What are the best alternatives to Arduino that exist today? 2022 list

Arduino is considered Today as one of the best alternatives to create what are home electronics projects, but it is also used by many to carry out much more complex programming. It is important to remember that this system is not a PC, but a microcontroller that is designed to carry out a single specific task.

As usual, the tasks they execute are repetitivethis means that once it is programmed to perform a only jobit will execute this task as many times as necessary depending on the prior programming that has been made. Nevertheless, being an Open Source software, can currently be found many copies and alternatives that offer you the same and better prices.

Therefore, you will have the opportunity to find a wide variety of microcontrollers on the market other than Arduinowith whom you will also have the opportunity to programming free software and hardware. This is how we are going to teach you here the best alternatives available today and with which you are going to get excellent resultsto do this, follow in detail everything that we will teach you next in the post.

Is Arduino the best option to develop free hardware and software?

Arduino is one of the platforms microcontrollers most popular and used throughout the world, it is one of the favorites both for educators as well as for electronics hobbyiststhis is due to all the ease of use that allows many users to carry out projects from home.

In addition, it is one of the platforms that has more community support and resources available. In this way it is microcontroller is open sourcewhich is mainly based on free hardware and software, very flexible when using both for creators as developers.

Arduino is a platform that allows you to create different types of single board microcomputers to which people can give different types of uses. It works through integrated circuits in which instructions can be saved, which are read and written by the programming language that you can use in Arduino IDE environment.

Through these instructions you can create programs that interact with circuits on the board. In the same way, it has an input interface, which allows carrying out the connection in which the board can be connected to different types of peripherals. Despite being the microcontroller platform most widely used in the world and to offer very good tools both for the creators and developers, currently on the market you can find many other interesting alternatives.

In the same way, they will allow you to achieve excellent results when develop free hardware and software. to be able to say yes Arduino is the best option or not will depend mainly on each of the userssince each of these platforms has its own features and tools, but if what you want is ease and flexibility of use, then Arduino It is one of the best alternatives that you can find today in the web market.

Learn about the best alternatives to Arduino to program and develop free software and hardware

Just as it has been mentioned throughout the post, you can currently find different alternatives to the Arduino platformwhich will also offer you excellent options for programs and develop hardware and free software. Therefore, everyone microcontrollers that we will teach you below are aimed both at developers as hobbyists that will help you with everything related to The programing.

To do this, follow the list that we will show you below:

Teensy 3.6

teensy it is developed by PJRC in recent years, so it has been one of the last to go on the market, despite this it has managed to become one of the most sought after when wanting programming and developing hardware and software. One of its most popular versions is Teensy 3.6it has a 32-bit processor and 52 total I/O, DAC, ADC, an SD card reader, among many other features available.

Likewise, it should be mentioned that the capabilities it presents the teensy plate 3.6 they are really amazing, it can be used by both hobbyists and developers. In the event that users are used to working with the Arduino softwarethis plate created by PJRC provides a plugin called teensyduinowhich is compatible with the program Arduino, in this way you can take advantage of all the resources that exist there.

In the same way, this program has very important specifications and features such as:

• 180-MHz Cortex M4F.
• 256KB RAM.
• 1-MB flash storage.
• 4k EEPROM.
• Teensyduino for Arduino IDE.
• SD card reader.

Netduino N3 Wi-Fi

Another alternative available to Arduino is Netduino N3 Wi-Fiwhich uses the .NET MicroFramework and the Netduino.Foundation Frameworkthis means that it is programmed in the programming language top-level (C#).

All of this is quite appealing to people who don’t like to deal with the lower levels of computer programming. MCU. In this way, it has been created with wireless devices in mind, with built-in Wi-Fi. Among other outstanding features of this microcontroller is that you are familiar with the .NET frameworkso it allows you to program the MCU board via Microsoft Visual Studio and the like.

Some of its most important specifications and features are as follows:

• 168MHz
• 164+ kB RAM.
• 1408-kB of flash storage.
• Net Microframework.
• 22GPIOs.
• SD card reader.
• Wifi.
• Netduino.Foundation Library.

NodeMCU

NodeMCU is a development module that has a powerful built-in ESP8266 microcontroller considered as the “Arduino Killer”, they are characterized by having a WiFi module 802.11 b/g/n with an antenna 24dBm integrated. It is very similar to Arduino in terms of its dimensions, that is how it is only 58mm x 31mm x 13mmyou can find it in the market available both with pins and without pins, this will depend on the type of use that you want to give it.

One of the advantages of NodeMCU is that it has the ability to execute the same code than Arduino, but in turn allows what is programming in Lua directly on the plate. Therefore, this microcontroller It will help you create professional projects with greater versatility.

Spark Fun Thing Plus

Another option is the SparkFun, who is characterized by having taken the ESP32 and create it designed primarily for Internet of Things projects. In this way, it has been considered that the ESP32 has become a great choice of IO, it has the functions WiFi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, Li-Po connection that allows you to complement your entire wireless system much more.

SparkFun it also offers a large number of very outstanding specifications, as well as a good number of sensors, all this has made it become a very good alternative to Arduino. Also this microcontrolledr offers a very easy way to program, so you won’t need much experience to use it.

BeagleBoard PocketBeagle

module pocketbeagle is the smallest of the BeagleBoards, the same run linux from the beginning and can be programmed through a Web navigator. Unlike all the ones mentioned above, this microcontroller works more like a computer than as an alternative to Arduino, although it is designed for it.

The main objective of pocketbeagle it is to act as an educational blackboard. This is how the model Sitara AM3358 ARM Cortex-A8 from the PocketBeagle has two units programmable in real time (PRUs), both are microcontrollers coupled to the main processor, they are ideal for predictable low latency, while the ARM processor It is ideal for improving performance.

Therefore, it can be said that pocketbeagle It is an ideal machine for all those users who want to develop small projects that need to have the resources of a computer. Some of its outstanding features include: “SD connector, Linux Operated, 72 expansion pins, easily programmable through a web browser”, among some others.

Adafruit Feather Huzzah ESP8266

In this case Huzzah comes from the line Adafruit Featherit is considered as a small plate that is capable of carrying out your IoT Projects, For this, it has several very important functions for the elaboration of these projects, such as Wifi Incorporated, Arduino compatibility, a Li-Po charger and can also be used with NodeMCU Lua.

As you can see, this board appears to be an older version of the board already mentioned. Sparkfun Thing Plusand this is because the ESP32 it is the successor of the ESP8266, But, despite that It’s been around long enough enough to have gained enough reputation to continue to be used by most users. All this has led to it being one of the most accessible options for fans who want the collective experience of such a community.

Among some of the most important specifications and features of this board are the following:

• Li-Po charger.
• Arduino Compatible
• NodeMCU Lua.
• 9 GPIOs.
• 80MHz
• 50KB RAM.
• 4-MB of flash storage.
• Wifi.

STM32F3 Discovery

This board is just one of many discovery models created by ST, the vast majority of ST models are really amazing as is he STM32F3. He himself has a 3-axis gyroscope and accelerometer, 10 LEDs and a 3D magnetic sensoramong some other very important features that we will mention later.

However, it should be mentioned that STM32F3 does not have compatibility Arduino that everyone would like, it can provide software tools to launch any of your projects. Currently this board includes a generator initialization code and an IDE. Therefore, it can be said that it has been designed for those programmers who want something different and who are not afraid to immerse themselves in the ecosystem of ST.

Among some of the most important features and specifications we find the following:

• It has 48 kB of RAM.
• It has 256 kB of flash storage.
• It has a 3-axis gyroscope/accelerometer.
• 10 LEDs.
• 2 buttons.
• Motion sensor.
• 3D magnetic sensor.

Silicon Labs Wonder Gecko

This board is based on the EFM32, Although it must be mentioned that its price is quite high since it is one of the most expensive, it has improvements where includes a micro LCD, an ambient light sensor, a 0.03-F super capacitor, a touch slideramong many others available there.

It is worth mentioning that this wonder gecko plate it’s primarily development based, but has a decent amount of references and guides to make it accessible. It also provides your simplicity study. Therefore, if the price of it does not mean a problem for you, then it becomes a excellent alternative to Arduino.

So that you can understand Wonder Gecko a little more, here are its main specifications and available features:

• It features 48-MHz Cortex M4.
• 256-kB of flash storage.
• 32KB of RAM storage.
• It has a built-in debugger.
• It offers several types of sensors.
• It has LCD.
• It has Simplicity Study.
• Energy monitoring system.

Particle Photon

If you are looking for an ideal plate for what they are IoT projects, then Particle Photon is everything. what you are looking for, it has a built-in Cypress Wi-Fi chip which has a free connectivity with the device cloud and all its features.

In addition, it also incorporates a javascript and mobile SDKs together with his web and your local IDE. Due to all the tools and functions provided by particlesthe Photon has become one of the best alternatives to Arduino that can be found today. Therefore, this board is ideal for hobbyists or beginners in crafting. IoT projects.

Among its features and specifications we find the following:

• Offers a cloud of devices.
• It has 18 GPIOs.
• It has many references and guides.
• Mobile SDKs and ParticleJS.
• It has 128 kB of RAM memory.
• 120-MHz Cortex ARM M3.
• 1-MB flash storage.

Launch pad MSP430

To complete this list we present Launch pad MSP430it is a board developed by Texas Instruments, despite not being one of the most powerful on the market, it has certain characteristics that make it stand out among all currently available boards.

That is how Launchpad features a TI MSP430, which also provides a compatibility with IT software and hardware. All of this is in the form of booster pack and online development tools. For all those who want to cut to the chase in the mcu Programming, allows for on-board debugging, it also has a Arduino-like IDE called Energy which is very simple to use.

Among the most important specifications and features are the following:

• It has 24-Mhz MSP430.
• It has 4 kB of RAM memory.
• 32 kB program FRAM.
• It offers an energy tracking technology to lower the power.
• IDE power similar to Arduino.
• 2 buttons and LEDs on board.
• Compatible with Booster Pack.