Best UPS for Router and Modem in 2026

For most homes, the best UPS for a router and modem is a small standby battery backup such as the APC Back-UPS BE600M1. APC’s runtime chart lists 4.3 hours for it on a 10-watt “internet modem and router” load, and it was $83.99 and in stock at B&H when we checked on November 3, 2026. If you want more hours, step up to a bigger battery in the same family; if one UPS also has to carry a desktop PC, a sine-wave unit like the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD fits, but with a PC drawing a few hundred watts, expect minutes, not hours.

We haven’t tested these units. This guide is based on APC, Schneider Electric and CyberPower specifications and runtime figures, a retailer price check, and Xfinity and FCC documents on outage backup.

The one rule: runtime depends on watts

A UPS is rated in VA and watts for the most it can carry, but what you care about for a router is how long it lasts. That depends on how much your gear draws. APC’s own example puts an internet modem and router at 10 watts. Here’s how runtime falls as the load rises, from APC’s chart for three Back-UPS models:

Source: APC Back-UPS brochure runtime chart. These are APC’s figures, not our measurements.

The pattern is simple: runtime falls roughly in step with load. Going from 10 W to 80 W cuts the BE600M1’s time from 4.3 hours to 30 minutes, about an 8.6-fold drop for an eight-fold load increase. Moving up a size buys real time at low loads: the BE850G2 adds about 1.6 hours over the BE600M1 at 10 W.

What to do with that: put only the internet gear on the battery-backed outlets. Plug a printer, monitor or PC into a surge-only outlet or a different UPS, and the router gets the hours.

How to estimate your own load

1. List what has to stay on: the router, the modem or ISP gateway, a fiber ONT if you have one, and any mesh node or switch that shares the outlet.
2. Read each power adapter’s label. The output rating (volts × amps) is a ceiling, not typical draw, so your real load is usually lower.
3. If the total is around 10 to 20 W, a 600 VA standby unit has plenty of capacity; buy a larger one only if you want more hours.

A plug-in power meter between the outlet and the power strip gives you the real number if you want to be precise.

Picks by need

For a router and modem: APC Back-UPS BE600M1

The BE600M1 is the straightforward choice for keeping a modem and router online.

• Capacity: 600 VA / 330 W, standby (offline) topology, per Schneider Electric’s data sheet.
• Outlets: 7 total. B&H lists 5 with battery backup and surge protection and 2 surge-only.
• Runtime: 4.3 hours at 10 W and 30 minutes at 80 W, per APC’s chart.
• Battery: lead-acid, with a typical recharge time of 10 hours, per the data sheet.
• Output: “stepped approximation to a sinewave,” per the data sheet.
• Warranty: 3 years repair or replace.
• Price: $83.99, in stock at B&H on November 3, 2026.

The 10-hour recharge time is worth keeping in mind if outages come in clusters, such as during a storm: by our reading, a second outage soon after the first may find the battery only partly charged.

Need more or less time? APC’s chart puts the smaller BE425M at 2.3 hours and the larger BE850G2 at 5.9 hours on the same 10 W load. We didn’t check current prices or stock for those two.

For a desk setup with a PC: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD

If one UPS has to protect a desktop PC as well as the network gear, a larger sine-wave unit makes sense.

• Capacity: 1500 VA / 1000 W, line-interactive topology, sine-wave output, per CyberPower.
• Outlets: 12 total: 6 battery and surge, 6 surge-only.
• Runtime: CyberPower lists 10 minutes at half load and 2.5 minutes at full load. Its spec list gives only those two figures; the page’s runtime chart is approximate, with no exact low-load numbers in the text.
• Warranty: 3-year limited.
• Price: CyberPower lists a $274.95 MSRP. We couldn’t load a retailer page for a current price today.

Read those runtime figures carefully. At PC-level loads, CyberPower’s figures give you time to save work and shut down, not hours of Wi-Fi. If long internet runtime is the goal, a small UPS just for the router and modem is the better plan, even if you also own a big one.

Small “network UPS” units: check before you buy

APC sold Back-UPS Connect models aimed at routers. Its Back-UPS Connect 50 (BGE50ML, lithium-ion) was marketed to “run a router, modem and other low-power devices for 3 to 5 hours,” and the Back-UPS Connect 90 (BGE90M, lead-acid) listed “4.5 hours of network power.” APCGuard, an online store selling APC products, lists both as “no longer available.” If you see them for sale, you may be buying old stock; check the battery date and warranty terms before you pay.

What a UPS can’t do

A UPS keeps your own router and modem powered. It can’t keep your provider’s network running. If the outage takes out the equipment your connection depends on outside your home, a fully powered router will still show no internet. How long provider networks stay up during an outage varies by provider and location.

Phone service is a separate case. Under a 2015 FCC order, facilities-based providers of fixed (home) voice service that isn’t line-powered must offer customers a backup power option for at least 8 hours of 911 service, and a 24-hour option was phased in later. That rule covers voice and 911, not internet. Xfinity, for example, describes its Voice modem battery as supporting voice service and says the phone can keep working “up to 24 hours”; it doesn’t say the battery keeps internet running.

If you need internet through outages, a UPS on your own gear is one half. The other half is a backup connection that doesn’t depend on the same wires, such as cellular. Our best dual WAN router guide and eero Signal 4G vs. 5G cover those options, and fiber vs. cable vs. 5G home internet explains the connection types.

Sources and verification