Comparison of open-source wireless drivers

Wireless network cards for computers require control software to make them function (firmware, device drivers). 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 (802.11b MAC/BBP)	b	Yes	Yes	GPLv2	With support from Infineon / ADMtek
		Atmel AT76C503 / AT76C505 based USB WLAN adapters	b	Yes	Depends on the model	GPLv2	?
		Texas Instruments ACX100, ACX111, TNETW1450	b/g	No	Yes	Dual BSD/MPL	Reverse-engineered
		Cisco Systems Aironet 4500/4800 and 340/350	b	Yes	No	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	?
		Atheros AR5523 based USB dongles	a/b/g	Yes	Yes	ISC	Reverse-engineered
	Atheros AR2413, AR2414, AR2417, AR2425, AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213, AR5413, AR5414, AR5423, AR5424	a/b/g	Yes (since 2.6.25)	—N/a	Dual GPL/BSD	Reverse-engineered
	Atheros AR6003, AR6004 (SDIO), AR6004 (USB)	a/b/g	Yes	Yes	ISC	Written by Atheros
	Atheros chips with 802.11n support	a/b/g/n	Yes (since 2.6.27)	—N/a proprietary blob only required for Bluetooth ( / )	ISC	Written by Atheros
	Atheros AR9271, AR7010 (USB-PCIe bridge with AR928x chips)	b/g/n	Yes (since 2.6.35)	No	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	Qualcomm Atheros chips with 802.11ac support	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes (since 3.11)	Yes	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	Qualcomm Atheros chips with 802.11ax support	a/b/g/n /ac/ax	Yes (since 5.6)	Yes	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	Qualcomm Atheros chips with 802.11be support	a/b/g/n /ac/ax/be	Yes (since 6.0)	Yes	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
	Atheros AR9170 (802.11n USB)	a/b/g/n	Yes (since 3.0)	No	GPL	Qualcomm Atheros-supported
	Wilocity wil6210, 802.11ad 60GHz	ad	Yes	Yes	ISC	Written by Qualcomm Atheros
		Atmel at76c502 at76c504 and at76c506 wireless cards	b	Yes	Yes	GPLv2+	Reverse-engineered
		Broadcom BCM43xx	a/b/g/n	Yes (since 2.6.24)	Experimental OSS firmware	GPL	Reverse-engineered
		Broadcom BCM4301, BCM4303, and BCM4306 rev 1 and 2	a/b/g	Yes (since 2.6.24)	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	Yes (since 3.2)	Yes	ISC	Written by Broadcom
	Broadcom BCM4313, BCM43224, BCM43225	a/b/g/n	Yes (since 3.2)	Yes	ISC	Written by Broadcom
		ST-Ericsson CW1100 & CW1200 WLAN chipsets	?	Yes (since 3.11)	Yes	GPLv2	?
	HostAP	Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5, PRISM 3	?	Yes	Depends on the model	GPLv2
		Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 and 2200 Network Connection (802.11b)	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Intel
		Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 3945ABG, 4965AGN	?	Yes	Yes	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	Yes	Yes	Dual GPL/BSD	Written by Intel
		Marvell 88W8686 SDIO Libertas 8388 (USB) 802.11b/g, 8385 (CompactFlash) 802.11b/g, 8385/8686/8688 (SDIO) 802.11b/g, 8686 (SPI) 802.11b/g,	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Marvell-supported
		Marvell 8388 (USB) WLAN Thinfirm Driver (OLPC)	b/g	Yes	Yes	GPL	cozybit, Marvell-supported
		MediaTek MT76xxx, MT79xxxx	a/b/g/n /ac/ax/be	Yes (since 4.19)	Yes	ISC	With support from MediaTek
		MediaTek MT7601U	b/g/n	Yes (since 4.2)	Yes	GPLv2
		WiFi-Ex Driver for Marvell SD8786/SD8787/SD8797 (SDIO), 8766/8897 (PCIe) and 88W8797 (USB)	?	Yes	Yes	GPLv2	Written by Marvell
		Marvell TopDog 802.11 Wireless cards: 88W8366, 88W8863, 88W8687, 88W8764	?	Yes	Yes	GPLv2	Written by Marvell
		Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-II, PRISM-2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11b	?	Yes	Required for WPA support
		Prism54: Intersil/Conexant ISL3877, ISL3880, ISL3886, ISL3887, ISL3890	?	Yes (~Aug2007)	Experimental OSS firmware
	?	Yes (before 2.6.12)		Reverse-engineered; obsoleted by p54.
		MediaTek (Ralink) RT2460	b	Yes (since 2.6.24)	No	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com; From partial documentation and GPL drivers by Ralink
	Ralink RT2560	b/g	Yes	No	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	Ralink RT2561, RT2561S, RT2661	?	Yes	Yes	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	Ralink RT2760, RT2790, RT2860, RT2880, RT2890, RT3052, RT3090, RT3091, RT3092 RT3390, RT3060, RT3062, RT3290, RT3562, RT3592, RT5390, RT5392	?	Yes	Yes	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	Ralink RT2571 & RT2572	b/g	Yes	No	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	Ralink RT2571W, RT2573 & RT2671	?	Yes	Yes	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
	Ralink RT2770, RT2870, RT3070, RT3071, RT3072 RT3370, RT3572, RT5370, RT5572	?	Yes	Yes	GPLv2+	rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
		Realtek RTL8180, RTL8185, RTL8187SE	b/g	Yes	No	GPL
	Realtek RTL8187, RTL8187B	a/b/g	Yes	No	GPL
		Realtek RTL8723AU, RTL8723BU, RTL8188CUS, RTL8192CU, RTL8191EU, RTL8192EU, RTL8188EU, RTL8188RU, RTL8188FU, RTL8192FU	b/g/n	Yes	Yes	GPLv2	fan-made, based on open source drivers released by Realtek
		Realtek RTL8188EE	?	Yes (since 2.6.38)	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al. Forked from rtl8180-sa2400 project.
	Realtek RTL8192C	?	Yes		GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8192CE	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8192CU	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8192DE	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8192SE	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8723AE	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8188EU (TP-Link TL-WN725N)	?	Yes (since 3.12)	Yes	GPL	Written by Realtek et al.
	Realtek RTL8812AE, RTL8821AE	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes (since 3.16)	Yes	GPL	?
	rtw88_8822ce	Realtek RTL8822CE	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8822be	Realtek RTL8822BE	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8821ce	Realtek RTL8821CE	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8723de	Realtek RTL8723DE	b/g/n	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8822cu	Realtek RTL8822CU	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8822bu	Realtek RTL8822BU	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8821cu	Realtek RTL8821CU	a/b/g/n /ac	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw88_8723du	Realtek RTL8723DU	b/g/n	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rtw89_8852ae	Realtek RTL8852AE	a/b/g/n /ac/ax	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw89_8852be	Realtek RTL8852BE	a/b/g/n /ac/ax	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
rtw89_8852ce	Realtek RTL8852CE	a/b/g/n /ac/ax	Yes	Yes	Dual GPLv2 and BSD	Written by Realtek et al.
	rsi9113	Redpine Signals SDIO and USB adapters		Yes		GPL	Written by Redpine Signals Inc.
		Texas Instruments TI wl1251 (SDIO/SPI)	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Nokia
	Texas Instruments TI wl1271, wl1273, wl1281 and wl1283	?	Yes (Only up to 3.2)	Yes	GPL	Written by Nokia and Texas Instruments
	Texas Instruments TI WiLink 8	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	Written by Texas Instruments
		ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B (USB)	?	Yes	Yes	GPL	various

Driver capabilities

Driver	802.11	Bus interface	Wireless Security	Monitor mode	Master (AP) mode	Ad-Hoc mode
a	b	g	n	ac	ad	ax	WEP	WPA	WPA2
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	PCI, Mini PCI, PC card, USB	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	?
	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	PCI	Yes	?	?	Yes	No	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	No	PCI, Mini PCI, PC card, AHB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (2.6.31)	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	No	PCI, Mini PCI, Mini PCIe, AHB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	No	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	PCI, Mini PCI, AHB, Mini PCIe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	PCI, Mini PCI, AHB, Mini PCIe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	PCI, Mini PCI, AHB, Mini PCIe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	No	PCI, Mini PCI, SDIO ?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	No	PCI, Mini PCI, Cardbus, PC card	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	USB, SDIO, PCI Express	Yes	Yes	Yes	Exp.	Yes	No
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	No	PCI, Mini PCI, Mini PCIe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	PCI, Mini PCI, PC card	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	Mini PCI	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?
	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	Mini PCI, Mini PCIe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
(archive)	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	PCI, USB	No	No	No	?	No	?
(archive)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Mini PCI, Mini PCIe, M.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	2.4 GHz only Exp.	Yes
(archive)	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	USB, CF, SDIO	?	?	?	?	No	?
(archive)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	PCI, PC card, Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	PCIe, USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	Mini PCI, PC card	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	Mini PCI, USB, Cardbus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	PCI	Yes	No	?	Yes	Yes	?
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	PCI, USB, Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	No	PCI, USB, PC card, Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?
	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	No
	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	M.2, USB, SDIO	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	M.2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	No	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	USB	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	?
	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

DragonFly BSD

Chipset	Integration	Non-free firmware required	License	Original/Primary developer	Development
Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Integrated since 1.5	Yes	BSD		Reverse engineering
Aironet 4500/4800	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)
Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/AR5212/AR5416	Integrated	On Device	BSD
Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau	Reverse engineering
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Reverse engineering
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Reverse engineering
Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3160/7260/8260/9260/9270/9560	Integrated	Yes	BSD	OpenBSD
Intel 4965/1000/5000/ 5150/5300/6000/6050	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Reverse engineering
Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/RT2600	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Ported from FreeBSD
Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated	On Device	BSD		Ported from NetBSD
Ralink RT2501USB/RT2601USB	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Ported from FreeBSD
Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN / ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-II, -2.5; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11b	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)	Documentation based
Intel 3945ABG	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Ported from OpenBSD

FreeBSD

Status

Chipset	Integration	Non-free firmware required	License	Original/ Primary developer	Development
Texas Instruments ACX100/ACX111	Separate project	Yes	BSD		Reverse engineering
Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350, Xircom Wireless Ethernet	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)
Aironet Arlan 655	Integrated / Removed in 8.0	On Device	BSD
Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5416 /AR9130 /AR9160 /AR9280 /AR9285 /AR9287 /AR9565 (and derivatives)	Integrated	No	BSD	Originally by Atheros via Sam Leffler (FreeBSD); supported by the community	Documentation based
AMD PCnetMobile	Integrated / Removed in 8.0	On Device	BSD	Bill Sommerfeld (NetBSD), Atsushi Onoe (NetBSD)
Broadcom BCM43xx/4318	Integrated since 8.0	Yes	BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau (DragonFly BSD), Andrew Thompson (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	Ported from DragonFly BSD
Broadcom BCM43xx/4318 v4 firmware	Integrated since 8.1	Yes	BSD	Weongyo Jeong	?
Netwave AirSurfer	Integrated / Removed in 8.0	On Device	BSD	Imported from NetBSD
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	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	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close, Sam Leffler (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
Marvell 88W8335	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)
Marvell 88W8363	Integrated since 8.0	Yes	BSD	Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	?
Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600/ RT3090/ RT3592	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Based on partial documentation
Raytheon Raylink/ Webgear Aviator	Integrated / Removed in 8.0	On Device	BSD	Imported from NetBSD
Realtek RTL8188SU/ RTL8192SU	Integrated since 10.0	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD), Imported from OpenBSD by Rui Paulo	?
Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB	Integrated	No	BSD	Niall O'Higgins, Damien Bergamini	Based on partial documentation
Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U	Integrated since 8.1	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD), Imported from OpenBSD by Akinori Furukoshi	Based on partial documentation
Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX	Integrated since 8.0	Yes	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD), Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	?
GW3887 (Conexant/ Intersil PrismGT series)	Integrated since 8.0	Yes	BSD	Imported from OpenBSD	Reverse engineering
Ralink RT2500USB	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD/ FreeBSD)	Based on partial documentation
Realtek RTL8187L/ RTL8187B	Integrated since 8.0	—N/a	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD)	?
Realtek RTL8188CU/ RTL8188EU/ RTL8192CU	Integrated since 10.0	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD / FreeBSD)	Reverse engineering
Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24 802.11b (Symbol support removed in 8.0)	Integrated	On Device	BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)	Documentation based
Intel PRO/ Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini, Benjamin Close	Reverse engineering
ZyDAS ZD1211/ ZD1211B	Integrated	No	BSD	Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini, Jonathan Gray (OpenBSD)	Documentation based

Driver capabilities

802.11	Bus interface	WEP	WPA	WPA2	Monitor mode	Master mode	Ad-Hoc mode
802.11a?, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes
802.11b	Cardbus, PCI, ISA	Yes	?	?	?	?	Yes
N/A	ISA	?	?	?	?	?	?
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
N/A	PC Card	?	?	?	?	Yes	Yes
802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
N/A	Cardbus	?	?	?	?	?	?
802.11b	Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
802.11b, 802.11g	PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n	PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Cardbus, PCI, Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
N/A	PC Card	?	?	?	No	No	Yes
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
802.11b	PC Card, Cardbus, PCI	Yes	Yes (since 8.0)	Yes (since 8.0)	Yes (since 8.0?)	Yes	Yes
802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g	Mini PCI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
802.11b, 802.11g	USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

NetBSD

Chipset	Integration	Free firmware	License	Original/Primary developer	Development methodologies	Free software
Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Bill Paul (FreeBSD)	Ported from FreeBSD	Yes
Atheros AR521*/ AR2413/ AR2417/ AR5413/ AR5416/ AR5424/ AR9160	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Sam Leffler (FreeBSD)	Binary blobs ported from FreeBSD	Yes
Atheros AR5008 up to the AR9287	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Atmel at76c503/ at76c503a/ at76c505/ at76c505a	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Dan Vreeken (FreeBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
ADMtek ADM8211	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	David Young (NetBSD)		Yes
AMD PCnetMobile	Integrated	—N/a	BSD			Yes
Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau (DragonflyBSD)	Ported from Dragonfly BSD	Yes
Netwave AirSurfer	Integrated	—N/a	BSD			Yes
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Intel Wireless WiFi 7260, 7265, 3160	Integrated	No	BSD	Antti Kantee (NetBSD)		Yes
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965/ 5000/ 1000/ 6000	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Marvell 88W8335/88W8310	Integrated	No	BSD	Claudio Jeker (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Atheros AR9001U	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Ralink RT2500/ RT2501/ RT2600/ RT2500USB/RT3592	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Raytheon Raylink / WebGear Aviator	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Christian E. Hopps (NetBSD)		Yes
Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	David Young (NetBSD)		Yes
Realtek RTL8188CE and RTL8192CE	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Stefan Sperling (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Ralink RT2700U, RT2800U and RT3000U	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Conexant/Intersil PrismGT SoftMAC USB IEEE 802.11b/g	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Marcus Glocker (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Realtek RTL8187B/L	Integrated	No	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD)	Ported from FreeBSD	Yes
Realtek RTL8188CUS, RTL8188CE-VAU, RTL8188EUS, RTL8188RU, and RTL8192CU	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Lucent Technologies WaveLAN/IEEE and PRISM-II 802.11	Integrated	No	BSD	Bill Paul		Yes
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
ZyDAS ZD1211/ ZD1211B	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini (OpenBSD)	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes

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	No	BSD	Ported from DragonFlyBSD	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Aironet 4500/4800, Cisco Aironet 340/350	Integrated	—N/a	BSD			Yes
	Atheros AR5210/ AR5211/ AR5212	Integrated	—N/a	BSD		Reverse engineering	Yes
	Atheros AR5416/AR9160/AR928X	Integrated (since 4.7)	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Partly based on the ath9k driver for Linux	Yes
	Atmel AT76C503/ AT76C503A/ AT76C505/ AT76C505A	Integrated	Yes	BSD		Reverse engineering	Yes
	ADMtek ADM8211	Integrated	—N/a	BSD		Documentation based	Yes
	BayStack 650	2.7 to 4.3	—N/a	BSD			Yes
	Broadcom and Cypress IEEE 802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n wireless network device	6.3+		BSD	Patrick Wildt		Yes
	Broadcom BCM430x/4318	Integrated	No	BSD	Sepherosa Ziehau	Ported from DragonFly BSD	Yes
	NetWave AirSurfer	2.6 to 6.0	—N/a	BSD			Yes
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/ 2225BG/ 2915ABG	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965/ 5000/ 1000/ 6000	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3160ac/ 7260ac/ 7265ac	Integrated (since 5.8)	No	BSD	Antti Kantee, Stefan Sperling	Based on iwn, and iwlwifi driver released by Intel for Linux under dual GPLv2/BSD license	Yes
	Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310	Integrated	No	BSD	Marcus Glocker and Claudio Jeker	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Atheros AR9170	Integrated (since 4.6)	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Based on source code released by Atheros for Linux under the ISC	Yes
	Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC ISL3877, ISL3880, and ISL3890 chips	Integrated	No	BSD	Ported from FreeBSD	Reverse engineering	Yes
/	Ralink RT2500, RT2501, RT2600, RT2700, RT2800, RT3090, RT3292, RT3592 and RT5390 (ral), RT2500USB (ural)	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Documentation based	Yes
	Raytheon Raylink/WebGear Aviator IEEE 802.11FH	2.7 to 5.4	—N/a	BSD			Yes
	Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8191SU/RTL8192SU	Integrated (since 4.9)	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Realtek RTL8180L	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Ported from NetBSD	Documentation based	Yes
	Realtek RTL8188CE/RTL8192CE	Integrated	No	BSD	Stefan Sperling	Based on urtwn driver.	Yes
	Ralink RT2501USB/ RT2601USB	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Niall O'Higgins and Damien Bergamini	Documentation based	Yes
	Ralink RT2700U/ RT2800U/ RT3000U	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Documentation based	Yes
	Atheros AR5005UG/ AR5005UX	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse Engineering	Yes
	GW3887 (Conexant/Intersil PrismGT series)	Integrated	No	BSD	Marcus Glocker	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Realtek RTL8187L	Integrated	—N/a	BSD	Weongyo Jeong (FreeBSD)	?	Yes
	Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8192CU	Integrated (since 4.9)	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering	Yes
	Lucent Hermes (WaveLAN/ ORiNOCO); Intersil PRISM-2, PRISM-2.5, PRISM-3; Symbol Spectrum24	Integrated	Yes for Spectrum24 and N/A for others	BSD	Bill Paul	Documentation based	Yes
	Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Integrated	No	BSD	Damien Bergamini	Reverse engineering	Yes
	ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B	Integrated	Yes	BSD	Florian Stoehr, Damien Bergamini, and Jonathan Gray	Documentation based	Yes

Driver capabilities

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

Solaris and OpenSolaris

Chipset	Integration	Free firmware	License	Development	Free software
Atheros AR5211/ AR5212/ AR5213/ AR5214	Integrated with Solaris Nevada build 29	No firmware required	Dual GPL/BSD with proprietary HAL	Port of Madwifi	No
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100	Community project	No	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG	Community project	No	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Cisco Aironet 340/350	Community project	—N/a	BSD	Ported from FreeBSD	Yes
Lucent/Agere Systems Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM-2 802.11b	Community project	—N/a	BSD	Ported from FreeBSD	Yes
Ralink RT2500	Community project	—N/a	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Realtek RTL8180L	Community project	—N/a	BSD	Ported from NetBSD	Yes
Marvell 88W8335/ 88W8310	Community project	—N/a	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG	Community project	No	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN	Community project	No	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes
Atheros 9000	Community project	No	BSD	based on ath9k	Yes
Ralink RT2561/RT2561S/RT2661	Community project	No	BSD		Yes
Ralink RT2700/2800	Community project	No	BSD		Yes
Realtek RTL8187L/B USB	Community project	No	BSD		Yes
Atmel AT76C50x	Community project	No	BSD		Yes
Marvell 88W8363	Community project	No	BSD		Yes
Ralink RT2500USB	Community project	No	BSD		Yes
ZyDAS ZD1211 chipsets	Community project	Yes	BSD	Ported from OpenBSD	Yes

Darwin, OpenDarwin and macOS

Driver	Chipset	Free firmware	License	Development
	Intel PRO/Wireless 2100/2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG/3945ABG/4965AGN	No	GPL	Port from Linux
	Lucent/Agere Systems Hermes (WaveLAN/ORiNOCO), Intersil PRISM-2 802.11b	—N/a	BSD
. Archived from on 2021-06-14.	PRISM-GT 802.11b/g	—N/a	GPL

Notes

2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine
The SourceForge IPW websites (, and )
The for the Ralink and Realtek cards
for the list of OpenBSD drivers
The for the list of OpenSolaris and Solaris drivers
2022-04-12 at the Wayback Machine
rt2x00 README from cvs

External links

Linux drivers
Mac OS drivers
, a 2006 presentation by Theo de Raadt