Amazon’s Eero mesh routers have been recognized for stable efficiency since they debuted a number of years in the past, and the Eero 6 Plus ($300 for a three-pack) and the Eero Professional 6E ($550 for a three-pack) are two of its hottest choices. Each have additionally come down significantly in value since Amazon debuted the Wi-Fi 7 appropriate Eero Max 7 ($1,700 for a three-pack) earlier this yr.
With a number of units unfold all through your own home, every of the Eero techniques guarantees to create a quicker, extra dependable connection from room to room. Each techniques characteristic full assist for Wi-Fi 6 speeds in addition to built-in Zigbee radios that allow you to join lights, locks and different good residence devices to your community with out the necessity for an additional hub.
Watch this: Wi-Fi 6 vs. Wi-FI 6E: Here is the Distinction in 3 Minutes
Look underneath the hood, nonetheless, and you will find heaps separating these two fashions — significantly relating to efficiency. Just like the “Professional” a part of the branding suggests, the Eero Professional 6E kicks issues up with an ultrahigh-speed WAN port able to supporting incoming Ethernet speeds as excessive as 2.5Gbps. It additionally helps Wi-Fi 6E, which lets it join appropriate units over the not too long ago opened ultrawide 6GHz band.
If you happen to’re attempting to determine which one can be a greater match in your residence, you have come to the fitting place. I spent a number of weeks testing the 2 techniques out, and have loads to share about their respective capabilities. Here is a detailed have a look at how the 2 techniques stack up in opposition to one another, examine to earlier Eero techniques and match as much as the competitors. I am going to additionally embrace my ideas on which is likely to be the higher purchase for many peoples’ residence networking wants. (Trace: Considered one of them has already earned a spot on my record of one of the best mesh routers at the moment on sale.)
Eero 6 Plus
Amazon’s second swing at Wi-Fi 6
Velocity score: AX3000
Design: Dualband (2.4 and 5GHz)
Ports: Two 1Gbps Ethernet jacks, USB-C energy jack
Extras: Constructed-in Zigbee good residence radio, Matter assist through Thread
{Hardware}: 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of Flash storage
Vary: 4,500 sq. ft. (three-pack)
Particular person value: $140
Three-pack value: $300
In 2020, somewhat over a yr after being acquired by Amazon, Eero launched its first mesh router for the Wi-Fi 6 age, the Eero 6. At $279 for a three-piece system, the worth was tempting — however the inconsistent efficiency in our pace assessments left lots to be desired.
Flash forward to 2022, and the introduction of the Eero 6 Plus. Priced barely increased this time round at $195 for a three-pack, the system appears to be like almost an identical to the one which preceded it, however it guarantees upgraded efficiency by the use of new assist for 160MHz channels (up from 80MHz). A quicker AX3000 pace score (up from AX1800) implies that it is higher geared up to benefit from gigabit connections, too.
Positive sufficient, the Eero 6 Plus proved to be a major enchancment over its predecessor in our efficiency assessments, making significantly better use of Wi-Fi 6 to ship quick speeds all through everything of my residence throughout a number of days of assessments. Considered one of solely a handful of brand name identify choices that will get you a three-piece Wi-Fi 6 mesh setup for lower than $200, it is an intriguing choose.
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Eero Professional 6E
The primary Eero system that helps Wi-Fi 6E
Velocity score: AX5400
Design: Triband (2.4, 5, and 6GHz)
Ports: Two Ethernet jacks (2.5Gbps and 1Gbps), USB-C energy jack
Extras: Constructed-in Zigbee good residence radio, Matter assist through Thread
{Hardware}: 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of flash storage
Vary: 6,000 sq. ft. (three-pack)
Particular person value: $250
Three-pack value: $550
The Eero Professional 6E gives a step up from the Eero 6 Plus — and from each different Eero system that got here earlier than it — with the addition of Wi-Fi 6E assist. That implies that the tri-band AX5400 system comes geared up with a radio able to sending indicators within the 6GHz band, a large swath of airwaves with greater than twice as a lot bandwidth because the 5GHz band and no over-the-air interference from previous-gen units.
That positions the Eero Professional 6E to maintain up with forward-looking use-cases like augmented actuality that can require networks able to shifting giant quantities of knowledge abruptly. On high of that, the Ethernet WAN port able to accepting incoming wired speeds as quick as 2.5Gbps (2,500Mbps) implies that it is constructed to maintain up with the brand new multigig web plans which might be rising in availability this yr, too.
Efficiency was sturdy once I examined the system out at residence. Solely 5 of the 30 or so techniques that I’ve examined there registered quicker common obtain speeds than the Professional 6E; solely 4 of them surpassed its common add speeds. That makes it a worthy improve choose, however with wi-fi speeds that high out round 1.3Gbps, it is not fairly the multigig mesh you may need hoped for.
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Design and specs
Neither of the brand new techniques deviate from Eero’s established type: Shiny, white plastic with mild curves, ports within the again and an Eero brand up high. The truth is, they’re almost indistinguishable from previous-gen Eero techniques, and perhaps that is the purpose, as each the Eero 6 Plus and the Eero Professional 6E are backward appropriate with earlier-gen Eero setups. That implies that current Eero customers might choose up a single Eero 6 Plus or Professional 6E machine and add it into their setup as both the primary router or as an extra vary extender.
As for the internals, the Eero Professional 6E is the extra highly effective of the 2 mesh routers, boasting quicker radios, superior vary and twice as a lot RAM because the Eero 6 Plus, plus the additional advantage of the two.5Gbps Ethernet jack within the again. One other key Professional benefit: The triband construct, which permits the system to dedicate both the 5 or 6GHz band to system transmissions between the router and its satellites. All of that’s nice — however the issue is that the Eero Professional 6E is not designed to hit wi-fi speeds a lot quicker than 1.3Gbps, so whereas it may well deal with an incoming multigig connection, it will not provide those self same blazing quick speeds that you just’re presumably paying for once you’re linked over Wi-Fi.
That brings us again to the Eero 6 Plus, which gives considerably higher efficiency than earlier than, because of quicker radios of its personal, plus assist for 160Mhz channels — wider lanes in your net site visitors to move by. It is not as highly effective because the Professional 6E, however it makes higher use of the horsepower packed inside, particularly on condition that it prices $155 much less for a three-pack than the Eero Professional 6E. Greenback for greenback, the {hardware} simply makes somewhat extra sense, so I give it the slight edge right here.
Winner: Eero 6 Plus
Efficiency and speeds
Design decisions apart, the Eero Professional 6E is the quicker of those two techniques. In my residence, the place I’ve a fiber web reference to add and obtain speeds of as much as 300Mbps and the quickest units I check high out at round 375Mbps at shut vary, the Eero Professional 6E’s obtain speeds to a Wi-Fi 6 machine got here out to 342Mbps when averaged throughout the entire home. That rose to a really spectacular 365Mbps once I repeated my assessments with a Wi-Fi 6E machine.
In the meantime, the Eero 6 Plus returned common Wi-Fi 6 obtain speeds of 304Mbps, and that quantity really went down barely once I reran my assessments with a Wi-Fi 6E machine. That is not shocking — with out Wi-Fi 6E assist, the Eero 6 Plus will not deal with Wi-Fi 6E consumer units any in a different way than people who assist Wi-Fi 6.
A obtain common of 304Mbps remains to be an excellent end in that check (and it is nonetheless top-10 amongst the entire mesh routers I’ve examined at residence over the previous few years) — however the Eero Professional 6E was even higher. What’s extra, you are prone to see an excellent higher distinction between the 2 on a community that helps increased speeds than my 300Mbps fiber plan, as a result of the Professional 6E is healthier geared up to deal with quicker speeds like these. The system may even enhance with age as increasingly of the units in our properties begin providing assist for Wi-Fi 6E. Meaning the Eero Professional 6E will get the clear edge right here.
Winner: Eero Professional 6E
Privateness, safety and options
Each the Eero 6 Plus and the Eero Professional 6E provide setup steerage and system controls through the Eero app, obtainable on Android and iOS. The app does an excellent job of strolling customers by the setup course of, which is itself fairly easy — simply join an Eero machine to your modem with an Ethernet cable, plug it into an influence supply, give your community a reputation, select a password and plug within the extenders when instructed. With each techniques, I had issues up and working in effectively underneath 10 minutes.
Along with the setup assist, the Eero app makes it straightforward to trace the units linked to your community, run a fast pace check, or group units for advert blocking or parental management functions. With a $3 month-to-month subscription to Eero Safe, you possibly can add in extra safety and content material filtering options — make {that a} $10 month-to-month subscription to Eero Safe Plus so as to add in distant DDNS controls in addition to entry to Malwarebytes antiviral safety, the Encrypt.me VPN, and 1Password, which is considered one of CNET’s top-rated password managers. Security measures apart, each Eero techniques characteristic built-in Zigbee radios for connecting issues like lights and locks to your private home community, in addition to assist for the upcoming Matter good residence normal by the use of Thread assist. All of that — the setup assist, the app options, the elective Eero Safe extras, the good residence radios — are the identical throughout each the Eero 6 Plus and the Eero Professional 6E.
The 2 techniques share the identical privateness concerns, as effectively. On its data-collection assist web page, Eero says that it does not ever observe the web sites you go to or gather the contents of your net site visitors, however the firm does gather information out of your community so as to optimize Wi-Fi efficiency. Eero says that it does not promote that buyer information, or promote advertisements primarily based on that information — however it does not provide an possibility for customers to choose out of knowledge assortment altogether, which units it aside from another producers within the residence networking house. Once more, it is the identical consideration for each techniques, so this one’s a push.
Winner: Tie
Worth
If you happen to’re choosing between a three-piece mesh router that prices $300 and one other that prices $550, you may assume that the $300 system is the superior worth. You would not essentially be fallacious — however with the Eero 6 Plus and the Eero Professional 6E, it is in all probability lots nearer than you assume.
Let’s begin with the 6 Plus. At $300, it’s on par with different three-piece mesh techniques with comparable specs. Different dual-band, three-piece mesh techniques with assist for Wi-Fi 6 bought there first, together with the Netgear Nighthawk MK63S, at the moment obtainable for $200, the Asus ZenWifi AX Mini, which at the moment prices $229, and Amazon’s personal Eero 6. That previous-gen system launched in 2020 for $279 ($20 lower than the Eero 6 Plus), and Amazon simply marked it right down to $200. Then once more, none of these techniques carried out almost in addition to the Eero 6 Plus did, which positively provides it a powerful declare to worth in that $200-or-less class. There simply aren’t lots of three-piece techniques in that value vary with efficiency that is pretty much as good as this.
That brings us to the Eero Professional 6E, which is way more of a pricing play than the 6 Plus. At $550, it is costly, however it’s a relative cut price in comparison with your different mesh choices with assist for Wi-Fi 6E. There aren’t a lot of these, however they arrive with eye-popping value tags — $575 for a Linksys Velop Atlas Max 6E three-pack, or $1,100 for a Netgear Orbi AXE11000 three-pack. The Eero Professional 6E is likely to be costly, however it’s a needle mover for Wi-Fi 6E’s value of entry, and that’ll in all probability tempt lots of customers who’re itching to make the soar to 6E assist on their residence community.
It’s early, although, and Wi-Fi 7 routers have already began to debut that may match and even beat the Professional 6E’s worth proposition. If you happen to’re shopping for proper now, you possibly can anticipate a noticeable uptick in system speeds, in addition to barely quicker speeds to Wi-Fi 6E units (assuming you might have any). Is that price an additional $250?
For some forward-looking households, I believe that it is likely to be, significantly if you happen to’re trying to get probably the most out of a gigabit web plan (which is admittedly the Professional 6E’s candy spot). That Professional 6E worth will probably look higher and higher as Wi-Fi 6E continues to mature and make it into our telephones, laptops and different family units. However exterior of that, I believe one of the best worth in the present day lies with the 6 Plus.
Winner: Eero 6 Plus (however it’s nearer than you’d assume)
The decision
The Eero 6 Plus and the Eero Professional 6E are each sturdy choices within the mesh class, and I might simply see myself recommending both of them to a pal or member of the family. Each provide quick, constant speeds, sturdy ease of use, mixture of options and respectable worth relative to the competitors. I additionally respect Eero’s restraint beneath its new guardian firm — the routers assist Frustration-Free Setup and Alexa voice controls for pausing the Wi-Fi, however that is about so far as they go on the Amazon entrance. There are not any Alexa audio system or long-distance Amazon Sidewalk radios constructed into both of them, and neither one requires you to hyperlink your Amazon account to your private home community.
The Eero Professional 6E is the higher choose for energy customers trying to get probably the most out of a gigabit connection, however for many of us, I believe the Eero 6 Plus is the higher purchase. With full-width channels and quicker radios than earlier than, it makes a lot, significantly better use of Wi-Fi 6 than the last-gen Eero 6 did, and whereas it does not assist Wi-Fi 6E or multigig speeds, I believe we’re nonetheless a number of years away from the time when these will likely be must-haves in most peoples’ properties. The Professional 6E is somewhat forward of its time, which is not a foul factor, however the Eero 6 Plus is the higher choose for the worth if you happen to’re shopping for in the present day.
