Protectli Vault
Shares rank 12 of 15 routers by recommenders
Small x86 firewall and router boxes that people run for years with regular updates, with coreboot firmware and many network ports. Most models lack built-in WiFi.
Small x86 firewall and router boxes that people run for years with regular updates, with coreboot firmware and many network ports. Most models lack built-in WiFi.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Long-term reliable with regular updates
“It's been going strong with regular updates (and by regular I mean as regular as your Linux workstation) for over half a decade now.”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Drilling down on Uncle Sam's proposed TP-Link ban” “I switched, about 7-8 years ago to a Protectli box running Coreboot and OPNSense and haven't looked back”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Wanted to download an ISO, ended up writing a kernel exploit” x86 with coreboot firmware
“They've got x86 systems with coreboot. That's about as good as you can get these days for open source-ness”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Drilling down on Uncle Sam's proposed TP-Link ban” “x86, low power, coreboot options, lots of network interfaces”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Most models have no WiFi
“almost none of their models seem to have built-in WiFi”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “FCC imposes ban on new foreign-made routers, allows 2 yrs firmware updates” Intel NICs limit performance
“the NICs (5 Intel NICs) are the limiting factor”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Wanted to download an ISO, ended up writing a kernel exploit”
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 One | 34 | 10 | 77% | 7 | 3 mo3 owners | Approved |
| Protectli VaultThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the NICs (5 Intel NICs) are the limiting factor”
“I switched, about 7-8 years ago to a Protectli box running Coreboot and OPNSense and haven't looked back”
“I can recommand the Protectli Hardware over a Raspberry Pi, especially if you want to run a single server/hardware homelab.”
“almost none of their models seem to have built-in WiFi”
“Best firewall / router I've ever owned. Not cheap but worth it for me.”
“x86, low power, coreboot options, lots of network interfaces”
“It's been going strong with regular updates (and by regular I mean as regular as your Linux workstation) for over half a decade now.”
“They've got x86 systems with coreboot. That's about as good as you can get these days for open source-ness”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.