Asus RT-BE88U vs TP-Link Archer BE230

The Asus RT-BE88U wins on owner rating and offers a longer warranty, while the TP-Link Archer BE230 is the cheaper of the two. For buyers who value ports and warranty length over price, the RT-BE88U is the stronger pick.

Wired port count. The Asus RT-BE88U has ten ports, including a 10 Gbps RJ45 port and a 10 Gbps SFP+ port, while the TP-Link Archer BE230 has five ports topping out at 2.5 Gbps.

The Asus RT-BE88U, with ten ports total: a 10 Gbps RJ45 port, a 10 Gbps SFP+ port, four 2.5 Gbps ports and four Gigabit ports, plus link aggregation. The TP-Link Archer BE230 has five ports and no link aggregation.

Yes to both. The Asus RT-BE88U and the TP-Link Archer BE230 both support Multi-Link Operation and both offer WireGuard alongside OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP/IPSec on their VPN client and server.

Buyers who want an affordable, single-box Wi-Fi 7 router with the essentials covered should buy the TP-Link Archer BE230.

Buyers who wire a lot of devices and want 10 Gbps ports, link aggregation, a command line interface and dual-WAN failover should buy the Asus RT-BE88U, and accept the higher price for the extra hardware.