Best microcontroller on Reddit
183 reviews from r/embedded, r/microcontrollers, r/AskElectronics and 21 more subreddits
183 reviews from
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By Brand
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#1
Espressif
4.5
(26)
"Buy a 10/15 USD ESP32 devkit, that's all you need."
"ESP32. One of the newer ones that are able to do JTAG-via-USB."
"Or esp32, which is basically a faster arduino with already in-built bluetooth and wifi module."
"ESP32! Has 2 cores, bluetooth, wifi, 240MHZ."
"That's why I prefer ESP32 and nrf52840."
"The ESP32 series by Espressif Systems is quite popular."
"I am currently working on an IoT weather application using esp32."
"You might want to look at the ESP32 microcontrollers."
"I would recommend esp32 C3 Super Mini. You just need a usb cable and everything is free."
"Have a look at one of the Xiao ESP32 boards."
#2
Raspberry Pi
4.1
(21)
"RP pico."
"Get some cheap rp2040 (Raspberry Pico) from Aliexpress."
"Pi Pico is perfect for midi controller and cheap as chips."
"RP2040: Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect, Raspi Pico W"
"Raspberry Pi PICO"
"The Raspberry Pi Pico is fully supported by Arduino."
"Right now I'm getting into the raspberry Pico."
"Raspberry pi is not overkill for a single camera."
"Raspberry Pi Nano probably?"
"Rpi with Coral TPU"
#3
STM32
4.1
(18)
"You can buy boards with an STM32F411 from Weact Studios for less than 5 USD."
"STM32f411 and get the free book Mastering STM32."
"If you want so safe a lot of money: get a STM32 Nucleo."
"That being said, stm32 is easy enough to pick up, via online guides and YouTube."
"STM32 as others have mentioned is easy to use and fits all other requirements."
"STM32U series or L series"
"STM32G03 consumes about 7mA."
"Why STM32 chips are popular: they are relatively cheap, relatively well documented."
"STM32 is popular in the industry."
"STM32 L series maybe a good option."
#4
ESP32
4.2
(13)
"Here's the best price on ESP32s, they're programmable with the Arduino IDE."
"Cheap and cheerful with cool functionality is ESP32."
"Esp32 for the win."
"The ESP32 family is a good place to start, if you need Bluetooth and WiFi."
"You might be interested in using an esp32."
"ESP32 is used for a lot of starter projects."
"ESP32 is certainly used in industrial products as WiFi companion chip."
"Something like an ESP32 Ethernet kit or even a Raspberry Pi is pr"
"Esp32 has a wifi module and you can use arduino libraries with it"
"Otherwise, esp32 is fairly popular and has a nice camera interface."
#5
Arduino
4.0
(12)
"Arduino board with WS2812B LED strips. Pretty much zero external hardware needed."
"I would recommend something more like an Arduino, ESP32, or Raspberry Pi"
"Arduino also makes a nice Ethernet board."
"Both ESP32 or Arduino Uno R4 WiFi will suffice."
"Arduino."
"*uno"
"Arduino, more precisely the AVR chips on the classic Arduino boards."
"Maybe a stepper motor and accelerometer hooked up to an Arduino."
"Ardunio nano. Any esp."
"Go and Google 'arduino tutorial' and yes, an arduino can drive a seven segment display."
#6
STMicroelectronics
4.1
(10)
"STM32 hands down. Big community, cheap plentiful development boards."
"STM32 will be a much better starting point."
"Stm32 or esp32 always avoid anything arduino even its IDE"
"STM32, RP2040 (not the RP2350), ESP."
"STM32"
"STM32L4s have an abundance of ultra low power states."
"Get yourself a stm32 disco kit that will let you try out touchgfx."
"Entry suggestions: stm32, rp2040, esp32."
"Any Cortex-M device would do thanks to ARM GCC. STM32 is quite accessible."
"Stm32 I'm not an expert by any means but stm32 mc family is very popular."
#7
Teensy
4.1
(10)
"Personally I'd use a teensy 4.1."
"My current approach is a Teensy 4.1. with 6 strands of 2000 LEDs."
"A Teensy 4.1 with Ethernet is generally better if you are actually rendering content."
"One option is to use a Teensy 4.x, which supports DMA-based parallel outputs."
"Teensy 2.0 is pretty fast and is smaller than most other microcontrollers."
"I've used Teensy (most will work but are overkill/expensive)."
"Sounds like Teensy would be great for what you want to do."
"Teensy for instance has an audio library you can program graphically."
"I'd say Teensy 4.0 is a good option if you want something that's easy to just start working with."
"Yes on everything mentioned but would also add the Teensy, which has a great audio library."
#8
RP2040
4.2
(5)
"Check out the EuroPi project featuring the Raspberry Pico (RP2040) running MicroPython."
"Beginner level stuff would be an 'rp2040' or an 'arduino nano'."
"Rp/kb2040s in the pro micro form factor if it's wired."
"How about a RP2040 and a Pi Zero combo?"
"RP2040 has a really nice hardware design guide that will walk you through basically everything you need to know."
#9
ATtiny
4.0
(5)
"I just bought an assortment of attiny85, atmega32, esp32."
"Attiny85 was enough for 80% of my projects"
"If it's really small, you could use an attiny85."
"For what you described, probably even an ATtiny85 would fit."
"The best tiny and super cheap microcontroller I've dealt with is the attiny85."
#10
Microchip
4.0
(5)
"There are some AVR and SAM devices well-suited."
"Unironically PIC16, very simple and satisfying."
"Be sure to check out the Atmel SAM series."
"Microchip makes some dirt cheap micros."
"Look at the AtTiny 0-series, 1-series, and 2-series from Microchip."
#11
Daisy Seed
4.0
(3)
"The daisy seed does look pretty good and there are nice examples out there."
"Probably the best & easiest solution with C."
"Have a look at the daisy seed."
#12
Nordic
4.0
(3)
"You'll go wrong with any of the big Brands combined Radio and application processors."
"Nordic is pretty good."
"The Nordic BLE chips can have their radios operated in raw packet."
#13
Atmel
4.0
(3)
"Go for Atmega16A or any another AVR microcontroller."
"Arduino can be a good place to start."
"I like the ATtiny416xplained-nano. Its breadboardable, uses a really simple MCU with easy to follow documentation."
#14
Raspberry Pi Pico
3.7
(3)
"Pico is great."
"If you get a Pico, be sure to add an SWD debugger."
"Maybe the new Raspberry Pi Pico with the RP2040 is capable of doing this task."
#15
Lilygo
5.0
(2)
"I would actually recommend something by Lilygo or M5Stack."
"I'm a big fan of the Lilygo T-Embed which has the screen and speaker you require."
#16
XIAO
4.5
(2)
"It seems to have enough pins for analog and digital items on deck."
"Everything points in the direction of the nrf52840 microcontroller."
#17
NVIDIA
4.0
(2)
"Jetson orin nano"
"Jetson orin nano"
#18
Texas Instruments
4.0
(2)
"I ran TI MSP430 with a cheap GPS module for a project. If you’re not getting fancy and you want low power, 8 bit MCU FTW."
"Have you ever checked msp430 series?"
#19
AVR
4.0
(2)
"AVR's attiny85 for actually small stuff, if that's what you are looking for."
"Something like an AVR64DD28 gives you 64K of flash memory & 8K of RAM."
#20
Silabs
4.0
(2)
"We used Silabs EFM32PG22 for a project that had to be low power."
"Check out mcu portfolio from silabs."
#21
Atmega
3.5
(2)
"Use atmega326 chip and it's on board clock."
"You're going to feel perfectly at home on the Atmega328p."
#22
ZE
5.0
(1)
"Yeah search for ZE ones, they're top tier stuff."
#23
Raspberry Pi Zero
5.0
(1)
"If video is the main requirement why not something like a Raspberry Pi Zero its a proper computer so has none of the ESP32 limitations."
#24
Texas Instruments MSP430
4.0
(1)
"I develop on MSP430 mcu’s at work."
#25
NXP
4.0
(1)
"Take a look at the MXC N series of NXP."
#26
ST
4.0
(1)
"I prefer the ST Nucleo dev boards."
#27
STM32 Development Boards
4.0
(1)
"If you want to learn some 32 Bit stuff the STM32 development boards are very well designed."
#28
Cycling '74
4.0
(1)
"Not a microcontroller recommendation but wanted to mention RNBO from cycling 74."
#29
KBDfans
4.0
(1)
"Not so pure, not so unrefined but Unobtainium exist at KBDFans."
#30
Coral
4.0
(1)
"Look at the coral dev board micro."
#31
TI
4.0
(1)
"I'll plug for the Ti MSP430 series. Nice little low-power chips."
#32
Analog Devices
4.0
(1)
"Try the Analog Devices SigmaDSP."
#33
MechWild
4.0
(1)
"Check out the pillbug by MechWild."
#34
openmv
4.0
(1)
"Look into openmv board."
#35
Jetson
4.0
(1)
"Look in to a Jetson nano dev kit if you need to do AI modelling."
#36
u-blox
4.0
(1)
"ESP32 is certainly used in industrial products as WiFi companion chip."
#37
Electrosmith
4.0
(1)
"The Electrosmith 'Daisy Seed' board is based on stm32h7."
#38
ESP
4.0
(1)
"Some of the ESP microcontrollers can have additional storage attached."
#39
D1 Mini
4.0
(1)
"How about a D1 Mini?"
#40
Hagiwo
4.0
(1)
"Check out Hagiwo modules, nanos, rpi 2040, esp32."
#41
ESP32-S3-PICO
4.0
(1)
"There is the fairly new ESP32-S3-PICO-1 with on-chip clock, flash and psram."
#42
STM32 L4
4.0
(1)
"I'd look at STM32 L4 or U5 lines."
#43
Arduino Pico
4.0
(1)
"Arduino can be a good place to start."
#44
ESP32-S3
4.0
(1)
"ESP32-S3 would probably be the easiest to get started with."
#45
Wemos D1
4.0
(1)
"I'm pretty sure a wemos d1 also has esp32 and esp8266 variations and has ups shields as well."
#46
STM32L0
4.0
(1)
"My preference would be an STM32L0 or ATMEGA328PB."
#47
STM32U0
4.0
(1)
"STM32U0 for me."
#48
STM32L
4.0
(1)
"I'd go with the STM32L series."
#49
SparkFun
3.0
(1)
"Sparkfun has a couple of small Arduino compatible boards."
#50
ATmega
3.0
(1)
"If you're just showing static images on a small display, then you might be able to make do with the ATmega."
#51
Arduino Uno Rev3
3.0
(1)
"Arduino is not a microcontroller!!! Arduino is a development environment centered around a microcontroller."
#52
HC-06
3.0
(1)
"You can use one of those Bluetooth 2.0 HC-06 HC-05 modules and an UART."
#53
Wemos
2.0
(1)
"I can get Wemos D1 Mini clones at $1.50 but 1-2 out of a dozen usually fail out of box."
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