Our previous pick: Netgear Orbi RBK50

Netgear’s Orbi RBK50 was our pick in the previous iteration of this mesh-networking guide. Although the RBK50 is still a decent choice for coverage and performance, the Eero Pro + 2 Eero Beacons kit edged out the Orbi system this time, with an easier setup procedure, better parental controls, and higher performance during our most recent round of testing. We also noted complaints in our comments and in Amazon reviews about Netgear’s short, 90-day phone tech support policy, which has complicated buyers’ ability to obtain service during the one-year warranty period.

The Google Nest Wifi is available as a 2-pack with a single access point or as a 3-pack with two access points; we tested the 3-pack version, which costs about $50 less than the Eero Pro + 2 Beacons bundle. The Nest Wifi router is a dedicated base unit with two Ethernet ports, and the wireless-only Nest Wifi access points have Google Assistant functionality and a smart speaker built in, integrating the same functions as in a Google Nest Mini. The kit uses 802.11ac Wi-Fi and is compatible with the first-generation Google Wifi hardware. In our testing, the Nest Wifi kit excelled at the single-client throughput tests, but lagged the Eero Pro + 2 Beacons when all six laptops were using the network at the same time.

Linksys Velop Tri-Band (WHW0303)

The Linksys Velop WHW0303 kit is a strong competitor with tri-band access points somewhat similar to those of the Orbi RBK53 kit or the Eero Pro 3-pack, but currently it’s just too pricey, at $100 over what our top pick, the Eero Pro + 2 Eero Beacons, typically goes for. At the same price, we’d choose the Eero Pro, which provides better performance and is visually less obtrusive.

Linksys Velop Dual-Band (WHW0103)

The dual-band version of the Linksys Velop router kit takes up less physical space with shorter satellites and saves about $170 compared with the tri-band kit. However, the dual-band kit couldn’t keep up with the six laptops in our testing, and it failed two of our three browsing tests as well as both 4K-stream tests.

Eero Pro + 1 Eero Beacon

The Eero Pro + 1 Eero Beacon kit was our budget pick in the previous version of this guide. It is still a strong competitor, particularly if you think you’ll need to expand your mesh network in the future. However, the D-Link COVR-2202 outperforms it in raw numbers and in price.

Eero 3-pack

The new dual-band version of the Eero mesh kit uses the same software as the Eero Pro system above and shares many features with it. This kit’s Ethernet-equipped base stations are compatible with the Eero Beacons and Eero Pro kits, so you can use them when you’re expanding an existing Eero mesh network. It has an attractive price, usually $150 less than that of the Eero Pro + 2 Eero Beacons kit and competitive with that of the two-piece tri-band D-Link COVR-2202, our budget pick.

However, the three-piece Eero kit failed one of our two 4K-streaming tests, while its performance on our other tests was middling. We found that the Eero Pro + 2 Eero Beacons kit and the D-Link COVR-2202 adapted to additional devices and streams better than the Eero 3-pack did.

D-Link COVR-C1203

The D-Link COVR-C1203 is a dual-band three-piece mesh-networking kit with some of the smallest satellites we’ve seen. They’re easy to hide on top of shelving units or virtually anywhere else in your home. However, as with the tri-band COVR-2202, you’ll have to buy a second three-piece kit to expand the mesh network in the future, even if you need only one satellite (unlike with rival systems such as Eero, Linksys’s Velop, Netgear’s Orbi, and, TP-Link’s Deco, which all sell satellites individually). The COVR-C1203 also failed one of its two 4K streams during testing, and its overall performance ranked at or close to the bottom of the field.

TP-Link Deco M4 and Deco M9 Plus

The TP-Link Deco M4 and Deco M9 Plus are compatible with each other (you can expand a Deco M9 Plus mesh network with Deco M4 satellites, and vice versa). The Deco M9 Plus is a tri-band kit with three nodes, while the Deco M4 is a dual-band, three-piece kit. The Deco M4 also has an especially attractive price under $200. The Deco M9 Plus has a smart hub built in for Zigbee and Bluetooth devices, which could be a plus for a smart home, but most folks don’t need a smart hub. Both were middling performers on our tests, however.

Netgear’s Orbi RBK13 is a dual-band, three-piece mesh-networking kit featuring a router and satellites that are smaller than the ones that come with the tri-band RBK50. Like the Google Nest Wifi, the router has two Ethernet ports, while the satellites are wireless only. The RBK13 has an attractive price, about $50 less than the D-Link Covr-2202, but its tested performance is similar to the TP-Link Deco M4 and Deco M9 Plus, just above the middle of the pack.

AmpliFi Instant

Like the AmpliFi HD, which we tested and dismissed in 2017, the compact and inexpensive AmpliFi Instant has a front-mounted touchscreen that lets you monitor your network bandwidth. We found it easy to set up, it doesn’t look like a sci-fi movie prop, and it’s compatible with AmpliFi HD routers and mesh satellites. However, it didn’t impress us much when we tested it in a small home and in our test facility, underperforming compared with other mesh kits and even with our standalone router pick.

Samsung SmartThings Wifi

Like the Deco M9 Plus, the Samsung SmartThings Wifi kit has a built-in smart-home hub, in this case one that’s compatible with Samsung SmartThings devices. Although its list of compatible devices is impressive, we don’t like that you have to manage two apps to administer the SmartThings Wifi system. One app (SmartThings) administers smart devices such as Ecobee thermostats and Yale smart locks, while the Plume app (see below) manages the Wi-Fi mesh network. The SmartThings Wifi kit also landed near the bottom of our performance charts after failing both 4K-streaming tests.

Zyxel Multy U

The Zyxel Multy U is a tri-band three-piece mesh-networking kit designed to look good. The slim nodes come with stands that prop them up vertically and leather straps so you can hang them high in your living space, supposedly for better reception. However, its poor browsing performance in our tests derailed any appreciation we had for its aesthetics.

The rest (2017–2018 testing)

Plume

We’ve always been impressed with Plume’s innovative approach to Wi-Fi—its strategy of distributing lots of tiny, cheap access points throughout the house is simple and easy for all levels of users and all shapes of houses.

People who want a minimalist physical presence and no-brainer setup might have very reasonably chosen the first-generation Plume system, which wound up in the middle of the pack on our Web browsing latency test. But when Plume revealed its second-generation hardware in June 2018, the company announced that in order to purchase any of its routers, you would have to subscribe to its Adaptive Wi-Fi service. That made us more inclined to trust our findings from 2017—most people willing to buy and install their own Wi-Fi system can do better for the same amount of money. Samsung’s SmartThings Wifi kit, for example, uses Plume software and includes a lifetime subscription to the Plume service, so we chose to test that kit instead.

Google Wifi

Like the Eero and Linksys Velop kits, Google Wifi is an extensible mesh-networking kit with an intuitive app. However, we dismissed it because it landed at the bottom of the pack in tests for a previous version of this guide.

Netgear Orbi RBK53

Let’s be clear: Netgear’s Orbi RBK53, which is an RBK50 kit with an additional satellite, was phenomenal during our 2018 testing. It was also expensive overkill. If you really want top-notch Wi-Fi, or if you have a much larger or more frustratingly laid-out house, it might be worth the money. Most people would be well served by the much less expensive RBK50, though, and even if you end up wanting more, you can always add an extra RBS50, RBS40, or RBW30 satellite to your existing Orbi kit later—the RBS50 is the satellite that the RBK50 and RBK53 kits use.

Netgear Orbi CBK40

The Orbi CBK40 kit is likely to provide a decent enough mesh Wi-Fi experience for many people. But because the bundle includes a router with a built-in modem, we do not recommend it. As we detail in our guide to modems, a modem-and-router combo is a risky investment: If either portion breaks or becomes obsolete, you have to replace the entire thing, and that can become expensive. We think you’d be better off plugging the router in our top-pick kit into a separate modem, which you shouldn’t have to replace too often.

TP-Link Deco M5

TP-Link’s Deco M5 is a three-piece kit consisting of smallish circular access points, each with two wired Ethernet ports. The Deco M5 is dependent on the cloud and must be configured from a mobile app. It performed reasonably well in our tests, and at this writing it’s the least expensive option we tested.

That said, although the Deco M5 is less expensive than our budget pick, it produced terrible results in a multi-hop configuration. If your place is long and narrow or has multiple stories, or if you think you might ever want to expand your coverage, the Deco M5 kit isn’t a great fit.

Eero Pro 3-pack

The Eero Pro 3-pack kit, the fastest and best Eero kit, avoids Beacons entirely, opting instead to include three full-fledged tri-band Eero router units. Most people won’t, and shouldn’t, buy this more-expensive configuration. Yes, it performed better in our tests than one Eero Pro with a pair of Beacons, but not enough for most people to justify spending nearly twice as much. (Besides, this way you don’t get the night-lights.) We retested the Eero Pro kit during our 2019 guide update.

The best reason to spring for the more-expensive Eero Pro kit is to make use of wired backhaul, if you have a wired network in your place—the Beacons don’t have Ethernet ports, and the Eero Pro units do. But if you have wired backhaul, you should take a look at the much cheaper Ubiquiti hardware first.

Netgear Orbi RBK40 and RBK30

Netgear’s smaller Orbi kits beat the pants off a standalone router but don’t really hit the right price/performance point for most people. The RBK40 is a slightly smaller version of the original RBK50 but has lesser-quality radios; the RBK30 has the same router as the RBK40 but uses a smaller access point that plugs directly into a power outlet, similar to (but much less attractive than) the Eero Beacon. All the routers and satellites in both kits have just 866 Mbps dedicated backhaul channels (half of the RBK50’s 1,733 Mbps).

We don’t recommend RBK40 or RBK30 kits, but if you want to add coverage to an existing RBK50 two-piece Orbi system and don’t want to spring for another full-size RBS50 satellite, you’ll probably be happy with the smaller, cheaper satellite units. In this case the RBW30 is the best add-on for most people; it doesn’t have any wired ports, but it costs less than the RBS40 and performs just as well.

AmpliFi HD

The AmpliFi HD system comes from a company with a long pedigree in enterprise mesh networking. Like Eero’s kits, AmpliFi HD has a polished and functional smartphone app. This system looks great on paper, but we don’t like the odd satellite design with its easily maladjusted positional antennas, and the system never tested very well.

Amped Ally

The Ally is a two-piece kit from Amped Wireless, billed as a router-extender combo rather than as a true mesh system. In our tests it had fairly consistent range and throughput, as well as okay latency, but you can’t add extra satellite units, and its networking security features are overhyped. Its official app is also hard to find and has a confusing developer name, making it hard to know whether you’re downloading the real thing.

Luma

Now sold as a two-piece mesh-networking kit, the Luma system was more complicated to set up and less reliable than anything else we tested. In our earlier testing it did not perform well, and its software needed some work to live up to its advertised features. We did not retest the Luma kit.

Zyxel Multy X

The two-piece Zyxel Multy X kit has promise. The actual hardware is great, both technically and aesthetically—it offers top-of-the-charts throughput plus a whopping seven Ethernet ports per node, and its low-slung heft allows it to sit solidly on a desk or shelf. Unfortunately, it fell apart badly in our multi-client testing, so we can’t recommend the Multy X system for busy home networks right now.