# Understanding BGP Route Types: Full Routes vs Partial vs Default vs Customer Routes

DevFeed: [Understanding BGP Route Types: Full Routes vs Partial vs Default vs Customer Routes](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/understanding-bgp-route-types-full-routes-vs-partial-vs-default-vs-customer-routes-40150.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.j2sw.com/inetarch/bgp-route-types-full-default-partial-customer-routes/>)

Author: j2sw

Published: 2026-07-24T16:28:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Justin Wilson (j2sw)](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/justin-wilson-j2sw.md>)

Topics: [BGP](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/bgp.md>), [networking](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networking.md>), [Routing (disambiguation)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/routing.md>), [Internet](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/internet.md>), [gateway](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/gateway.md>), [Networks](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networks.md>)

Tags: [bgp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bgp.md>), [cpu](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cpu.md>), [flexibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/flexibility.md>), [internet-architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/internet-architecture.md>), [isp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/isp.md>), [memory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/memory.md>), [network-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network-engineering.md>), [network-operations](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network-operations.md>), [route](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/route.md>), [router](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/router.md>), [routing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/routing.md>), [routing-policy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/routing-policy.md>), [routing-table](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/routing-table.md>), [traffic-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/traffic-engineering.md>), [visibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/visibility.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains BGP route choices, comparing default routes, full routes, partial routes, and customer routes. It describes the tradeoffs between small routing tables, Internet visibility, traffic engineering control, and router resource requirements.

## Source excerpt

5 minute read time.Justin Wilson j2sw.com When you configure a BGP session, one of the first questions is what routes you actually want to receive. If you have ever filled out a questionnaire with Hurricane Electric or another transit provider, they ask you what "kind" of routes you want. In this article, I plan to ... Read more The post Understanding BGP Route Types: Full Routes vs Partial vs Default vs Customer Routes appeared first on Justin Wilson (j2sw).