Best Raspberry Pi Alternatives: 4 Options to Consider
I used to see Raspberry Pi boards as the obvious choice for almost any small computer project. But with prices changing so much lately, especially on models with more RAM, I think it’s fair to ask whether a Raspberry Pi is still the best deal for every use case.
There are several direct competitors to Raspberry Pi worth checking out, such as ROCK, Banana Pi, Orange Pi, Odroid and Libre Computer. Other options to consider include simpler microcontrollers and more powerful X86 machines, such as thin clients or mini PCs.
In this guide, I’ll compare four types of alternatives: Raspberry Pi-like boards, microcontrollers, older Pi models, and x86 mini PCs. The best choice depends less on the brand and more on what you want to build.
If you’re looking for inspiration for your next Raspberry Pi project, I’ve put together a list of 75+ ideas with full descriptions, difficulty ratings, and links to tutorials. Whether you’re a beginner or more advanced, there’s something here for you. Grab the list for free here!
Direct Alternatives to Raspberry Pi
Let’s start by looking at the Raspberry Pi’s direct competitors. Each one I’ve listed here is a single-board computer (SBC) that uses a mobile CPU architecture. That means they’re low-power, general-purpose boards that excel at media, server, and hobbyist projects.
ROCK
The ROCK boards are made by Radxa, a company based in the manufacturing powerhouse of Shenzhen, China. They’re currently the most viable competitor to the Raspberry Pi.
For example, the ROCK 5 comes in hard with these juiced hardware specs:
You might also like: Yes, you can access your Pi from anywhere. Here's how.
| Raspberry Pi 5 | Radxa ROCK 5C | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A76) | Octa-core processor (4x Cortex A76 + 4x Cortex A55) |
| Memory | 1GB / 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB | 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB |
| Storage | Micro SD Card M.2 with separate HAT | eMMC Micro SD card M.2 with separate HAT |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet Wi-Fi 5 | BT 5.0 | Gigabit Ethernet Wi-Fi 6 | BT 5.4 |
| MSRP | $80 (check) | $80 (check) |
Warning: Prices might be massively inflated at the moment. To learn why, check out: Why Are Raspberry Pis So Expensive? (+Tips to Get One Cheap).
Compared to the Raspberry Pi 5, the ROCK 5C has a more powerful processor, newer network technologies, and faster storage via onboard support for eMMC. It’s a big step up when comparing what hardware you get for similar pricing.
The main issue you’ll run into with the ROCK is its OS compatibility. The company supports only a few Linux distros officially, and many users seem to turn to unofficial, community images for installation.
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Orange Pi
The Orange Pi is manufactured by Shenzhen Xunlong Software, a company based in Shenzhen, China. It’s been around for more than a decade, with the first model released back in 2014.
Here are some relevant ways in which the Orange Pi differs from a Raspberry Pi:
| Raspberry Pi 5 | Orange Pi 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A76) | Octa-core processor (4x Cortex A76 + 4x Cortex A55) |
| Memory | 1GB / 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB | 4GB / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB |
| Storage | NVMe support: needs HAT | NVMe support: depends on model |
| Network | Wi-Fi / BT support: on-board | Wi-Fi / BT support: depends on model |
| Audio | Headphone jack: none Microphone: none HDMI eARC: none | Headphone jack: on-board Microphone: on-board HDMI eARC: 2.1 |
| MSRP | $80 (check) | $75 (check) |
They sell many (perhaps too many) variants of the Orange Pi. There’s the base Orange Pi 5 and 5B, in addition to the upgraded Pro, Max, Plus, and Ultra models.
By offering different variants of the same board, Orange Pi lets you choose how much wireless connectivity, storage support, and RAM you want. This flexibility lets you control how much you want to spend and usually comes out less than a Raspberry Pi for comparable specs.
Unfortunately, its software support is even spottier than the ROCK boards, so the Orange Pi is probably not a great starting point for beginners and is better for seasoned DIYers.
Bonus tip: When I started, the hardest part wasn’t the setup, it was figuring out what to build next. I ended up creating a list of 75+ project ideas with links and difficulty, so it’s easier to just pick something and try it. Grab the list here.
If you want a clearer path than jumping from tutorial to tutorial, my book gives you a step-by-step roadmap to really understand your Raspberry Pi.
Check the book hereBanana Pi
The Banana Pi has an interesting heritage, operating as an open-source hardware project with support from Chinese company, Shenzhen SINOVOIP, and Taiwanese manufacturer, Foxconn.
We wrote a review on the Banana Pi M5 in the past, and it made a mixed first impression. I think the decision to use different chips (some use Amlogic, others Allwinner, and still others MediaTek) for different models hasn’t been great for consistency.
Still, there are some bright spots. The Banana Pi can come with on-board eMMC storage, which is faster and cost-effective. And it officially supports more operating systems than the boards we covered earlier. The Banana Pi R4, in particular, is popular for making your own enterprise router with openWRT.
Although the Banana Pi started strong, I believe it’s currently struggling the most among this bunch in terms of market share and community activity.
Odroid
The Odroid boards are made by Hardkernel, a company based in Anyang, South Korea. As its name implies (Open Android), it was created as an unrestricted way for makers to access the Android and Linux ecosystems.
If we’re comparing the Odroid C5 to the Raspberry Pi 5 purely in terms of hardware, the Odroid is less powerful. Although both come with quad-core processors, the Odroid has no PCIe bus, no USB3 ports, and 4 GB of RAM is the only memory option.
You might also like: 7 Hidden Raspberry Pi Features You Should Be Using
Yet, there are a few interesting ways in which the Odroid stands out:
| Raspberry Pi 5 | Odroid C5 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A76) | Quad-core processor (4x Amlogic S905X5M) |
| Power Usage at Load | 4W – 6W | 2.2W – 2.5W |
| GPU | VideoCore VII GPU @ 800 MHz | ARM G310 V2 GPU @ 850 MHz |
| Video Decoders | H.265 | H.264, AV1, VP9, AVS2 |
| Price | $60 (check) | $39 (check) |
The Odroid has a power-efficient CPU that won’t thermal throttle like a Raspberry Pi 5. It never needs heatsinks or fans, making the Odroid a great pick for silent deployment.
Second, the Odroid’s GPU has better software support for hardware acceleration. In plain terms, it means that using the desktop, browsing the web, and performing other graphical tasks is faster.
Third, the Odroid has built-in video decoders of the most popular formats used in media servers like Plex or Jellyfin. What you feel in real-world performance is smoother video streaming; in technical terms, it means better support for direct play and transcoding.
Libre Computer Potato
Libre Computer, based in Shenzhen with an office in New York City, was founded in 2016 to combat Raspberry Pi shortages and high prices. Their original board was called the Le Potato. The name implies that it doesn’t aim to win on performance but on low cost and high availability.
The successor to the Le Potato, released more recently, is dubbed the Sweet Potato:
| Raspberry Pi 5 | Libre Computer Sweet Potato | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Quad-core Processor (4x Cortex A76 @ 2.4 GHz) | Quad-core Processor (4x Cortex A53 @ 1.4 GHz) |
| Memory | 1GB / 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB | 2GB |
| Network | 1 gigabit Ethernet Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5.0 | 100 Mbps Ethernet Wi-Fi: none Bluetooth: none |
| MSRP | $50 (check price) | $35 (check price) |
I find the Sweet Potato a tough sell: its hardware specs are worse than a Raspberry Pi 4. But there might be a situation where you find the combination of media codecs, eMMC storage, and low price a good deal when everything else is out of reach.
Verdict
Who could have predicted that the SBC market would become so crowded?
There were even more boards I didn’t cover, like the Pine64, ASUS Tinker Board, and NVIDIA Jetson Nano, because they seem to be abandoning their consumer efforts for industrial markets instead.
Sometimes, I’ll get really intrigued and tempted by these other options, like the prospect of getting an 8-core CPU or 32 GB of RAM on such a tiny board. Or maybe I could find some savings over a fully kitted-out Raspberry Pi 5, which can get admittedly pretty expensive.
At other times, reality sets in: many alternatives look good on paper but aren’t as solid as the Raspberry Pi in everyday use. You might save $25, but it’s not worth the time you waste trying to get things to actually work on off-brand boards.
So that’s probably what your calculus will come down to: high specs or lower pricing versus the incredible software support of the Raspberry Pi. You’ll find that the Pi runs the most operating systems by far, is a robust platform, and has the most community guides out there.
I still hold on to every single one of my Raspberry Pi boards; they all work to this day, and I still find new uses for them all the time.
Microcontrollers: A Less Expensive Option
Microcontrollers are not full computers, so they can’t run traditional operating systems like SBCs can. Instead, a microcontroller is a simple circuit you can use to add a little computing ability to ‘dumb’ parts that might not have any. Oh, and I forgot to mention, they’re dirt cheap.
Raspberry Pi Pico
Many people are surprised to find out that Raspberry Pi now makes microcontrollers. The Pi Pico comes with the stability and support we’ve come to love from the Pi Foundation.
The Raspberry Pi Pico is great for real-time projects, battery-powered devices, and LED displays. To learn more, check out our article: What is Raspberry Pi Pico? Everything You Need to Know.
ESP32
I’m a big fan of the ESP32, especially for smart home or IoT devices. They have built-in wireless/Bluetooth support with OTA (over-the-air) updates, making the ESP32 super convenient for deploying in hard-to-reach places.
To learn more about them, check out our article: ESP32 vs Raspberry Pi Pico: When to Use Each in Your Projects.
Arduino
The Arduino is perhaps best known for mechanical-engineering-type projects, especially sensors, robots, and any project with moving parts. Because it’s easy to stack hardware modules on top of each other without having to solder them on, Arduino makes it easy to test prototypes quickly.
To learn more about the differences, check out our article: Is Raspberry Pi or Arduino Better for Your Projects?
Verdict
Microcontrollers are smaller than SBCs and can be had for shockingly low prices, cheap enough to buy a whole fleet of them if you wish. If your goal is to stick smart devices everywhere or to create electronic wearables, they shine here over a regular Raspberry Pi.
On the other hand, microcontrollers aren’t meant for more complex tasks that require a full operating system, like camera processing, servers, anything with a GUI, or AI projects.
Cheap Raspberry Pi Models Still Worth Buying
Bonus tip: When I started, the hardest part wasn’t the setup, it was figuring out what to build next. I ended up creating a list of 75+ project ideas with links and difficulty, so it’s easier to just pick something and try it. Grab the list here.
OK, so the boards below aren’t actually Pi alternatives, but maybe you’re here because skyrocketing prices have made the Raspberry Pi unattainable. In this section, I wanted to let you know about certain models that are still affordable.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
The Raspberry Pi Zero 2W is quite similar to the old Raspberry Pi 3B+, but in a bite-sized package with slightly cut-down specs. Here are some notable differences:
| Raspberry Pi 3B+ | Raspberry Pi Zero 2W | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 85 × 56 × 17 mm | 65 × 30 × 5 mm |
| CPU | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A53 @ 1.4 GHz) | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A53 @ 1.0 GHz) |
| Memory | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Network | Ethernet: 1 gigabit Wi-Fi 5 | Bluetooth 4.2 | Ethernet: none Wi-Fi 4 | Bluetooth 4.2 |
| MSRP | $35 (check) | $15 (check) |
The Pi Zero 2W doesn’t seem to have been affected by price increases, so it’s a great deal for a board with a quad-core processor that can run a full operating system.
I think a lot of consumers have already figured this out because the Zero 2W was sold out everywhere at the time of writing. Hopefully, you’ll have better luck finding one soon.
Raspberry Pi 4 1 GB / Raspberry Pi 5 1 GB
In response to the pricing crunch, the Pi Foundation has released a Raspberry Pi 5 with less memory so that they could still offer a board that fulfills their original mission:
| Raspberry Pi 4 (1 GB) | Raspberry Pi 5 (1 GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A72 @ 1.8 GHz) | Quad-core processor (4x Cortex A76 @ 2.4 GHz) |
| Graphics | VideoCore VI @ 500 MHz | VideoCore VII @ 800 MHz |
| Memory | 1 GB LPDDR4 | 1 GB LPDDR4X |
| Network | Ethernet: 1 gigabit Wi-Fi 5 | Bluetooth 5.0 | Ethernet: 1 gigabit Wi-Fi 5 | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| MSRP | $35 (check) | $45 (check) |
The Pi 5 (1 GB) lets you get going with much more computing power than the Pi 4 without waiting for RAM prices to drop. Prices might return to normal soon, or it might be a year from now (I don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t give you an accurate prediction).
Verdict
I think the Pi Zero 2W is the biggest winner here.
Normally, I wouldn’t consider the base models (1GB) of the Pi 4/Pi 5 because you can unlock more potential with just a little more memory. But in the situation we’re in now, I think they’re a good band-aid.
You might think that you can’t do anything with only 1 GB of RAM, but it’s still useful for headless projects running a lightweight OS (no GUI). Plus, even if you upgrade to one with more RAM later, I’m sure you’ll be able to repurpose your old Pi for a different project.
Want even more ideas? I put together a free resource with over 75 Raspberry Pi project ideas, each with a quick description, tutorial link, and hardware requirements. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for something to do this weekend, this list will keep you busy for a while. Just click here to get instant access.
Stuck on this project? Ask me or other Pi users in the RaspberryTips Community. We help each other out and you'll get answers quick. Join and fix it together.
Mini PCs And Thin Clients As Raspberry Pi Alternatives
The machines I’ll cover in this section are larger and more powerful options. They use a traditional x86 processor (Intel or AMD) that you’d normally find in a desktop PC, except in a smaller form factor, with all of the hardware components included, like a Raspberry Pi.
Thin Client (Used)
Thin clients are slim-looking computers you might find in a corporate environment. Since they’re meant for accessing a central server, they only come with a minimal set of power supply, storage, and networking. This hardware, however, is still more powerful than a Raspberry Pi.
Brand new, thin clients cost more than you might expect. But businesses get liquidated often, so you can find plenty of used thin clients on eBay and other places for heavily-discounted prices. That puts them in Raspberry Pi territory.
Check this: Not Every Raspberry Pi Project Is Worth Building
Popular choices here are the Dell Wyse / Optiplex and the HP T-series. Since all of the components are included, you don’t have to buy extra parts, and they usually have faster SSD storage built in.
Mini PC
A mini PC is an all-in-one computer in a miniature form factor. They can come with specs like an x86 CPU, 16 GB RAM, an SSD, and Wi-Fi 6. So more powerful out of the gate than a Raspberry Pi.
Some popular brands here include the Beelink and GMKtec. At the low end, you get more value here for the hardware, once you factor in adding a case and an NVMe drive to a Raspberry Pi. At the high end, however, they’re not in the same ballpark at all.
Verdict
These are great if you only need one powerful server sitting somewhere next to your router. They use less power and make less noise compared to a full PC, and although they’re not as minimal as a Raspberry Pi in these areas, they output more raw computing power.
When I first began my self-hosting journey, I started here. In my experience, they were never as quiet, maintenance-free, or portable as advertised. I still have one, or something similar at least, that acts as my central server and NAS.
When I started needing multiple inexpensive computers for flexible projects, anywhere and everywhere, that’s when I discovered the amazing Raspberry Pi.
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