Arduino Uno
Shares rank 24 of 28 microcontrollers by recommenders
People 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.
People 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.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Best starter board for learning
“To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: What hardware hobby would you recommend to a software engineer?” “I'll be always "grateful" to Arduino UNO R3 for my first foray into hardware-related stuff.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “Everyone should have an UNO available in some form for playtime.”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “Ibuilt a tiny Unix‑like 'OS' with shell and filesystem for Arduino UNO (2KB RAM)” First step into programming
“I'll be always "grateful" to Arduino UNO R3 for my first foray into hardware-related stuff.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “My gateway into programming too.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Overpriced and oversized
“It's just way overpriced and oversized.”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons” Newer models are complex
“Even the Uno R4 is obscenely complex.”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Embassy: Modern embedded framework, using Rust and async” Seen as past its prime
“It's well past its prime.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Ibuilt a tiny Unix‑like 'OS' with shell and filesystem for Arduino UNO (2KB RAM)”
Other microcontrollers people recommend
The four most recommended other microcontrollers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32 | 190 | 35 | 84% | 12 | 5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Arduino boards | 81 | 73 | 53% | 12 | 16 yrs7 owners | — |
| Raspberry Pi Pico | 72 | 16 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Raspberry Pi RP2350 | 47 | 13 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Arduino UnoThis page | 5 | 4 | 56% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“To learn the basics there's still no better route than getting an Arduino Uno (or clone) starter kit”
“Everyone should have an UNO available in some form for playtime.”
“It's well past its prime.”
“Even the Uno R4 is obscenely complex.”
“It's just way overpriced and oversized.”
“I got their Uno back whenever it came out but never really got into their whole IDE experience”
“My gateway into programming too.”
“I'll be always "grateful" to Arduino UNO R3 for my first foray into hardware-related stuff.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.