Openwrt or RouterOS

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JonOpollo

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I have the opportunity of getting another openwrt router or switching over to Mikrotik. I have no specific use case that requires one over the other. It will be used as a modem+router+access point combo. I occasionally load balance connections. At the moment I am using a Router 4A gigabit flashed with openwrt for my fibre connection and have fallen in love with the extensive monitoring, software and etc. that "normal" routers do not offer. What advantages does RouterOS and Winbox offer over openwrt? Or simply why do you appreciate one over the other?. I know mikrotik is a learning curve and wifi performance generally tends to not be the best. I am interested in getting the hAP ac3 as it will be for a home setup and seems like a good all round device for those needs.
 
+1 for Openwrt.

I had a hex lite and hAP ac2 when it came out. Mikrotik is quite stable I never had issues with it, but new features are slow to be implemented.
Eventually flashed Openwrt on both Mikrotik devices. I felt that it performed better with SQM, was easier to learn/use and offered more customizations.

Currently using Openwrt on RPi4 and 2x Unfi U6 Lite's, with managed switch. No issues.

Personally I would always choose an Openwrt device over anything else because I like to play around with it and don't mind upgrading snapshot builds every few weeks.
I don't see any advantages that RouterOS would offer over Openwrt.
 
I also use mwan3 for load balancing 2 LTE connections and DNS over HTTPS which works well.
 
ryan10 said:
+1 for Openwrt.

I had a hex lite and hAP ac2 when it came out. Mikrotik is quite stable I never had issues with it, but new features are slow to be implemented.
Eventually flashed Openwrt on both Mikrotik devices. I felt that it performed better with SQM, was easier to learn/use and offered more customizations.

Currently using Openwrt on RPi4 and 2x Unfi U6 Lite's, with managed switch. No issues.

Personally I would always choose an Openwrt device over anything else because I like to play around with it and don't mind upgrading snapshot builds every few weeks.
I don't see any advantages that RouterOS would offer over Openwrt.
Click to expand...
I guess it sounds like if it aint broke dont fix it. Haven't had any issues with openwrt except the hardware feeling "limiting". I see the hap ac3 has openwrt support coming if not supported already. Do you have any hardware suggestions that have around 4 GbE ports and maybe a usb port for openwrt. Considering a switch but its one more thing to get power for during loadshedding.

ryan10 said:
I also use mwan3 for load balancing 2 LTE connections and DNS over HTTPS which works well.
Click to expand...
Mwan is great using it as a WiFi extender with lte + fibre. Also dialing multiple PPPoE connections over wan and it works well compared to other solutions I've used in the past.
 
I have used OpenWrt for many years on TP-LINK, but when my TP-Link died, I changed to MikroTik and I kept RouterOS.

Recenly I decided to flashed my 5 x hAP ac² and 1 x hAP ac³ with OpenWrt 22.03.0 as a test.
I use an RPI4 (Debian 11 Lite) as the main fibre router (with pi.hole, PPPoE and nftables).

So far, OpenWrt seems to have better signal and better roaming.
Areas where I struggled to maintain WiFi connections, now work.
Looking at enabling 802.11r fast roaming on OpenWrt.

So far very happy with the change to OpenWrt.
 
I found it was too easy to break things with router os... With legitimate configurations...
 
Are there any disadvantages to running OpenWRT on a hAP ac2? I'm not sure whether there are any features missing because of device incompatibility - I did find this page https://openwrt.org/toh/mikrotik/hap_ac2 but there's no mention of anything wrong (maybe good?).

These are the main features I'm using, which I can't do without:
  1. PPPoE (for fibre)
  2. FQ Codel
  3. ZeroTier
  4. WireGuard
    1. Ability to route specific IPs through WireGuard
  5. Guest WiFi

I've also found it too easy to break things with RouterOS. Fat finger a value and you suddenly can't access your router. And more often than not, the updates tend to break the router and I need to manually flash from a borrowed Windows device. OpenWRT seems easier to manage and I like playing with new features.
 
system32 said:
I have used OpenWrt for many years on TP-LINK, but when my TP-Link died, I changed to MikroTik and I kept RouterOS.

Recenly I decided to flashed my 5 x hAP ac² and 1 x hAP ac³ with OpenWrt 22.03.0 as a test.
I use an RPI4 (Debian 11 Lite) as the main fibre router (with pi.hole, PPPoE and nftables).

So far, OpenWrt seems to have better signal and better roaming.
Areas where I struggled to maintain WiFi connections, now work.
Looking at enabling 802.11r fast roaming on OpenWrt.

So far very happy with the change to OpenWrt.
Click to expand...
Do you use the hap Ac3 for wifi? Have been running openwrt on it for a while and it seems I have wifi regression (seems like an issue w/IPQ 4018 & openwrt?) on some clients. For example speeds would peak and then drop down artificially to sub 10mbps.

Not an issue on rOS but I cannot see myself going back to it just for that as I am happy with openwrt for many other reasons.
 
giggity said:
Are there any disadvantages to running OpenWRT on a hAP ac2? I'm not sure whether there are any features missing because of device incompatibility - I did find this page https://openwrt.org/toh/mikrotik/hap_ac2 but there's no mention of anything wrong (maybe good?).

These are the main features I'm using, which I can't do without:
  1. PPPoE (for fibre)
  2. FQ Codel
  3. ZeroTier
  4. WireGuard
    1. Ability to route specific IPs through WireGuard
  5. Guest WiFi

I've also found it too easy to break things with RouterOS. Fat finger a value and you suddenly can't access your router. And more often than not, the updates tend to break the router and I need to manually flash from a borrowed Windows device. OpenWRT seems easier to manage and I like playing with new features.
Click to expand...
Flashed a buddy's hap Ac2 with openwrt and seems solid in my limited testing. They're still running it as the main home router he seems to prefer it over rOS without second thought, although nothing too advanced just monitor tools and mwan3 at the moment.

Advice would be to just flash it and try it out with your config. If it doesnt work out return to rOS. (just backup your tik's key). I can say pppoe, SQM and zerotier has been solid on openwrt in general.
 
JonOpollo said:
Do you use the hap Ac3 for wifi? Have been running openwrt on it for a while and it seems I have wifi regression (seems like an issue w/IPQ 4018 & openwrt?) on some clients. For example speeds would peak and then drop down artificially to sub 10mbps.

Not an issue on rOS but I cannot see myself going back to it just for that as I am happy with openwrt for many other reasons.
Click to expand...
I flashed all my Ac3 and Ac2 with OpenWrt, both seem to be fine with OpenWrt.
OpenWrt does not ask for WiFi country.
I tested setting the WiFi country on OpenWrt to ZA and the performance dropped to same as RouterOS, so I removed that setting using uci.
I suspect that RouterOS may have the same issue with ZA.

Tried OpenWrt 802.11r, but my cellphone had issues, even so roaming works better - probably because of better signal.

Very happy with OpenWrt + OpenWrt2020 theme.

Recently got Xiaomi ax3200 - cheaper than Ac3, but challenging to install OpenWrt - used UART flash method - good device with WiFi6.
You can UART flash without opening case.
 
system32 said:
I flashed all my Ac3 and Ac2 with OpenWrt, both seem to be fine with OpenWrt.
OpenWrt does not ask for WiFi country.
I tested setting the WiFi country on OpenWrt to ZA and the performance dropped to same as RouterOS, so I removed that setting using uci.
I suspect that RouterOS may have the same issue with ZA.

Tried OpenWrt 802.11r, but my cellphone had issues, even so roaming works better - probably because of better signal.

Very happy with OpenWrt + OpenWrt2020 theme.

Recently got Xiaomi ax3200 - cheaper than Ac3, but challenging to install OpenWrt - used UART flash method - good device with WiFi6.
You can UART flash without opening case.
Click to expand...
Alright I do have ZA set, cant remember why but will try your config, thanks for reply.

And yeah had a xiaomi they are quirky to flash but are decent after the heavy lifting is done, kinda sad I just missed out on the openwrt compatible wifi6 models after getting my hapac3, but I do use my usb port a bunch so maybe not all too bad.
 
So unfortunately, with settings changed the issue still persists. As soon as I hit it with a load it cannot sustain it and drops from the hundreds mbit/s to single digits. On both bands. If I use my laptop the speeds stay consistent in the hundreds and wifi is perfect.

Here's a gif of the phone's rates that keeps shifting during a speedtest.
txrxrate.gif
 
I switched to OpenWRT a few months ago and am very happy with mine. As great and powerful as RouterOS is if you dont do networking regularly it takes lots of googling to set things up and get it working or to make a change. OpenWRT is much more home user friendly and I find I spend much less time if I want to make a change.

I am running a Hap ac2 as my main router but don't use the AP's on it much as its in my workshop.
I have a ubiquity ac lite, tp-link Archer c20 and soon a tp-link EAP225 as dumb access points around the house. Its all working much better than my routerOS setup did.
 
JonOpollo said:
So unfortunately, with settings changed the issue still persists. As soon as I hit it with a load it cannot sustain it and drops from the hundreds mbit/s to single digits. On both bands. If I use my laptop the speeds stay consistent in the hundreds and wifi is perfect.

Here's a gif of the phone's rates that keeps shifting during a speedtest.
View attachment 1393443
Click to expand...
UPDATE: So I have come to the conclusion that my phone, its chipset or firmware has a weird bug that slows speeds down when other wireless features are on. Its very hard to troubleshoot as results are inconsistent and some APs seem to work while others outright don't. A quick google/reddit search confirmed my suspicions. WI-FI seems to work now on my device.
 
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