1.路由器：
路由器基本上是一个设备或硬件，负责接收、分析数据包并将其转发到其他网络。路由器实际上确定了数据包的目的地或目标 IP 地址，因此传输数据包的最佳方式是通过转发表和报头的帮助确定的。
数据包的转发是从一个路由器到另一个路由器完成的，这基本上形成了一个网络(例如：internet)，直到它到达最终目标节点。路由器主要用于局域网(LAN)和广域网(WAN)域。数据通过使用路由协议在网络上传输。与集线器、交换机等其他网络设备相比，它的成本要高得多。
一些开发路由器的公司有 D-Link、Cisco、Nortel 等。
2.网关：
网关基本上是一个设备或硬件，在网络中充当“门”。因此，它也可以定义为一个节点，充当网络中其他节点的入口。它还负责启用流量网络内的流量。网关使用多个协议进行通信，因此其活动比交换机或路由器复杂得多。
因此，网关基本上是一种用于在具有不同协议集的网络之间进行通信的设备，并负责将一种协议转换为另一种协议。对于任何类型的工作场所，网关都是一种计算机系统负责将流量从主工作站路由到外部网络。对于家庭，它负责提供对互联网的访问，从而充当互联网服务提供商。
路由器和网关的区别：
| S.NO. | Router | Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | It is a hardware device which is responsible for receiving, analyzing and forwarding the data packets to other networks. | It is a device that is used for the communication among the networks which have a different set of protocols. |
| 2. | It supports the dynamic routing. | It does not support dynamic routing. |
| 3. | The main function of a router is routing the traffic from one network to the other. | The main function of a gateway is to translate one protocol to the other. |
| 4. | A router operates on layer 3 and layer 4 of the OSI model. | A gateway operates upto layer 5 of the OSI model. |
| 5. | Working principle of a router is to install routing details for multiple networks and routing traffic based upon the destination address. | 5. Working principle of a gateway is to differentiate what is inside the network and what is outside the network. |
| 6. | It is hosted on only the dedicated applications. | It is hosted on dedicated applications, physical servers or virtual applications. |
| 7. | The additional features provided by a router are Wireless networking, Static routing, NAT, DHCP server etc. | The additional features provided by a gateway are network access control, protocol conversion etc. |