Reasons to use OpenWrt

People install OpenWrt because they find it to be superior to the stock firmware of their router or embedded device. This page showcases many aspects of OpenWrt.

OpenWrt is designed by network professionals and others who care about the performance of their network and get the best throughput speeds and latency. OpenWrt incorporates many algorithms from recent research that perform far better than vendor-supplied firmware.

• OpenWrt is stable, and operates reliably for long periods of time.
• Optimal packages and codebase tailor-made for low end hardware and maximum storage space.
• Wi-Fi improvements support higher data rates and airtime fairness between stations.
• No hardware vendor background processes or bloat (TR-069 diagnostics, analytics & auto-updates).

OpenWrt is an open source software. Many developers from all over the world review the code before it's released.

• No hidden backdoors left by hardware vendors.
• Fine grained firewall settings to protect your network from a multitude of attacks.
• OpenWrt is actively updated so any vulnerabilities are closed shortly after they are discovered.
• Default OpenWrt configuration is very conservative allowing full internet connectivity without exposing your router or connected devices to attacks.
• Many of the older devices are supported by OpenWrt and can enjoy security OpenWrt brings, long after vendors stop releasing firmware updates.
• Up-to-date Linux kernel codebase, encryption standards and WPA provisions.

While vendor firmware for a router ships with a fixed set of capabilities, OpenWrt provides more than 27000 packages ready to be browsed and installed in an app store-like environment to get the most out of your hardware. Some of the more popular packages allow you to:

• Utilize native dual-stack connectivity out-of-the-box or provide IPv4/IPv6 transitioning.
• Block ads on your router so you can enjoy clean uncluttered web experience from any connected device.
• Create your own WiFi mesh network with WDS.
• Extend your WiFi capability with business-like EAP extensions.
• Reduce latency/lag (bufferbloat) and manage your speeds even during heavy traffic with Smart Queue Management.
• Secure your internet access and prevent your ISP from snooping on your internet activity with OpenVPN or WireGuard client.
• Prevent your ISP from spoofing and snooping on your DNS requests with DNS encryption.
• Encrypt your internet connection, proxy your traffic, bypass regional restrictions, access the dark net and Tor hidden services with Tor client.
• Force connected devices with hard-coded DNS servers to use your router's DNS with DNS hijacking.
• Create a guest WLAN allowing access to internet, but not your local devices, then personalize it with a Captive Portal like opennds.
• Control access using the time limits and parental controls.
• Set quota on download volume or bandwidth. Useful for e.g. 3G/4G connection with limited up/download volume.
• Add a webcam for live surveillance or timelapse video creation of landscapes or 3D printers.
• Connect to your weather station with pywws or weewx, record weather statistics and make them accessible via a webserver, garnished with a live webcam image.
• Interact with 1-wire devices (sensors, actors, ...).
• Combine multiple WAN connections for concurrency, failover and load balancing using mwan3.
• Make your router a central for home automation.
• Access a wider range of Dynamic DNS (DDNS) providers than vendor firmware via ddns-scripts
• Use your Router's USB port to connect a Mobile Broadband Modem, Tethered Phone, Printer, NAS Drive, Flash Drive or anything else with the appropriate driver package.

The vibrant and passionate community of developers, volunteers, and other long-time OpenWrt users are always available to help solve an issue.

• OpenWrt Forum - member-to-member conversations about OpenWrt.
• r/openwrt Subeddit - casual posts and questions related to using and troubleshooting OpenWrt
• OpenWrt Developer and OpenWrt Admin mailing lists.
• #openwrt and #openwrt-devel on IRC.

See also: Communication within the OpenWrt Project

Many teams who are doing cutting-edge research into networking topics use OpenWrt as a stable platform for their work. As their work moves from the experimental realm into practical, production-quality code, it is available in OpenWrt builds first. Some teams using OpenWrt include:

• Many router manufacturers still use OpenWrt as a base for their stock firmware.
• Continuing development of the fq_codel and cake algorithms that decrease bufferbloat.
• The Make Wi-Fi Fast team has been working to decrease queueing and latency in the wi-fi stack, and is testing out their airtime fairness code using OpenWrt.
• Homenet provides implementation of zeroconf IPv6 (and IPv4) routing, prefix assignment and service discovery for a home network consisting of multiple routers connected to multiple service providers. There's a hnet-full package for OpenWrt.

Because OpenWrt is a true Linux-based system, you have full control over all functions of your router/device.

• Break free from vendor firmware restrictions with a variety of configuration options.
• Enjoy a familiar and uniform experience across multiple devices.
• OpenWrt provides both command-line interface (via SSH) and a web-based user interface for configuration.
• Configuration information is stored in plain-text files to ease the editing and/or copying.
• OpenWrt Image Generator allows you to create your own firmware images for your device with any customizations (pre-defined password, WiFi, etc).
• The LuCI WebUI allows you to select themes that suit your needs/tastes. In addition, Localization of WebUI is available via packages in over 20 languages.
• Configure the external LEDs and buttons/switches to suit your needs.
• VLAN tagging, bridging and trunking come as standard. Some releases even come with PBX switching and DSL control.
• Fine tune WiFi settings and IP management.

OpenWrt is provided for free through its GPL license, and thanks to the efforts of many volunteer contributors (both individuals and companies). There are no subscription or licensing fees.