POLL: Pure OpenWrt vs. GL's OpenWrt?

Which OpenWrt do you use - the pure version available from OpenWrt’s site or GL’s version?

What are your reasons?

  • Pure OpenWrt
  • GL-iNet OpenWrt

0 voters

I like openWRT a lot, but it is not fun to use if you want to make quick changes to your setup - you have to go through the whole config and I found that usually it’s best to start from scratch each time to avoid messing up. This can be a real bummer for a home network when you have other people depending on your home-made configs. You also have to really understand the whole setup in your mind to make the necessary changes - there is no visual map of what you wish to achieve.

I learned a lot this way, but it is not fun and there is a steep learning curve. I also always had a doubt that something was misconfigured or that I did not understand some specific configurations - perhaps leaving my network exposed or functioning in an unoptimal state.

For instance, I know that I need spanning tree protocol in some situations but I can not explain why exactly because I’m not a networking professional with network engineering training.

Gl-inet makes these quick changes mostly painless - it is easy to switch VPNs and to add a guest network in a couple of seconds. You can still use the advanced Luci if you have specific needs, but this is perhaps not as easy as with vanilla because it’s hard to know if you are interferring with the gl-inet layer. So the option is there to do advanced customisation, but it is a little less reliable than with vanilla (a fair compromise).

I like that when gl-inet stops supporting, I can easily move to open wrt.

I like that I get to use proprietary drivers for better performance (hopefully anyway).

I like that I am not managing my home network like a corporate network admin.

openwrt has wpa3 support.

I have used some of GL-Inet’s routers in the past (6416, MT300A) and on all of them, the first thing I did was to flash an OpenWrt. I just didn’t want the firmware to be bloated with things I didn’t need/use.
They worked rock solid for a long time (many months without reset, and years without any hardware failures).

But now I got a pair of Convexa S1300 routers, and I’m using GL.Inet’s firmware (which is pretty outdated OpenWrt wise, not at their fault, its a Qualcomm’s QSDK) . I don’t have much choice here, because the Mesh function (among other things) needs proprietary firmware in order to work.

I have come to enjoy the ease of setting up things using GL-Inet’s Admin panel, with the option of doing advanced stuff in Luci UI. But still, I would feel more confident if I could run “vanilla” OpenWrt on it, and still get all the features and performance.

Wireguard is faster than any oVPN in things like travel routers, phones… and that’s actually true but not because their implementation or anything is better or worse. Its for everyone the case that OpenVPN just far, far more CPU power takes than Wireguard…its significantly slower on small /weak devices and you want most of the time there not much sacrifices.

Well if one is faster than the other i would say the implementation is clearly worse :rofl: