Arduino vs Raspberry Pi: Which is the Best DIY Platform?

Arduino vs Raspberry Pi

Arduino vs Raspberry Pi: Which is the Best DIY Platform?

If you are planning a new technology project and are looking for a small single-board computer that can act as the brain of your project, you will probably consider one of two devices: a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino. Both are aimed at professionals and hobbyists looking to build exciting new projects with a low cost of entry.

Both Raspberry Pi and Arduino boards have advantages, disadvantages, and ideal use cases, depending on the project requirements. If you’re not sure which board is best in the battle between Ardunio and Raspberry Pi, here’s a guide to help you decide.

Performance and specifications

If you’re thinking of a replacement PC board, we’ll answer you now: a Raspberry Pi is the only option (at least compared to an Arduino). With the most recent Raspberry Pi 4 and 4B which offer between 1GB and 8GB of RAM and a 1.5GHz quad-core ARM v8 processor, you have a lot of power in a very small card.

Even the smaller Pi models (the Zero and Zero W cards) offer significant power for their size, with a 1 GHz ARM CPU, 512 MB of RAM, GPIO headers for expansions, and WiFi support and Bluetooth integrated.

Like the Pi, there are various Arduino models, with the Arduino Uno offering a very small 2KB SRAM and a 16MHz microcontroller for very specific projects. At the other end of the scale is the Arduino Portena H7, with a Cortex M7 + M4 ARM dual-core microcontroller, between 8MB and 64MB of RAM and integrated Bluetooth and WiFi.

Is this a fair comparison? Probably not, because Raspberry Pi and Arduino are two very different products. An Arduino is a customizable and programmable board for custom hardware projects, while the Raspberry Pi is a more “traditional” computer in its own right, with support for various Linux distributions and hardware suitable for booting.

Speed ​​and performance are a win for the Pi, but Arduino doesn’t need to run all the complex applications a Raspberry Pi needs to do (with a full Linux distribution). The only fair comparison might be with a Raspberry Pi Pico, the hobby microcontroller board with a dual-core ARM Cortex M0 + processor and 264KB of RAM.

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Functionality

As we have already mentioned, the Raspberry Pi is a very powerful computer for its size. While previous models (from the original Pi to the Raspberry Pi 3) were probably quite slow, the newer models (Raspberry Pi 4 and 4B) offer huge performance improvements.

This allows you to replace your working PC with a Raspberry Pi. Not ideal for games (except for retro games ) or for video encoding, but it’s a fully functional server or PC. It can also be integrated into any number of projects, be it building a weather station or as the nerve center of a robotic construction.

The Arduino doesn’t have the same functionality in some ways, but it caters to a different audience. If you are a skilled programmer, you can program your Arduino to perform any task you like. It could become a remote controlled car, a home alarm, a communication system – anything is possible with the right equipment connected.

Expanding Arduino is the best way to bring out the real power behind it. If you’re happy with the programming, it’s a great way to create a cheap and simple project. However, the Raspberry Pi offers many of the same benefits, with numerous add-on boards (referred to as HATs) that can be placed on the 40-pin GPIO header on the board itself.

You could pick an Arduino by size or power requirements, but if you need performance and functionality, the Raspberry Pi is the overall winner.

Usability

Although Arduino and Raspberry Pi are boards with a lot of potential, that doesn’t mean they’re exceptionally difficult to use. Both boards have their origins in education, with the Pi created to help schools and parents reintroduce ’80s-style curiosity that encouraged children to learn to code.

Like a microcontroller board, Arduino is a beginner programmer’s dream. The Arduino website itself offers tutorials and sample code to help you create new projects. While the Raspberry Pi allows users to do many things at once, the Arduino focuses on a single purpose, created and coded by its user.

Unfortunately, Arduino uses C ++ as the main language for its code. This isn’t the easiest language to learn or use, unlike Python for beginners which the Raspberry Pi fully supports (along with other major programming languages).

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If programming isn’t your thing, you don’t even need to program with the Raspberry Pi. Installing the Raspberry Pi operating system or another Linux distribution will give you a full operating system, including a graphical user interface that allows you to run standard software like Google Chrome or LibreOffice.

It is also much easier to control and use a Raspberry Pi, even from a terminal. The Linux terminal commands they’re easy to learn, but if you’d rather avoid it, you can – that’s the success of the Raspberry Pi, which offers a very low barrier to entry for beginners and amateurs.

The same cannot be said for Arduino, unfortunately. If you’re ready to accept the tougher learning curve, however, it can be the centerpiece of a great new project, but a Raspberry Pi will get you there faster.

Cost

Power and usability are one thing, but cost is important, especially for a hobby project on a modest budget. Thankfully, both Arduino and Raspberry Pi are extremely cheap to buy and use.

At the bottom of the Raspberry Pi model range is the Raspberry Pi Pico. At just $ 4, this tiny controller is the programmable nerve center of a hobbyist project. Unlike Arduino, it supports C and MicroPython (Python for microcontrollers), making it an easier system to use.

For full performance, however, the Pi 4 Model B costs between $ 35 (for 2GB of RAM) and $ 75 (for 8GB), depending on the retailer. You can also grab the smaller, less powerful Zero W for $ 10. Other cards (like the older Pi, 2, 3, and 3B) are similarly priced, with discounts available due to their age and lower specs.

Thankfully, Arduino boards are affordable too. There are many Arduino boards available, but some of the more common ones, such as the Arduino Uno, cost around $ 20-30. Other cards (like the Pro Mini) can cost as little as $ 10, with the Mega costing $ 60 and the Portena H7 costing $ 99.99.

Being an open source board, Arduino also has a number of clones at similar price ranges. With the Raspberry Pi Pico only costing $ 4, however, the Raspberry Pi’s microcontroller is still the best value for money, but that will depend on the performance and power requirements of your particular project.

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Arduino vs Raspberry Pi: Which One is Best for You?

It might be easy to say there is a winner in this battle, but there isn’t. An Arduino or a Raspberry Pi would make great centerpieces for a project you’re building. But most beginners will find the Raspberry Pi easier to set up and use. It also offers more power, functionality and a much lower barrier of entry for absolute beginners.

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Thanks to numerous add-ons and a beginner-friendly operating system, there are many easy Raspberry Pi projects that you can try. You can even combine the two, connecting an Arduino to a Raspberry Pi using the GPIO header pins for larger projects. If you’ve just bought a new Raspberry Pi, however, you might update it first.


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