Orange Pi 5 (OpenWrt Build)

Yes, the Orange Pi 5 can run OpenWrt, and community-maintained builds are available that take advantage of its Rockchip RK3588S processor. The RK3588S is an 8-core ARM chip that provides far more CPU power than typical consumer routers, making it capable of handling demanding networking workloads. Users typically flash an OpenWrt image to an SD card or eMMC module.

The Orange Pi 5 is available in multiple configurations ranging from 4GB to 16GB of LPDDR4 RAM. For OpenWrt, even the 4GB model is more than sufficient since OpenWrt itself is lightweight. Higher RAM configurations are useful if you plan to run additional services like Docker containers alongside the router.

The Orange Pi 5 uses the Rockchip RK3588S, which generally outperforms the Raspberry Pi 5's BCM2712 chip in multi-core benchmarks due to its combination of Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 cores. However, the Raspberry Pi 5 has stronger community support and a more mature software ecosystem. The Orange Pi 5 is often attractively priced for users who specifically need an OpenWrt platform.

The Orange Pi 5 has a single built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, which limits standalone router use without additional hardware. Many OpenWrt users add a USB 3.0-to-Ethernet adapter or use a managed switch with VLAN tagging to create WAN and LAN separation. For a dual-Ethernet router build, boards like the NanoPi R5S or R6S may be more suitable out of the box.