No one wants to be actively thinking about office internet routers—it should simply be providing connectivity and internet access. Likewise, no one should worry about accessing files and services on the company servers and network storage—it should just happen. According to PCMag readers who rated their office routers and servers, the brands to choose are below.
Work Routers for 2020
Business Choice Winner Business Choice Winner SOHO/SMB Routers: Asus SOHO/SMB Routers: Asus It doesn't seem to matter if it's home or work, Asus is the router brand PCMag readers love on just about every aspect. From cost to reliability to setup and beyond, Asus is the perfect brand of router for your home office to mid-sized business.
BusinessBusiness Choice Winner Choice Winner Enterprise Routers: Cisco Enterprise Routers: Cisco There was a time when routers were mainly for big business and the only name that came to mind for most people was Cisco. Turns out, that's still the case, with the high-end internet equipment from the company earning high marks with PCMag readers in the enterprise.
Prior to last year, Cisco had only scored the top business router award in this survey twice before, in 2013 and 2014. Now, it's going strong for the second year running, taking home the top spot for enterprise-level routers with our readers.
The other winner on the lower-end SOHO/SMB office side, is also familiar: Asus. It has been a consistent top player in this survey for years, only missing out on 2017 in recent memory.
Standout scores include Asus getting an 8.7 for setup and a killer 8.8 for the likelihood to be recommended to colleagues. (Respondents rate satisfaction on a scale from 0 for extremely dissatisfied to 10 for extremely satisfied.) Cisco likewise has the best reliability score you can imagine at 9.1.
It's not all sunshine and roses for our top two winners; both saw their overall score dip from last year to this year about two-tenths of a point, Asus to 8.6 and Cisco to 8.4. Not a big worry but something to keep an eye on—Cisco also has the overall lowest scores in the chart when it comes to setup and cost/value, but that's not surprising on big corporate routers. Plus it dropped almost half a point in the likelihood to be recommend, down to 8.3.
The other players that made the cut in our survey results this year include Linksys, Netgear, and TP-Link, which all have adequate overall satisfaction scores over 8.1. None of them stand out in any of the other categories over what Asus or Cisco have, though they come close, especially Netgear's 8.6 for setup and the tie it has with Linksys for reliability at 8.8.
Below is the full table of results for Business Choice 2020: Routers.
Work Servers/NAS Devices for 2020
BusinessBusiness Choice Winner Choice Winner SOHO/SMB NAS Devices: Synology SOHO/SMB NAS Devices: Synology For seven years running, Synology has produced must-have storage device for small businesses. Its scores took the tiniest hit compared to last year, but not even close enough to knock Synology out of the top spot.
Business Business Choice Winner Choice Winner Enterprise Servers: Western Digital Enterprise Servers: Western Digital Out of nowhere, Western Digital steps up with such massively improved scores that it leapfrogged last year's top big-business storage provider to take the lead. If WD can sustain these improvements, it'll be golden for a long time in future surveys.
Let's talk about consistency first: Synology is such a long-time winner in this slot that it would be a sucker's bet to say anything else could happen. The company's NAS devices for business had tiny—like one-tenth of a point—drops in scores like overall satisfaction (9.0) and likelihood to be recommended to colleagues (9.1), but it doesn't take off any of the shine. In almost every single factor, the company is in a league of its own.
//Other high points include setup at 9.2, reliability at 9.2 (which is up from last year's 9.1), tech support (8.8), and repairs (way up from last year's somewhat dismal 7.9). If those numbers aren't enough to make you buy Synology, I don't know what is.
However, if you need a real server for the enterprise, we'd suggest you look at Western Digital this year. Last year the prize went to Dell, but it slipped from 8.8 overall down to 8.5. That put its overall satisfaction score in a tie with WD, but the breaker is that WD has a higher score in almost every other factor, including the likelihood to get recommend (8.6 compared to Dell's 8.4). You're not going to be unhappy getting a Dell this year, but the numbers indicate you might want to check out WD, too.
Unlike in the router world (see above), Cisco brings up the rear in this category, with its servers only earning an overall score of 7.8. Cisco is on the low-end especially for cost/value at 6.6. HPE, as it tends to do in most product categories in our surveys, is strictly in the middle of the road.
Below is the full table of results for Business Choice 2020: Servers & NAS Devices.
The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for Routers and Servers/NAS was in the field from March 9, 2020, through March 30, 2020. For more information on how the survey is conducted, read the survey methodologysurvey methodology.
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