# Arduino boards 81 Hacker News commenters recommended Arduino boards and 73 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 16 years (7 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended 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. ## Why people recommend it - Easy to start and learn (6 comments): "Simple to install IDE that wraps up a text editor, tool chain and libraries with matching plug and play hardware" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46365820)) "make it really easy to use sensors and other hardware without needing to write intermediate level code" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46007434)) "Arduino has been an easy & super fun way to futz with a tiny bare metal microprocessor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721150)) - Large open ecosystem and libraries (4 comments): "The arduino project jumpstarted a whole ecosystem, but I don't that ecosystem needs arduino anymore." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45984758)) "It's lot more then "just the ide" that has made Arduino so successful and accessible though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46011147)) "that's where the Arduino ecosystem USP was versus other more powerful platforms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46271622)) - Lots of free tutorials and examples (3 comments): "There are thousands of free tutorials, designs, libraries etc. all available for you to try out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45989323)) "Arduino/Raspberry/ESP32-compatible stuff is cheap and available. Lots of information about it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46243225)) "fuck ton of example code already exists for it, and can be easily controlled over USB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50194616)) - Influential in education and science (3 comments): "how many young EEs of today can point to Arduino as their first exposure to electronics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985717)) "Arduino is as influential as it is controversial and has been from the beginning." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985053)) "Arduino and related technologies have revolutionzed scientific instrument making." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45986075)) ## What people warn about - Cheaper clones and alternative chips (6 comments): "you can just use an arduino, esp32, or an actual microcontroller for a fraction of the price and power consumption" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48318475)) "massively out of date platform easily outclassed by much cheaper and more flexible solutions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46008680)) "many popular SBCs with the same performance at cheaper cost (O-Pi, arduino)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922256)) - Abstractions hide and slow hardware (3 comments): "The hardware abstractions Arduino imposes can get really annoying once you start doing more advanced timing dependent stuff." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47019271)) "their software library is so high level that it eats so much resources on the underlying microcontrollers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45984590)) "as soon as you have to go below all the abstractions it does for you things get cryptic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48403323)) - Restrictive terms and licensing worries (4 comments): "I could see them restricting the licensing for commercial use, while keeping it freely usable for education" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46008139)) "users are now explicitly forbidden from reverse-engineering or even attempting to understand how the platform works unless Arduino gives permission" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985119)) "Arduino's hackability was its unique selling point. When it is no longer hackable, what is left (of the company)?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45984794)) - Not suited to serious products (2 comments): "Arduino is definitely the best I know of for embedded programming, and it has its place there, but I stopped trying to do real work with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46286509)) "The Raspberry Pi and Arduino platforms weren't meant to power commercial-grade products" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48487182)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [ESP32](https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32.md): 190 recommend - [Raspberry Pi Pico](https://hackerapproved.com/p/raspberry-pi-pico.md): 72 recommend - [Raspberry Pi RP2040](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rp2040.md): 29 recommend - [ESP32-S3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/esp32-s3.md): 26 recommend - [STM32 microcontroller](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stm32.md): 25 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Arduino+Uno+R3+board&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) - [Official site](https://www.arduino.cc/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Arduino boards", https://hackerapproved.com/p/arduino/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).