Microcontrollers reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 175 Reddit reviews across 16 subreddits and 34 posts to rank the best Microcontrollers brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/embedded, r/microcontrollers, r/diyelectronics, r/ECE, r/ElectricalEngineering. Top-rated brands include Raspberry Pi (4.1/5), STM32 (4.5/5), Espressif (4.2/5).
Stats
Reviews175
Subreddits16
Posts34
Brands57
Products65
175 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Raspberry Pi
4.1
(19)
"I really like the dual-processor architecture of the RP2040."
"We are going to buy a bunch of them for our lab."
"I use the Pi Pico (RP2040) because it can do some pretty wild stuff."
"Raspberry pi pico is pretty great and you can get it for something like $5."
"If your used to the Pi eco system go with PI Pico's."
"My personal favorite is the raspberry pi pico."
"FPU and lots of RAM makes these attractive for small audio applications."
"I would certainly consider the RP2350 for future embedded products."
"The RP2040 has been my quick-and-easy swiss army knife tool for a while now."
"Raspberry Pi Pico is a dual core 133MHz micro that can be overclocked to like 200MHz and remain stable."
#2
STM32
4.5
(17)
"STM32 Nucleo boards are cheap, more powerful and less expensive than real Arduino’s."
"Those are awesome for graphics. Dual core with a cortex-m7 that runs up to 550MHz, 2MB of flash, and 1MB of RAM."
"Stm32.. several big industries in Sweden use it. I got a job because I have experience with it."
"STM32 has basically become the equivalent of Intel x86 in the embedded world."
"Though I recommend STM Nucleo boards just because they offer better HAL, examples and tools."
"Get an STM32 Blue pill, ST-link and UART adapter."
"As others said, STM32 is really good place for starters."
"The STM32 and the MSP430 come to mind since there are tons of samples and resources out there."
"Stm32 c-series is fairy cost efficient."
"STM32 ti je odličan za početak."
#3
Espressif
4.2
(15)
"Have a look at ESP32 with a parallel interface as opposed to SPI."
"I've personally had great experiences with the ESP32-S3 running Tensorflow Lite Micro"
"Espressif ESP-32 is still my favourite."
"ESP32 if you have big testes"
"I'll stick with espressif and built in radios."
"Esp32 maybe?"
"I can recommend the ESP32-Cam or Nano 33 BLE Sense with OV7670 as they are powerful enough to run pre-trained machine learning model"
"At my company (which is a consulting and engineering firm) uses a lot of STM32s but also Nordic and ESP32."
"ESP32 with ESP-IDF has been good to me."
"Esp32 is fairly popular with hobbyists."
#4
Arduino
4.4
(12)
"Get an Arduino Uno, (version 1-3, 4 is too new.). As it is the most widely discussed and popular model."
"Go hang out at r/Arduino, they got the goods"
"I still think you should give Arduino a try."
"What about the Arduino Pro Mini? It's only $10."
"Arduino for sure. It has an incredibly easy to use programming language and an enormous fan-base."
"Arduino if you are a noob"
"An Arduino Nano can be exactly what you need."
"I would go for an AVR chip. Very cheap."
"An Arduino Mega, a Teensy, maybe an arduino Leonardo."
"If you newer worked with MCUs I'd recommend buying a cheap Arduino clone and get your feed wet."
#5
ESP32
4.5
(11)
"Esp32 is ridiculously cheap for how capable it is."
"ESP32 series, dirt cheap and with many features very capable and versatile"
"My recommendation would the an ESP32."
"I like ESP32 because its geared towards the hobby crowd and it has lots of well supported examples."
"ESP32-C3. Plenty of options for a dev board."
"I would go for an ESP32 with an external ADC to get proper resolution and bandwidth."
"If you want to have enormous compute then the STM32 M4F is the way to go, easy, you have floating point math, DMA"
"Just go to Ali express and search "ai esp32""
"If you're just breaking in and have arduino experience, the ESP32 is a no-brainer answer."
"ESP32-S3 is a lovely little chip."
#6
Microchip
3.7
(11)
"I would recommend Microchip’s AVR or PIC16."
"About 4 years ago we switched from the PIC32 to the STM32. Turns out to have been a smart choice as the tools are so much better"
"Atmel Samd21 series is pretty great imo."
"If you want to go smaller, try ATTiny85."
"We studied PIC16 series back in bachelors, spc. PIC16F877A. Lots of peripherals and GPIO to play around."
"I learned on a PIC18F4620."
"I have started a long time ago (1998-99) using PIC 8bit."
"The quintessential PIC Microcontroller (Sid Kaizen) was the one that I started with 14 years ago. It's still awesome."
"Programming PIC via Arduino seems possible"
"The attiny85 is very simple though quite limited."
#7
STMicroelectronics
4.0
(10)
"I think you can’t go wrong with learning how to work with STM32 chips though.. they’re nearly everywhere"
"Start with STM32 and this amazing blog about bare metal programming."
"At my company (which is a consulting and engineering firm) uses a lot of STM32s but also Nordic and ESP32."
"I would look into the MAX78000 or MAX78002 from ADI."
"I recommend starting with an STM32 Discovery board."
"Arm coretex is the defacto king these days. Stm32 is a common recommendation."
"STM32s are very common."
"Stm cortex boards are cheap.. but imho it's better to start with qemu."
"You could look at the ST discovery boards as well, they have whole families of 32 bit ARM MCU's."
"ARM STM32 will probably be a bit too much to start with."
#8
Texas Instruments
4.3
(8)
"MSP430 for the win."
"I'd suggest either MSP430 Lauchpad."
"If you want to learn bare metal I think the MSP430 has the most straightforward design."
"The most common chips we use are the STM32, TI Hercules and TMS and Microchip dsPIC."
"TI's MSP430 series. Very nice debugging in the IAR EWB IDE btw."
"Get a TM4C from TI and then read this book written by a UT Austin ECE professor on it."
"The Tiva Launchpad is a good suggestion since it has JTAG and allows you to debug your program using gdb."
"Other options are MSP430, or PIC, but I haven't used them."
#9
Teensy
3.6
(8)
"Teensey might be a good fit if you’re going for low level."
"Also check out Teensy at [https://forum.pjrc.com]"
"Whew, that Bela is pricey. Sounds like something you could do with a Teensy + the Audio Adapter + Teensy Audio Library?"
"Just use the same chip that’s on the teensy."
"Then your simplest path is probably to continue to use the same MCU the Teensy does and buy the Teensy interface chip."
"For a keyboard? teensy 2.0."
"They use a teensy controlled by a intel nuc."
"I find the idea that someone just made an expansion board for a teensy 3.2 in an industrial robot hilarious."
#10
ARM
4.0
(3)
"Look at any ARM cortex (probably M0 or M3) chip"
"In general: Cortex-M. STM32s are very common."
"It’s mostly focused on arm m4 controllers, so something like that might suit your needs"
#11
Atmel
4.0
(3)
"I recommend an ATMega series microcontroller, because they're pretty compatible with the Arduino IDE"
"I have a preference for the ATmega32A or ATmega644PA."
"Probably the best architectures to go with are AVR from Atmel and MSP430 from TI."
#12
ESP
5.0
(2)
"Definitely use an esp device."
"Use an ESP Cam."
#13
ADI
5.0
(2)
"I would look into the MAX78000 or MAX78002 from ADI."
"There’s no question: ADI Blackfin."
#14
Nvidia
4.5
(2)
"Jetson nano."
"Check out jetson nano."
#15
AVR
4.5
(2)
"The AVR series are nice and easy to use, lots of options, and the datasheets provide examples in C and assembly."
"I learned on armed xmega128a1u."
#16
ESP8266
4.0
(2)
"Would be the ESP8266. Cheap and depending on the project still capable."
"If you want to do anything with Wifi, you can't go wrong with the ESP8266 and ESP32."
#17
xWhatsit
4.0
(2)
"I'd go with the xWhatsit controller if you can solder."
"The xWhatsit is only available for Model Fs."
#18
Daisy
4.0
(2)
"Electrosmith Daisy may be a good candidate."
"You may want to look at the Daisy platform. Seems like a strong DSP performer, generally arduino-like in its accessibility, and not too expensive."
#19
K210
4.0
(2)
"K210. Ten times cheaper than Jetson series."
"K210 MCU."
#20
4.0
(2)
"Tensorflow lite for microcontrollers has some examples for various MCUs here."
"Google's Coral dev board is a good example."
#21
QMK
3.5
(2)
"I recommend whatever runs the firmware you want, like QMK."
"I am probably going to go for some think embedded"
#22
OpenMV
3.5
(2)
"You can try looking at something like the OpenMV Cam to see if it meets your needs."
"Try OpenMv - it’s not the greatest, but it’s pretty impressive."
#23
NXP
3.5
(2)
"You can get ARM microcontrollers that are specifically designed for secure applications"
"I learned ASM and C on Motorola MC68HC11, but that time is probably gone long ago."
#24
Lego MindStorms
5.0
(1)
"The Lego MindStorms platform would be an excellent choice introducing the kids to programming, hardware, sensors, etc."
#25
Arduino Starter Kit
5.0
(1)
"Any basic electronic starter kits (I won't be surprised if some are named "Arduino starter kits"). They include: LEDs (and resistors to not burn them), buttons, breadboard... Enough to start having interaction between your program and the outside world."
#26
Raspberry Pi Pico
5.0
(1)
"Pi Pico is getting mature and has quite big community. It's very cheap for its features."
#27
MSP430
5.0
(1)
"Like Teknull said, the MSP430 and Energia IDE is awesome for newbies."
#28
PJRC
5.0
(1)
"I think the Teensy 3.2 is a great place to start."
#29
Adafruit
5.0
(1)
"Adafruit has a ton of MCs under that price point."
#30
Microchip AVR
5.0
(1)
"A good place to start might be the microchip AVR. These little eight big guys have a lovely instruction set."
#31
LVGL
5.0
(1)
"Check out the LVGL graphics library. It is open source and hardware independent."
#32
Matrix Orbital
5.0
(1)
"You should look into a HMI (human machine interface) or EVE (enhanced video engine) displays."
#33
STM32 FX
5.0
(1)
"STM32FX - my main recommendation, very powerful and widely applicable."
#34
Nordic Semiconductor
4.0
(1)
"At my company (which is a consulting and engineering firm) uses a lot of STM32s but also Nordic and ESP32."
#35
Allwinner
4.0
(1)
"Take a look into microprocessors for the same task! They're way cheaper and have OP stats."
#36
Parallax Robots
4.0
(1)
"Parallax has some decent robots and their own language, pbasic, which is easy to learn/use."
#37
nRF52832
4.0
(1)
"NRF52832 is the nearest you can get with non-closed source code and libraries."
#38
i.MX RT1170
4.0
(1)
"If you need it to be a microcontroller, then you must wait a bit for i.MX RT1170."
#39
TI Tiva C
4.0
(1)
"I'm taking an EdX embedded systems class which is using the $12.99 TI Tiva C launchpad."
#40
BL808
4.0
(1)
"It's a cpu/mcu hybrid. Can run Linux or RTOS."
#41
TI
4.0
(1)
"The TI Tm4c123gxl launchpad."
#42
Seeed
4.0
(1)
"Checkout the Sipeed from Seeed."
#43
SparkFun
4.0
(1)
"The Pro Micro and mostly its clones are the most popular option."
#44
Lattice
4.0
(1)
"The lattice icestick is inexpensive and extremely accessible."
#45
WCH
4.0
(1)
"That's WCH CH32V003. That's the current low end."
#46
Nordic
4.0
(1)
"I would go with either stm32 or nordic."
#47
Attiny
4.0
(1)
"For small jobs, I use the Attiny10."
#48
Digilent
4.0
(1)
"The Uno32 is my favourite. It runs at 80MHz and can be programmed from the Arduino IDE."
#49
ATmega
4.0
(1)
"ATmega32u4 is the most well used and supported controller for QMK."
#50
RISC-V
4.0
(1)
"I've recently compiled a review of available RISC-V MCU"
#51
STM32 F4
4.0
(1)
"STM32 (e.g. F4 series) is a good platform and if you make yourself comfortable with their STM32Cube library then you have invested your time wisely."
#52
STM32 F0
4.0
(1)
"The STM32F0 is a good place to start with ARM."
#53
ARM Cortex
4.0
(1)
"The logical step up from 8051 probably would be ARM Cortex."
#54
TI MSP430
4.0
(1)
"TI MSP430 is a DSP. That could be your weapon of choice when doing anything analog."
#55
Infineon
3.0
(1)
"For automotive purposes, I see Infineon Aurix in almost all of my projects. But it is not well for a fresh starter because of its price."
#56
8051
3.0
(1)
"Any 8051-based chip. Both are worth learning about"
#57
NXP IMX Series
1.0
(1)
"We use the nxp imx series and it’s garbage so not that one"
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