ASUS RT-AX88U Pro?

[TankBYU]

I am looking into buying the ASUS rt-ax88u pro and using Merlin, however, it’s not clear to me if all the pro features like AiProtection Pro, Guest Network Pro, Parental Controls, etc. are the same (or better) in Merlin vs the stock firmware. I know the point of Merlin is to provide more features than stock and some appear to be similar to the features in the pro stock firmware. I guess my real question is if you remove any hardware differences, is it worth it to pay extra for the pro version of an ASUS router or do you get just as much or more with the standard version if you add Merlin?

 

[Kingp1n]

I believe this has been asked before but you can start here:

Is it worth to upgrade the AX88U to the AX88U Pro version?

I have seen a lot of comparisons with the AX86U Pro, I haven't found between the AX88(s), my biggest objectives are Range, Stability and Long term support (security patches, upgrades, new functionality), will the Pro have better Range and Stability than the non-Pro? Thanks

www.snbforums.com

 

[Tech9]

Guest Network Pro

Guest Network Pro and user defined VLANs are not available in current Asuswrt-Merlin for RT-AX88U Pro. Available in stock Asuswrt 3006 base firmware. Asuswrt-Merlin for this model is 3004 base firmware. The same AiProtection and Parental Controls are available on both firmware versions.

standard version

The "standard" version RT-AX88U is an old router from 2018, discontinued model now. It's still supported by Asus and Asuswrt-Merlin, but may land on End-of-Line list in 1-2 years. Get RT-AX88U Pro or better the newer RT-BE88U. The BE model has 3006 based Asuswrt-Merlin firmware available.