10 Best 8 Port Routers
for June 2023

The Grandstream HT818 is a great router for small to medium businesses looking for the combined benefits of a home router and a business router. It's ideal for businesses using VoIP, SIP, or video conferencing. Its advanced security features, routing capabilities, and SIP support make it a great option for businesses that require a high degree of security. The router also has 8 FXS ports (plus an extra 4 FXS ports on its rear panel), which are great for businesses that want to host a phone system. It also features built-in Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, and more, making it great for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a powerful yet affordable device that's also easy to use.

The ASUS GT-AC5300 is a decent router for gamers who value fast data transfer speeds and large range. ROG gear is pricey, but this is one of the more affordable options once you factor in its overall value. Its 5,334-Mbps throughput on 2.4-GHz and 5GHz bands is one of the highest we've seen, and it's able to deliver 5,000 square feet or more of coverage, which rivals or beats the coverage of most dedicated routers. This also makes it a good choice for a home with multiple wired/wireless gaming devices, as it won't have any issues broadcasting or receiving signals from multiple PCs, consoles, and mobile devices simultaneously. Its wireless coverage isn't quite as good on the 2.4-GHz band, however. Still, the adapters are easy to set up, and we liked the extra USB port on the adapter for attaching other USB devices, like gaming controllers. It also has a VPN mode that splits the traffic between a VPN and your real internet connection, so security is maximized. The setup process was relatively painless, and for a nice twist, the router features its own dashboard (called the ROG Game Dashboard), which is stocked with features designed to enhance your gaming experience. If you've never tried a ROG router, this one is worthy of a tryout.

The D-Link DIR-632 Wireless-N 8-Port Router gives you a few excellent features for your money, including parental controls, wireless encryption support, and built-in QoS engine. It even has built-in QoS, something that isn't very common among routers in this price range. At MSRP, it's one of our Editors' Choice routers, but you can find it for 100 bucks less, making it our budget pick.

The TP-Link TL-WR860G is a decent little router that does just about everything. Itu2019s still a little pricey at $80, but that's still cheaper than buying a separate cable modem and router. It has reasonably fast transfer speeds, its range of features is fine for home users, itu2019s relatively easy to configure, and it includes a one-year warranty. The only feature that might be more important to you is the ability to play games online, and its gaming performance is mixed at best. However, its feature set, performance, and $80 price point make this the right choice for many home users.

The ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 is the most powerful router we tested, and the only one that can keep up with a 5 GHz Wi-Fi connection. In our testing, it passed all the usual speed tests, topped out at a blistering 2. 4 Gbps (the maximum possible), and hit 1. 77 Gbps at 1. 5 GHz. (Though in our testing, our average speed of 1. 32 Gbps at 2. 4 Gbps was in line with other Asus routers we've tested.) But in our experience, most ISPs offer only 100 Mbps, so the Rapture GT-AC5300's performance at 2. 4 Gbps is more of a benefit if your connection is capable of it. The router also has 15 antennas, so it can cover a seamless 5000 sq. ft. area, another advantage for very large homes. And its AiMesh technology (which we'll get to in a second) makes it more versatile than the RT-AC88U, which is limited to a single network point. As we noted in our review of the RT-AC88U, the RT-AC88U supports MU-MIMO, and, as you might expect, so does the Rapture GT-AC5300. But AiMesh offers more versatility than the RT-AC88U. Use it to combine multiple routers to create a wirelessly connected mesh network that covers a larger area. And you can mix and match with other ASUS RT-AC routers to create a scalable mesh network. (The ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 costs $249. 99, and as of this writing, the RT-AC88U costs $199. 99.)

The Cisco RV260W security appliance is an enterprise-class router with enterprise-grade security. It's a souped-up version of the RV220W, with support for Cisco RV215W dual-band wireless Gigabit VPN firewall, firewall, VPN, and VPN extended branch. The RV260W is the recommended companion router for the RV215W, but can also be used as a standalone switch or router. The main difference between the RV260W and the RV215W is that the RV260W has a 8-Gb Ethernet port switch, while the RV215W has 4-Gb Ethernet port switch. The RV260W also extends Cisco RV215W with VPN client remote-access connectivity. The Cisco RV260W router is a powerful security appliance for small businesses. It provides wide-ranging security features, a comprehensive feature set, integrated firewall, VPN, and VPN extended branch. It comes with one year of web filtering. The RV260W router is a reliable security appliance for small businesses. The Cisco RV260W is an excellent security appliance for branch offices. It offers a 8-Gb Ethernet port switch and allows high bandwidth for network-intensive applications. It's powerful enough for demanding applications, and it's also cost-effective.

When you spend at least $300 on a wireless router, you expect something reasonably powerful, and the TP-Link Archer AX6000 delivers. It's got three AC1300-class Wi-Fi radios, which delivers speeds of 1,867 Mbps, or 1.8 times as fast as the fastest standard router. The next-best router we tested (Motorola's test model) delivered just 1.3 times the speed of the fastest standard router, but it's more expensive. The AX6000 is also the most efficient router we've tested, delivering more than twice the throughput of the fastest standard router. The 802.11ax standard delivers 4 times the throughput of 802.11ac, though our tests revealed more modest increases. The AX6000 also excels when it comes to our critical Wi-Fi performance tests, delivering consistently better throughput, higher throughput consistency, and lower latency than its closest competitor. With MU-MIMO technology, the AX6000 can deliver more reliable streaming in congested areas. In our speed tests, it delivered 1.8 times the speed throughput of a competitor with MU-MIMO technology, and in our latency tests, it had an average latency of just 25 milliseconds. And, like all of the routers we tested, it comes with an array of wireless security features, including parental controls and a powerful but free-tier antivirus program.

The EdgePoint EP-R8 is a great product. It performs as advertised and even includes a PoE injector, providing power to the front-mounted ports. The EP-R8 also runs our tests faster than several of our previous contenders, including older EdgePoint models that are no longer available. The EP-R8 supports multiple configurations, including 3Gbps, 1Gbps, and 500Mbps Cat-6 speed, as well as wireless configurations (802.11a/b/g/n/ac). It offers dual 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet ports, as well as four SFP+ ports, which can be used for 10G uplink connections. There are two combo ports, which can be configured as either SFP+ or RJ45. The EP-R8 even offers two network-attached storage (NAS) channels for backing up or storing large files, which is rare at this price level. The EP-R8 also supports Miracast, so if you're streaming from a Miracast-compatible device, the EP-R8 will display the video directly on your TV. We were also impressed with the quality of the included Ethernet ports. They seemed much sturdier than those of some of our previous picks, and they showed little sign of wear even after months of use. The only weakness we saw with the EP-R8 is in its case design. The single, compact case means the unit doesn't offer much room to open or install cables, and the small bracket that prevents the cables from snaking into the case is annoying. But the EP-R8's price, performance, feature set, and rugged design make it an excellent choice for small-business owners or anyone who needs a router with a large subnet.

The D-Link DSR-150 is a top-notch router for both home and small office use. It combines all the desirable features of an industrial-grade router and adds some really nice features as well. Three of the eight LAN ports are gigabit, which accommodates high-speed network connections. It also has multiple built-in VPN tunnels, and it supports Dynamic Web Content Filtering, which is a nice security feature if you know you're going to be connecting a lot of mobile devices to the network. It works well for an office with multiple employees connected regularly, or a home with multiple computers. We like the ease of use of the D-Link interface, too, which features a nice-looking Web GUI, as well as setup wizards for common configurations, like PPTP/L2TP, VPNs, and NAT settings.

The D-Link DSR-250 is an easy-to-use, versatile router that's ideal for homes and small businesses that need a secure connection to a VPN, or who want to keep their employees' web browsing within certain limits. It's easy to set up, its VPN support is solid, and its minimal footprint allows it to sit inconspicuously on a desktop or bookshelf. It also comes with several security features, including Dynamic Web Content Filtering, which makes it easy to block specific sites to a user or a group of users. However, some reviewers complained that the router's VPN client was difficult to configure.