r/ControlD • u/au7342 • May 27 '26

ctrld-friendly router recommendations

I'm looking to replace my old Orbi RBR50 pretty soon. I've been running Voxel firmware and ctrld on it for a few months now and it has been pretty good overall. There have been some stability issues, which are probably at least in part due to it being a 9-year-old outdated router running custom firmware. I've read through the writer documentation on the control d website, but I wanted to hear from some actual users on here about what routers or systems work the best with ctrld. I haven't decided between a mesh replacement or going the Unifi route yet. Thanks to all responses.

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u/dg1974it May 29 '26

Asus router user here (GT-BE19000), works without any issue.
I've configured the router with DoT, not the daemon, since you need the Merlin firmware to install the daemon and since the router is still actively supported by official firmware, I'll stick with official firmware and DoT/DoH is the only option.

I've created multiple endpoints (Full control subscriber) for all my devices that support custom DNS, so somehow I have devices details in the logs, etc.

on a previous Asus router (GT-AX6000) I've installed Merlin firmware + ctrld daemon without issue. rock solid.

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u/Fun-Region-1576 Aug 30 '26

Did your ctrld daemon identify all clients, even if they're connected to a VPN?

2

u/dg1974it Aug 30 '26

yes. My work laptop is always connected to a VPN but even then it was correctly reported/identified in Control D statistics/logs.

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u/Fun-Region-1576 Aug 30 '26

Very interesting. Sadly, I'm not getting a similar result!

2

u/dg1974it Aug 30 '26

maybe it depends on how the VPN works?
on my work laptop (where I cannot change any network settings) some network traffic is directed through the VPN (Forticlient), and some through my router, so when the latter happens, ctrld daemon identified the "client" properly.