Apologies for the general question. I'm curious if any major router vendors (e.g., Netgear, Linksys, etc.) come pre-installed with OpenWRT out of the box?
Or, if someone wants to use OpenWRT, do they need to manually download/install it?
In general, none of the major vendors ship devices with OpenWrt pre-installed, and you will have to download and install it yourself. There are some devices that come with a modified version of OpenWrt, but I would personally install OpenWrt on those, too. Then there are many no-name vendors, that ship their devices with an obsolete (and modified) version of OpenWrt, because they just lack the resources to do otherwise.
My two cents: unless the vendor claims to have installed a pristine copy of OpenWrt, assume no device comes with OpenWrt pre-installed.
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It is not problem to install OpenWRT, if it is described in manual. So before buying router you should check, whether it is supported by OpenWRT. Pay attention to specific version of Hardware Revision.
Answering to your question directly, firmware of GL.iNet is based on OpenWRT, however I recommend to use native OpenWRT. Devices Xiaomi I don't like due to necessity of registration on Xiaomi site to flash OpenWRT.
Welcome @jgeo4529,
As @eduperez and @ulmwind said.
I would just like to add that installing OpenWrt on supported device is mostly matter, expect that some devices are more difficult than others. If you need help with choosing a device for personal use or several devices for a project, you will find help here.