[wtallis]

You don't need a $200 router to run the latest versions of OpenWRT. You only need to spend that much if you want high-end WiFi radios and fast CPU cores. If you're fine with mid-range WiFi capabilities and slower MIPS CPUs that can't do QoS beyond 100-200Mbps, then there are plenty of options well under $100.

[matthewbauer]

My under $100 router didn’t work because it had too little ram and flash storage to work. It was a few years ago though so maybe the situation has changed. I’d be interested in seeing which routers under $100 are working well with OpenWRT.

[maximente]

i really like my https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar750s/ : comes with a GUI on top of openWRT that allows easy static IP assignment from MAC, wireguard config as either server or client, etc. you can always drop into LuCI as well, or reflash with latest openWRT. plenty of storage for additional services and packages if that's your thing.

no affiliation, just a happy customer!