The Beryl AX is a newer and more advanced router compared to the Shadow (GL-AR300M).
Some key differences:
The Beryl AX supports the latest Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) standard, the Shadow is limited to older Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), so the Beryl AX can provide faster wireless speeds and better performance, especially in congested environments.
The Beryl AX also has a more powerful processor, with a dual-core 1.3 GHz CPU, compared to the older single-channel 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi N connection in the Shadow, so the Beryl AX can handle VPN and network traffic better.
The Beryl AX has more Ethernet ports, with 1 WAN and 1 LAN, compared to the single Ethernet port on the Shadow.
The Beryl is a little more expensive, but IMO well worth it.
The shadow also has two Ethernet ports. Luckily we in general don’t need the better performance or mine / run nodes in congested areas. Can imagine you’ll need more performance when traveling to these kind of areas. For us and our clients I believe the shadow is still sufficient for its purpose.
Oof. Typo. Fair enough. Beryl AX comes with a 2.5G Multi-gigabit WAN port and a 1G gigabit LAN port. Not sure about the speed of the shadow. The better performance of the Beryl AX also doubles as a great home router behind a Protectli firewall.
@bert Found the comparison chart I was looking for with port and VPN speeds.
**Differences**
**Wireguard max:**
Shadow: 50 Mbps
Beryl AX: 300 Mbps
**OpenVPN max:**
Shadow: 15 Mbps
Beryl AX: 150 Mbps
**Gigabit port**
Shadow: No
Beryl AX: Yes
**External Antenna**
Shadow: No
Beryl AX: Yes
**MO-MIMO**
Shadow: No
Beryl AX: Yes
**Toggle Button**
Shadow: No
Beryl AX: Yes
**EAP**
Shadow: Yes
Beryl AX: No
Slate AX is really good too. I recommend both, but I personally prefer the Beryl AX.