I Tested the Best Wi-Fi Adapters for Raspberry Pi

Over the years, I’ve mostly used the default Wi-Fi on my Raspberry Pis, and it’s good enough for most projects. But when you start putting the Pi in a case, moving it from the router, or using a fancy Wi-Fi access point that can handle faster speeds, it makes sense to look into better solutions.

The best Wi-Fi adapters for Raspberry Pi are USB models that offer stronger signal, higher speeds, and reliable Linux support. In my tests, the best options clearly outperformed the built-in Wi-Fi, but the improvement isn’t always worth the extra cost and bulk.

I tested several popular adapters, comparing speed, signal strength and stability, so you can get a sense of what you can get if you buy one. Some of the results were a bit unexpected, so let’s break it down.

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TL;DR: Best Raspberry Pi Wi-Fi Adapters

Best overall: BrosTrend AXE3000 (EU) or Panda Wireless PAU0F AXE3000 (US)
Best value: TP-Link Archer T3U Plus
If you use a Raspberry Pi 5: No USB adapter required

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Wi-Fi Adapters Tested

Before I share the results of my tests, here are the options I considered. I already had some, but I bought a few more options to make the list as complete as possible.

Built-in Raspberry Pi 5

I started with the Raspberry Pi 5’s built-in Wi-Fi to have a baseline for the rest of the tests. It’s free (already there at least), and requires no extra hardware. A USB adapter really needs to offer something better to justify using one.

In my tests, the built-in adapter did pretty well overall. Speed was right in the middle of the pack, stability was excellent, and signal strength was good too.

External adapters with larger antennas generally had better range, especially when the Pi was inside a case. However, the built-in Wi-Fi is still a solid reference point for the rest of this comparison.

TL;DR

Price: –
Setup: –
Speed: 3/5
Verdict: Probably good enough for most people.
External adapters mainly make sense if you need better range, more speed, or your case weakens the signal.

BrosTrend AXE3000

On paper, the BrosTrend AXE3000 looks like one of the most promising Wi-Fi adapters for Raspberry Pi users. It’s one of the few models marketed specifically for Linux, with Wi-Fi 6 support and two large external antennas.

That first impression was confirmed as soon as I opened the box. It feels like a premium product, with a solid build and much better finish than the cheaper adapters I tested. Of course, looks don’t matter much if the performance isn’t there, so let’s see how it did in the benchmarks.

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Note: I believe this adapter is equivalent to the Panda PAU0F available in the US. I couldn’t find the Panda adapter from EU resellers, but you can check Amazon to see if it’s available in your country.

The only thing to keep in mind is its size. It’s almost as large as the Raspberry Pi 5 itself, so it won’t fit every project. If you’re building something compact, a nano adapter will probably be a better choice.

TL;DR

Price: $$$
Setup: Plug & play
Speed: 5/5
Verdict: Best overall.
Get this one if you don’t mind the price or size and want speed above all else.

Get it on Amazon

ASUS USB-AC53 Nano

The ASUS USB-AC53 Nano is almost the opposite of the BrosTrend. I picked it because it’s small, cheap, and from a well-known brand. If I could get good performance without the big adapter and two antennas, it’d be much better.

The small size has an obvious question though: how much Wi-Fi performance are you giving up compared to larger adapters?

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To be honest, I wasn’t too impressed with the results. It’s a pretty good solution if your Pi doesn’t have Wi-Fi or if its case disrupts the signal too much. But for most people, this isn’t the adapter I’d suggest.

TL;DR

Price: $
Setup: Plug & play
Speed: 1/5
Verdict: Slower than built-in Pi 5 Wi-Fi, so useless for most setups.
Only get it if your Pi doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi, and you want to keep a compact setup.

Get it on Amazon

TP-Link Archer T3U Plus

The TP-Link Archer T3U Plus looked like a good middle ground between the tiny ASUS adapter and the massive BrosTrend. It’s still cheap, but the larger external antenna should give it an advantage when the Raspberry Pi is far from the access point or hidden inside a case.

My tests confirmed that it’s a decent step up, although the difference wasn’t massive. It performed slightly better than the built-in Wi-Fi on my Raspberry Pi 5, putting it right in the middle of the adapters I tested.

It’s the kind of adapter I’d consider for an older Raspberry Pi. Models like the Pi 3 already have built-in Wi-Fi, but upgrading to a newer USB adapter could be an easy way to get a better connection without changing anything else.

TL;DR

Price: $
Setup: Plug & play
Speed: 3/5
Verdict: Slightly faster than the Pi 5’s built-in Wi-Fi. A good cheap option for older Raspberry Pi models, or when your Pi 5 is far from the access point, or its case affects the built-in Wi-Fi signal.

Get it on Amazon

Other Adapters

I also tested two older adapters I already had at home: an ELUTO based on the RTL88x2BU chipset and a Linksys AE3000. I included these in the benchmark table for comparison, but I won’t spend much time on them here. They’re older models, and I wouldn’t recommend buying either today.

They were still interesting to test because Wi-Fi adapters aren’t all equal, and the technology has improved quite a bit over the years.

So if you’ve already tried an old USB Wi-Fi adapter on your Raspberry Pi and the results were disappointing, I wouldn’t judge all adapters from that experience.

Check this: 7 Hidden Raspberry Pi Features You Should Be Using

A newer model with a better chipset, newer Wi-Fi standard, or larger antenna can give you a completely different result.

Benchmarks Results

My Test Setup

To fairly compare these adapters, I used the same Raspberry Pi 5 and tested each one under the same conditions. I connected to the same 5 GHz Wi-Fi network and used the same SD card, so other factors couldn’t mess with the results.

I even did the test several times with each adapter to make sure I got the right result. I learned that sometimes there are small differences in the results, even when you do the test three times in a row.

I first checked the connection itself, including the signal strength and link speed reported by Raspberry Pi OS. This gave me a good indication of how well each adapter could communicate with the access point, especially as I moved the Raspberry Pi farther away.

For the speed test, I used iperf3 between the Raspberry Pi and another computer connected to my local network. This avoids making my Internet connection the limiting factor and gives a much better idea of the actual speed each Wi-Fi adapter can handle.

I also ran Internet speed tests to see what those numbers mean in a more typical setup.

Finally, I checked the pings and errors. It’s not super useful to have a fast connection if it keeps cutting out after 5 minutes.

You might also like: The Raspberry Pi I'd actually buy today

Results

I have combined all of these results in this table, rather than declaring a winner based on a single speed test.

Wi-Fi Adapter	Speed	Internet Speed	Stability	Signal
Raspberry Pi 5 (built-in)	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Linksys AE3000	⭐	⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
ELUTO RTL88x2BU	⭐	⭐⭐	⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
TP-Link Archer T3U Plus	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
BrosTrend AXE3000	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐
ASUS USB-AC53 Nano	⭐	⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, the BrosTrend AXE3000 is the clear winner for that test on all criteria. It was expected, but it’s good to see you get the value you paid for. The Archer T3U Plus also did pretty well, with good speed and stability overall.

If you have a Raspberry Pi 5, though, the first line of the table matters just as much as the others. Some USB adapters were actually slower than the built-in Wi-Fi, so buying one doesn’t automatically mean you’re getting an upgrade.

Signal strength was good across the board. I also tested some of the adapters at my parents’ house, where the router is much farther away, and I didn’t see a dramatic improvement from the external antennas. They usually helped, but not enough that I’d buy an adapter for that reason alone.

Which Adapter Should You Buy?

For most Raspberry Pi 5 users, I wouldn’t buy a USB Wi-Fi adapter at all. The built-in Wi-Fi is already good enough for normal use, with solid speed, excellent stability, and decent signal strength.

If you want the best performance and don’t mind the price or the size, the BrosTrend AXE3000 is the one I’d pick. It was the best overall in my tests, but it takes up a lot of space around the USB ports, which can be annoying if you also use other accessories.

The TP-Link Archer T3U Plus is the better choice on a budget. It’s cheap, performs slightly better than the built-in Wi-Fi overall, and provides a useful external antenna without turning the Raspberry Pi into a bulky setup.

Note: If you’re using an older Raspberry Pi, especially one without built-in Wi-Fi, I’d go straight for the Archer T3U Plus unless you need the extra performance of the BrosTrend.

The main point to remember from these tests is that you shouldn’t think that any USB adapter is an improvement.

Some of the less expensive adapters I tested were slower than the Wi-Fi built into the Raspberry Pi 5. If you buy a random no-name model from Amazon, there’s a good chance you’ll be disappointed.