The best microcontrollers, according to hackers

28 microcontrollers recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.

All microcontrollers

ESP32A cheap microcontroller with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, strong docs and many examples, often preferred over a Raspberry Pi when no OS is needed; battery projects can struggle with power draw.190recommend
Arduino boardsRecommended for easy starts, free tutorials and a broad ecosystem, though critics say cheaper ESP32 and Raspberry Pi boards now beat it on price and performance.81recommend
Raspberry Pi PicoCheap, capable microcontroller board that people use for physical computing, prototyping and education; critics say it has limited RAM and flash and weak Wi-Fi connectivity.72recommend
Raspberry Pi RP2350Cheap, widely available microcontroller whose programmable PIO state machines and generous RAM give people good value for hobby and embedded work. Critics note weak analog features and limited tamper resistance.47recommend
Raspberry Pi RP2040Cheap, well-documented microcontroller with a programmable PIO block for custom I/O, widely recommended for prototyping. Common caveat: its ADCs have only 12-bit resolution and some nonlinearity.29recommend
ESP32-S3Cheap microcontroller with dual cores, plenty of I/O and strong value for its price. Critics say it is power-hungry and weak for heavy workloads like music encoding.26recommend
STM32 microcontrollerCheap, feature-rich ARM microcontrollers with many chip variants, plentiful examples and readily available documentation. Common caveats are hardware bugs and a steep learning curve.25recommend
M5Stack PaperMonoPeople like its e-ink display, NFC reader and standard ESP32-S3 base for custom firmware. The most common caveat is that the software feels like an afterthought.25recommend
Espressif ESP32-S31RISC-V successor to the ESP32-S3 with faster wireless, more memory and gigabit Ethernet, seen as strong value. Critics point to missing features and incomplete documentation.24recommend
TeensyRecommended for high processing power in a small, cheap board with plenty of I/O and polished development support. Critics object that it is closed hardware.21recommend
ESP32-C3Cheap, stable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth microcontroller with a RISC-V core, praised for Rust and Embassy projects. Critics cite high latency and errata.19recommend
ESP8266A very cheap Wi-Fi microcontroller with GPIO pins and an Arduino-like programming experience, easy to add to projects. Critics note that wiring it up before loading a program is a hassle.15recommend
ESP32-P4Powerful dual-core RISC-V chip, but it lacks built-in wireless and has supply and documentation issues.15recommend
Baochip-1xPeople recommend it as an open, security-focused RISC-V chip with an MMU and strong hardware security peripherals. The most common caveat is weak low-power numbers.15recommend
ESP32-C6People recommend it as a cheap microcontroller with Wi-Fi 6 and Zigbee radios, a RISC-V core that suits Rust, and MicroPython support that can replace a Raspberry Pi for some jobs. One critic notes it lacks SIMD extensions.13recommend
AVR microcontrollerPeople recommend AVR microcontrollers for clean assembly programming, friendly open-source toolchains, and hands-on learning of low-level code. No recurring criticism appears in the quotes.12recommend
Nordic nRF52840Recommended for Bluetooth Low Energy projects, with people praising its stable BLE support and low power use compared with the ESP32.10recommend
8051 microcontrollerRecommended for embedded jobs that don't need 16 or 32 bits, with decades of tooling. Critics find its old tooling and 8-bit ALUs painful.8recommend
F32 ESP32 boardSmall, cheap ESP32 board with enough power for IoT projects, praised for its documentation.8recommend
Nordic Semiconductor nRFPeople recommend Nordic's nRF chips for low-power Bluetooth LE devices, citing good Bluetooth support, documentation and a solid track record. The most common caveat is that they are a bit expensive.7recommend
Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-AMOLED-2.06Touch AMOLED ESP32-S3 dev board liked for its looks and fun to build with; the speaker is tiny and one cable variant fails with iPad.7recommend
BBC micro:bitRecommended for introducing students to hardware, with a built-in display, sensors, simple code and immediate feedback. One critic says classes end up following predefined recipes.6recommend
TI 1.38 Millimeter MicrocontrollerPeople recommend this tiny, economical microcontroller for its speed, many usable pins and enough memory for small projects like audio sampling. Its 1KB of RAM is the main limit.6recommend
Texas Instruments MSP430Low-power microcontroller people use for battery-powered projects, praised for efficiency and performance. Critics note TI discontinues specific models, and some find them pricey.5recommend
Cheap Yellow Display ESP32Cheap ESP32 board with a small display, WiFi and Bluetooth, freely programmable for embedded projects. Caveat: clone-based variants vary, and the screen has poor viewing angles.5recommend
ESP32-C5Recommended for running Rust on its RISC-V cores, with Thread, Zigbee, BLE and dual-band WiFi support. Critics note the lack of SIMD extensions and that ESP-IDF support arrived late.5recommend
Arduino UnoPeople recommend it as the standard starter board for learning electronics and programming, and as a first step into hardware. Critics find it overpriced and oversized, and say newer boards are more complex or it is past its prime.5recommend
PicoPCMCIAPeople recommend it as a PCMCIA development board for retro-computing enthusiasts, especially those working with 486 and Pentium laptops.5recommend