tried to make people forget that Wi-Fi 6E even existed,” said Nicholas De Leon, a reporter covering routers for Consumer Reports (no relation to CNET’s Samantha De Leon). “It was kind of a stopgap, band-aid solution while on the road to Wi-Fi 7.”

As if that wasn’t confusing enough, some Wi-Fi 7 routers don’t even use the 6GHz band. Our pick for the best budget Wi-Fi 7 router, the Netgear NightHawk RS100, is one of them. It’s one of the growing wave of “dual-band” Wi-Fi 7 routers, which is a bit of a stretch since they’re missing the most important part of the equation. 

But Wi-Fi 7 is about more than the 6GHz band, said David Coleman, director of wireless networking at Extreme Networks.

“Wi-Fi 7 introduces several key upgrades that set it apart from tri-band Wi-Fi 6E routers,” Coleman said in an email. “For example, Wi-Fi 7 supports 320 MHz-wide channels  — double the size of the widest channels in Wi-Fi 6E — meaning it can deliver much higher data rates. It also brings 4K-QAM modulation, boosting transmission efficiency by up to 20% compared to Wi-Fi 6E.”

Keep in mind that you’ll need both a Wi-Fi 7 router and a Wi-Fi 7 device to take advantage of the standard’s improvements. When Wi-Fi 7 was officially launched in January 2024, very few devices could actually utilize it. Today, that list has expanded tremendously and includes the latest iPhones, Microsoft Surface laptops and PS5 Pro. 

These Wi-Fi standards are backward compatible, so a Wi-Fi 7 router will still work with a device that only has Wi-Fi 6. Likewise, you can use a Wi-Fi 6 router to game on a PS5 Pro — you just won’t be able to fully take advantage of its improved speeds.

Ethernet ports

Ethernet ports allow you to plug in a device directly to your router. A wired connection is inherently much stronger than Wi-Fi; in one test, a CNET writer got 395Mbps download speeds through Ethernet and 126Mbps through Wi-Fi. If there’s one device — like a gaming console or PC — that you absolutely want to get the best connection to, an Ethernet cable is the way to go. These are often marketed as “gigabit Ethernet ports,” which means they’re capable of delivering gigabit speeds through a wired connection. The more ports a router has, the more devices you can connect this way. 

Band support 

You’ll primarily see two types of gaming routers: tri-band and dual-band. Tri-band routers operate on the 2.4, 5 and 6GHz channels, while dual-band routers only use 2.4 and 5GHz. The 6GHz band is the key upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers, but router companies are increasingly selling dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers. These don’t get you on 6GHz, but they do have other Wi-Fi 7 features like MLO and 4K QAM. It’s a bit of a stretch to call these dual-band routers Wi-Fi 7 when they’re missing the 6GHz band, but they’re usually much cheaper than true tri-band Wi-Fi 7 routers.

Gaming-specific features

The main feature that separates gaming routers from regular old Wi-Fi routers is quality of service (QoS) or bandwidth prioritization. This allows you to prioritize traffic to a specific device like a gaming console or PC, ensuring that it will always be first in line for your network’s fastest speeds. 

Some are more advanced than others. Our pick for the best Wi-Fi 6 gaming router, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX6000, comes equipped with Game Boost, an ASUS-specific QoS that prioritizes game data. In general, these features are best for the network nerds among us. Even if you don’t mess with them, a quality gaming router should still deliver a fast, lag-free gaming experience.

Processor and RAM

The processor in a Wi-Fi router is like its brain. It determines how well it can manage your network’s traffic and perform multiple tasks simultaneously. All of our top picks use a quad-core processor (when publicly listed), which is the standard in 2025. Not all quad-core processors are created equal, though. The A73 processor used by the Eero Max 7, for instance, is considered significantly more advanced than the A53 processor used in the Eero Pro 6E. 

A router’s storage capacity can also impact how well it performs. This is usually broken up into RAM and flash. RAM, short for random-access memory, affects the router’s ability to process data, while flash storage typically houses the router’s settings. 

Range and coverage 

Will a single gaming router be able to broadcast a Wi-Fi signal throughout your entire home? No matter how good the router, you’ll always see a significant speed dropoff in rooms far away from the router. 

Many Wi-Fi routers list coverage areas north of 5,000 square feet, but I recommend switching to a mesh system if your home is larger than 2,500 square feet. That said, it’s a matter of percentages. If you have a multi-gig internet plan, you’ll still get plenty of speed for streaming TV or browsing social media in a far corner of a 5,000 square foot home. But you’ll probably have issues if you’re only starting with 100Mbps.

Additionally, the type of home you live in — not just the size — can impact your Wi-Fi signal.

“A lot of it depends upon housing construction,” said De Leon. “I’ve got family down in Puerto Rico and Florida where a lot of the houses are concrete, and that obviously just destroys Wi Fi signals.”

Network security and protection

Any router you look at should have WPA3 certification at a minimum. This is the most recent security protocol issued by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and it ensures that the router follows best practices that make passwords harder to crack and encrypt data. 

“Honestly, as long as it has WPA3, that’s probably the big security thing to look for,” said De Leon.

He also recommended looking for routers that support automatic firmware updates. Not all of the routers CNET recommends automatically update their firmware. One of the manufacturers I spoke with said they’ve received “quite vocal feedback from the community” against them, as they can affect network performance. Whether it’s automatic or not, the main thing to know is that the manufacturer regularly issues updates, and that they’re easy to install. 

Mobile apps and user interface

All of the gaming routers we recommend come with a mobile app that helps you control your home network. This is essential for things like setting up your Wi-Fi network, updating your router’s firmware and utilizing gaming features. I didn’t notice a lot of separation between the apps on the gaming routers we tested, but this could impact your experience if you plan on customizing your network to prioritize gaming devices.

Parental controls

Parental controls are pretty standard on Wi-Fi routers these days, and that includes the gaming routers I recommend above. These can be accessed through the router’s app and allow you to automatically restrict access to specific websites or any adult content. You can often set up a schedule where a device can access Wi-Fi as well, or even set daily limits. 

Number of antennas and placement options

You’d think the more antennas a Wi-Fi router has, the stronger you can expect its signal strength to be, but the router with the best signal strength scores in our testing was the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro, which only has three external and one internal antenna. External antennas allow you to direct the Wi-Fi signal toward specific areas in your home, but I didn’t see much of a difference in performance between internal and external antenna routers. 

More important is the placement of the router. It should ideally be a few feet off the ground, in a central location of your home and away from any walls or electronics. 

How we test gaming routers

CNET uses custom-made scripts to carry out our testing and data analysis. We focus on three main measurements when testing routers: speed, reliability and distance. We want to know how well a router will translate the internet coming in from your provider to a wireless connection, and we want to know how far it can do it — even with obstacles like walls and floors in the way. To capture all three of these, we conduct two types of tests: data throughput and signal strength measurements. 

CNET’s testing is unique because we remove the internet provider from the equation entirely. Even the most reliable internet connections are fairly erratic: factors like time of day, network congestion and even the condition of your neighborhood’s broadband infrastructure can all affect your internet speed. To make sure these variables didn’t skew our analysis of each router, we set up a separate server to measure the raw throughput of data from the router to a device, bypassing the need for an internet connection entirely.  

Learn more: How We Test Wi-Fi Routers

Data throughput tests

To see how fast a router will perform in real-world conditions, we measure its throughput, or the volume of data that a router actually transmits during a period of time. All Wi-Fi signals travel through 2.5GHz and 5GHz radio frequencies — that’s why most routers you’ll see are referred to as “dual-band.” (Tri-band routers use an extra set of channels in the 6GHz band.) 

To start, we conduct a wired measurement on the 2.5GHz, 5GHz and, when available, 6GHz bands to establish a baseline. This is as fast as throughput can get for the router over each band, so it’s a good point of comparison for our wireless tests. From there, we take five different wireless throughput measurements, 60 seconds each, mimicking a household with five devices connected to the router with different throughput needs. These wireless measurements are taken from three different distances from the router: 7 feet, 25 feet and 50 feet. 

As any online gamer or remote worker can tell you, speed isn’t the only factor in evaluating routers. Just as important is jitter, which measures the variations in latency, or the time it takes for data to arrive at its destination. When you’re in a video meeting and there’s a delay in audio or someone’s video freezes, jitter is the culprit. We felt jitter was a better measure than latency when evaluating a router, as average latency can show up in testing as low, even when an internet connection is glitchy.  

These tests also captured packet loss, which tells us whether any data failed to reach its destination during the test. You’ll often see packet loss as a frozen video screen or a garbled voice during a video call. With both packet loss and jitter, a lower score is better.

Signal strength

The second step in our testing is to measure each router’s wireless signal strength and broadcasting capability. To capture this, we used NetSpot, a wireless site survey and analysis tool. This test also shows how well a router handles interference from other objects and networks you’d find in your home, like TVs or your neighbor’s Wi-Fi. CNET’s labs have many electronics being tested around the facility, and it shares walls with other businesses, so there’s plenty of interference for a router to work through. 

We taped targets in 61 locations around CNET’s 12,500-square-foot testing facility to see how well each router transmitted data through obstacles like walls and electronics. As expected, the 2.4GHz band had better range than the 5GHz band, which sends a stronger signal at a closer range. 

In the signal strength maps, the numbers refer to decibels relative to a milliwatt (dBm), and they indicate how strong the Wi-Fi signal is at a given location. A value like -55 dBm is considered strong enough and typically correlates with high throughput. Here’s how to interpret the numbers on signal strength maps:

• -15 dBm – Extremely strong (almost on top of the router)
• -30 dBm – Excellent signal
• -45 dBm – Very good signal
• -60 dBm – Good, supports most tasks
• -75 dBm – Weak, may see drops in speed/stability
• < -80 dBm – Very poor, likely unstable or unusable

In the example above, the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro never dipped below -55dBm — even when it was on the other side of the 12,500 square foot lab. That’s incredible range for a standalone Wi-Fi router. 

Other gaming routers we tested

In total, we tested 31 routers at CNET’s lab in this initial round, and we’re constantly trying out new models as they become available. Here are some other top performers for gaming that barely missed the cut. 

Eero Max 7: This was CNET’s pick for the best Wi-Fi 7 router overall, but with a steep price tag of $600, I couldn’t recommend it in good conscience for gamers specifically. While its data throughput scores were exceptional on all three bands, it was disappointing when it came to jitter and packet loss, where it ranked well behind our top choices for gaming routers.

Netgear Nighthawk RS700S: This was the fastest router we tested on the 6GHz band, but it finished near last place on 5GHz. That might not be a big deal if all your devices are Wi-Fi 7 compatible, but that’s not the case for most of us. If you’re going to spend $500 on a router, the Eero Max 7 is a more well-rounded choice. 

Netgear Nighthawk RS300: There’s a ton of value here. A tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router for under $300 is a rarity, and the Nighthawk RS300 delivered on every single band. Ultimately, the Eero Max 7 was slightly faster on every single band and had better all-around jitter and packet loss results, so it earned our top pick for the best Wi-Fi 7 router. But at half the cost, the Nighthawk RS300 isn’t a huge step down in performance.   

Synology WRX50: This Wi-Fi router actually scored first place in our 2.4GHz tests, earning a throughput score of 127Mbps. It’s everywhere else that it lagged behind. It was the 19th fastest router on the 5GHz band, and its packet loss scores were close to the bottom. That might be forgivable for a budget router, but at $220, the WRX50 is definitely not that.

TP-Link Archer AX21: At $70, this was one of the cheapest Wi-Fi routers we tested, and it generally performed like it. It ranked 20th in throughput on the 2.4GHz band and 17th on 5GHz. That sounds pretty mediocre, but it translates to 700Mbps on 5GHz — far more horsepower than most homes need — and its signal strength was impressive, too. I still think it’s worth paying $20 more for the TP-Link Deco X55 Pro, but if you’re looking for the absolute cheapest gaming router you can find that still works, the AX21 is a worthy option. 

TP-Link Archer AXE75: A tri-band Wi-Fi 6E router for $130 sounds a little too good to be true. In fact, TP-Link is currently being investigated by the Justice Department for potentially selling goods below cost (more on that here). But there’s no denying this router’s value. It performed well on all three bands, and while it’s missing some of the newer features of Wi-Fi 7, it still gets you access to the ultrawide 6GHz band for an incredible price. 

Gaming router FAQs