What to Replace my RT-AC56U with ?

[Thagor]

I Just realized that my trusty AC56U is EoL and wont get any more updates.
So far I was using wrt merlin on it and liked it very much.

I'm looking for something that
a) stays supported for a while (I know no one has a crystal ball)
b) does not brake the bank (sub 100 USD/Euro)
c) has some decent QoS
d) Okayish wifi (wifi-5 is enough but MU-MIMO would be nice)
e) has an open VPN server and client (this is a must)
f) has DDNS (this is a must too)

I'm happy to install some custom firmware if those functionalities are not delivered out of the box.

 

[RMerlin]

Sub-100$ your choices will be quite limited if you want these features (particularly OpenVPN client and server, as these can require significant CPU muscle).

The only thing close to that would be the Asus RT-AC66U_B1 (low cost version of the RT-AC68U).

Otherwise, you'd need to look at something that supports OpenWRT or DD-WRT.

 

[Trip]

If @RMerlin 's suggestion doesn't fit well enough, I'd find a way to through an extra $50 bucks at this and either stay with an Asus solution, or go to something like an Archer C2600 with an IPQ8064 running OpenWRT - an excellent cost-to-speed option, especially if you want to run OpenVPN server/client on the same box.

 

[Thagor]

the Archer C2600 is out of stock where I live, how is the Archer C7 and how stable are the OpenWRT/DD-WRT systems on TP-Link products? TP-Link seems to comparatively cheap what corner do they cut in general?

Otherwise yeah I probably go with an AC68U

 

[Trip]

I find TP-Link consumer products to be just as good, if not better, in hardware quality as Asus, perhaps a hair below Netgear. The primary difference comes in the quality of their stock firmware (sometimes a fair bit lower) and length and quality of support (usually a bit shorter than Asus/Netgear). Add in third-party firmwares, however, and those differences are mostly nullified; a great way to get some of the better bang-for-the-buck hardware while covering for any software shortcomings.

The C7 is OpenWRT compatible with a 750Mhz MIPS SoC (roughly equivalent to 1Ghz ARM for routing in-software). It will likely be limited to 100Mb/s as an OpenVPN server, or a bit less. Still a decent value for $60 USD.