The Best Wireless Network Adapter for Wi-Fi Hacking

 TOP Wireless Network Adapter 

ALFA AWUS036NEH Long Range

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As of Mai 2020, this is my new favorite antenna. I recently picked this up because of it’s small form factor. It fully supports monitor mode and is able to do packet injection. If you are looking for something portable, this is your choice. It also has awesome range for it’s small size.

The only downside is, it only supports 2.4GHz.

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TP-LINK TL-WN722N 2.4GHz (V1)

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To start with there are green assertions claiming that V2 of TP-LINK TL-WN722N does not support packet injection nor monitor mode. So, before you buy or ship the adapter make sure to crosscheck the version or inquire from your seller. My research proves only 3 chipsets that are compatible with V1 of the TP-LINK TL-WN722N wireless network adapter which are:

• ATHEROS AR9271
• RALINK RT3070
• RALINK RT3572

 Apparently, the adapter is well supported by a number of Linux OS, and there is no big need of installing drivers when using it on Kali. To sniff packets use Aircrack-ng suite and do not forget to maintain the adapter in monitor mode. A sure way to learn about the compatible chipsets in use by your TP-LINK TL-WN722N adapter is by running the airmon-ng command. Note that it will also display the driver details.

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ALFA AWUS036NH

So far, Alfa remains the best in providing USB Wifi Adapters for pentesting. With a speed of 150mbps and a frequency of 2.4GHz, ALFA AWUSO36NH is an IEEE802.11b/g/n adapter, which integrates well with other IEEE802.11b/g wireless devices but at a relatively lower speed of 50mbps.

To hack a Wi-Fi network using Kali Linux, you need your wireless card to support monitor mode and packet injection. Not all wireless cards can do this, so I've rounded up this list of 2019's best wireless network adapters for hacking on Kali Linux to get you started hacking both WEP and WPA Wi-Fi networks.

A range of Kali Linux compatible network adapters

**Kali Compatible Chipsets

First, start by understanding that amongst the popular chipsets working well with Linux boxes some are definitely better while compared to others in managing wireless communications.

Ralink RT3070 chipset on an adapter motherboard

• Atheros AR9271
• Ralink RT3070
• Ralink RT3572
• Ralink RT5572
• Realtek 8187L
• Realtek RTL8812AU

PS: fine research also suggests that Ralink RT5370N, which was tested with Kali, is also part of the list supporting managed and monitor modes.