eero Beacon vs. Nest Wifi: Which should you buy?

Eero Beacon

What helps the Eero Beacon stand out is its simplicity. While the Nest Wifi Point may be more feature-rich, Eero absolutely nails the Beacon's ease-of-use. The wall outlet design is as straightforward as it gets. Find an outlet, plug the Beacon in, and you're done. The added 1,500 square feet of wireless coverage is great, as is the built-in nightlight that can be fully customized to your exact liking.

Google Nest Wifi Point

Although it has a much different design, the general idea of the Google Nest Wifi Point is mostly the same. You'll need to find a table or shelf to stand it on, but once you do, the clean aesthetic should fit in with your home quite nicely. Google takes the lead with wireless coverage and maximum speed, and having the Google Assistant built-in seriously expands the Nest Wifi Point's usefulness.

No matter which of these gadgets catches your attention, you can't go wrong either way. The Eero Beacon stands out thanks to its ultra-simplistic design, ample coverage, and having the nightlight is a lot handier than it may look on paper. The Nest Wifi Point's design isn't quite as compact, but it takes the edge with much faster speeds and having the Google Assistant built-in. However, as both extenders only work with their respective platforms, the ultimate decision really comes down to whether you're invested in Eero or Nest Wifi equipment.

Eero wins when it comes to simplicity

To kick off this comparison, let's start with Eero Beacon. While it might be lacking on the technical side of things, it makes up for with its design.

While you need to place the Nest Wifi Point on a flat surface (such as a table, bookshelf, or nightstand), the Eero Beacon plugs directly into your wall outlet — just like a nightlight. Once it's plugged in and configured with the rest of your Eero equipment, it offers additional coverage up to 1,500 square feet and download speeds up to 350Mbps. That should be plenty of performance for most people's wireless networks, but it is considerably less than what you get on the Nest Wifi Point.

Speaking of nightlights, the Eero Beacon actually doubles as one. The LED light on the bottom uses an ambient sensor and automatic dimmer to adjust its brightness throughout the day, and through the Eero mobile app, you can create your own custom brightness schedule.

Since it works with your Eero router, you can use the Beacon to create user profiles, pause the network when you're trying to get your kids to eat dinner, and there's even support for Apple HomeKit (something you'll probably never see on the Nest Wifi).

But the Nest Wifi Point can do a lot more

Moving over to the Nest Wifi Point, Google definitely wins on the technical front. Coverage is slightly better at 1,600 square feet, not to mention the max download speed can go all the way up to 1,200Mbps. Yes, you'll need to find a place to put the Nest Wifi Point, but at least it has a clean aesthetic and comes in a few different colors (specifically, Mist, Sand, and Snow).

If it looks like there's a speaker grille on the bottom of the Nest Wifi Point, that's because there is. The Google Assistant is built into the device, meaning you can say "Hey Google" or "OK Google" at any time and talk to it just like you would a Google Home.

This adds a heap of extra functionality, allowing you to ask about the weather, stream music, listen to your favorite podcasts, control other smart home devices, and plenty more. Google also offers plenty of controls with the Nest Wifi system, making it easy to prioritize certain devices, share your network with friends, run speed tests, and much more.

It all comes down to which network you use

We could keep debating the pros and cons of the Eero Beacon and the Nest Wifi Point, but there's really no need in doing that.

These are both Wi-Fi extenders designed specifically for their respective platforms. The Beacon only works with Eero routers and the Point only works with the Nest Wifi Router. As such, the final word on this comparison boils down as follows — If you have an Eero router, buy the Eero Beacon; If you have a Nest Wifi Router, buy the Nest Wifi Point.

If you aren't already invested in either ecosystem, you have a bigger decision to make. Eero is a solid all-around Wi-Fi platform, offering two routers that make up the core of your system (Eero and Eero Pro). Setup and management of your network is handled through the excellent Eero mobile app, TrueMesh technology routes your wireless traffic in the most efficient way possible to avoid buffering and slowdowns, and the optional Eero Secure subscription gives you access to things like content filtering, enhanced security, ad blocking, and a ton more.

Over in Camp Nest Wifi, you'll find a lot of the same perks. Your network is managed entirely through the Google Home application, continuous updates and network optimizations help to ensure optimal performance, and pairing the Nest Wifi Point with the Nest Wifi Router gives you coverage up to 3,800 square feet. Comparatively, an Eero router and Eero Beacon kicks out 3,000 square feet of coverage.

Eero does some things better than Google and vice versa, but at the end of the day, both fulfill their roles admirably well and are worthy additions to your home network. However, for its ease of use we're going to go with Eero at the end of the day.