OpenWRT compatible Router for 2024 in India

rr9 said:
Is this the cheapest OpenWRT compatible Router with some remaining support down this line? Please advice!
I have never used OpenWRT.
My target is to have a ad-block at the router level

[OpenWrt Wiki] Table of Hardware

openwrt.org openwrt.org
View attachment 191529
Netgear R6850 AC2000 Mbps


View attachment 191527
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Why jump through so much hassle? a pi zero can run Pi-Hole for you and would only need USB from your router to be powered up. Setting it up is very streamlined as well
 
I recently switched to using FreshTomato on my R7000 and I can't believe how easy it was. It's so stupid that I was using Netgear's slow and restrictive firmware for the last few years. Definitely get a router that has support for custom firmwares.
 
I use a NanoPI R5C with their own fork of openwrt called Friendlywrt. Works like a charm. It also has a massive 8 GB ram, so I also use it to run docker containers.

it's also tiny, basically fits in your palm!!
 
CeyeN said:
I use a NanoPI R5C with their own fork of openwrt called Friendlywrt. Works like a charm. It also has a massive 8 GB ram, so I also use it to run docker containers.

it's also tiny, basically fits in your palm!!
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From where did you buy the Nano Pi R5C, and how much did it cost?
ashayc said:
I recently switched to using FreshTomato on my R7000 and I can't believe how easy it was. It's so stupid that I was using Netgear's slow and restrictive firmware for the last few years. Definitely get a router that has support for custom firmwares.
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FreshTomato is not available for the Netgear R6850.
Do share some screenshots of the OS. It could help compare with OpenWrt.
Screenshot 2024-12-24 204721.png
 
rocking said:
Firmware Version:
1.13.6 Build 240430 Rel.54880n(5553)
Hardware Version:
Archer C6 4.0


Openwrt seems to support v2 and v3 only in C6. do we need to look at hardware version or firmware version?
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v4 is not supported i have a v4 as well, tplink actually changed the hardware on v4 which is not supported, upto v3 openwrt works well.
 
rocking said:
I have mi 4a router, TPLINK c6 and c6u, they are from 2023, how to identify if we can install openwrt on it or not? will wifi keep working with them? @CasualGamer91 @anmolbhard004
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If you don't have specific need, I would recommend not to install openwrt as everything performs worse compared to stock firmware (especially with low-power devices). It is a big chore to upgrade firmware (openwrt to openwrt) and it might not be trivial or even possible to install stock firmware back.

tomato or dd-wrt are much more user-friendly than openwrt if your router supports them. But, usually the best performance comes by using the stock factory firmware.
 
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codwapeace said:
If you don't have specific need, I would recommend not to install openwrt as everything performs worse compared to stock firmware (especially with low-power devices). It is a big chore to upgrade firmware (openwrt to openwrt) and it might not be trivial or even possible to install stock firmware back.
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bro its not true, i guess you get unlucky. But my mi 2.4g only router which is very low spec its working better than ever with openwrt, currently using it as a dummy access point. Archer c6 v3.20 as main also with openwrt 5Ghz is superior than stock. No random connection drops which was an issue with stock when more than 4-5 device connected at same time
 
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CasualGamer91 said:
bro its not true, i guess you get unlucky. But my mi 2.4g only router which is very low spec its working better than ever with openwrt, currently using it as a dummy access point. Archer c6 v3.20 as main also with openwrt 5Ghz is superior than stock. No random connection drops which was an issue with stock when more than 4-5 device connected at same time
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I agree about stability, but performance is usually worse because everything is done in software for most devices instead of hardware level implementation in stock firmware.
Many devices don't have good wireless drivers which is not very clear by just looking at TOH. One of my routers is stuck on openwrt with no wireless (which was not very obvious by looking at TOH) and there is no way back to stock firmware.
 
codwapeace said:
I agree about stability, but performance is usually worse because everything is done in software for most devices instead of hardware level implementation in stock firmware.
Many devices don't have good wireless drivers which is not very clear by just looking at TOH. One of my routers is stuck on openwrt with no wireless (which was not very obvious by looking at TOH) and there is no way back to stock firmware.
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Performance is good for me as well.. you must check the model of your router at openwrt forum if it's some obscure SoC then it might not have hardware offloading, my archer c6 v3.2 support hardware offloading, wireless performance is nice too
 
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