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before buying expensive routers check OpenWRT's table of hardware and buy one that is supported by the current OpenWRT release and has decent specs. There is a detailed installation guide for each supported device in the wiki too so there are no excuses it's dead simple. Free yourself from stupid hardware manufacturers and their planed obsolescence products.
- Edit: also here is the new version of the table of hardware with more details They seem to have buyers guide too in the wiki.
- Edit2: seems like GL.iNet devices ship with OpenWRT out of the box with their GUI on top and you still have access to openwrt under the hood if you need it which sounds awesome so look into them if you're interested. Thanks you guys who brought them up.
- Edit3: there is firewall sulotion called OPNSense which is not limited to commercial routers like OpenWRT and can be run on any x86 hardware of your choice (like N100 mini pcs) so look into it if you're interested. Many thanks to the guys who contributed in the comments
- Edit4: Sorry for the multiple edits but some of you guys suggest some fantastic insights that I had to add. Anyways here is a list of good candidate devices for hassle free installation and yet powerful enough hardware from OpenWRT's Forum
- I promise it's gonna be the last Edit. OpenWRT has a official device they made themselves called OpenWRT ONE (I think the second one is also in the works). It hase good specs for home network and you support the project too. Here is the link to official Retailers
Also powerful but I reckon if you're at this level then you already know about it; https://opnsense.org/
As a matter of fact I heard about them but I don't know much about OPNSense. Do they support devices other than ones they sell? They seem to be rather about professional environment not home network am right?
It supports any x86 device you throw at it. I'm running it on a hodgepodge PC I built out of scrap.
Damn I'm sold next step I gonna look into them
Basically OpenWRT is for dedicated, purpose built hardware, highly compact and essentially "embedded". OPNSense is for running a (potentially much more capable) firewall on x86/x64 (even if it's a small specimen like N100 or whatever). They fill a somewhat different role.
Well explained. I get it now
I have Opnsense running on a tiny N100 mini PC from AliExpress for myself, but for my elderly parents I have a OpenWRT based solution from Banana Pi. They insist on always switching off their power completely when they leave the house, and I think OpenWRT handles that much better.
I use it too in a VM, but this doesn't support being installed on routers, right?
It doesn't support being flashed to a low-end commercial router like you'd do with OpenWrt, no. Those tend to require special firmware and binary blobs, hence OpenWrt has to specifically support a model or it likely won't work. It's like flashing Android ROMs.
OpnSense is great if you're in the market for totally owning your own router, though. You can get an N100 box with 2 NICs off of ebay or something and slap OpnSense on that. That's arguably more FOSS than flashing OpenWrt to a cheap commercial router.
You can use on any computer really (with network connections of course).
I use on a minisforum PC with 2 NICs attached to it. For this solution is usually needed APs (which tends to be better in general, just more expensive). There are people that even use opnsense with proxmox (which is a VERY advanced use case) to have the machine for more things.
One interesting detail: with opnsense you can actually have on the same machine adguard for DNS installed as a service for opnsense (and use opnsense to actually force all DNS to to there, as long is not doh, but that is a bit of a different story).
Some routers allow you to turn the router into an AP. I just got my micropc and working on installing OPNSense right now. I plan to switch my current router to AP mode until I can get my hands on a decent AP.
That is for sure a good gap solution. It depends a lot on the space we are talking, and more critically, number of concurrent devices connected. For some use cases converting routers to APS is for sure good enough.
Yeah, great point. We are in a small starter home, only about 10 concurrent Wi-Fi devices. It's working great now, although the Wi-Fi gets a bit spotty in the backyard and detached garage. I will certainly be upgrading when the budget allows.