OpenWrt One
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 15 routers by recommenders
Recommended as fully supported open hardware that runs OpenWrt well out of the box. Main caveat: dual-band only, with no 6GHz and few ports.
Recommended as fully supported open hardware that runs OpenWrt well out of the box. Main caveat: dual-band only, with no 6GHz and few ports.
44 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 34
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 77%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 months
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 34 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 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
Runs OpenWrt well out of the box
“I'm seeing what appears to be A-OK roaming with my Linux laptop and Pixel 5a.”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Indoor Wi-Fi Roaming with OpenWRT” “having openwrt with all features working and no tinkering out of the box”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “required only a little bit of fussing with the configs I copied over”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Indoor Wi-Fi Roaming with OpenWRT” - Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router”
Fully supported open-source hardware
“It is the best device to run OpenWrt on as it is fully supported hardware that has great images/packages for it.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “I would rather buy an open-hardware device at ~10x the price of an equivalent proprietary device”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “The value of open-source hardware is not limited to repairability.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” Stable, handles heavy throughput
“found it to be just as stable, but with better range/signal strength”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “In my stress tests, I've not seen any issues with overheating.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “it handles my 1.2gbps without any drama”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” Cheap for an open router
“There are no cheap commodity routers that can run OpenWrt, have modern Wi-Fi features, and are reasonably available”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “You've been able to buy the OpenWrt One from China and ship it anywhere in the world for a reasonable price”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “buying an OpenWrt One for a time $100 investment give or take.”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “QtNat – Open you port with Qt UPnP”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Few ports, one 2.5GbE LAN
“that's where the "One" was a bit limited and an extra switch would have been required in the setup”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Motorola effectively bricked its entire line of WiFi routers without explanation” “OpenWRT One adds strange connectors but for some reason removes R2/3/4's cellular-focused PCIe-but-actually-USB slot, M.2 slot, and leaves just one LAN port.”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “No 6GHz, and only two Ethernet ports, one of which is only 1Gbit.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” - Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router”
Better alternatives exist at this price
“While the openwrt one was a decent experiment, it was far from the only hardware in the price range”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “There is far better hardware you can get that runs OpenWRT.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “I dont see what the One offers me at all tbh.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” No 6GHz or tri-band Wi-Fi
“lack of 802.11be tri band is a non starter in mid 2026 for this price”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “No 6GHz, and only two Ethernet ports, one of which is only 1Gbit.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?” “Just two Ethernet ports (1+2.5GbE), and it’s dual-band (no 6GHz)”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” Only 1GB RAM, no storage
“No storage or ram though, but it was cheap at the time.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router” “That’s a solid price. Wish it had more than 1gb ram”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OpenWrt One – Open Hardware Router”
Other routers people recommend
The four most recommended other routers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MikroTik router | 59 | 26 | 69% | 11 | 10 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| GL.iNet travel router | 54 | 5 | 92% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Ubiquiti UniFi Travel Router | 35 | 16 | 69% | 2 | — | — |
| OpenWrt OneThis page | 34 | 10 | 77% | 7 | 3 mo3 owners | Approved |
| Ubiquiti UniFi 5G | 17 | 11 | 61% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 53 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“An OpenWRT One (ie: "official" hardware) to be used as an access point”
“No 6GHz, and only two Ethernet ports, one of which is only 1Gbit.”
“OpenWRT One adds strange connectors but for some reason removes R2/3/4's cellular-focused PCIe-but-actually-USB slot, M.2 slot, and leaves just one LAN port.”
“It's a pretty functional design if you accept that the extruded antennae are necessary.”
“In my stress tests, I've not seen any issues with overheating.”
“the single 2.5gb port kills me”
“lack of 802.11be tri band is a non starter in mid 2026 for this price”
“the OpenWrt One appears to run at 5.5 W”
“I dont see what the One offers me at all tbh.”
“I've been running one for a while and love it.”
“It's just all OpenWRT, always looks the same, always works the same.”
“No storage or ram though, but it was cheap at the time.”
“which will possibly also have newer, faster WiFi standards (WiFi 6)”
“You've been able to buy the OpenWrt One from China and ship it anywhere in the world for a reasonable price”
“it handles my 1.2gbps without any drama”
“If anything, then the 2.5-gig port is overkill.”
“The value of open-source hardware is not limited to repairability.”
“having openwrt with all features working and no tinkering out of the box”
“While the openwrt one was a decent experiment, it was far from the only hardware in the price range”
“And unlike most Chinese garbage, you can be reasonably certain that it isn't backdoored.”
“exactly what one would want in a reference design that will be used to test and integrate your preferred PoE solution”
“It is the best device to run OpenWrt on as it is fully supported hardware that has great images/packages for it.”
“I would rather buy an open-hardware device at ~10x the price of an equivalent proprietary device”
“you can just go buy some with no NDA bullshit and get your developers moving in your lab”
“Maybe good hardware & software for the cost?”
“There are no cheap commodity routers that can run OpenWrt, have modern Wi-Fi features, and are reasonably available”
“1gb ram is very good for a router. Most have 128-512MB.”
“There is far better hardware you can get that runs OpenWRT.”
“That’s a solid price. Wish it had more than 1gb ram”
“Just two Ethernet ports (1+2.5GbE), and it’s dual-band (no 6GHz)”
“found it to be just as stable, but with better range/signal strength”
“that's where the "One" was a bit limited and an extra switch would have been required in the setup”
“Decent amount of ports, kinda like a boxless mikrotik.”
“I've bought a bunch, and I think it's terrific.”
“Ditching them for the OpenWRT One was even nicer.”
“required only a little bit of fussing with the configs I copied over”
“I'm seeing what appears to be A-OK roaming with my Linux laptop and Pixel 5a.”
“You can all get all that for both OpenWrt One and Turris.”
“buying an OpenWrt One for a time $100 investment give or take.”
“can't be accomplished by an OpenWrt One + an external AP for less money and fully FOSS”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.