Yeah, I feel the same way. My main switch runs RouterOS, but I use OpenWrt on APs for simplicity and flexibility. I recently went all in with RBM11Gs for APs, and OpenWrt is a great fit there, but I'm still considering whether I should go with OpenWrt for my upcoming router replacement, stick with my current pf/OPNsense, or double down with a Mikrotik router and RouterOS.

The package selection on OpenWrt is an appealing factor, but I can also run any of those on a standalone server or RPi.

i am using plain debian for past 20 years or so for my routers/gateways. i tried for a while openwrt on ubiquity whatever router, but it felt kind of "wrong".

Thanks for throwing in yet another choice for me to consider... :)

I feel like a router is best served by a purpose-built OS, that is heavily focused on that task, and restricts the execution of arbitrary software, for obvious reasons. I suppose one could single-handedly customize a general purpose distro for that task, but I'd rather trust a group of dedicated and more talented hackers to do this for me.

That, and I'd rather not manage nftables rules directly. :) Though it would be a great learning experience, so I'll think about it.

>I feel like a router is best served by a purpose-built OS, that is heavily focused on that task, and restricts the execution of arbitrary software, for obvious reasons

well, in this case, unless something changed recently this is definitely not openwrt