Microcontroller reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 221 Reddit reviews across 26 subreddits and 66 posts to rank the best Microcontroller brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/embedded, r/AskElectronics, r/microcontrollers, r/arduino, r/programmer. Top-rated brands include Espressif (4.4/5), STMicroelectronics (4.3/5), Raspberry Pi (4.0/5).

Stats

Reviews221

Subreddits26

Posts66

Brands53

Products72

Top communities

r/embedded95 r/AskElectronics24 r/microcontrollers22 r/arduino14 r/programmer8

221 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

Espressif

4.4

(33)

"We really like ESP32. Very popular recently."

"I would recommend starting with an ESP32. You have a lot of ram/flash, wifi and good low power capabilities (C6)."

"+1 for ESP32. The idea is good, lots of different peripherals to play with."

"Buy a 10/15 USD ESP32 devkit, that's all you need."

"Esp32, you can see my project here:https://hackaday.io/project/187213-galdeano-handheld-computer"

"ESP32. One of the newer ones that are able to do JTAG-via-USB."

"I’d suggest you get an Esp 32 over arduino 1.Pricing is similar 2.ESP is faster,more compact 3.ESP has Bluetooth and WiFi built in for arduino you will have to get shields 4.More GPIO pins 5.Programmable with a micro usb B cable unlike arduino"

"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."

STMicroelectronics

4.3

(26)

"STM32 is by far the safest bet there. Very widely used, powerful, dirt cheap official devboards."

"Stm32f4. plenty of support (HAL, documentation, youtube videos, etc.) and it's a pretty serious microcontroller."

"Any ARM Cortex-M microcontroller will be a good pick, ideally stm32."

"STM32 is a good starting place."

"The stm32 nucleo board is a good starting point."

"My recommendation is STM32. Good development tools, good devkits, great documentation, modern products with perspective."

"I am partial to the stm32h743zi board because it is $30 and includes ethernet."

"STM32 hands down. Big community, cheap plentiful development boards."

"You would be better off with an stm32, an esp32 or pic32"

"I’d pick up an stm32 or an esp32 as they’re used commonly in industry and are more involved to get running."

Raspberry Pi

4.0

(25)

"Rp2040, incredible SDK, cheap, easy to find, lots of examples, pretty powerful and Big community"

"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"

"Also rp2350."

"Add Raspberry Pi Pico to the list, it’s cheap, Cortex M0, serial wire debug and good toolchain."

"Running a server on a Pi Zero W will be significantly easier than doing it on an ESP8266."

"Raspberry Pi PICO"

"The Raspberry Pi Pico is fully supported by Arduino."

"Right now I'm getting into the raspberry Pico."

Arduino

3.9

(19)

"Arduino board with WS2812B LED strips. Pretty much zero external hardware needed."

"The first microcontroller I learned on was the Arduino UNO and I recommend it."

"I would recommend something more like an Arduino, ESP32, or Raspberry Pi"

"If youre getting started i highly recommend arduinos or something compatable with the arduino software(like esp32)."

"The regular Nano version has a lot of cheap clones on sites like Aliexpress, so you will not need to spend a lot of money if you use it."

"Use the Arduino Nano. It has only 13 digital pins, but I guess you could get away with using 3 analog pins for the last ones."

"Arduino uno with a st7920 display would be cool to use,or try the esp32 c3 variant it wastes a little less using some options and also its very powerful"

"Also it is programmable with arduino IDE, very minor tweaks in arduino code, you can easily get the tweaks on GitHub or arduino forum"

"If thats all i believe that an arduino uno will be completely fine at a chil price and being easy to use and learn"

"Arduino also makes a nice Ethernet board."

STM32

4.1

(15)

"You can buy boards with an STM32F411 from Weact Studios for less than 5 USD."

"STM32f411 and get the free book Mastering STM32."

"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."

"Then I would look into STM32s."

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."

Teensy

4.2

(12)

"A good option is the teensy suite of SoPs. There are a beast of an MCU that can run at 600MHz"

"Personally I'd use a teensy 4.1."

"Teensey might be a good fit if you’re going for low level."

"I like using Teensy, but if your goal is to make something that's low-cost, you might go with something cheaper like a Raspberry Pi Pico or an ESP32."

"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."

Microchip

4.0

(8)

"Pic16f1829 or pic16f887"

"I really like the Microchip Attiny 1 Series. Its a simple 8 Bit MCU, with a fairly short datasheet."

"I think I'd consider an ATTiny or STM32L0."

"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."

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."

#10

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."

#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

Texas Instruments

4.0

(3)

"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."

"Both TI MSP430 and Microchip PIC will have low power modes that will rival a dedicated real time clock chip."

"Have you ever checked msp430 series?"

#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

AVR

3.3

(3)

"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."

"Arduino platform is useless crap. Stay away from that."

#17

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."

#18

3.0

(1)

"Arduino is not a microcontroller!!! Arduino is a development environment centered around a microcontroller."

#53

HC-06

3.0

(1)

"You can use one of those Bluetooth 2.0 HC-06 HC-05 modules and an UART."

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