Best 13 Router NAS Options: Add Some Cool Storage to Your Wi-Fi Today!

You probably already know how a router hosts a home network and delivers Wi-Fi to multiple devices at a time. But there are also “router NAS” options where a USB-enabled Wi-Fi broadcaster can work as a mini NAS (Network Attached Storage) server. All you need is an external drive.

So, if you want to dabble into network-attached storage, using a good Wi-Fi router is the best way to start. I detailed the process in this post on how to get the most out of a Wi-Fi router’s USB port.

In this piece, you’ll find a list of the current 13 best candidates for the job. I’ll update it as I review more.

Dong’s note: I first published this post on October 29, 2020, and last updated it on July 9, 2021, to add more options and relevant information.

Popular Wi-Fi router NAS options in numbers

Almost all Wi-Fi routers with a USB port can work as a mini NAS server, at least for simple file sharing.

What decides if one is good at this job, however, is the performance of this port. In other words, when it comes to network storage, the throughput speed is the king.

That said, below is the chart of NAS performance of (almost) all of those I’ve tested. They are popular USB-enabled routers, in alphabetical order — you might find yours here.

Note: This chart is updated each time I review a new USB-enabled Wi-Fi broadcaster. It includes router NAS options that don’t make it to the top list below.

I tested each broadcaster using a wired Gigabit connection. With those that feature a multi-gig port, I tried that out, too.

As for storage devices, I’ve always used SSD-based portable drives for testing. The actual drive used for each router might vary, but they all are much faster than the router’s wired network port.

Note that the scores on the chart are in megabytes per second (MB/s), which is eight times the megabit per second (Mbps) measurement generally used for network connection speed.

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Best Wi-Fi router NAS solutions: The list

Again, any routers on the chart above will work as a mini NAS server. But you’re on the market for a new USB-enabled router; find my recommendations below.

These are routers that deliver the best performance or have a great feature set when hosting external storage or both. I’ve personally used them all.

This list is sorted based on the NAS read performance using the fastest wired connection each router supports. In my opinion, the read throughput is more most important than the write one when it comes to network-attached storage.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see how their NAS numbers stack against one another’s.

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1. Asus RT-AX89X

The RT-AX89X is the top-tier dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router from Asus, and it’s the first router on the market with two 10Gbps network ports. That plus two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports means it can deliver ultra-high-speed router NAS performance.

Like all Asus routers, including the GT-AXE1100, RT-AX86U, GT-AX11000, and RT-AX68U below, the RT-AX89X can deliver all storage-related applications you can consider, including local and cloud-based data sharing, PC-less download app, Time Machine backup, and a lot more.

By the way, the storage-based feature set is the same across all Asus routers released in the past few years. And that also applies to other Asus routers on this list.

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2. Linksys MX8500

The Linksys MX8500 is an interesting case. It’s part of the MXE8400 Wi-Fi 6E mesh system.

As a standalone router, the MX8500 doesn’t have a Multi-Gig LAN port. However, when working as a satellite in a mesh setup, its 5Gbps WAN now functions as a LAN. That plus the super-fast 6GHz band means you can get excellent NAS speed out of it.

And like the case of any Velop mesh set, you can use one external drive per MX8500 uint, meaning you can host more storage in a mesh setup.

Out of the box, Linksys doesn’t officially support Time Machine backup, but you might be able to make it work with a bit of tweaking.

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3. Netgear Nighthawk RAX120

This router is the latest from Netgear and has the fastest network storage speed, by far, thanks to its 5Gbps port. But even when you use its regular Gigabit connection, the NAS performance is still outstanding.

Like most Netgear routers, the RAX120 is all about sharing that storage space in as many ways as possible when hosting an external drive.

You can share that locally or via the Internet using Netgear’s ReadyShare software. The router also supports local backup for Windows and Mac’s Time Machine.

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4. Asus GT-AXE1100

Like the case of the Linksys MX8500 above, the GT-AXE1100 is also a Wi-Fi 6E machine.

In terms of storage support, though, it’s similar to other Asus routers, and especially the GT-AX11000 below. It has two USB 3.0 ports and a 2.5Gbps LAN to deliver excellent NAS speed when hosting an external drive.

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5. Netgear Nighthawk RAX200

The RAX200 is a tri-band router that shares the same storage feature set as the dual-band RAX120 above. It also has a multi-gig network port, but it caps at just 2.5 Gbps, so it’s not as fast as its cousin, but still, it’s speedy.

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6. Asus RT-AX86U

The Asus RT-AX86U is currently the best Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 router on the market. This router has many things of note, and the stellar NAS performance when hosting a portable drive helps elevate it to this status.

As for features, like other Asus routers, it delivers all you can ask for in terms of what you want to do with the USB ports.

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7. Asus GT-AX11000

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The GT-AX11000 is the first tri-band Wi-Fi 6 router from Asus. It’s also a powerful router, and like its cousins above, it has everything when it comes to network storage.

Again, like other Asus routers, its USB ports can host printers, storage devices, or cellular modems and deliver a ton of storage-based features. On top of that, it also has a 2.5Gbps network connection to deliver fast NAS performance.

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8. Netgear RAXE500

The Netgear RAX500 is the third Wi-Fi 6E on this list. Other than that, it’s almost identical to the RAX200 above.

[P_Review post_id=29000 visual=”full”]

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9. Asus RT-AX68U

The Asus RT-AX68U is the last entry-level Wi-Fi 6 router and shares similar NAS features as its older cousins mentioned above. However, it’s noticeably more affordable.

Without a multi-gig port, this router is not the fastest in any way, but its router NAS function virtually maxed out the speed of a Gigabit connection in my testing.

The RT-AX68U deserves a spot on this list for a nice combo of excellent features, fast performance, and friendly pricing.

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10. TP-Link Archer C5400X

This massive and ostentatious Wi-Fi router is quite impressive in terms of USB-based NAS performance. Despite having no multi-gig network port, it delivers fast NAS performance via its regular Gigabit ports.

The router supports sharing storage locally as well as over the Internet. It can also work as a media server, casting content to network streamers and an Apple Time Capsule alternative.

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11. Linksys MX5 Velop AX

The Linksys MX5 is the latest Wi-Fi router of the Linksys Velop mesh family. It’s part of the Linksys MX10 mesh system, but you can also get it as a standalone router.

Unlike some other Wi-Fi 6 routers below, the MX5 doesn’t have a multi-gig port, so its NAS performs caps at 1Gbps. And that was almost the speed it delivered in my testing.

The router’s USB port doesn’t offer anything more than local storage sharing — there’s no personal cloud streaming features. Like the MX8500’s case above, the MX5 can host an external drive when working as a route or a mesh satellite, and its support for Time Machine backup might require some teaks.

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12. Synology MR2200ac

The MR2200ac‘s NAS feature isn’t exactly fast, as you can see on the chart above. However, thanks to the advanced firmware, it has, by far, the best NAS feature set, similar to that of a Synology server.

Hopefully, Synology will release a more powerful Wi-Fi router in the future with similar storage functions. For now, the RT2600ac also offers the same NAS feature set. Other than storage, you can also use the MR2200ac’s USB port to host a cellular modem.

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13. TP-Link Archer AX11000

The TP-Link Archer AX11000 is the Wi-Fi 6 of the C5400X above. It’s a newer and much better router overall. But in terms of NAS performance, it’s behind its older cousin. The two share the same storage feature set, however.

Despite other advanced networking features of a Wi-Fi router, the comparatively slow read NAS speed when hosting a storage device lands it at the bottom in this post.

Best Wi-Fi routers with built-in NAS features: The performance

Find below the NAS performance charts of my recommended routers above. Again, I test them all using a weird Gigabit connection. And for those with a multi-gig port, I also tested them using a 10Gbps adapter.

It’s important to note that I performed the tests with just one client connected to the Wi-Fi router. When multiple clients write or read from the router’s connected storage, the speed will reduce accordingly. But that’s the case with all NAS servers.