No current price: no retailer we track lists it right now.
22 facts in comparison
Cat6 Ethernet Cable vs Cat7 Ethernet Cable
On paper Cat 7 wins comfortably: more than twice the bandwidth rating, 10 Gigabit across a full 100 metres where Cat 6 manages 55, and heavy shielding where Cat 6 has none. In practice the comparison is more awkward than the table suggests, and the awkwardness is about connectors.
Cat 7 is an ISO standard, not a TIA one, and it is defined around GG45 and TERA plugs that almost no consumer or office equipment uses. A cord sold as "Cat 7" with ordinary RJ45 ends - which is every Cat 7 cord in a retail listing - cannot certify as Class F. It certifies to the Cat 6a level at best, because the RJ45 plug is the limit. The cable inside may be excellent; the finished link is a Cat 6a link with a stiffer jacket.
Cat 6 is the plain, unshielded, TIA-recognised cable that every switch and wall plate is built for. Its 55-metre limit for 10 Gigabit is the only thing that ever counts against it, and inside a house that limit is rarely reached.
The shielding is the other double edge. In a factory, a broadcast rack or a run alongside mains cable, Cat 7's braid-over-foil construction earns its keep. In a home it adds stiffness, needs grounded shielded plugs to do anything at all, and makes the cable harder to pull and terminate.
The buying advice is unglamorous. For a home or a normal office, Cat 6 - or Cat 6a for long 10 Gigabit runs - does everything a Cat 7 cord with RJ45 ends does, more cheaply and more flexibly. Cat 7 makes sense in a shielded European installation with the right connectors at both ends, and it is sold to everyone else on a number that the plug throws away.
Editor’s note
Cat 6 is unglamorous and very hard to fault at the job it is sold for. Unshielded, flexible, recognised by the body every switch and wall plate follows, and cheap enough that over-specifying above it feels like a hobby. Its compromise is well known and narrow, being the distance limit for the top speed and the absence of any limits on interference from neighbouring cables. Inside a house, neither of those boundaries is reachable.
Cat 7 is a real standard sold under false pretences. Tested to 600 MHz with every pair individually foiled inside an overall braid, published in 2002 as an ISO class, and specified around connectors that consumer equipment never adopted. The cable inside the jacket is often excellent. The product in the listing is a lesser link wearing a better number, and the stiffness, the grounding requirement and the slower termination are real costs paid for a rating the plug throws away.
The person who should walk past Cat 7 is anyone buying a lead online by category number, which is very nearly everyone who reads this. The person who should not is an installer working to ISO classes with matching connectors at both ends, in a building where electrical noise has been measured rather than assumed.
Head-to-head points: every spec is scaled between these products only, so a product can score high here and modestly on its own page, where the VS Score measures it against the median of its class.
Where the Cat6 Ethernet Cable beats the Cat7 Ethernet Cable
- Has native RJ45 connector ?
Where the Cat7 Ethernet Cable beats the Cat6 Ethernet Cable
- A much higher bandwidth ?600 MHz vs 250 MHz
- A much higher reach at top speed ?100 m vs 55 m
- A much higher 10 Gigabit reach ?100 m vs 55 m
- S/FTP (braid over foiled pairs) Typical shielding ?S/FTP (braid over foiled pairs) vs U/UTP (unshielded)
- Has shielded construction ?
Key real-world differences
The spec sheet pulls in both directions. These are the gaps big enough to shape the decision — with the actual figures, and what each one means in real-world use.
- Native RJ45 connectorPower & connectorsYes vs No — only the Cat6 Ethernet Cable has it
The category is defined to terminate in a standard RJ45 (8P8C) plug. Categories that are not need GG45 or TERA connectors to meet their rating.
- Typical shieldingConstruction & shieldingU/UTP (unshielded) vs S/FTP (braid over foiled pairs) — advantage Cat7 Ethernet Cable
How the cable is screened against interference. Unshielded is cheaper and more flexible; foil or braid screens protect the signal near motors, mains runs and dense cable bundles.
- BandwidthSpeed & reach250 MHz vs 600 MHz — 2.4× more for the Cat7 Ethernet Cable
The signal frequency the cable is tested to; more headroom means more speed and fewer errors on a long run.
- Shielded constructionConstruction & shieldingNo vs Yes — only the Cat7 Ethernet Cable has it
The category is normally built with a foil or braid screen, which also requires shielded connectors and a grounded path to work.
- 10 Gigabit reachSpeed & reach55 m vs 100 m — 81.8% more for the Cat7 Ethernet Cable
How far the cable carries 10GBASE-T. Zero means the category is not rated for 10 Gigabit at all.
Which one should you buy?
There is no single answer — it depends on what you will actually use it for. Match your priority to the pick below.
- Best for speed & reach Cat7 Ethernet Cable takes the category 100 to 57 — driven by bandwidth (250 MHz vs 600 MHz).
- Best for construction & shielding Cat7 Ethernet Cable takes the category 100 to 0 — driven by typical shielding (U/UTP (unshielded) vs S/FTP (braid over foiled pairs)).
- Best for power & connectors Cat6 Ethernet Cable takes the category 100 to 56 — driven by native RJ45 connector (Yes vs No).
- The safe all-rounder Cat7 Ethernet Cable wins 2 of 4 categories and tops the overall VS Score at 91.
Where each one falls short
Cat6 Ethernet Cable
- Typical shielding: U/UTP (unshielded) vs S/FTP (braid over foiled pairs)
- Bandwidth: 250 MHz vs 600 MHz
- Shielded construction: No vs Yes
- 6 specs are unreported (shown as Unknown) and excluded from its scores.
Cat7 Ethernet Cable
- Native RJ45 connector: Yes vs No
- 8 specs are unreported (shown as Unknown) and excluded from its scores.
What matters to you?
Drag the sliders to weight each category and re-rank the products to suit your priorities.
Score breakdown
Speed & reach
Construction & shielding
Power & connectors
Standards & status
Specs last verified October 11, 2026Cat6 Ethernet Cable: 22 of 28 specs verified (79%)Cat7 Ethernet Cable: 20 of 28 specs verified (71%)Unverified specs show as Unknown — never estimated, never scored
What reviewers say
The bottom line
Nobody should buy a Cat 7 patch cord, and the reason is not that the cable is poor. It is that the rating cannot survive the plug on the end of it. Every retail cord terminates in the connector the standard was written to avoid, which drops the finished link to a grade available more cheaply, in a more flexible jacket, with a certificate that actually means something.
Cat 6 is the cable the entire installed world is built around, and its one real limitation is a distance most homes never reach. Shielding is the genuine reason to cross over, and it is a question about the environment rather than about speed. Runs alongside mains conduit, factory floors and broadcast racks earn it. Living rooms do not, and grounding it badly is worse than going without.