Amazon currently has the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro Wi-Fi 6 gaming router for only $199.99 after a $30 instant discount and an additional $20.99 clippable coupon. That's 20% less than MSRP and the best price we've seen for one of the top rated gaming routers out there. We recently picked the ASUS RT-AX82U as the best budget gaming router of 2024, but this is a superior model for only $20 more.
ASUS RT-AX86U Pro Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router for $199.99
The ASUS RT-AX86U is one of the best gaming routers you can get right now. It offers some of the fastest dual-band router speeds on the market and at a very reasonable price point. Most routers with comparable speeds cost $300 or more. It improves on its predecessor, the venerable AC86U, with the addition of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). This dual-band router features 160HMz channels, MU-MIMO and beamforming. It boasts speeds of up to 5700Mbps over Wi-Fi 6 (861Mbps over 2.4Ghz and 4.8Gbps over 5GHz). Because the AX86U is categorized as a gaming router, it has gaming-centric features like a "Mobile Game Mode" that offers a lag-free, low-latency mobile gaming experience, WTFast Game Accelerator, and adative QoS.
On the connectivity front, the AX86U has both a standard gigabit modem port and a 2.5Gbps WAN port that can support true 2GB speeds from your modem. It also has two USB 3.0 ports for attaching external storage or a printer. As with most high-end routers, the RT-AX86U includes a total of four gigabit switch ports. A bonus is that if you're not using the 2.5Gbps WAN port, it can be used as a fifth gigabit switch port.
For those of you worried about security, this router's got that covered too. It features ASUS AiProtection Pro, a comprehensive suite that consists of a firewall, security scanner, malicious site blocker, infected device detention and blocking, and 2-way intrusion prevention system. It's baked right into your router so you don't need to install anything on your PC, and it features a lifetime of Trend Micro security updates.
This is the newer Pro model was released in December of 2022 and has been upgraded with a slightly faster processor (2GHz vs 1.8GHz for up to 11% performance increase in CPU intensive tasks). It also normally commands a $50 price premium over the AX86U, but not at the moment.
