Head to head

Two BE9300 tri-band Wi-Fi 7 routers with near-identical radios. The decision is ports, features, and $50 — not the wireless specs both of them advertise.

The cheaper Beryl AX is faster, lighter and has a 2.5 Gbps WAN port. The pricier Slate AX answers with two more Ethernet ports and a microSD slot.

BE22000 against BE27000 — but the Orbi's extra 5,500 Mbps is a backhaul radio your devices can never use. What $500 at the 3-pack actually buys.

The Pro adds a 6 GHz radio and 5 Gbps ports — but the cheaper eero 7 has the faster 5 GHz radio, and the price gap nearly triples at the 3-pack.

The gap is $300 at one unit and $1000 at three. Which number you should look at depends on how many nodes you actually need.

Identical radios, $40 apart. The difference is double the CPU clock, a 2.5 Gbps WAN, and a higher RouterOS licence level.

The RS300 costs $70 more and has a slower 5 GHz radio. Whether that is a downgrade depends entirely on what your devices support.

The RS500 doubles the 5 GHz radio for $100 and takes away a 2.5 Gbps port. Which matters depends on whether you wire things up.

The only rung on the Nighthawk RS ladder where the WAN port changes class. Worth $100 if your internet is faster than 2.5 Gbps.

BE18000 against BE19000 for $100. The entire difference is the 2.4 GHz radio, the CPU, and one gigabit port.

The RT-BE92U adds a 6 GHz radio for $40 and pays for it with half the 5 GHz radio, a slower CPU, and a USB port.

The RT-BE88U costs $60 more and has one band fewer. It is a wired router with an SFP+ cage, and that is the whole argument.

The Pro adds a 6 GHz radio and more than doubles VPN throughput for $70. On a travel router, only one of those is the reason to pay it.

The 2022 Slate AX against the 2025 Slate 7 — Wi-Fi 6 against Wi-Fi 7, gigabit against 2.5 Gbps ports, and whether the newer one earns its extra $50.

Identical radios, identical CPU, identical 10 Gig WAN. The $80 between them buys ports, PoE and storage, not Wi-Fi.