Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite is a mid-range 2.5GbE router board based on MediaTek Filogic 850 (MT7987AV) quad-core Cortex-A53 network processor, coupled with 2GB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC flash, and equipped with four gigabit Ethernet ports, a 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN port, and a 2.5GbE SFP cage.
It’s a cost-down version of the Banana Pi BPI-R4 router board powered by a Filogic 880 quad-core Cortex-A73 SoC with 10GbE support. It still supports WiFi 7 through the BPI-R4-NIC-BE14 dual mini PCIe WiFi 7 module and 4G LTE and 5G connectivity through an M.2 Key-B socket and three NanoSIM card slots.
Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite specifications:
- SoC – MediaTek MT7987AV (Filogic 850) quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz with Network Processing Unit (NPU) capable of up to 7.5Gbps packet processing
- System Memory – 2GB DDR4 (SoC supports up to 4GB)
- Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, microSD card
- Networking
- 2.5GbE WAN port
- 2.5GbE SFP cage
- 4x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 (LAN) ports using MediaTek MT7531AE switch
- Optional WiFi 6 or WiFi 7 via dual mini PCIe module
- Optional 4G LTE or 5G via M.2 module; Tested modules: 4G LTE: EC25 EM05; 5G: Quectel RM500U-CN/RM520N-GL
- USB – USB 3.0 port
- Expansion
- M.2 Key-B slot with USB 3.0 interface for 5G or 4G LTE connectivity plus three nanoSIM slots
- 1x mini PCIe slot with 2-lane PCIe 3.0 for Wi-Fi 7 NIC (Network Interface Card)
- 1x mini PCIe slot with USB 2.0 interface
- 16-pin MikroBus GPIO header with UART, I2C, SPI, PWM… for Mikroe Click modules
- Debugging – USB-C debug console port
- Misc
- Reset and WPS buttons
- Bootstrap switch
- RTC battery holder (CR1220)
- 4-pin connector for 12V PWM fan
- 3-pin connector for 5V fan
- Power Supply
- 12V DC input via power barrel or 2-pin connector
- Up to 20V via USB Type-C PD port
- Optional PoE module (RT5400)
- Dimensions – 148 x 100.5 mm (Same dimensions as Banana Pi BPI-R64, Banana Pi BPI-R2, and BPI-R4)
Banana Pi provides a wiki with instructions to get started, DXF files, PDF schematics, MT7987A datasheet, and OpenWrt images (from a fork) with Linux 5.4, either configured as PCIe x2 or two PCIe x1. There’s also some non-sensical information like the OpenWrt images being based on Ubuntu 22.04, following Banana Pi’s long-held tradition of always providing incorrect information.
The source code is not provided, or I missed it. Target applications include Internet service routers, WiFi 7 routers, 4G/5G routers, repeaters, and Smart Home gateways. The Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite Filogic 850 router board can be purchased for $73.69 on AliExpress (or an alternative shop at the same price). If you need WiFi 7, you’ll need to add another $73.69 for the dual mini PCIe module.
Thanks to TLS for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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It appears that there will soon be a Banana Pi R4 Pro which updates from 4x Gbe ports to 4x 2.5G ports and changes the 2 10G SFP ports to combo SFP/RJ45 ports.
Even… It’s a Banana Pi/Sinovoip product which should just be totally avoided..
Except they work with OpenWRT on their branded router board, so it’s actually likely that these MTK based products will get get OpenWRT support.
Yes. Sinovoip isn’t great on the software side, but the hardware is quite often acceptable.
In fact all of the Banana Pi BPi-RX based devices except the R2 Pro and these newly announced devices have excellent support in OpenWrt.
Anyone else bothered by NPU serving double duty for Network/Neural Processing unit?
Unfortunately, marketing always wins, so after several decades of “network processing unit”, NPU was recently confiscated by end-user CPU vendors to switch to “neural processing unit”, and it looks like network vendors have already acknowledge the loss of that battle since some now speak about “data plane unit” or “data path unit” aka DPU, which also allows them to present this as something new and innovating, so in the end all marketing teams win…
Kernel 5.4 based. Do we even need to ask about what vendor support will be like going forward?
Vendor is Sinovoip/Banana Pi – expect the worse!
Seriously: What an idea for openwrt to partner with this notorious GPL violators that are known for half backed products and wrong documentation…
[Asserts facts not in evidence]
All of my Banana Pi boards have EXCELLENT OpenWRT support, and mainline support on Linux has been great as well. For a product that was just unveiled that contains an SoC which is already supported in U-Boot, you sure seem to think that software support will be lacking…
We can see support for OpenWrt 24.10 with kernel 6.6 here.
https://git01.mediatek.com/plugins/gitiles/openwrt/feeds/mtk-openwrt-feeds/+/e54e6194ffb30fd6753742f858c555ef419a5e62/autobuild/unified/doc/Build_BananaPi_BPI-R4_Lite.md
On paper the BPI-R4 / R4 Lite / BE14 combo looks promising, but in practice Wi-Fi 7 is barely usable. Three years after SinoVoip released the R4, the BE19 still doesn’t exist; only the BE14 has shipped—and on BE14 you still see heavy interference, severe throughput drops, and random link cuts. Key features are missing (e.g., MLO), and hardware acceleration isn’t correctly implemented—OpenWrt docs and community guidance even suggest disabling WED to avoid stability issues. You may also run into random reboots, kernel panics, SSIDs that appear but can’t be joined, post-association rates stuck around ~20 Mbps, or sudden dropouts during testing.
From extensive hands-on, the BE wireless on R4 doesn’t just underperform Wi-Fi 6 (AX); it often falls below ac—and sometimes even n/b/g. Community RF “fixes” (extra shielding, etc.) haven’t resolved the high noise and oddly low transmit power, and it’s still unclear whether proper calibration was ever done from sinovoip. Even seasoned OpenWrt users haven’t been able to make it reliable.
If you’re expecting Wi-Fi 7 speeds, stability, or reliability, this isn’t the place. Treat SinoVoip’s product as a developer platform for kernel/driver work, not an end-user router. Do thorough research, lower your expectations, and be prepared for the possibility of getting a bad board.
Greetings From Canada
Pluto