Best Kali Linux WIFI Adapter with Monitor Mode June 2021

This list review the best kali Linux WIFI adapter Depending on the chipset.
People seem to get confused when we talk about kali WIFI adapter and wireless cards, they don’t know what they are, why do we need them and how to select the right one because there is so many brands. The thing is not every WiFi card support Monitor mode, and packet injection, that’s why we created this Kali Linux wifi adapter list .

1. The best WiFi adapter for Kali Linux
2. Dual band (2.4GHz & 5.0GHz) WIFI adapters
3. Single band 2.4GHz WiFi adapters
4. Kali Linux compatible Internal WIFI laptop adapters

IMAGE	NAME	FEATURES	Price
	Alfa AWUS1900	Chipset: Realtek RTL8814AU Antennas: 4 antennas	Check Price
	Alfa AWUS036ACH	Chipset:Realtek RTL8812AU Antennas: 2 antennas	Check Price
	TRENDnet AC1900	Chipset:Realtek RTL8814AU Antennas: 4 antennas	Check Price
	TP-Link TL-WN722N	Chipset:Atheros AR9271 Antennas: 1 antennas	Check Price
	TP-Link AC1900 Archer T9UH	Chipset:Realtek RTL8814AU Antennas: 1 antennas	Check Price
	Alfa AWUS036NHA	Chipset:Atheros AR9721 Antennas: 1 antennas	Check Price

The best WiFi adapter for Kali Linux As has been said many times, there is no “Best WiFi adapter” Sometimes you need to work quietly and we need a tiny WiFi adapter, sometimes we work in the “concrete jungle” and we need the most powerful and most sensitive device with large antennas.
Some of us live in areas where there is an abundance of 5.0GHz ac Access Points, but in some places, there are simply no Access Points on 5.0GHz. Someone can easily afford to spend 50 bucks, and someone is looking for cheap adapters in the secondary market.

Our tasks are different, our environment is different and the best usb wifi adapter for kali Linux for us will also be different devices.   But there are rules that work well:

• Adapters with large external antennas are usually more sensitive and powerful (this is important)
• alfa wifi adapter are a good choice for most.

Why you need a USB wifi adapter for kali Linux?

A USB wireless adapter is a device that you connect to your computer through a usb port and it allows you to communicate with other devices over wifi so you can use it to connect to wireless networks and communicate with other computers that use wi-fi,
now you may say that your laptop already has this and yes that’s correct most laptops and most phones already have this built-in but there’s two problems with that though

• The first problem is you can’t access built-in wireless adapters through kali if it’s installed as a virtual machine
• The second problem and the most important problem is the fact that these built-in wireless adapters are not good for hacking

so even if you install kali Linux as a main machine and then you’ll have access to your built-in wireless card but still you won’t to be able to use this wireless adapter for hacking because it doesn’t support monitor mode or packet injection.
So, if you want to be able to use it to wifi audit and do all the cool stuff that we can do in kali Linux with aircrack-ng and other tools you need to get a kali Linux usb wifi adapter.

Depending on the selected chipset, there may be nuances. The Realtek chipset has problems (solved) when attacking WPS, and the Atheros chipset seems to be incapable of capturing PMKID.

Wrong: at least Alfa AWUS036NHA (chipset: Atheros AR9271) can catch PMKID (for attacks on Access Points without clients, Learn about these attacks here).

Here is a large list of monitor mode wifi adapter and wireless adapter capable of injection.

With any of these models, you can grab a handshake and perform most of the wireless attacks.
In addition to the monitor mode and wireless injections, in some attacks, the WiFi adapter also requires AP mode and support for virtual wireless interfaces. See the article “ How to determine which WiFi adapter is suitable for Kali Linux ” for details.

If you purchased a dual-band (2.4GHz & 5.0GHz) adapter, you need to install the rtl8812au driver, to do this please follow this tutorial: how to Install rtl8812au Drivers on Kali Linux

RTL8812AU and RTL8814AU

The difference between RTL8812AU and RTL8814AU chipsets in the ability to support a different number of antennas.

• RTL8812AU support up to 2 antennas,
• Realtek RTL8814AU supports up to 4 antennas.

In some cases, depending on the circuit design of the device manufacturer or firmware, one antenna can be used only for transmission, and the other only for reception. Also, some devices work only in one range of choice, others – in two ranges simultaneously. This also needs to be considered when purchasing devices.

Some manufacturers, for example, Alfa AWUS036ACH , Alfa AWUS1900 , TRENDnet TEW-809UB , use additional chips (for example, signal amplifiers) and may have other nice features.

For those who decide to save money and buy products on sites like AliExpress on the above-mentioned chipsets. Antennas can be 2, 4 or even more, but very important for these 2.4/5.0 GHz chipsets is also MIMO, which, when using multiple antennas, increases the chance of capturing a handshake and is also crucial for achieving maximum transmission speeds data under normal use.

But, unfortunately, Chinese manufacturers often multiplex antennas instead of MIMO or simply place non-connected antennas.

So let’s see what’s the best wifi adapter for kali Linux  in our monitor mode wifi adapter list and lets start with dual band.

Dual Band (2.4GHz & 5.0GHz) WIFI 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB Adapters

Our Pick

Price:$58.61

Alfa AWUS1900

Advantages:

• excellent manufacturer
• No locked functions
• interchangeable antennas
• Modern RTL8814AU chip

Disadvantages:

• unfinished driver for Windows
• usb-wire is rather short

Check Last price on Amazon

Feedback:
The main advantage is the Taiwanese manufacturer Alfa and its usual advantages: nothing is blocked, strong assembly, orientation to the connection, and not design, like that of a fellow on the chip from Asus or D-Link. The RTL8814AU chip is a successful design, with which additional antennas are only a plus. That is, at the hardware level, everything is fine, but at the driver level – under Windows and MacOS, the native one is available, that is, it is not Alfa that provides it, but Realtek itself. And this driver is terrible.

The driver loses the signal, can “forget” about the 5-gigarz channels, disconnects, does not provide stable quality, forgets to switch communication modes, “shits” into the RAM, with loads like torrents it can simply be cut off. If this happens, try resetting the driver in the device manager,

Under MacOS, the driver is much better. And under Linux, several are being developed at once, and nowhere are there any problems with Windows. However, on all OSs, AWUS1900 can decide that it is connected to USB2.0, even if the wire is in USB3.0. According to the site, the adapter should automatically switch modes depending on which port is inserted, and it works every other time. Perhaps in the following revisions this will be fixed.

Alfa AWUS1900 is the best monitor mode WiFi adapter in our list

Our Pick

Price:$79.99

Alfa AWUS036ACH

• Excellent manufacturer
• No locked functions
• interchangeable antennas
• RTL8812AU chip
• Stable pings
• Frequency Band:
  • 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz

Check Last price on Amazon

Alfa AWUS036ACH (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) 

Advantages: Well, actually the most important plus is (!!!) Injection (!!!), but it supports it, and in Windows too. Power – you can pile as much as 2.5 watts. This adapter is also supported in CommView WiFi. Stable pings. You can tweak the simultaneous use of multiple access points.

Disadvantages: In terms of functionality, the RTL8812AU chipset does not support the 802.11ac standard a modern high-speed PIMO 4×4 mode, it is clearly inferior in sensitivity to the flagship model from Alfa Network AWUS1900, but still it’s one of the best wifi hacking adapter.

3- Alfa AWUS036AC (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get AWUS036AC from amazon

Advantages: Speed, signal stability, two ranges, 2 external antennas, docking station, USB 3.0.
Disadvantages: No significant deficiencies.
Comment: The five concrete walls for this whistle are not a hindrance. No problem got on Windows 7 and 8.1. Tested on 4 different devices.

From the merits imply disadvantages – size. When installed in USB on a straight line, bypassing the docking station takes up a lot of space: you will not plug anything into the next port. However, significant problems with portable use due to bulkiness was not observed.

Our Pick

Price:$79.99

TRENDnet TEW 809U

• WiFi standard: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
• Max. speed: 1300 Mbit/s
• USB 3.0 connection
• interchangeable antennas
• Chipset: Realtek RTL8814AU
• Frequency Band:
  • 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz

Check Last price on Amazon

Trendnet ac1200 dual band wireless usb adapter kali linux

The total bandwidth of the TrendNet TEW-809UB is 1900 Mbps (1300 Mbps in the 5 GHz band and 600 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band).
The presence of four antennas allows you to implement beam forming technology for a more confident connection. The TEW-809UB comes with a USB 3.0 cable length.

5- Panda Wireless PAU09 N600 (chipset: Ralink RT5572) Get PAU09 N600 from amazon

Panda wireless pau09 n600 is capable of switching to monitor mode and making wireless injections,The card supports several Linux distributions, as well as Windows. The wireless card has two 5dBi antennas to enhance the signal. Specifications

• Protocols: 802.11n
• Speed: 300Mpbs
• Chipset Ralink RT5572
• Frequencies: two 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands
• Two detachable 5dBi antennas

6- ASUS USB-AC68 (chipset: Realtek RTL8814AU) Get USB AC68 from amazon

asus usb-ac68 review

• Wireless standard: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, frequency 2.4/5 GHz
• chipsets: asus usb ac68 use RTL8814AU 
• Max speed: 1900 Mbps
• Connection interface: USB 3.0

Advantages: Modern characteristics of the adapter, as well as support for all the most popular advanced protocols. ASUS AiRadar beamforming technology. External swivel antenna with adjustable position. Special USB extension stand. Practicality. Design.
Disadvantages: Heating during active use. ~ 40 – 50 ° C is normal.
Comment: INTERNET SPEED Incoming connection 87.02 Mbit / s = 10.88 MB / s Outgoing connection 86.63 Mbit / s = 10.83 MB / s with OnLime 100 MB / s

Our Pick

Price:$34.93

TP-Link TL-WN722N

• Chip: Atheros 9271
• Standards: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
• Frequency range: 2400-2483.5 MHz
• Transmitter power: 20 dBm
• Antenna : removable omnidirectional antenna (RP- SMA)

Check Last price on Amazon

TP Link TL-WN722N

TP-liNK – model TL-WN722N v.1.0. The device has been produced for several years and in terms of technical characteristics, by current standards, it does not represent anything outstanding – the maximum wireless connection speed is only 150 Mbps. A feature of the model is the presence of an external removable antenna with a gain of 4 dBi, which, according to the manufacturer, can significantly increase the signal power.

7- ASUS USB-AC56 (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get USB AC56 from amazon

Advantages:
• Excellent design
• 2 WiFi frequency bands (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz)
• 802.11ac
• Beautiful cradle (docking station) included
Disadvantages:
5GHz constantly fall off.

Our Pick

Price:$49.99

TP-LINK Archer T9UH

• Frequency bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz;
• Four high gain antennas;
• Beamforming technology;
• WPS button
• Chip:RTL8814AU

Check Last price on Amazon

TP-link Archer T9UH AC1900

The Archer T9UH is capable of operating in one of two bands: the 5 GHz channel is suitable for online games and HD video streaming, and the 2.4 GHz channel is suitable for surfing the Internet and video conferencing. The adapter provides data transfer rates up to 600 Mbps over 2.4 GHz and up to 1,300 Mbps over 5 GHz.

9- TP-LINK Archer T4UH (rev V2, chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU)Get Archer T4UH from amazon
10- TP-LINK Archer T4U (rev V3, chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get Archer T4U from amazon

11- D-Link DWA-192 (chipset: Realtek RTL8814AU) Get DWA 192 from amazon

Advantages:

• The design is rather good than bad
• Excellent speed – squeezes everything my provider can give
• Never in half a year of use did you have to reboot – plugged in and forgot!

Comment: The home nonprofessional test showed that there are practically no noticeable differences in the actual data transfer rate between the mini-PCI-E adapter with a speed of 867 megabits and the DWA-192 with its 1300 megabytes. I admit, however, that the difference with other external adapters, and even more so the standard 802.11n, will be much more noticeable.

11- D-Link DWA-182 (rev C, chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get DWA-182 from amazon

Advantages:
– No out-of-order diode.
– Relatively compact
– Supports USB 3.0 and 5 GHz (in my rev. C1A)
– Overheating has not yet hung up
Disadvantages:
– None of the drivers from D-link stably does not work
– There is no USB extension cable in the set (it would not hurt)

12- Edimax AC600 USB (chipset: Realtek RTL8811AU) Get AC600 USB from amazon

13- Netis WF2190 (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get Netis WF2190 from amazon

Advantages:
– AC speed
– Dual antenna signal
– USB 3
– USB extension
– removable antennas
Disadvantages:
Over 2 weeks of use, I did not find any problems.
Comment: Chip Realtek RTL8812AU.

14- TOTOLINK A2000UA (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get A2000UA from amazon

15- Tenda U12 (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get Tenda U12 from amazon

Advantages:
Performs all functions perfectly.
Disadvantages:
On Win10 without drivers it did not start, I had to install it.
Comment:
The speed does not sink, it looks decent, wifi at 5GHz catches instantly.

16- ZyXEL NWD6605 (chipset: Realtek RTL8812AU) Get NWD6605 from amazon

Single-band 2.4GHz Kali Linux WiFi adapters

Our Pick

Price:$39.99

Alfa AWUS036NHA

• WiFi standard: 802.11b/g/n.
• Chipset: Atheros AR9271 chipse
• Frequency Band:2.4 GHz

AWUS036NHA – is capable of supporting MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) – a method of spatial coding of a signal, allowing to increase the channel bandwidth in which data transmission and data reception are performed by systems from several antennas.

Check Last price on Amazon

 Alfa AWUS036NHA (chipset: Atheros AR9271)

One of the most knowen monitor mode wifi adapter is Alfa AWUS036NHA it’s a WiFi USB adapter that supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/N. Able to create networks with transmission speeds up to 150 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band, which is also compatible with IEEE 802.11 b/g for connecting wireless devices at speeds up to 54 Mbps.

ALFA AWUS036NHA is built on the atheros ar9271 chipset, the adapter does an excellent job with the functions of wardriving, testing for penetration of wireless networks and solving non-trivial tasks.
The ALFA 036NHA adapter works great with the Kali Linux operating system, ar9271chipset is one of the best chipset you can ever find.

21- Alfa AWUS036NH (chipset: Ralink RT3070) Get AWUS036NH from amazon

The Alfa AWUS 036NH is an Awus036 Series High-Power USB Client Amplifier designed for connection to access points located at a considerable distance from the connection point. Ten times more powerful than standard built-in computer adapters or handheld smartphones connected to a regular USB connector, this client can successfully work up to 1 km away. Alfa AWUS 036NH powerful WiFi router will provide a reliable signal in the network coverage area.

22- Alfa AWUS036NEH (chipset: Ralink RT3070) Get AWUS036NEH from amazon

Alfa AWUS036NEH 1000mW High-Performance WiFi High Gain Network Adapter
AWUS036NEH IEEE 802.11b / g / n.

The USB Wireless Adapter provides users with the ability to launch a 150Mbps IEEE 802.11b /g/n wireless network in the 2.4GHz band, which is also compatible with 54Mbps IEEE 802.11b /g wireless devices.

This is a wireless 802.11n USB adapter with a maximum output power of 1W. This is a single-channel (2.4 GHz) 1T1R 802.11n adapter with a maximum transfer rate of 150 megabits per second and includes a 5dBi gain antenna.

23- TP-LINK TL-WN823N (rev v1, chipset: Realtek RTL8192CU) Get TL WN823N from amazon

TP-link TL-WN823N is a wireless WiFi adapter that is designed to connect your computer to a WiFi network for future use of the Internet. This adapter has a compact size and is connected to the computer via a USB connector.

24- TP-LINK TL-WN822N (rev v3, chipset: Realtek RTL8192CU) Get TL WN822N from amazon

tp-link tl wn822n Advantages:
– a long usb adapter, it is convenient to bring the adapter to a better place
– it connected to windows 10 with the latest update automatically, even the driver did not have to be installed, although the third version of the adapter was caught
– a reasonable price
tp-link tl wn822n Disadvantages:
haven’t noticed yet

25- TP-LINK TL-WN821N (rev v4, chipset: Realtek RTL8192CU) Get TL WN821N from amazon

26- ASUS USB N14 (rchipset: Ralink RT5372) Get ASUS USB N14 from amazon

Advantages: Good quality, ease of use, good reception, stable connection.
Disadvantages: For a year of use I did not find it.

27- ASUS USB N13 (rev B1, chipset: Realtek RTL8192CU) Get ASUS USB N13 from amazon

ASUS USB N13 advantages:
Works with those characteristics as stated.
N13 Disadvantages: Not found
Comment: At home, the internet rate is 100 mbps, measured at speedtest showed 92/94 mbps, the losses are minimal. I use it in conjunction with ASUS RT-N12E, tkip-aes is set up in the settings.
28- Panda PAU06 USB (chipset: Ralink RT5372) Get Panda PAU06 from amazon

29- Panda PAU05 USB (chipset: Ralink RT3070) Get Panda PAU05 from amazon

30- Tenda W311M (chipset: Ralink RT5370) Get Tenda W311M from amazon

Tenda W311M Advantages: Low price, compactness, acceptable signal reception.

31- Tenda W311Ma (chipset: Сhip Ralink RT5370) Get Tenda W311Ma from amazon

32- Netis WF2123 (chipset: Realtek RTL8192CU) Get Netis WF2123 from Amazon

So this was a list of best compatible usb wireless adapter for kali linux but we still have more for internal Wifi adapter.

Internal Kali Linux WIFI For laptop

Some laptops have wireless adapters pre-installed that can be listed as monitor mode wifi adapter. For example, Intel chips can do this. Moreover, they also support the Access Point mode and virtual interfaces. Apparently, it’s a matter of good support for Intel wireless drivers for Linux. Therefore, they are suitable for daily use in Linux, as well as for wireless attacks.

I had laptops with the following adapter models

• Intel Wireless-AC 9560 [Jefferson Peak] (rev 10) – has 2 × 2 antennas, supports MU-MIMO and supports AC
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)

They work very well for transferring data or grabbing handshakes. I think that all representatives of the Wireless-AC and Intel Centrino Advanced-N lines support monitor mode and wireless injections. Therefore, Intel internal adapters help me when I cannot use Alfa external adapters. But, of course, you need to make a correction for the absence of external antennas.

Popular chips and their features
It may seem that choosing a USB adapter for auditing wireless networks is simple. In theory, enough to buy any device with a suitable chip, and you can go to conquer the access point. In practice, there are plenty of unobvious things and important details.

Make sure to check :

• best laptop for kali Linux
• Realtek rtl8812au 2.4 & 5 ghz usb wireless adapter