I am on a buget and I would like to know which is the better buy. (Asus ZenWiFi AC Mini CD6 vs Asus RT-AX53U)

[Zander de beer]

They are similarly priced in my region, the main difference seems to be a mesh system or wifi 6. 

[OddOod]

Do you have a large living space/will be expanding your living space in the near future? If so, mesh is pretty nice. On the other hand, do you have a lot of high bandwidth WiFi6 devices? If so, W6 is nice to have

[Zander de beer]

My living space is pretty large and I only have one wifi 6 device. Are there any other key differentiators or is it that simple?

[Dust7267]

Both are decent, but for different reasons. The ASUS router has A LOT more networking options, that will allow folks to make their network more suited for them. Plus it's supported in AsusWRT-Merlin. I find mesh kits make great AP (Access Points), but aren't really suited to an actual router. They lack a lot of advanced features, and are more likely to force you into a mobile app.

 

DO NOTE: Asus has recently had a couple of router firmware issues. One very notable, and large issue was back in May where Asus pushed an update that made them nonfunctional for around 2 days.

[Zander de beer]

4 minutes ago, Dust7267 said:

Both are decent, but for different reasons. The ASUS router has A LOT more networking options, that will allow folks to make their network more suited for them. Plus it's supported in AsusWRT-Merlin. I find mesh kits make great AP (Access Points), but aren't really suited to an actual router. They lack a lot of advanced features, and are more likely to force you into a mobile app.

 

DO NOTE: Asus has recently had a couple of router firmware issues. One very notable, and large issue was back in May where Asus pushed an update that made them nonfunctional for around 2 days.

They're both from Asus but the extra features would be nice.

[Dust7267]

5 minutes ago, Zander de beer said:

They're both from Asus but the extra features would be nice.

If you ever wanted mesh, you could "upgrade" at a later date, by taking advantage of Asus AiMesh. LTT made a video covering it a couple of years back:

 

It's only usable on normal Asus routers (so no Mesh kits), and is kinda janky, but is a nice bonus.

[Zander de beer]

I guess so, thanks for the help.