What Is a Raspberry Pi Router?
A Raspberry Pi router is a custom-built network device that replaces the cheap router your ISP hands you. Instead of relying on locked-down firmware with limited features, you gain complete control over routing, DNS, firewall rules, traffic shaping, and monitoring.
At its core, a router does three things: it forwards packets between network interfaces, assigns IP addresses to clients via DHCP, and uses NAT (Network Address Translation) to share a single public IP across all devices on your local network. A Raspberry Pi 4 has the CPU, RAM, and built-in Gigabit Ethernet to handle all of this comfortably for a home or small office network. {read}