Comparison of open-source wireless drivers

Wireless network cards for computers require control software to make them function. This is a list of the status of some open-source drivers for 802.11 wireless network cards.

Linux

Status

Driverfamily		Chipsets	Chipset PHY Modes	Integration in mainline	Non-free firmware required	License	Development
		ADMtek ADM8211	b			GPLv2	With support from Infineon / ADMtek
		Atmel AT76C503 / AT76C505 based USB WLAN adapters	b		Depends on the model	GPLv2
		Texas Instruments ACX100, ACX111, TNETW1450	b/g			Dual BSD/MPL	Reverse-engineered
		Cisco Systems Aironet 4500/4800 and 340/350	b			Dual GPLv2 and BSD
		Atheros AR5523 based USB dongles	a/b/g			ISC	Reverse-engineered
		Atheros AR2413, AR2414, AR2417, AR2425, AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213, AR5413, AR5414, AR5423, AR5424	a/b/g			Dual GPL/BSD	Reverse-engineered
		Atheros AR6003, AR6004, AR6004	a/b/g			ISC	Written by Atheros
		Atheros chips with IEEE [802.11n\|802.11n] support	a/b/g/n		proprietary blob only required for Bluetooth	ISC	Written by Atheros
		Atheros AR9271, AR7010	b/g/n			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
		Qualcomm Atheros chips with 802.11ac support	a/b/g/n /ac			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
		Qualcomm Atheros chips with 802.11ax support	a/b/g/n /ac/ax			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
		Qualcomm Atheros chips with 802.11be support	a/b/g/n /ac/ax/be			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
		Atheros AR9170	a/b/g/n			GPL	Qualcomm Atheros-supported
		Wilocity wil6210, 802.11ad 60GHz	ad			ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
		Atmel at76c502 at76c504 and at76c506 wireless cards	b			GPLv2+	Reverse-engineered
		Broadcom BCM43xx	a/b/g/n		Experimental OSS firmware	GPL	Reverse-engineered
		Broadcom BCM4301, BCM4303, and BCM4306 rev 1 and 2	a/b/g		Experimental OSS firmware	GPL	Reverse-engineered
		PCIe devices: Broadcom 4356, 43567, 43570, 4358, 4359, 43602, 4365, 4366 SDIO devices: Broadcom 4329, 4330, 4334, 43340, 43341, 43241, 4335, 4339, 43362, 43430, 43455, 4354, 43143 USB devices: Broadcom 43235, 43236, 43238, 43143, 43242, 43566, 43569	a/b/g/n/ac			ISC	Written by Broadcom
		Broadcom BCM4313, BCM43224, BCM43225	a/b/g/n			ISC	Written by Broadcom
		ST-Ericsson CW1100 & CW1200 WLAN chipsets				GPLv2	?
	HostAP	Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5, PRISM 3			Depends on the model	GPLv2
		Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 and 2200 Network Connection				GPL	Written by Intel
		Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 3945ABG, 4965AGN				GPL
		Intel Wireless WiFi Next Gen AGN - Wireless-N/Advanced-N/Ultimate-N: 6250AGN, 6200AGN, 6300AGN, 1000BGN, 5150AGN, 5100AGN, 5300AGN, 5350AGN, 6005, 6030, 6150BGN, 100BGN, 130BGN, AX200, AX210 and BE200	a/b/g/n /ac/ax/be			Dual GPL/BSD	Written by Intel
		Marvell 88W8686 SDIO Libertas 8388 802.11b/g, 8385 802.11b/g, 8385/8686/8688 802.11b/g, 8686 802.11b/g,				GPL	Marvell-supported
		Marvell 8388 WLAN Thinfirm Driver	b/g			GPL	cozybit, Marvell-supported
		MediaTek MT76xxx, MT79xxxx	a/b/g/n /ac/ax/be			ISC	With support from MediaTek
		MediaTek MT7601U	b/g/n			GPLv2
		WiFi-Ex Driver for Marvell SD8786/SD8787/SD8797, 8766/8897 and 88W8797				GPLv2	Written by Marvell
		Marvell TopDog 802.11 Wireless cards: 88W8366, 88W8863, 88W8687, 88W8764				GPLv2	Written by Marvell
		Lucent Hermes ; Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11b			Required for WPA support
		Prism54: Intersil/Conexant ISL3877, ISL3880, ISL3886, ISL3887, ISL3890			Experimental OSS firmware
		Prism54: Intersil/Conexant ISL3877, ISL3880, ISL3886, ISL3887, ISL3890			Experimental OSS firmware		Reverse-engineered; obsoleted by p54.
		MediaTek RT2460	b			GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com; From partial documentation and GPL drivers by Ralink
		Ralink RT2560	b/g			GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Ralink RT2561, RT2561S, RT2661				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Ralink RT2760, RT2790, RT2860, RT2880, RT2890, RT3052, RT3090, RT3091, RT3092 RT3390, RT3060, RT3062, RT3290, RT3562, RT3592, RT5390, RT5392				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Ralink RT2571 & RT2572	b/g			GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Ralink RT2571W, RT2573 & RT2671				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Ralink RT2770, RT2870, RT3070, RT3071, RT3072 RT3370, RT3572, RT5370, RT5572				GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Realtek RTL8180, RTL8185, RTL8187SE	b/g			GPL
		Realtek RTL8187, RTL8187B	a/b/g			GPL
		Realtek RTL8723AU, RTL8723BU, RTL8188CUS, RTL8192CU, RTL8191EU, RTL8192EU, RTL8188EU, RTL8188RU, RTL8188FU, RTL8192FU	b/g/n			GPLv2	fan-made, based on open source drivers released by Realtek
		Realtek RTL8188EE				GPL	Written by Realtek et al. Forked from rtl8180-sa2400 project.
		Realtek RTL8192C				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8192CE				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8192CU				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8192DE				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8192SE				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8723AE				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8188EU				GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
		Realtek RTL8812AE, RTL8821AE	a/b/g/n /ac			GPL
	rtw88_8822ce	Realtek RTL8822CE	a/b/g/n /ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8822be	Realtek RTL8822BE	a/b/g/n /ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8821ce	Realtek RTL8821CE	a/b/g/n /ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8723de	Realtek RTL8723DE	b/g/n			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8822cu	Realtek RTL8822CU	a/b/g/n /ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8822bu	Realtek RTL8822BU	a/b/g/n /ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8821cu	Realtek RTL8821CU	a/b/g/n /ac			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw88_8723du	Realtek RTL8723DU	b/g/n			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw89_8852ae	Realtek RTL8852AE	a/b/g/n /ac/ax			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw89_8852be	Realtek RTL8852BE	a/b/g/n /ac/ax			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw89_8852ce	Realtek RTL8852CE	a/b/g/n /ac/ax			Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rsi9113	Redpine Signals SDIO and USB adapters				GPL	Written by Redpine Signals Inc.
		Texas Instruments TI wl1251				GPL	Written by Nokia
		Texas Instruments TI wl1271, wl1273, wl1281 and wl1283				GPL	Written by Nokia and Texas Instruments
		Texas Instruments TI WiLink 8				GPL	Written by Texas Instruments
		ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B				GPL	various

FreeBSD

Status

Driver	Chipset	Integration	Non-free firmware required	License	Original/ Primary developer	Development
	Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Separate project		BSD		Reverse engineering
	Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350, Xircom Wireless Ethernet	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul
	Aironet Arlan 655	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD
	Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5416 /AR9130 /AR9160 /AR9280 /AR9285 /AR9287 /AR9565	Integrated		BSD	Originally by Atheros via Sam Leffler ; supported by the community	Documentation based
	AMD PCnetMobile	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD	Bill Sommerfeld, Atsushi Onoe
	Broadcom BCM43xx/4318	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau , Andrew Thompson, Sam Leffler	Ported from DragonFly BSD
	Broadcom BCM43xx/4318 v4 firmware	Integrated since 8.1		BSD	Weongyo Jeong	?
	Netwave AirSurfer	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD	Imported from NetBSD
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 / 3165 / 7260 / 7265 / 8260	?	?		?	?
	Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 ABGN/ 5100/ 5300/ 5350/ 1000 Intel Centrino 6000/ 6150/ 6200/ 6205/ 6230/ 6250/ 6300	Integrated since 8.0 / Available for 7.1 and above as separate patch		BSD	Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close, Sam Leffler	Reverse engineering
	Marvell 88W8335	Integrated		BSD	Weongyo Jeong, Sam Leffler
	Marvell 88W8363	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Sam Leffler	?
	Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600/ RT3090/ RT3592	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Based on partial documentation
	Raytheon Raylink/ Webgear Aviator	Integrated / Removed in 8.0		BSD	Imported from NetBSD
	Realtek RTL8188SU/ RTL8192SU	Integrated since 10.0		BSD	Damien Bergamini , Imported from OpenBSD by Rui Paulo	?
	Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB	Integrated		BSD	Niall O'Higgins, Damien Bergamini	Based on partial documentation
	Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U	Integrated since 8.1		BSD	Damien Bergamini , Imported from OpenBSD by Akinori Furukoshi	Based on partial documentation
	Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Weongyo Jeong, Sam Leffler	?
	GW3887	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Imported from OpenBSD	Reverse engineering
	Ralink RT2500USB	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Based on partial documentation
	Realtek RTL8187L/ RTL8187B	Integrated since 8.0		BSD	Weongyo Jeong	?
	Realtek RTL8188CU/ RTL8188EU/ RTL8192CU	Integrated since 10.0		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Lucent Hermes ; Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11b	Integrated		BSD	Bill Paul	Documentation based
	Intel PRO/ Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close	Reverse engineering
	ZyDAS ZD1211/ ZD1211B	Integrated		BSD	Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini, Jonathan Gray	Documentation based

Driver capabilities

Driver	802.11	Bus interface	WEP	WPA	WPA2	Monitor mode	Master mode	Ad-Hoc mode
	802.11a?, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI		?	?	?	?
	802.11b	Cardbus, PCI, ISA		?	?	?	?
	N/A	ISA	?	?	?	?	?	?
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI
	N/A	PC Card	?	?	?	?
	802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
	N/A	Cardbus	?	?	?	?	?	?
	802.11b	Mini PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Mini PCI
	802.11b, 802.11g	PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI
	N/A	PC Card	?	?	?
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b	PC Card, Cardbus, PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCI
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB

OpenBSD

The following is an incomplete list of supported wireless devices:

Status

Driver	Chipset	Integration	Free firmware	License	Original/Primary developer	Development	Free software
	Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Integrated		BSD	Ported from DragonFlyBSD	Reverse engineering
	Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350	Integrated		BSD
	Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212	Integrated		BSD		Reverse engineering
	Atheros AR5416/AR9160/AR928X	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Partly based on the ath9k driver for Linux
	Atmel AT76C503/ AT76C503A/ AT76C505/ AT76C505A	Integrated		BSD		Reverse engineering
	ADMtek ADM8211	Integrated		BSD		Documentation based
	BayStack 650	2.7 to 4.3		BSD
	Broadcom and Cypress IEEE 802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n wireless network device	6.3+		BSD	Patrick Wildt		Yes
	Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated		BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau	Ported from DragonFly BSD
	NetWave AirSurfer	2.6 to 6.0		BSD
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965/ 5000/ 1000/ 6000	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3160ac/ 7260ac/ 7265ac	Integrated		BSD	Antti Kantee, Stefan Sperling	Based on iwn, and iwlwifi driver released by Intel for Linux under dual GPLv2/BSD license
	Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310	Integrated		BSD	Marcus Glocker and Claudio Jeker	Reverse engineering
	Atheros AR9170	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Based on source code released by Atheros for Linux under the ISC
	Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC ISL3877, ISL3880, and ISL3890 chips	Integrated		BSD	Ported from FreeBSD	Reverse engineering
/	Ralink RT2500, RT2501, RT2600, RT2700, RT2800, RT3090, RT3292, RT3592 and RT5390, RT2500USB	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Documentation based
	Raytheon Raylink/WebGear Aviator IEEE 802.11FH	2.7 to 5.4		BSD
	Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8191SU/RTL8192SU	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated		BSD	Ported from NetBSD	Documentation based
	Realtek RTL8188CE/RTL8192CE	Integrated		BSD	Stefan Sperling	Based on urtwn driver.
	Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB	Integrated		BSD	Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini	Documentation based
	Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Documentation based
	Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse Engineering
	GW3887	Integrated		BSD	Marcus Glocker	Reverse engineering
	Realtek RTL8187L	Integrated		BSD	Weongyo Jeong	?
	Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8192CU	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	Lucent Hermes ; Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24	Integrated	Yes for Spectrum24 and N/A for others	BSD	Bill Paul	Documentation based
	Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated		BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering
	ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B	Integrated		BSD	Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini, and Jonathan Gray	Documentation based

Driver capabilities

Driver	802.11	Bus interface	WEP	WPA	WPA2	Monitor mode	Master mode	Ad-Hoc mode
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
	802.11b	PC Card, PCI, ISA
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Cardbus, PCI-E, Mini PCIE
	802.11b	USB
	802.11b	Cardbus, PCI
	802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n	PCI, USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
	N/A	PC Card
	802.11b	PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI-E, Mini PCIE
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI-E, Mini PCIE
	802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PC Card, PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI
	N/A	PC Card
	802.11b	Cardbus, PCI
	802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCIE
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB
	802.11b	PC Card, PCI, USB
	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	PCI
	802.11b, 802.11g	USB