A gadget that performs both bridge and router duties is called a brouter. It can send data to specific devices within a network as well as forward data between networks (acting as a gateway) (serving as a router).

A bridge's primary function is to join two distinct networks. The inbound data are merely forwarded from one network to the next. In contrast, a gateway is more sophisticated because it can direct messages to particular systems that are linked to it. By sending some inbound data to the appropriate networks while directing other data to another network, a brouter integrates these two tasks. To put it another way, a brouter serves as a firewall that allows some data to enter the local network while sending unauthorized data to another network.

Although a bridge/router device is referred to as a "brouter," these real devices are relatively uncommon. Instead, the majority of bridges are just computers that have been set up to serve as bridges. The software interface of the router can frequently be used to accomplish this feature. For instance, you could set up a gateway to receive data only from particular networks and data sources while sending all other data to a different network.