When it comes to high-performance and feature-rich Wi-Fi routers, two brands are bound to come up in any discussion: ASUS and Netgear.
ASUS debuted the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 in December 2018 as the ultimate router for gaming, high-performance and high-traffic environments.
In 2019, Netgear stepped in with an alternative with its Nighthawk AX12 (RAX200) which is also capable to reach up to 10+ Gbps speed on the WiFi network (AX11000).
Both devices operate with the newest WiFi 6 (802.11ax) wireless standard and are currently among the top products in the market that offer cutting-edge WiFi features and extreme 10Gbps performance on both wireless and wired interfaces.
What are the similarities and differences between these two routers? What should you expect in terms of features and performance of these two models?
Read our ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 vs. Netgear Nighthawk AX12 (RAX200) comparison below to find out all the details.
Let’s first see a quick comparison table to get a “birds-eye-view” of their main similarities and differences.
Comparison Table
Last update on 2023-03-22 at 15:40 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Brief Review
- Triple level game acceleration accelerate game traffic With device, game packet and game server prioritization
- Cutting edge hardware offers the best performance 1.8 GigaHertz Quad Core cpu and 2.5 G gaming port for ultimate performance
- Your own gaming mesh network Compatible with ASUS AiMesh Wi Fi system for seamless whole home coverage.Memory:256 MB Flash,1 GB RAM
Last update on 2023-03-22 at 15:40 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 features the familiar qualities that ASUS routers are known for. The ruggedly designed router boasts of cutting-edge technology that guarantees a remarkable gaming performance, and much more.
Keep in mind that although this model is marketed as a “gaming router”, it will serve also as a great general-purpose router in a house with power-users and high traffic demands.
The GT-AX11000 is larger than most WiFi routers and quite expensive. However, the price is reflective of its hardware performance and software features.
Here are some notable features of this model:
- Lifetime security protection with Aiprotection Pro from Trend Micro.
- Advanced gaming features such as Game Acceleration, wtfast, dedicated gaming wireless band etc.
- 5Gbps LAN port
- 8 antennas for long-range Wi-Fi distribution.
- 12-streams WiFi (8 on the 5GHz band and 4 on the 2.5GHz band) allows multiple 4K video streamings with no bottleneck.
- AiMesh compatibility for Mesh Wi-Fi Systems (can use other ASUS routers to form a mesh wifi network).
- Next-Gen Wi-Fi 6 with AX11000 speed (10+ Gbps max speed).
Hands down, this is one of the best long-range Wi-Fi routers on the market that is capable to support even the most demanding home network environments.
Although the adoption of the new WiFi 6 depends on the client devices (currently only a few smartphones and laptops support WiFi 6) this trend will change soon and the future belongs to this next-generation of WiFi.
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Netgear Nighthawk AX12 (RAX200) Brief Review
- Maximum Range : 2500 Sq Ft
- UNLEASH FASTER SPEED, EVEN MORE POWER: Optimal for devices built to support WiFi 6: Playstation 5, iPhone 11 & 12, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13 & Mac Mini, Ultra Notebooks, Samsung S10 & S20.
- WIFI 6 – STREAM EVERYTHING AT FASTER SPEED: Simultaneously stream uninterrupted movies, games, video calls or download/transfer files at 10.8 Gbps WiFi speed.
Last update on 2023-03-22 at 15:40 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Netgear is one of my favorite manufacturers of networking products and especially when it comes to home network products (such as WiFi routers, cable modems, combo devices etc) they really shine in this area.
The Netgear Nighthawk RAX200 looks peculiar in its spaceship design. Design matters aside, the router provides comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage for large to very large homes, even that its 8 high-powered antennas are not exposed like the ASUS model.
This high-end router looks awesome and delivers when it comes to long-range Wi-Fi and high-performance hardware.
The Nighthawk RAX200 has an awesome phone app that allows you to see all the gear connected to your router, either wired or wirelessly.
Other things you can do with the app include: check the internet upload and download speed between the router and your ISP, ‘pause’ internet to individual devices, turn on ‘guest Wi-Fi’ network, track how much data you are using through a traffic meter, and much more.
Using the ReadyShare app, you can connect a USB hard disk to one of the USB ports on the router and share the storage over the WiFi network (for saving files or for backups etc).
The Nighthawk AX12 has all the bells and whistles you will need in a high-end router, such as:
- Smart parental controls.
- ReadyShare app to use a USB storage disk on the router.
- Smart Connect.
- Amazon Alexa voice controls.
- MU-MIMO plus Beamforming technology.
- Eight amplified antennas.
- 12 simultaneous streams for multiple Wi-Fi devices
- Wi-Fi 6
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Similarities Between the ASUS AX11000 and Netgear RAX200 Routers
If you take a look at the comparison table at the beginning of this article, the first thing you will notice is that the hardware specs of both models are almost identical.
All WiFi hardware specs and performance characteristics are the same. They both operate at both WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 (backwards compatible with all existing wireless devices in the market) and they both have the same speed numbers (AX11000) on the wireless channels.
The same specs are also shared for CPU/RAM and wired interfaces with the only small difference being on the USB ports (the ASUS supports USB 3.1 whereas the Netgear model supports USB 3.0).
Both the GT-AX11000 and Nighthawk AX12 support Amazon’s Alexa. The gaming routers are compatible with existing Wi-Fi devices and newer Wi-Fi devices like Galaxy S10, Galaxy Note 10, and iPhone 11 that use Wi-Fi 6 technology.
Each of the two routers has 8 antennas, runs on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz wireless frequency bands, and allow you to set up ‘guest Wi-Fi’ networks among other cool features.
Other similarities between the GT-AX11000 and Nighthawk RAX200 routers include:
- Link Aggregation is supported on LAN ports
- Backward Compatibility: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi
- USB: Two (2) USB ports, supporting storage, cellular dongles, and printers
Differences between the AX11000 and Nighthawk AX12 (RAX200)
As mentioned above, for the most part both router models have similar features on hardware. However, there are several notable differences between the two routers when it comes to software characteristics and features.
Software Differences
Regarding software features, our research has elected a clear winner in this area. ASUS’s software features surpass those of Netgear by a large margin.
Starting with security, the ASUS model offers Lifetime free subscription to AiProtection Pro powered by Trend Micro.
This security “umbrella” protects all your internal client devices from Intrusions, blocks access to malicious websites, protects against personal data leakage etc.
Thanks to the above subscription, parental controls of the ASUS device are more advanced and sophisticated compared to Netgear as well.
If you are a gamer, the ASUS model is also more advanced in this area compared to the Netgear device. The ASUS ROG Rapture model is especially suited for gaming with some specialty software features which lower gaming ping and lagging and enhance online gaming speeds.
Mesh Technology
As far as mesh-technology is concerned, while the ROG AX11000 has AiMesh, the Netgear does not have direct competitor technology. Instead, the manufacturer suggests using a mesh extender device (such as EAX80 which is a WiFi 6 extender).
On the other hand, the ASUS AiMesh technology allows any router model that supports this tech to be used in the same network to form a “mesh-umbrella” for wider wifi coverage.
Therefore, AiMesh technology is more flexible. For example, when the time comes for you to upgrade to a 5 Gbps or even 10 Gbps LAN port, you can purchase the next generation ASUS router with such feature and use both AX11000 as AiMesh nodes.
Which One Should You Buy?
The Nighthawk RAX200 isn’t a cheap router. However, it is easy to setup and supports the latest Wi-Fi standard (Wi-Fi 6), which is used by the latest iOS and Android devices.
The router is also compatible with all previous Wi-Fi standards and its Wi-Fi speed is amazingly fast. Moreover, it is backed by a name (Netgear) which is synonymous to reliability and performance.
On the other hand, the ASUS ROG AX-11000 is undoubtedly one of the best WiFi 6 routers on the market. For the best experience, ensure the router is running on its latest firmware (which you can upgrade easily inside the GUI management).
Although the ROG AX-11000 is marketed as a gaming router, it is also suited for large homes with high-traffic demands and multiple devices in the nerwork.
If you have a small house with low Internet bandwidth and traffic demands, both of these routers will be an overkill. However, if you are a gamer or you need to have the top-of-the-line routers in the market (for various reasons) these two models will certainly provide a better network experience with your connected devices.
Both the ROG AX11000 and Netgear RAX200 are expensive devices. If I had to select one of the two, I would certainty go with the ASUS AX11000 over the Netgear model mostly because it has much better software capabilities and features.
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If you are concerned about aesthetics, the ROG AX11000 looks like a giant spider while the Nighthawk RAX200 looks like a starship!! So, they are both quite impressive in that respect.
actually Asus Rog looks like a Borg Nanoprobe while Netgear looks like a drone