Optional packages, installable on-the-fly

Such as adblocking (pi-hole like experience without additional gear)

ssh access, printserver, dynamic DNS, VPNs, different routing protocols, vlan support, tunneling protocols, monitoring, home Automation, wireguard, wpa3, OWE (encrypted open wifi), lots of goodies known from other linux distros, etc

Here are some pointers on whats possible: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/start

Edit: added examples. And er, that stuff is ordinary for me :-)

> Optional packages, installable on-the-fly

Possible on Asus hardware using the third-party Merlin firmware as well:

* https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/wiki/Entware

* https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/features

The default Asus firmware is decent too.

Wireguard, particularly.

Except if you don't have a premium router with high-end CPU you will have minimal bandwith.

Most residential connections in my area have such abysmal bandwidth it really doesn't matter at home.

1Gbps down but 30 Mbps up seems reasonable.

My Mikrotik hEX can max out that 30 Mbps without any trouble.

I can do over 270Mbps down and 80Mbps up (May be limited by my upload, download is a CPU limitation) on a RBM33G as a client-router.

I'm not 100%, but it may actually be 370Mbps down, but I don't want to advertise that number without being sure. I replaced it with a RPi4 as a router-on-a-stick WG gateway. The RPi4 has no problem keeping up with my 500/100 fiber connection.

The RBM33G has a pretty weak MTK7621a dual core 800mhz MIPS cpu.

I should setup two of them and run some proper benchmarks at some point.

You'd be surprised; I'm pulling 150Mbps on a years-old $40 Edgerouter X (it was on sale when I bought it; it's normally $60) over Wireguard to Mullvad.

Depends what you want to do with it. If you just want a secure SSH tunnel it's perfectly serviceable

I get plenty for my needs on an Archer C7.

What speeds are you getting?

You get frequent software updates with meaningful changelogs and detailed lists of bugs/vulnerabilities fixed.

Also, you can be quite sure that there are no software components active that serve the interestest of the device's manufacturer more than those of its owner and users.

I have two cheap WiFi Access Points. They worked fine when I got them. After a few weeks one of them stopped working and I had to restart it. A few days later the other one had the same problem. This repeated every few weeks. Once i got tired of restarting the APs every now and then, I looked into it and figured it was a memory leak in the firmware. Then I installed OpenWRT and I didn't touch the APs since. It just works. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

The UI isn't slow.

This is a serious pet peeve of mine with other routers. I don't need a heavy frontend just to configure my router, I want to open port forwarding quickly. Fading effects and fake loading swirls are utterly unnecessary. There's none of it in OpenWRT.

My OpenWRT router takes 10s to reboot. Compared to 5-10min ISP router.

* Security updates for way longer than the vendor would provide them.

* Privacy (lots of stock firmwares phone home). With OpenWrt your hardware is _yours_.

* When you do have to interact with the router, you don't die from its terrible UI (in fact, OpenWrt has a great one).

Better security in general. The firmware on consumer-grade routers is an afterthought. They are routinely running 10-year-old versions of services which are sometimes exposed to the internet, and all insist on rolling their own shitty web UIs which often include command injection vulnerabilities.

Integrating wireguard routes into your local network and overriding DNS with trusted endpoints. These are common enough needs these days to be considered ordinary.

It doesn't report home

Default router firmware is often a security nightmare the vendor barely bothers to patch. OpenWrt firmware receives regular security updates. I'd rather my router not become a botnet participant.

Massively decreased chances of run-by attacks exploiting known vulnerabilities in mass produced mainstream routers. Having a "more exotic" setup already avoids a lot of (non-targeted) attack vectors.

It keeps configuration in files in a *nix-esque file system, which allows me to keep router config and changes in git.

OpenWRT lets you control and access the device you own

Thank you everyone who replied!

SQM for bufferbloat

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