Compare Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6 features & price

Amazon Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6 – which one is for you? Netgear Orbi 6 offers whole home mesh Wi-Fi coverage up to 7,500 square feet and 60+ devices. Mesh technology helps you stay connected as you roam around your home using a single network name. Expand coverage up to 2,500 square feet with additional satellites (sold separately). And eero Pro 6 covers up to 2,000 sq. ft. with wifi speeds up to a gigabit. Wi-Fi 6 delivers faster wifi with support for 75+ devices simultaneously.

Pros & Cons – Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6

Amazon Eero Pro 6

PROS

• Easy to install
• Built-in Zigbee radio
• Works with Alexa
• Wide coverage range

CONS

• Expensive
• Anti-malware and parental control tools require a subscription
• Lacks USB ports and QoS settings

Netgear Orbi 6

Pros

• Fastest mesh router we’ve ever tested in our real-world speed tests
• Simple, app-based setup and network management
• Multigig WAN port
• Support for Alexa and the Google Assistant lets you activate a guest network or pause the Wi-Fi to a misbehaving kid’s device with a quick voice command.

Cons

• You’ll need an internet plan of at least 500Mbps to notice much of a difference
• Lacks advanced features or unique functions

Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6 specs comparison

Eero Pro 6

Netgear Orbi 6

Wi-Fi Spec: AX6000
Number of Antennas/Removable: 8/No
Ports: Router – 1 WAN/4 LAN; Satellite – 4 LAN
Processor/Memory/Storage: Quad-core 2.2GHz/1GB/512MB
Wi-Fi chip: Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200/
Peak 802.11ax performance: 883.6Mbps (at 15 feet)
Range: 85 feet
Size: 10.0 x 7.5 x 2.8 inches
Estimated Annual Electricity Cost: $22.40

Who is this for – Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6?

There’s no doubt that Eero Pro 6 is faster than Eero 6 and both routers are competitive with the best wireless routers you can get. It’s also worth remembering that Eero isn’t the only whole-home Wi-Fi solution around. The main question is whether or not you need that sort of speed. More people than ever ask a lot of their home networks due to working from home or even attending school from home. Gigabit connections are great, and if you have one, Eero Pro 6 is right for you.

If you choose Nest Wifi even though the requirement of having a Google account and losing features if you aren’t connected to the internet are things I don’t care for. I’m OK with the information Google collects and the methods they use to do it, but I disagree with it in principle. The “good” outweighs the “bad” or me, though.

• Nest Wifi is cheap, and expansion is easy. And also cheap.
• Nest Wifi routers have a network port for a Cat 5/Cat 6 cable.

I was able to extend my network out to an outbuilding area by running a cable underground in some conduit and plugging each end into a Nest Wifi or Google Wifi unit. The two “meshes” work this way seamlessly, and I saved a good bit of money. Most people won’t need anything like this, but the same idea applies if you want a wired connection to something like an Xbox or television and still extend the mesh network in the room it’s in.

Amazon Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6 comparison chart

Price and coverage

The Amazon Eero Pro 6 ($229 for one or $599 for a pack of three) is the company’s first mesh Wi-Fi system to utilize the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, and this time around it adds home automation hub capabilities via a Zigbee radio. The system we tested uses three stylish nodes to provide up to 6,000 square feet of wireless coverage, and is easy to install and manage. 

At a retail price of $700 for a 2-pack, the newest, brawniest version of the Netgear Orbi is too expensive to recommend outright — but if you just want the fastest mesh router money can buy, look no further.

Amazon Eero Pro 6 vs Orbi 6 review

Design

Eero Pro 6

The $599 Eero Pro 6 system we tested comes with three stylish low-profile nodes that each measure 2.1 by 5.3 by 5.3 inches (HWD), making them considerably bigger than previous Eero models. Each node provides 2,000 square feet of wireless coverage, with one node serving as the main router and the other two serving as mesh nodes.

Netgear Orbi 6

the RBK852 comes with two large nodes that use mesh technology to communicate with each other over a dedicated 5GHz radio band. Providing up to 5,000 square feet of wireless coverage, the nodes each measure 10 by 7.5 by 2.8 inches (HWD) and are white with silver trim and a status LED near the base.

Auto sensing LAN

Eero Pro 6

The nodes are equipped with two auto-sensing gigabit LAN ports and a power port, but they lack the USB connectivity and multi-gig capabilities that you get with the Asus ZenWiFi AX XT8. Under the hood are a 1.4GHz quad-core CPU, 1024MB of RAM, 4GB of flash memory, and a Bluetooth radio.

Netgear Orbi 6

The Orbi RBK852 uses Qualcomm’s newest Networking Pro 1200 Wi-Fi chip with 1GB of RAM and 512MB of capacity for storing firmware and settings. It’s all powered by a quad-core processor that runs at a maximum of 2GHz. It has an AX6000 rating.

Overall, the RBK852 set provided excellent throughput on most of our tests using Ixia’s IxChariot networking benchmark software, which created a busy Wi-Fi network in my 100-year old 3,500-square-foot home. It easily outpaced Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and many Wi-Fi 6 routers. 

Setup

Eero Pro 6

Not much to say here, really. Just plug the Eero 6 or Eero Pro 6 router into your modem and into a power outlet, then follow the onboarding instructions in the app on your Android or iOS device. You’ll name your network, pick a password, add your satellites, and voila — your home network is up and running.

Netgear Orbi 6

Speaking of setup, it was relatively painless. You’ll download the Orbi app to your Android or iOS device (or connect to the Orbi web portal), then follow the instructions. Just plug in your router and satellite when instructed, give your network a name and a password, and wait for Netgear to get you up and running. The process took slightly longer than with the Nest Wifi, Eero or AmpliFi, but it worked perfectly and had my network up and running in about 10 minutes.

From there, you’ll be able to manage your system from the Orbi app. The controls don’t go as deep as you’ll get with something like a gaming router, but you at least get options to pause the Wi-Fi to specific devices, or run a quick speed test.

Zigbee compatible

And to make things even sweeter, Amazon’s included a Zigbee-compatible smart home hub as part of the Eero Pro 6 router. That means Zigbee devices (including smart bulbs, locks, and appliances to name just a few) can now plug directly into your network without the need for another hub device. The Eero 6 is also Alexa-compatible, so you’ll be able to control some functions of the router, like parental controls, using voice commands as part of an Alexa skill.

Data Transfer rate

Eero Pro 6

The Eero Pro 6 is a tri-band AX4200 system that can hit maximum data rates of up to 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz (2X2) band, up to 1,201Mbps on the 5GHz (2X2) band, and up to 2,402Mbps on the secondary 5GHz (4X4) band. 

Netgear Orbi 6

With full support for Wi-Fi 6 and a second 5GHz band that serves as a dedicated backhaul connection for the router and its satellites, the powerful system was downright impressive in our tests, with top speeds of nearly 900Mbps at close range in our lab. That’s one of the fastest numbers we’ve ever seen from a mesh router in that test, and it only fell to 666Mbps at a distance of 75 feet — which is still faster than we saw from Nest Wifi up close, just 5 feet away.

Security

Eero Pro 6

Security is Amazon’s last deal sweetener, with the core Eero line offering two optional security subscriptions. A Basic tier that will cost $2.99 per month adds more advanced parental controls and privacy capabilities. Then there’s the higher-end Eero Secure+ tier, which will run you $9.99 per month, but will add Malwarebytes malware protection at the router, 1Password password management, and a router-level Encrypt.me virtual private network (VPN).

Netgear Orbi 6

A big plus is that the Orbi RBK852 kit comes with the company’s Armor security package. With unlimited licenses for the equivalent of Bitdefender Total Security software, Armor can protect an entire family’s computers regardless of whether they’re PCs, Macs, Androids, iPhones or iPads. A year is included free, but after that it costs $70 a year.

App

Both the Eero Pro 6 and Eero 6 use the same Android and iOS mobile app and supports Alexa voice commands that let you do things such as turn guest networking on and off and pause network access for specific clients. It also supports Amazon Wi-Fi Simple Setup, which uses settings from Amazon Echo devices and Fire TV Sticks to help configure new devices quickly and easily.

If you’ve ever set up an Orbi router, you’ll feel right at home with the RBK852. Like its predecessors, it uses Netgear’s Orbi app. If you’re new to Orbi, the app’s illustrated steps are easy to follow. There are apps for iOS-based iPhones and iPads as well as Android systems but both are vertically oriented with no way to use it in landscape mode.

Editor’s recommendations

• Compare Eero 6 vs Eero Pro 6 review and price
• Tenda Nova vs Orbi – which connects more devices?
• Netgear Orbi Tri-band mesh WiFi router – tips and tricks
• Tenda Nova MW6 vs Google WiFi – can you play games?
• Tenda Nova MW6 vs TP-Link Deco M5 – can you work from home?