The Best VPN Routers
Without further ado, here are the best VPN routers you can lay your hands on.
1. Asus RT-AC5300
ASUS RT-AC5300ASUS RT-AC5300 BUY NOW ON AMAZON – $295.11
The Asus RT-AC5300 is a visually impressive router that will make your friends wonder about their inferior router choices. It has eight antennas and can blast wireless signals across 5,000 square feet, making it perfect for anyone with a large home or office.
The RT-AC5300 is a tri-band router that uses Asus’s Smart Connect feature to level out demand. This means the router switches between 5GHz bands to make sure there is no network congestion.
In addition, the router packs a decent 1.4GHz dual-core CPU with a similarly decent 512MB RAM, has eight Gigabit Ethernet ports for cable connections, and uses MU-MIMO for better speeds with multiple devices. Another bonus is the USB 3.0 port for external storage devices, as well as a USB 2.0 port too.
This VPN router is an excellent choice for network intensive environments, or even just large, bandwidth-hungry families, albeit at a high cost. The RT-AC5300 supports DD-WRT but not Tomato.
- Purchase without VPN provider or custom firmware via Amazon
- Purchase with DD-WRT custom firmware via FlashRouters
2. Netgear Nighthawk R7000
Netgear Nighthawk R7000Netgear Nighthawk R7000 BUY NOW ON AMAZON – $109.00
The Netgear Nighthawk R7000 is one of the cheapest options on this VPN router list. But cheap VPN router status aside, the Nighthawk R7000 is well worth your time. The R7000 features a 1GHz dual-core processor with 256MB RAM, as well as four gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB 3.0 port, and a USB 2.0 port.
The Nighthawk R7000 is a dual-band router, allowing it to switch seamlessly between bands. Also, the router has several Quality of Service (QoS) features to boost streaming and data throughput. For instance, you can optimize traffic for video streaming or online gaming, and so on. You also get some NAS functionality through Netgear’s ReadyShare technology, allowing you to use a large external drive as a basic NAS.
This isn’t the fastest or most powerful router on the list (most models have 802.11ac mode, but some only have “b/g/n”—do not buy any router without at least “n”). But the Nighthawk R7000 provides a cheap entry-level VPN router experience, especially if you purchase the router and flash the firmware yourself. The Nighthawk R7000 supports DD-WRT and Tomato, as well as other custom firmware. It also looks cool.
- Purchase without VPN provider or custom firmware via Amazon
- Purchase with ExpressVPN with DD-WRT custom firmware via FlashRouters
- Purchase with DD-WRT custom firmware via FlashRouters
- Purchase without VPN provider with Sabai OS custom firmware via Sabai Technology
3. Asus RT-AC86U
Asus RT-AC86UAsus RT-AC86U BUY NOW ON AMAZON – $182.99
The Asus RT-AC86U is a powerful dual-band VPN router featuring 512MB RAM and a 1.8GHz dual-core processor. It comes with three high-power antennas that broadcast over a huge area, as well as packing in NitroQAM technology to boost your data transmission rates by utilizing extra wireless band capacity.
The RT-AC86U features four Gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB 3.0 port, and a USB 2.0 port. You can use Asus’s AiPlayer and AiDisk as a media server and file server in conjunction with an external hard-drive, doubling up as a NAS of sorts.
But best of all, the Asus RT-AC86U is easy to set up with your own custom VPN router firmware, with support for Asuswrt-Merlin (a customized version of Asus’s existing firmware), Tomato, and DD-WRT variants. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a retail option with a pre-installed VPN provider and custom firmware. However, there are several tutorials online that will guide you through.
- Purchase without VPN provider or custom firmware via Amazon
