The Fastest Gaming Routers in 2024

These are the 5 fastest and most advanced gaming routers currently available on the market!

Fastest Gaming Routers

Please note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I also work with other affiliate partners and may be compensated from the links below. Details here.

As our lives become increasingly intertwined with the internet, networking technology constantly evolves to meet the challenge.

Few areas have made that fact more apparent than network solutions designed to deal with the massive amount of gaming-related data being dispersed to hardcore gamers like you.

Whether you’re downloading a game in excess of 100GBs or engaging at the highest levels of cutthroat competitive games like Call of Duty Warzone, you’ll need a router that can handle both of these things and even occasionally both of them at the same time.

So, if you’re looking for networking equipment that is up to the task, here are the 5 fastest gaming routers in 2024, reviewed and compared.

Fastest Gaming Routers in 2024 Round-Up

The table below will give you a quick look at the five fastest gaming routers currently available on the market. To read a full review, simply click on ‘review>>’ in the respective row.

Product

Image

Rating

1. Asus ROG Rapture (GT-AXE16000)

''Fastest Gaming Router in 2024''

9.8

2. TP-Link Archer AXE300

''Fastest Gaming Router Runner-up''

9.7

3. Netgear Nighthawk (RAXE500)

''Fastest Tri-band Router''

9.6

4. Asus ROG Rapture (GT-AX11000)

''Fastest WiFi 6 Router''

9.4

5. TP-Link Archer AX10000

''Honorable Mention''

9.3



1. Asus ROG Rapture (GT-AXE16000)

Network Standard: WiFi 6, WiFi 6E (802.11ax) | Processor: Quad-core Processor 2.0 GHz | Memory: 256MB + 2GB RAM | Operating Frequency: Quad-band – 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz-1, 5 GHz-2, 6 GHz | Ports: 1x 2.5 Gigabit WAN Port, 2x 10 Gigabit WAN/LAN Ports, 4x Gigabit LAN Ports, 2x USB | Weight: 5.3 lb / 2.4 kg

Asus ROG Rapture (GT-AXE16000)

REASONS TO BUY

  • Fastest gaming router on the market
  • Premium build quality
  • Packed to the brim with useful features
  • Double 10 Gbps ports
  • Supports the latest WiFi 6E
  • Fastest wireless speeds on the market
  • Quad-band design improves throughput
  • Attractive design with RGB

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Heavy and bulky
  • The price is very hard to justify

Our Rating:   9.8/10

Asus has an entire line of products dedicated to gamers under their ROG (Republic of Gamers) label. The absolutely monstrous Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 is part of that line, and it’s currently the fastest gaming router in the world.

As such, it’s most definitely aimed at gamers who need the best performance at any cost. And with the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000, there certainly is a high price to pay. Is it worth it? Let’s find out.

Asus is marketing the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 as “the world’s first quad-band gaming router”, and it certainly feels like a newsworthy event when you take this thing out of its box.

Aside from the standard pamphlets, a power adapter, and a high-quality ethernet cable, you have the ROG Rapture itself. It makes a pretty solid first impression, as experiencing its 5.3 lb bulk instantly instills a sense of power and quality.

And if the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 should be known for anything, it is its power and quality. The specs for the device are top-of-the-line: a 2GHz quad-core CPU, WiFi 6E 802.11ax, a 6GHz band, and two 10G ports with additional 2.5G WAN support if you choose to hardwire multi-gigabit-capable devices to this router. Its 4 bands consist of one 6GHz band, two 5GHz bands that can all reach max speeds of 4,804MBps, and a 2.4GHz band that can reach 1,148MBps.

For most people, that’s just a bunch of letters and numbers, so let us boil it down for you: you won’t have any issues relying on the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 for all of your internet needs across the many devices in your home, regardless of what each device is doing–As long as you keep in mind the limitations of the technology, of course.

Under the right conditions, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 is an amazing performer. If you have gigabit or fiber internet service and devices that support the 6GHz band, you can expect download speeds in excess of 1,400MBps over both the 5G bands as well as the 6G band, as we did in our testing.

This is fantastic if the devices you primarily use are in the same room or at least in close proximity behind as few walls as possible. Due to the nature of 5Ghz and 6Ghz, the speed of the service delivered to other devices drops off steeply with distance and obstruction.

We got less than 1/4th of the speed on the same floor of a house, at the opposite end of a room, and through one wall. 300Mbps is still plenty fast, but it’s definitely not what you’re paying for with this device.

To make up for this, the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 features Asus’ AiMesh technology, which can allow it to use its 2.4GHz or 6GHz as a backhaul channel to create a mesh network with other devices that support AiMesh. This is a great feature that can allow you to get the most out of the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 in one room of the house, perhaps the office or game room, while also providing fast, stable service in other areas of a large house.

An Asus ROG product wouldn’t be complete without gamer-centric features, and the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 definitely has plenty of those. This includes their “triple-level game acceleration”, which is Asus’ method of identifying and prioritizing gaming data over other types of data that might be in use at the same time, such as video streaming. If you find your games lagging often due to others in your house watching Netflix or YouTube, this feature could be a literal lifesaver.

Despite everything the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 offers to hardcore competitive gamers, we really just can’t recommend it. The price of the device is just too high, and the 6GHz technology it’s touting isn’t mature enough to justify that cost, especially with its limitations as described.

With that being said, if you have more money than sense, by all means, get the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000; it’s by far the fastest and probably the most fully-featured gaming router out there.

View On Amazon



2. TP-Link Archer AXE300

Network Standard: WiFi 6, WiFi 6E (802.11ax) | Processor: Quad-core Processor 2.0 GHz | Memory: 1GB RAM | Operating Frequency: Quad-band – 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz-1, 5 GHz-2, 6 GHz | Ports: 1x 2.5 Gigabit WAN Port, 2x 10 Gigabit WAN/LAN Ports, 4x Gigabit LAN Ports, 1x USB | Weight: 3.8 lb / 1.7 kg

TP-Link Archer AXE300

REASONS TO BUY

  • Excellent speeds across the board
  • Powerful hardware 
  • Double 10 Gbps ports
  • Support for the latest WiFi 6E
  • Second fastest WiFi 6E speeds 
  • One of the few quad-band routers available
  • Premium build quality
  • Attractive aesthetics

REASONS TO AVOID

  • No gaming-focused features
  • Still very pricey
  • Only one USB port (compared to ASUS’ two)
  • Bulky and heavy

Our Rating:   9.7/10

TP-Link is perhaps not as popular as companies like Linksys or Netgear when it comes to modems and routers, but they still create some very impressive devices that are worth checking out.

One of those devices is the TP-Link Archer AXE300, and while it’s not specifically marketed toward gamers and doesn’t have any gaming-specific features, it definitely has the performance to support your most intense gaming sessions and strenuous downloads simultaneously. Let’s see if the TP-Link Archer AXE300 lands a bullseye in this review.

The TP-Link Archer AXE300 supports the latest WiFi 6E 6GHz wireless band, and it’s powerful enough to deliver the maximum speed of 4,804MBps to that band as well as its two 5GHz (also 4,804MBps) and single 2.4GHz bands (1,148MBps), at the same time.

This is thanks to the router’s 2.0GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM, in addition to the device’s 8 powerful antennas that surround it. The combined throughput of all of these bands is around 16,000MBps, which is in line with other quad-band, 6GHz routers like the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000.

Like the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000, the TP-Link Archer AXE300 also includes a number of extra ports for multi-gigabit hardwiring with two 10G and one 2.5G ethernet port. These will only be useful to you with the right PC hardware and in certain use cases, such as NAS implementations. Most consumer electronics like smartphones and game consoles don’t support this technology yet, though they might in the future.

In terms of actual performance, the TP-Link Archer AXE300 crushes. In a setting with as few obstacles as possible, we saw 1,300-1,400MBps in download speed. However, this is with multi-gig internet service over the 6GHz band, which is very new and very limited.

A distance of more than 20 feet results in a steep drop in performance, and the signal of the 6GHz band has trouble penetrating surfaces, so good luck if you’re hoping to use the signal provided by this band through any number of walls. The 5GHz bands fare better in this respect, and they should serve you just fine in any part of a small to medium-sized house.

For features, the TP-Link Archer AXE300 is admittedly a little light. As mentioned, there are no gaming-focused features like packet prioritization, but there is the TP-Link OneMesh feature that can allow this router to join a mesh system of other TP-Link products, extending your coverage to the farthest reaches of a large house.

While this is great for getting rid of dead zones, mesh technology is typically not good for maintaining high speeds across access points and was all but useless for the Archer AXE300’s 6GHz band, which is the device’s main selling point. Also, OneMesh is only usable with TP-Link’s own Wi-Fi range extenders, so no using that spare router you already have in your office.

Overall, the TP-Link Archer AXE300 is an incredible wireless router for just about any purpose, including gaming. Going with this router will future-proof your home for the future of 6GHz devices while giving you plenty of power to handle everyday tasks with as many devices as you can throw at it.

Additional features like OneMesh and the HomeShield security and parental controls are largely ignorable but can be useful if you need them. While this router isn’t the best choice for gamers, we would still recommend it for its strong performance and lower price compared to the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000, though it is by no means cheap.

View On Amazon



3. Netgear Nighthawk (RAXE500)

Network Standard: WiFi 6, WiFi 6E (802.11ax) | Processor: Quad-core Processor 1.8 GHz | Memory: 512MB + 1GB RAM | Operating Frequency: Tri-band – 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz | Ports: 1x 2.5/1 Gigabit Port (configurable), 5x Gigabit Ports, 2x USB | Weight: 3.2 lb / 1.5 kg

Netgear Nighthawk (RAXE500)

REASONS TO BUY

  • Fastest tri-band router on the market
  • Supports the latest WiFi 6E
  • Comparable WiFi 6E speeds to the best routers
  • One multi-gigabit port
  • Double USB ports
  • Supports link aggregation
  • Unique design

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Premium price
  • Security software requires a monthly subscription fee
  • No 10 Gbps port
  • Lesser throughput in comparison to the fastest routers 

Our Rating:   9.6/10

Netgear is one of the premier companies in the networking industry, and for good reason. They consistently make excellent products that deliver on the promises their marketing makes. With the dawn of a new generation of WiFi, the company unleashed the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 into a world that requires stronger connections and higher speeds all the time.

This router is aimed at internet power users who want a top-of-the-line experience and are willing to pay for it, and that means that this router is designed to handle everything from intense 4K streaming to gaming. Let’s see how it stacks up in this review.

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 packs a lot of power into its surprisingly elegant frame. It is a WiFi 6E tri-band router that has a 5GHz band capable of up to 4,804MBps, a 6GHz band capable of up to 4,804MBps, and a 2.4GHz band capable of up to 1,148MBps.

In total, the combined throughput of these three bands gives the router a 10.8GBps throughput, which is not as high as other routers we have tested, most notably the TP-Link Archer AXE300 and the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000. It’s worth noting that those routers are quad-band while the RAXE500 is just tri-band.

Further, the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 has a total of four 1G ports and one 2.5G port for wired connections to devices like gaming consoles, which perform as you would expect. It’s a wired connection, so it’s as stable as possible, and the speed is as advertised, which is what you want if you’re using the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 as a gaming router for the best possible service.

One of the most notable shortcomings of this router, compared to the fastest offerings from ASUS and TP-Link, is the absence of even a single 10 Gbps port. While 2.5 Gbps is more than enough for today’s standards, not having a 10 Gbps port can severely limit you in the future.

The entire system runs on a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU, which is slower than the processor in the Archer AXE300 but still provides plenty of grunt for most uses.

With optimal conditions, including close proximity, no obstructions, and multi-gig internet service, the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 achieved download speeds of roughly 1,350MBps over the 6GHz band and about 1,200MBps over the 5GHz band.

As with all routers, this performance will not hold up if you place the router in a corner of your house and try to use it through several floors and walls. However, even the 300-400MBps you’d see in that situation would be sufficient for many purposes, including high-end competitive gaming.

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 includes some extra features like Netgear Armor, which is a comprehensive security suite for all of the devices connected to your network. Unfortunately, this does have a considerable yearly subscription cost.

Additionally, there is the Nighthawk App that makes managing the router and its settings a breeze. It’s very fast, fluid, and easy to use, even if you aren’t particularly good with technology.

Something worth noting about the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 is its design. The Archer AXE300 and the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 both feature 8 massive antennas that stick out and don’t necessarily make the device easy to place in a normal home, but the Nighthawk RAXE500 is sleek and hides its 8 antennas in wing-like protrusions that give it a design like a spaceship from Star Wars.

If you’re looking for a fast, powerful router for gaming that doesn’t scream at you with its design, then the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 might be the router for you. It’s not as fast and powerful as other routers, mainly the ones mentioned above, but it can be bought for even less than the Archer AXE300 while still providing one of the fastest wireless speeds out there.

View On Amazon



4. Asus ROG Rapture (GT-AX11000)

Network Standard: WiFi 6 (802.11ax) | Processor: Quad-core Processor 1.8 GHz | Memory: 256MB + 1GB RAM | Operating Frequency: Tri-band – 2.4 GHz-1, 5 GHz-1, 5 GHz-2 | Ports: 1x 2.5/1 Gigabit Port (configurable), 5x Gigabit Ports, 2x USB | Weight: 3.8 lb / 1.7 kg

Asus ROG Rapture (GT-AX11000)

REASONS TO BUY

  • Extremely fast wired and wireless speeds
  • Fastest WiFi 6 router
  • Comes with security software and parental controls
  • Great hardware specifications
  • Excellent coverage
  • Multi-gig port
  • High-quality build
  • Gaming aesthetics

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Higher price
  • No 10 Gbps LAN ports
  • No WiFi 6E
  • Bulky

Our Rating:   9.4/10

Asus’s ROG (Republic of Gamers) brand of devices are designed for gamers and will often include a host of features that are designed to increase gaming performance along with hardware designs that are… perhaps overly aggressive. Some would say they’re ugly.

One of those devices is the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000, a WiFi 6 tri-band router that serves as the predecessor to the much newer, much more powerful Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000. Is this older unit worth your time and money if you’re looking for a gaming router? Let’s take a look to find out.

Right off the bat, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is at a disadvantage when compared to other routers on this list. Firstly, it’s a tri-band router, whereas the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 and the TP-Link Archer AXE300 are both quad-band, and it only supports WiFi6, missing out on the extra power necessary to qualify for a WiFi 6E classification. The TP-Link Archer AX10000 is also a tri-band WiFi 6 gaming router, but these will be the lower end of your options for a gaming router.

That’s not to say the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is weak by any means. Its three bands consist of a 2.4GHz band that can reach 1,148MBps and two 5GHz bands that can reach speeds of 4,804MBps. Those speeds are made possible by 8 antennas (which are removable on this model), a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU similar to the one that powers the Nighthawk RAXE500, and 1GB of RAM.

In terms of wired options, you have four-gigabit ports and a single 2.5G multi-gigabit port. The number of devices that can make use of multi-gigabit service is still quite low, so this will be fine for most users. In our testing, all of these ports performed well and provided the expected amount of speed relative to the internet service being fed into the device.

What you purchase a wireless router for is obviously the wireless speed and coverage, and the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 performs pretty well in both of these areas. Connected to a WiFi 6 device at close range without any walls to interrupt the signal, this router achieved over 1,300MBps in download speed and around 900MBps to a non-WiFi 6 device in a similar situation. That’s on par with the fastest gaming routers on the market.

When distance and signal obstruction are introduced, those numbers fall to 960MBps and 800MBps, respectively. Again, this is an excellent performance, especially for the price you can acquire the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000.

Like all of Asus’s ROG networking products, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 has features like triple-level game acceleration and easy port forwarding. These features are great for gamers, and they are easily accessed through the ROG Gaming Center application.

If you can look past the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000’s looks, there is quite a powerful and fast router to be had here. It’s the second-cheapest router we’ve covered, and the performance it provides holds up pretty well to routers that are much more expensive. We recommend this router if you want a great gaming router but don’t necessarily want to pay top dollar for it.

View On Amazon



5. TP-Link Archer AX10000

Network Standard: WiFi 6 (802.11ax) | Processor: Quad-core Processor 1.8 GHz | Memory: 1GB RAM | Operating Frequency: Tri-band – 2.4 GHz-1, 5 GHz-1, 5 GHz-2 | Ports: 1x 2.5 Gigabit Port, 8x Gigabit Ports, 2x USB (including Type-C)

TP-Link Archer AX10000

REASONS TO BUY

  • Excellent hardware specs
  • Fast and stable wireless connection
  • Massive array of ports
  • Supports link aggregation
  • Multi-gig WAN port
  • Striking design
  • Supports parental controls
  • Supports wall-mounting
  • USB Type-C connectivity

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Higher price
  • Clumsy
  • No WiFi 6E
  • No multi-gig LAN port
  • Slower compared to the competition

Our Rating:   9.3/10

Not to be left in the dust by companies like Asus, TP-Link has its own line of gamer-focused networking equipment. One of those devices, the TP-Link Archer AX10000, is a tri-band WiFi 6 router that has the aggressive gamer styling that has become synonymous with “gamer” hardware, but it backs it up with an impressive spec sheet and some impressive extra features.

Is the TP-Link Archer AX10000 worth buying over other alternatives, though? We’re going to find out in this review.

The TP-Link Archer AX10000 certainly packs a lot under the hood. It has three bands, two 5GHz bands that can reach speeds of 4,804MBps and a 2.4GHz band that goes up to 918MBps. These speeds are achieved through the use of 8 large antennas configured around the core of the router, a similar design to the one used by the Archer AXE300 and the ROG Rapture routers.

The brain of the system is a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU like the Nighthawk RAXE500 and the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 but with the added benefit of 3 coprocessors that help manage network performance by analyzing and optimizing packets of data.

If you plan to hardwire devices in close proximity to this router, you’re in luck. It has a 2.5G WAN port for service and a total of 8 gigabit-capable LAN ports, so you can wire a whole mess of devices and maintain peak performance across all of them.

Speaking of peak performance, the wireless performance of the TP-Link Archer AX10000 is fast, but not as fast when compared to a similar device like the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000.

We saw a maximum of 800MBps and a minimum of 300MBps on the 5GHz bands, and a max of 152MBps and a minimum of just 64MBps on the 2.4GHz band. The 2.4GHz band isn’t too much of a loss at this point since most devices have moved over to 5GHz, and you shouldn’t really need to use it, but those numbers are far below the ratings on the box.

For extra features, the TP-Link Archer AX10000 includes some interesting things that might be of use to power users as well as gamers. There is the Game Accelerator that identifies game information and optimizes performance for that over other data passing through the router, as well as TP-Link’s OneMesh system that allows TP-Link products to combine and create a mesh network.

OneMesh is less useful unless you already have TP-Link products in your home, but the Game Accelerator is something that could be invaluable to those heavily invested in competitive gaming.

Overall, the TP-Link Archer AX10000 is a solid router. It is, however, lacking in performance when compared to the fastest routers in this price range, such as the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000. Unfortunately, the extra features don’t make up for this fact, and therefore we would not recommend this router if you’re looking for the most speed. You are better off spending a little more for the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000.

View On Amazon



In Conclusion

There you go, these were the five fastest gaming routers available on the market in 2024. If you’re looking for the best and fastest router for your gaming room, you cannot go wrong with either of these. As always, if you found the information helpful, feel free to share it with your friends on social media.

Lastly, if you have any questions or need a hand with picking out the best router for your needs, drop a comment below, and we’ll be more than happy to help you out. We love hearing from you!

About Richard Gamin 232 Articles
My name's Richard and over the years, I have personally built many PCs for myself and my friends. I love gaming, programming, graphics designing and basically anything that has to do with computers and technology. If you ever need a hand with anything, feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to help you out.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*