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TP-Link Deco M5 and Google Wifi are two popular mesh Wi-Fi systems that are designed to provide seamless Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home, ideal for small to medium sized homes.

TP-Link Deco M5

TP-Link Deco M5 is a mesh Wi-Fi system that comes with three units that can cover up to 5,500 square feet of area. It uses the AC1300 Wi-Fi standard, which means it can provide up to 867Mbps speed on the 5GHz band and up to 400Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. It also comes with features like parental controls, QoS, and antivirus protection. TP-Link Deco M5 is popular due to its ease of use, excellent performance, and affordable price range. It currently retails for around $150 to $180.

Deco m5 is one of TP-Link lines of Deco series in entry level network segment including the update products such as Deco S4 and Deco M4.

Google Wifi:

Google Wifi is another mesh Wi-Fi system that comes with three units that can cover up to 4,500 square feet of area. It also uses the AC1200 Wi-Fi standard, which means it can provide up to 867Mbps on the 5GHz band and up to 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. It comes with features like parental controls, guest network access, and Google Assistant integration when you add a Google nest mini speaker as Google assistant voice assistant. Google nest mini is one of best smart speakers in the market to date.   

Google Wifi is popular due to its excellent design, ease of use, and reliable performance. It currently retails for around $200 to $300 / 3-pack kit.

Deco M5 vs Google Wifi

Both TP-Link Deco M5 and Google wifi are mesh wifi products in entry level network segment that are still popular to date among the emerging of wifi 6 and wifi 6e products introduced to the market.

In terms of technical strengths and weaknesses, both TP-Link Deco M5 and Google Wifi are excellent mesh Wi-Fi systems that provide reliable coverage and good performance. However, TP-Link Deco M5 has the advantage of built-in antivirus protection, which can protect your devices from online threats. On the other hand, Google Wifi has the advantage of Google Assistant integration, which allows you to control your smart home devices with voice commands. In terms of popularity, both TP-Link Deco M5 and Google Wifi have a large user base and are well-received by customers. However, Google Wifi is more popular among tech enthusiasts due to its sleek design and Google Assistant integration. Finally, with the advent of WiFi 6e, it's worth considering whether TP-Link Deco M5 and Google Wifi are still worth purchasing. While WiFi 6e provides faster speeds, lower latency, and more reliable connections, it requires compatible devices to take advantage of these benefits. Therefore, if you have a lot of WiFi 6e compatible devices, it may be worth investing in a mesh WiFi system that supports WiFi 6e. However, if most of your devices are still using older WiFi standards, TP-Link Deco M5 and Google Wifi are still good options that can provide reliable coverage and good performance.

Demand still high

The demand for both deco m5 and Google wifi are still high even though tp-link has released its newest deco products based on latest wifi-6 and 6e technologies such as Deco XE75 and XE200 offered by TP-Link based on latest wifi 6e technology. Google also introduced new Google Nest wifi and the latest one is Google Nest pro with latest wifi 6e technology.

There are still few things related to this high demand, especially the urgency to switch to wifi-6 based mesh wifi while the price is still quite high. On the other hand, the deco m5, Google wifi and similar products that are still based on wifi5 have started to drop in price. Today you see that deco m5 (3-pack) is around $150 while the lowest deco series based on wifi-6 is still around $225.0 (3-pack). On the other hand and Google wifi (3-pack) are tagged a bit higher around $200.

wifi-6 adapters investment

On the other hand, in order to fully optimize the data throughput connection with the latest WiFi 6 and WiFi 6e technologies, it is necessary to invest in WiFi 6/6e-based adapters. This will not only prepare you for the new WiFi 6/6e technology but also ensure you are ready for the next generation of WiFi 7 technology.

There are two options available for desktop computers when it comes to WiFi adapters - PCI-e adapters and versatile USB adapters. For laptop users, however, only USB-type adapters are available for easy installation. If you have the technical skills, you can replace your adapter board with a WiFi 6e-based adapter board, but opening the laptop housing can be a difficult task.

Legacy wifi compatibility

If all your devices are still based on WiFi 5, there is no urgency to purchase mesh WiFi 6 products, as WiFi 6 is backward compatible with all existing devices. However, to achieve the optimal speed provided by WiFi 6, the connected device must also be based on WiFi 6. For instance, the Deco X20 AX1800 can provide theoretical speeds of up to 1200Mbps @5GHz only when connected with a WiFi 6 device. If the connection is based on WiFi 5, the theoretical speed will only be up to 867Mbps.

Now with the price difference around $50, which one is suitable to meet your home need between deco m5, and Google wifi?

Spec comparison table 

Please refer to the following spec comparison table 1 below for deco m5 vs Google to help you learn the spec and feature comparison.

Technically both products are based on the same AC1200 network segment in general, even though deco m5 is based on ac1300 network segment and both products feature 2x2 MU-MIMO multi streams. Does MU-MIMO feature matter? Absolutely it does when it comes to pair this router with the same wifi adapters that support MU-MIMO for optimum data rate throughput and reduce network latency. Wifi routers with MU-MIMO features can send multiple data streams to multiple clients simultaneously, no need to data buffering for fast data streaming. Nowadays you can find bunch of wifi 6/6e adapters available in the market both PCI-e or USB based adapters.

Below is spec comparison table for deco m5 vs Google wifi.

Table  TP-Link Deco M5 vs Google

AC1200 Product	TP-Link Deco M5	Google wifi
Wifi segment	Dual band ac1300 (867 + 400)	Dual band ac1200  (867 + 300)
# Internal antennas	4x	2x
# Ethernet Ports	2x Gigabit RJ45	2x Gigabit RJ45
Coverage	5,500 sq ft	4,500 sq ft
Support wired Ethernet backhaul	Yes	Yes
Works with Alexa and Google assistant	Yes	Yes
Processor	Qualcomm 717 MHz Quad core CPU	Quad core ARM-based processor

Backhaul link

Communication between mesh router and mesh satellite nodes uses wifi link as backhaul link. So the existing total AC1200 bandwidth will be shared between connected devices with backhaul link. Instead of wifi backhaul, you can also configure the backhaul link using wired ethernet backhaul by connecting each nodes using UTP network cable and connecting each of the end of the cable to the Ethernet nodes. Wired backhaul theoretically is more reliable than wifi backhaul due to less wifi interference.  

Both deco m5 and google wifi come equipped with two Gigabit ethernet ports, when it comes to use wired backhaul, you can configure them using daisy chain backhaul topology instead of star method. Except if you add an unmanaged switch to allow you configure the backhaul using star backhaul topology.

Security Protection

Currently, TP-Link provides the Deco M5 with free lifetime HomeCare security protection for all devices connected to your network. This protection includes a built-in antivirus system that safeguards against internet threats, as well as parental controls and QoS. This is an excellent deal for anyone looking to purchase the Deco M5.

In contrast, Google WiFi does not offer specific security protection but provides standard WiFi encryption and general parental controls. 

See also Linksys vs Google mesh wifi, the same ac1200 linksys series compared with Google mesh wifi in ac1200 network segment.