Review: Google Nest Wifi Pro

The Nest Wifi Pro is the latest mesh router from Google. In line with the company’s penchant for simplicity, this mesh system is a breeze to set up and easy to manage. But the “Pro” moniker seems ill-fitting considering the lack of advanced features and settings—it really just refers to Google’s adoption of Wi-Fi 6E. The newly opened 6-GHz band offers an expanse of untapped bandwidth, and you don't have to be a pro to take advantage.

After a month with the Nest Wifi Pro, I am simultaneously impressed and underwhelmed. People looking to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E will be sorely tempted by the pricing: Nest Wifi Pro costs $199 for a single router, $299 for two, or $399 for three. That’s relatively affordable for a tri-band mesh with 6-GHz support. The Nest Wifi Pro is also simple, easy, and reliable, but it feels barebones compared to other mesh systems, and speeds are distinctly average.

Photograph: Google

The shiny, minimalist capsule design looks a lot like a giant Pixel Buds case (the company's wireless earbuds), and the routers come in four colors: Snow, Fog, Linen, or Lemongrass. They are small and unobtrusive enough to sit on shelves and window sills and should fit with any decor. I tested the three-pack in white (er, Snow).

All three units are identical, with two Gigabit Ethernet ports apiece. Each can cover up to 2,200 square feet and connect up to 100 devices. My three-pack came with a single 6.5-foot Ethernet cable, and setting up was as simple as plugging it into my modem and scanning the QR code on the bottom of each unit. When you add routers (Google calls them points), you get an indication of the suitability of your chosen spot. I added one to the living room at the back of the house and another upstairs. I had to move the latter slightly before it turned green and told me, “Great connection.”

The Nest Wifi Pro is Google’s first Wi-Fi 6E router, and it is a tri-band system, so the familiar 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands are joined by the 6-GHz band. As we go up through the bands, the potential speed increases, but the range drops, so 6 GHz offers the fastest speeds but the shortest range. (Our How to Buy a Router guide goes into more detail.)

The Nest Wifi Pro uses the 6-GHz band for backhaul, which is how the routers and points send traffic back and forth. As I’ve noted with other Wi-Fi 6E systems, the 6-GHz band is short-range and does not penetrate through walls and other obstacles very well, so your routers will work best with a line of sight or through a single wall or ceiling. To enjoy those potentially high 6-GHz speeds, you need devices that support Wi-Fi 6E, and there aren’t many at the moment. However, shifting the backhaul onto the 6-GHz band leaves the 5-GHz and 2.4-GHz bands free for your devices. A wired backhaul, if you can run Ethernet cables around the home, will provide the best performance. 

Performance and coverage have been rock solid in my testing. My home is around 1,600 square feet, and the Nest Wifi Pro provides a strong Wi-Fi signal everywhere, including my backyard. Our family of four is frequently gaming, video calling, and streaming, with everyone online simultaneously, and we have yet to experience any lag, buffering, or glitches in a couple of weeks of testing. Downloading a 30-GB game took 15 minutes.

This router system works with the Google Home app. (There’s no web interface yet.) That is a strong hint about where this mesh system fits into Google’s ecosystem—as a smart-home hub (more on that later). Access the Nest Wifi Pro by tapping the Wi-Fi icon, and you will find a limited set of options. You can run speed tests, test your mesh connections, and set up parental controls or a guest network. You can also set priority devices (for one, four, or eight hours) to ensure they get the bandwidth they need.

Family Wi-Fi enables you to group your kid’s devices, set up Safe Search to block adult websites, and schedule downtime to turn off internet access when they are supposed to be sleeping or doing homework. You can also pause the internet on your kid’s devices. Dig deeper into the settings and you will find “Preferred activities,” which allows you to prioritize videoconferencing or gaming. Apart from a handful of network controls and configuration options, that’s it.

The Nest Wifi Pro can serve as a smart-home hub, boasting built-in Thread radios and Bluetooth LE (low Energy), with Matter support to follow shortly. Matter aims to be the unifying smart-home standard and should make it easy to add devices to your home network, significantly boost stability and performance, and potentially free up some bandwidth for devices like your phone and laptop. Thread effectively forms a separate, long-range, low-power network for smart-home devices that operates independently of your Wi-Fi.

Photograph: Google

If you have an older Nest Wifi or Google Wifi system, you may have been hoping to add a Wifi Pro, but sadly it is not backward compatible. That's because it uses the 6-GHz band for backhaul, which older systems cannot support, but it still feels like a kick in the teeth for loyal customers.

All ports on Nest Wifi Pro devices are 1 gigabit, so anyone with an internet connection speed above 1 Gbps should not buy this system. This omission is a little strange, as 2.5-Gbps ports are becoming quite common, especially on high-end Wi-Fi 6E systems, and more providers (including Google) are offering multi-gig plans now. On the other hand, the vast majority of people have slower internet (the US average is around 100 Mbps).

There is no band splitting with the Nest Wifi Pro, so you can’t create separate 2.4-GHz, 5-GHz, and 6-GHz networks or turn radios on or off. Nor will you find VPN support, and Google has not bundled in any security software (router manufacturers like Asus and Netgear do, though it often costs extra). Like most mesh systems, the Nest Wifi Pro does not have a modem inside, so folks planning to use their existing ISP’s router will have to put it into bridge mode to avoid double NAT problems. (Check with your ISP that you can do this before buying the Nest Wifi Pro.)

Unlike Google’s second-generation Nest Wifi, the Nest Wifi Pro routers do not double as smart speakers. That might be good news for folks who prefer not to have Google Assistant listening. Although, if you have privacy concerns about using Google devices, the Nest Wifi Pro isn’t for you anyway. For what it’s worth, Google’s privacy policy specifically states that Nest devices “do not track the websites you visit or collect the content of any traffic on your network.”

A part of the appeal of the Nest Wifi Pro is its potential. When Matter and Wi-Fi 6E support roll out to more devices, we will get a complete picture of how this mesh system fits into the market. But you will likely see more of a performance boost right now by snagging something else from our Best Wi-Fi Routers or Best Mesh System guides.

As reliable as it seems, there have been reports of throttled speeds, and Google’s system came right in the middle in my speed tests, finishing well below other Wi-Fi 6E systems, such as the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 and the Motorola Q14 mesh system, which was as much as 200 Mbps faster at close range (within 6 feet of the router). The Nest Wifi Pro seems reluctant to connect to devices on the 6-GHz band, and there's no way to force it. But Netgear’s gaming router is pricier at $400 (with subscriptions for parental controls and security on top), and the Q14 ($650 for a three-pack) has a glitchy app and kept connecting my main TV to the router in the hall instead of the point in the same room. 

The TP-Link Deco XE75 ($400 for a three-pack) is probably the closest to the Nest Wifi Pro in terms of specs, performance, and price. It allows for more tweaking, and each unit has three Ethernet ports, but the app is a little clunky, and there is no Thread support. Funnily enough, TP-Link offers a Pro version of the XE75 with a 2.5-Gbps port for an extra $100.

Perhaps the most obvious alternative is Amazon’s Eero mesh range, which has Thread built in and will be updated with Matter support soon. It’s equally easy to set up and straightforward to use. Unfortunately, the directly comparable Eero Pro 6E ($700 for a 3-pack) is more expensive than the Nest Wifi Pro (though it's frequently discounted); it does have a 2.5-Gbps port and backward compatibility.

Routers are the unsung heroes of the tech world. They quietly serve internet to our gadgets, but we only think about them when something goes wrong. It may not be the speediest option, and there are missing features you'll find elsewhere, but ultimately, the Nest Wifi Pro is a good choice for folks lacking in confidence with tech or the desire to tweak their networks. If you want expansive, reliable coverage, smart-home support, and some future-proofing in an elegant package you rarely have to touch, you won’t be disappointed.