Best Secure Routers for 2021

Are you looking for the best secure routers for your routine use? Read on to this extensive article to take a look at different routers available in the market with the most reliable security systems.

At present, internet threats are on a constant rise. Therefore, it is very important for you to purchase the best secure router to protect your business and home networks, along with you are gaming consoles,  laptops,  smartphones, and IoT devices from malware and hackers.

Since a lot of homes run multiple internet-connected devices simultaneously, it is not enough to just have an anti-malware and antivirus software on your desktop PC. You must protect your home and keep the online threats from finding a way on to your network.  It is where secure routers come into the equation. While many people still prefer using a  basic firewall system, but these secure routers can protect against a wide range of attacks from both outside and inside on your computer while still giving excellent privacy features like parental control and VPN.

But how to know if a particular product offers outstanding security? In this buying guide, we will discuss some of the best secure routers in the market with their pros and cons to help you make a wise and well-informed decision.

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First Glance: Our Top 3 Picks For Best Secure Routers

Here are the top secure routers that might be everything you are looking for in the desired product.

#1 – NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7000) – AC1900 Wireless Speed (Up to 1900 Mbps) (Top Choice)

With NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router, you can now advance your Wi-Fi performance and work effectively with fast dual and gigabit technology. This router has you covered in every aspect of internet browsing with its 1800 square feet of powerful Wi-Fi coverage. You can even upgrade your Wi-Fi coverage and experience as it has a range boasting beamforming plus antennas and dual and streaming to deliver prompt and reliable internet in every corner of your place.

It gives up to 1900Mbsps wireless speed for tough and demanding activities such as online gaming and HD streaming. The unit can smartly choose among dual bands to reduce the interface and increase speed for your smart wireless devices. Since BitDefender powers it, it can easily protect every device of your house from malware, viruses, and data theft.

Its Circle app allows you to manage your device screen time and internet content access seamlessly. You can use the application to set device schedules, usage time limits, and filter websites. Thanks to an easy, five-minute app setup, you can simply connect the Ethernet cable and link your devices to the network. Gigabit ports are given to deliver fast wired connections to your game box, computer, and other devices. Two USB ports allow you to share a storage printer or drive across your network.

Pros

• Circle smart parental control
• Wi-Fi for up to 30 devices
• Powered by BitDefender

Cons

• The range needs more improvement

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#2 – TP-Link AC2600 Smart Wi-Fi Router (Archer A10) – MU-MIMO, Dual Band Wireless Router (Best For Long-Range Coverage)

The TP-Link AC2600 Smart Wi-Fi Router allows you to experience 4K gaming and streaming without breaking the bank. This product is highest in customer satisfaction when it comes to the most secure modem router combo available in the market.

This secure router offers exceptional wireless speeds and performance, i.e., 1733Mbps on 5GHz or 800Mbps on 2.4GHz. This feature helps provide a lag-free entertainment experience to the potential buyer. The ultra-fast, dual-band Wi-Fi features 4×4 data streams to enable instantaneous online gaming and 4K video streaming.

Unlike other traditional routers out there that can only serve one device at a time, the TP-Link AC2600 Smart Wi-Fi Router features MU-MIMO technology to give you excellent throughput and performance while operating multiple devices at a  time. It is equipped with beamforming technology and so produces more strong and reliable wireless network for your home. It works by automatically adapting your Wi-Fi coverage to focus signal strength on your pre-connected devices.

Thanks to the secure VPN feature, you can access your office or home network remotely by keeping in mind that your data is always safe and secure with PPTP VPN and open VPN options. This secure router’s other notable features to look for include a dual-core CPU (for more performance and speed), Alexa voice control, intuitive tether application, and QoS/parental controls.

Pros

• Easy setup
• Works with Alexa voice assistant
• Amplified Wi-Fi coverage

Cons

• Lacks USB ports

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#3 – ASUS Dual-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Gaming Router (AC3100) with MU-MIMO (Best For Gaming)

Whether you want to game online in a tough competition or simply stream a live event in 4K UHD, consider investing in ASUS Dual-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi Gaming Router (AC3100) for a lag-free experience.

The best thing about this secure router is its NitroQAM technology that delivers you a combined 3167Mbps Wi-Fi speed to make sure every person on your home network enjoys low latency online games and smooth video streaming. Its revolutionary MU-MIMO technology gives each compatible device a dedicated and full-speed Wi-Fi connection so that multiple devices can connect at once without lagging your network.

With adaptive QoS, you can boost your gaming bandwidth and prioritize gaming activities and packets. When needed, you can even assign full dedicated bandwidth and play games under gamer solo mode anywhere in your house.

The ASUS Dual-Band AC3100 features exclusive, eight gigabit LAN ports for simultaneous connection of up to eight Ethernet compatible devices. Set-top boxes, smart TVs, media players, gaming consoles, and your NAS storage devices can now relish in their own dedicated ports. Another feature, ASUS AirProtection, uses Trend Micro technology to enhance your online safety and security via automatic vulnerability detection, parental controls, and malicious site blocking.

With advanced parental controls, you can prevent users from visiting unsuitable websites. The router app and ASUSWRT user-interface are robust and intuitive, so you can set up your router and manage networking traffic without needing to boot your devices.

Pros

• 3100Mbps Wi-Fi speed
• Eight Ethernet ports
• Innovative MU-MIMO technology

Cons

• May needed you to adjust the Wi-Fi band frequencies manually

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#4 – Synology RT2600ac – 4×4 dual-band Gigabit Wi-Fi router

With its powerful Wi-Fi performance and range, you can supercharge your wireless network and get excellent bandwidth for each person in your family. Thanks to its sinology router manager, you can enjoy intuitive setup, connectivity, and management every day. The professional-level controls allow you to take advantage of advanced traffic monitoring tools and shape data flow within your networking system.

The strong traffic monitoring features of Synology RT2600ac allows you to set the bandwidth prioritization, so you always have enough speed for your routine tasks. Parental controls let you block potentially harmful websites and set up customizable profiles for family members. Apart from strong security tools such as denial of service,  intrusion prevention, and firewall management,  this best wireless router  2021  regularly updates to safeguard your system and network from online threats and attacks.  The VPN plus feature allows this router to serve as a strong VPN server and deliver secure access,   easy setup, and smooth connections.  You can set a virtual office for your remote workforce to sync with your work style and flexible schedules.

With multimedia add-ons,  you can transform Synology RT2600ac   into your centralized entertainment server.  This way, you can play and browse multimedia content present on your router via DLNA  devices.   With file sharing and backup options, you can turn the router into a private cloud server with revolutionary file management capacity. 

Pros

• Dual-core 1.0 GHz
• Intrusion prevention application
• Mimo  and beamforming Technology

Cons

• The setup process  is tiresome

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#5 – ASUS Gaming Router Tri-Band Wi-Fi (Up To 5334 Mbps) For VR & 4K Streaming (Best Budget-Friendly Option)

This gaming tri-band router features a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor along with the latest 4×4 802.11ac MU-MIMO  technology.   The game dashboard comes with game IPS control to protect your network in real-time while still delivering excellent data rates up to 5334Mbps  across multiple ports and gaming dedicated Wi-Fi bands.

With ASUS Gaming Router Tri-band Wi-Fi, you are free to allocate one of the two Wi-Fi bands to your gaming devices and using the other bands for other devices.  The best thing about this secure router is its AiMesh feature that serves as a flexible and powerful way to get rid of your Wi-Fi problems.  When required, you can mix different router models without throwing away the old router while upgrading.

The ROG Rapture router has another killer feature called VPN fusion. This feature allows you to run a VPN with an ordinary internet connection together. The fortified frontline network security features include an intrusion prevention system.  It protects your game in the network from external online attacks and helps neutralize them before we can reach your networking system.  8 Gigabit LAN ports are enough to provide the connections you need for your gaming devices.  Moreover,  there are two USB 3.0 ports to deliver high-speed access to USB storage.

Pros

• Battle-ready hardware
• Excellent quad-core power
• Tri-band router

Cons

• An overkill for house usage

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Buying Guide for Secure Routers

With hundreds and thousands of models available in the market, it can be a little hard to choose the most suitable product.  Lucky for you,  we will discuss some of the key features and factors in this buying guide section to make the buying process easy and quick for you.

Key Factors To Consider Before Buying A Secure Router

• Firewall

This feature is very important to consider before buying the best secure router 2021  as it works as a protective barrier between your computer and the internet connection.  It can catch different types of internet traffic and prevent it from entering your network.  Many routers have an integrated firewall to protect your computer from online attacks but are usually disabled by default settings.  To initiate it, first, log in to your router’s online user interface, find the security settings, and activate the firewall.

• Easy Controls

Many high-end routers available in the market have difficult-to-access user interfaces while you can manage others through smartphone applications.  Many routers even have applications these days, which makes it difficult to recommend going with a certain product.  Easy management and security controls allow you to stay on top of the firmware updates and know when something on your network is not right.   Easy controls also simplify things for you, such as setting guest networks,  monitoring parental controls, and changing network passwords.

• Beamforming And MU-MIMO Technology

The beamforming feature allows your secure router to broadcast its complete power in one direction to improve its range significantly. MU-MIMO technology, on the other hand, is quite unique. This multi-user, multiple-input, and multiple-output feature enable your router to focus on particular devices over others.  It is useful for dedicated internet connection devices in a house.

Final Thoughts

There you go! These are some of our best secure routers for the year. Almost all the products in this list are best-selling, and high-rated products but the clear winner for us is NETGEAR Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7000). It has a high transfer speed to ensure your router is great for demanding online tasks. Moreover, this dual-band router can work with Google Assistant/Amazon Alexa and has DDoS prevention with smart parental control features.