Switch
RouterRouters and switches are both computer networking devices. They allow one or more computers to be connected to other computers, networked devices, or to other networks.
But what is the difference between the two networking devices?
A router is a more sophisticated device than a switch. Traditional routers are designed to join multiple area networks (LANs and WANs). Routers serve as intermediate destinations for network traffic. They receive TCP/IP packets, look inside each packet to identify the source and target IP addresses, then forward these packets as needed to ensure the data reaches its final destination.
A network switch is a small hardware device that joins multiple computers together within one local area network (LAN). Switches are incapable of joining multiple networks or sharing an Internet connection. A home network with a switch must designate one computer as the gateway to the Internet, and that device must possess two network adapters for sharing, one for the home LAN and one for the Internet WAN. With a router, all home computers connect to the router equally, and it performs the equivalent gateway functions.
Router is more expensive than switch. Routers can connect wired or wireless (WiFi) networks while switch is used for wired networking connections only.
Conclusion:
Therefore, a switch sorts and distributes the network packets sent between the devices on a local area network (LAN), while a router is a gateway that connects two or more networks, which can be any combination of LANs, wide area networks (WAN), or the Internet. A router is a significantly more complicated device than a switch and more advanced models may use a reconfigurable operating system.