DD-WRT
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 4 of 8 router firmware by recommenders
Free open-source router firmware people install on supported routers to replace vendor firmware, valued for stability and features. Critics say it is unstable on less popular routers and feels dated.
Free open-source router firmware people install on supported routers to replace vendor firmware, valued for stability and features. Critics say it is unstable on less popular routers and feels dated.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces untrusted preinstalled vendor firmware
“easily able to overwrite with a downloaded version from dd-wrt as no one should trust preinstalled firmware on these devices”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” “I want it to run DD-WRT, but I'll flash it with DD-WRT myself.”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” “I can install it myself, and I already have done”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” Stable and reliable once installed
“with DD-WRT installed it is very stable and reliable”
Comment from 24 Dec 2025 in “Unifi Travel Router” “it's been an excellent router for years”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “How to Turn Anything into a Router” Familiar to Linux users
“I welcome anything FOSS in general w/ GNU/Linux”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” “if you like rc.d you'll like DD-WRT”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Dated, messy, perpetually beta code
“Ddwrt is a joke today. I would pay to have it go away forever or finally become mature and not be forever in beta.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” “Brainslayer never bothered to update from the 2.6.18 kernels the devices came with”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” “DD-WRT I think of as a messy thing for backporting”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?”
Other router firmware people recommend
The four most recommended other router firmware, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenWrt | 170 | 34 | 83% | 13 | 7 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| OPNsense | 71 | 15 | 83% | 13 | 5 yrs12 owners | Approved |
| pfSense | 26 | 17 | 60% | 8 | — | — |
| DD-WRTThis page | 17 | 7 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| MikroTik RouterOS | 17 | 7 | 71% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
20 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Yes, those are good options”
“I want it to run DD-WRT, but I'll flash it with DD-WRT myself.”
“Brainslayer never bothered to update from the 2.6.18 kernels the devices came with”
“not sure why anyone would want to use dd-wrt?”
“DD-WRT I think of as a messy thing for backporting”
“The rest is provided by DD-wrt.”
“DD-WRT feels more feature complete at times”
“I welcome anything FOSS in general w/ GNU/Linux”
“the process was INTIMIDATING”
“easily able to overwrite with a downloaded version from dd-wrt as no one should trust preinstalled firmware on these devices”
“I can install it myself, and I already have done”
“Ddwrt is a joke today. I would pay to have it go away forever or finally become mature and not be forever in beta.”
“if you like rc.d you'll like DD-WRT”
“The best you can do is put DD-WRT on it.”
“DDWRT and Tomato are much better”
“it's been an excellent router for years”
“The user interface was much easier to navigate, but the labels of the settings were so sparse that I couldn't tell what anything was referring to”
“with DD-WRT installed it is very stable and reliable”
“shop for devices that support OpenWRT or DD-WRT to help future proof your firmware experience”
“can be more unstable than OpenWRT for less popular routers”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.