Wi-Fi 7 — formally IEEE 802.11be — has been shipping in consumer routers for more than two years now, and the rollout has been proceeding on a schedule the consumer-tech press has spent that whole period writing about. The standard’s headline features are real: 320 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band, multi-link operation that can use two bands simultaneously, theoretical maximum throughputs that climb into the multiple-gigabit range. The marketing materials have been correspondingly aggressive. Whether the technology has produced an actual difference for typical home users is a much narrower question.
We tested four prominent Wi-Fi 7 routers over a six-week period in two staff households (one a 2,400-square-foot two-story; one a 1,100-square-foot apartment). Each router replaced the household’s existing Wi-Fi 6 or 6E setup for at least two weeks. We benchmarked throughput at multiple distances and through multiple wall configurations using a mix of Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6 client devices. We tracked stability over the full testing window and looked for the kinds of edge cases that consumer-router reviews often miss — captive portals on guest networks, IPv6 handling, IoT-device pairing reliability.
#1 TP-Link Archer BE800 — Top pick
MSRP: $599. Tested with: Wi-Fi 7-capable laptop, Wi-Fi 6E laptop, Wi-Fi 6 phone, several Wi-Fi 5 IoT devices.
The TP-Link Archer BE800 was the most consistent of the four routers we tested. Throughput at 30 feet through a single drywall partition was 1.4 Gbps to a Wi-Fi 7 client and 760 Mbps to a Wi-Fi 6 client — broadly competitive with the Asus and ahead of the Netgear. Stability over the six-week test was the best of the field; we saw no unexpected reboots, no device-pairing failures, no slow-network days that resolved with a power cycle.
The configuration interface still has the somewhat dated TP-Link visual design, but it is fully accessible from a desktop browser and does not force the user into a smartphone app — a meaningful advantage for users who actually want to configure their network in any depth. Port selection is generous, including a 10 GbE WAN/LAN port that will matter to a small but real fraction of users.
The downsides are aesthetic and minor. The router is physically large and not particularly attractive. Documentation assumes more networking experience than most users have. We saw two firmware updates during the testing window introduce small regressions that were corrected within a week each.
For users who want a single Wi-Fi 7 router (not a mesh) and want it to work, this is the right answer.
#2 Asus RT-BE96U
MSRP: $699.
The Asus RT-BE96U is the closest competitor to the TP-Link in raw throughput numbers and beats it on configuration depth. The administrative interface (AsusWRT) is the most powerful in the consumer category and includes features — granular QoS, network-wide ad blocking, comprehensive parental controls — that no other router in this list matches.
It also costs $100 more than the TP-Link without producing meaningfully better real-world performance. For users who will use the AsusWRT advanced features, the premium is justified. For users who will not, the TP-Link is the better value.
#3 Netgear Nighthawk RS700S
MSRP: $699.
The Netgear Nighthawk RS700S is a competent Wi-Fi 7 router that is held back by Netgear’s increasing reliance on a paid subscription model for features that should be standard. Some basic security and parental-control functions in this router are now gated behind a Netgear Armor subscription. We do not love this trend, and we cannot recommend a router whose feature set is being slowly hollowed out into a subscription.
Hardware-wise, the router is fine. Throughput numbers are competitive, build quality is reasonable, and the configuration interface is workable if not impressive.
#4 Eero Max 7
MSRP: $599 per node, mesh.
The Eero Max 7 is the most pleasant router in this list to set up. The smartphone app is the best in the consumer category, the mesh capability works seamlessly out of the box, and the unit itself looks like a piece of consumer electronics rather than a piece of networking equipment.
It also abstracts away most of the networking detail in ways that some users will love and some users will find frustrating. There is no desktop configuration interface; the only way to administer the network is through the app. Some advanced features require an Eero Plus subscription. The throughput we measured was generally a bit behind the TP-Link and Asus across multiple distance and device combinations, though differences were small in most cases.
For users who want a router that requires zero networking knowledge, this is the right answer. For users who want to configure anything in any detail, look elsewhere.
Do you actually need any of these?
Probably not, yet, unless you’re on something quite old or have specific reason to.
The benefits of Wi-Fi 7 over Wi-Fi 6E in real-home conditions are present but modest. In our testing, the most aggressive throughput gains came from Wi-Fi 7-to-Wi-Fi 7 device pairings in line-of-sight; through walls, the gap to Wi-Fi 6E was small. Most readers’ home internet connections, which top out at 1 Gbps or below, will not benefit from anything above Wi-Fi 6 in real-world use. The fastest router in the world cannot accelerate your 600 Mbps cable connection.
The cases where Wi-Fi 7 today is genuinely worth the upgrade are: very fast internet connections (multi-gigabit fiber); large, multi-story homes where the additional spectrum and modulation efficiency are useful; and users with several Wi-Fi 7 client devices who do significant high-bandwidth work over wireless. For most other households, a working Wi-Fi 6 or 6E setup is fine, and the case for an upgrade can comfortably wait another year or two.
If you do upgrade — and there are good reasons to — the TP-Link Archer BE800 is what we would buy. If you must have the most polished setup experience, the Eero Max 7. If you want maximum configurability, the Asus RT-BE96U.