The topic Your next “Raspberry Pi project” doesn’t actually need a Raspberry Pi is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
If you’ve worked on DIY computing projects in the late 2010s, you’ve definitely heard of the Raspberry Pi, if not own a few single-board computers belonging to this family. After all, their tiny form-factor, affordable price tags, and solid compatibility with popular Linux distros (and packages) made them the perfect tinkering companions. But that’s all in the past now.
Don’t get me wrong, Raspberry Pi SBCs still have a lot of utility for modern-day projects. But their lackluster specs, especially when compared to similarly-priced x86 (or x86-64, for the pedantic crowd) hardware, make it hard to recommend the mainline series to newcomers. On the budget-friendly end, microcontrollers like the ESP32 and the Raspberry Pi Pico have become reliable substitutes for a wide variety of projects.
In fact, the market for tinkering devices has evolved so much that a project where you’d pivot to a Raspberry Pi back in the day could now be built with a variety of gizmos – many of which can save you hundreds of dollars.
Let me be clear: a microcontroller is a lot different than a single-board computer. Even the mighty ESP32 MCU family has a fraction of the system RAM and CPU prowess of a Raspberry Pi SBC. Likewise, these tiny gizmos can’t run conventional (full-fledged) Linux distributions, nor can they double as makeshift PCs when you connect them to a screen and some input devices.
Instead, they’re better for projects involving direct interaction with sensor modules, motors, resistors, or typical circuitry gizmos. They’re also free from the extra services that run on Linux distros, which keeps their startup times fairly short and latency unnoticable – especially when you contrast them with their mainline Raspberry Pi counterparts.
Despite starting my tinkering journey with a Raspberry Pi SBC, I stick to microcontrollers when building smart home devices with different sensors these days. Sure, connecting a BME280 sensor to a Raspberry Pi is easier as a beginner, but with a little bit of effort, it’s possible to hook it up to an ESP32, flash a quick YAML config to it via ESPHome, and have it pull statistics directly to Home Assistant. The same holds true for building vibration-controlled automations, Bluetooth proxies, custom e-ink dashboards, and practically most IoT projects out there.
Although I rely on ESP32 microcontrollers for most of my projects, the Raspberry Pi’s Pico lineup isn’t too bad, either. Sure, ESP32 boards, especially newer ones, tend to crush their RP2040 rivals when it comes to sheer specs. However, the Pico lineup is fantastic for MicroPython-heavy projects, as well as experiments involving a lot of PIO connections.
Regardless of your MCU preference, the ESP32 and Pico microcontrollers can be used to build a bunch of conventional Raspberry Pi projects, while sipping a fraction of the energy and costing well under $10 for a couple of boards.
Switching to the other side of the performance fence, x86 hardware is better for projects where a microcontroller can’t quite cut it. Outdated thin clients and mini-PCs have gotten a lot cheaper over the years, and even the most budget-friendly x86 gizmos can run circles around the Raspberry Pi when it comes to sheer horsepower. The situation is largely the same on the compatibility front. While the RPi faction has a significant advantage over rival ARM families when it comes to distro images and packages they can support, they can’t run all the software goodies available for x86 systems.
The only factor where Raspberry Pi devices emerge on top is the power efficiency. But considering the extra performance and distros you can run on x86 devices, the extra watts of energy don’t matter all that much, especially if you go for (comparatively) newer hardware like the N100.
As for the price aspect, entry-level mini-PCs actually have comparable costs to the Raspberry Pi 5. The high-end models have already hit past the $200 mark, and that’s before you include the microSD card and other accessories. Even if you don’t hunt for thin clients on eBay auctions, you can still nab old mini-PCs for a little over $175 – models that ship with a case and an SSD, no less. And as someone who has attempted to run everything from bare-metal Windows setups to Proxmox (and its virtual guests) on a Raspberry Pi, there are certain projects where it’s better to ditch ARM boards for x86 systems.
Although I wouldn’t recommend grabbing a mainline RPi system, the Zero lineup is an exception. For starters, Raspberry Pi Zero boards are nowhere near as expensive as the numbered entries. Even if they won’t win any awards for their specs, they can still handle everything from retro gaming to simple containers. I use them to bridge the gap between ESP32 and x86 projects. You know, experiments where an MCU isn’t enough, while a thin client/mini-PC seems too overkill.