Today we will find out who Arduino alternatives are. After part 1 of this series, I bring you some more important brands in this maker and DIY (do-it-yourself) scenario. This time most of the brands are single board computers, but there are several whose products are close to those offered by Arduino.

The brands we will discuss are:

• BeagleBone
• Waveshare
• Okdo
• Banana Pi
• Orange Pi
• Odroid
• Udoo
• Pololu
• Cytron
• Robocore

The highlight of this list is Robocore, a Brazilian retailer that makes its own Arduino “clones”. Worth knowing. The companies on the list above are divided as follows:

• Raspberry Pi/Arduino competitors: BeagleBone, Okdo, Banana Pi, Orange Pi, Odroid, Udoo
• Direct Arduino competitors: Pololu, Cytron, Robocore, Waveshare

Raspberry Pi/Arduino competitors

BeagleBone

This American company uses chips from Texas instruments to create embedded computers that run Linux, have WiFi and also Ethernet. The official website even contains shields and accessories for the connector system used.

Okdo

Despite being a reseller company (reselling Arduino, Raspberry Pi, micro:bit) Okdo has its own products. An example is the E1 (photo above), an ARM Cortex 33 with 640kB of Flash memory and 320kB of SRAM. It is a product aimed at IOT (internet of things).

Banana Pi

A direct competitor to Raspberry Pi, Banana Pi makes boards that run Linux. It has a large line of “computer modules” to be mounted inside other products, as well as boards for routers. Features boards based on the ESP8266, the RP2040 and the micro:bit.

Orange Pi

Another direct competitor of Raspberry Pi, it has an even larger product line than Banana Pi. It uses Rockchip silicon and also offers various accessories such as heatsinks, coolers, cables, WiFi modules, etc. It is mostly purchased through Aliexpress.

Odroid

Founded in 2009, it has a wide range of products. For example, boards with Intel, Rockchip and Amlogic processors. Its parent company is South Korean HardKernel; It also sells a lot on Aliexpress.

Udoo

This Italian company manufactures both single-boards with x86 (Intel, AMD) and some based on ESP32 and RP2040. Mostly sold via Digikey and Mouser. It started as a Kickstarter campaign in 2013.

Direct Arduino competitors

Pololu

This traditional North American electronics store has its own line of Arduino compatibles. Some with PIC16F, others programmable with Basic Stamp, others with the same AVR as the original Arduinos. They also offer a line of robots with the same microcontrollers mentioned above.

Cytron

This Malaysian company was founded in 2004, offers a wide range of its own boards in addition to reselling Raspberry Pi, micro:Bit and Arduino. Manufactures the “Maker UNO” compatible line in the photo above.

Robocore

Of all the Arduino alternatives, this is the only Brazilian on our list. It was founded in 2005 with the aim of bringing materials for educational robotics. It has Arduino compatible boards and shields, manufactured in-house.

Waveshare

This Chinese company founded in 2006 brings a wide range of compatible boards, such as Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico. It also has some of its own lines, such as LuckFox, with processors capable of running Linux.

A final word

As seen in the first part of this article, there are several companies “surfing” the wave of Arduino hardware and software, creating boards, shields and entire software with an eye on this market. In the end, competition is very good, it makes the environment very evolved very quickly.