Nest Wifi vs. eero Mesh: Which router system should you buy?

Nest Wifi Router

The Nest Wifi Router is a serious heavyweight, with excellent coverage, reliability, and speed. Each router can double as both an endpoint and a network extender, and the purchasable Nest Points even double as Google Assistant smart speakers. Google's released a powerful product here, and it's one that gets our full recommendation.

Eero Mesh Router

If you're looking for a bargain, the Eero Mesh Router is a solid alternative to the Nest Wifi. Its coverage and network speeds don't perform quite as well, but its performance here should still be good enough for a lot of people. You also benefit from a compact design, a super simple set up process, and the awesome companion app.

From smart lighting to climate control, from home security to kitchen appliances, the diversity and quantity of Internet-connected devices are growing at an exponential rate. And as this smart home technology continues to gain prominence, the need for powerful, reliable mesh networking hardware to support it becomes even greater. Today, we'll compare products from two of the best-known brands on the market: The Google Nest Wifi Router and the Eero Mesh Router.

Google's hardware is faster, offers better speeds, and covers a larger area — making it the better overall buy of the two. However, if money's tight and you're trying to watch what you spend, the Eero Mesh Router delivers a good experience for less cashtcl .

Two different weight classes

For the sub-$100 category, the Eero is a pretty good buy. In addition to seamlessly integrating with Amazon Alexa, it offers decent reliability, intelligent routing, and passable network speeds. Springing for Eero also gets you access to a subscription service known as Eero Secure.

Intended to provide users with better privacy and security, Eero Secure unlocks such features as content filtering, SafeSearch, priority technical support, and network-wide adblocking. The next tier of the subscription (known as Eero Secure+) adds accounts for several major security-focused apps and services, including 1Password, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and encrypt.me VPN. It's great if you're looking for a secure mesh network on a budget.

Finally, as with all eero's products, Eero Mesh has built-in compatibility with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. If you're big on Amazon and its products, that could be a draw for you. On the other hand, if you've already got anything from Google in your house, it's not going to sway your decision.

If you use any Nest or Google WiFi products, the Nest Wifi Router is a no-brainer. Combine it with Nest Points, and you can even expand your voice-controlled smart home along with your network. Each Point doubles as a Google Assistant-enabled smart speaker, allowing you to talk to them just as you would a Nest Hub or Nest Mini.

The Points don't offer great specs compared to the Nest Wifi Router, but compared to the Eero Router, they're actually more powerful — offering better coverage and faster speeds. Eero's Beacon expanders are in a similar boat, as they're both pricier and beefier than the base Router.

Bottom line

For shoppers that aren't super concerned with their budget, the Google Nest Wifi is the way to go. It's got better coverage, faster speeds, better on-board security (WPA3 vs. WPA2), and better support for multiple devices. It's also backward compatible with Google Wifi and works seamlessly with Google Assistant. Compared to some of the best wireless routers you can get, it still provides decent speeds.

That said, you shouldn't completely ignore the Eero Mesh Router. It may not be as technically impressive as the Nest Wifi, but for the price, it's a perfectly competent gadget. It works well, has ample speed and coverage for casual use, and brings a ton of value with its optional subscriptions. Plus, if you're an Alexa family instead of a Google Assistant one, it'll be the better fit for your smart home.