avr-gcc
Shares rank 22 of 26 compilers by recommenders
People recommend avr-gcc as a long-running, sufficient compiler for Atmel AVR chips and a key part of the Arduino toolchain. Critics recorded no complaints.
People recommend avr-gcc as a long-running, sufficient compiler for Atmel AVR chips and a key part of the Arduino toolchain. Critics recorded no complaints.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: 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.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, 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
Long-running support for AVR chips
“I recall AVR-GCC not only working just fine in 2005 but being the official method for compiling code for those chips.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight” “if you want something really bare bones avr-gcc still targets the whole atmel family”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons” Important compiler, key to Arduino
“except for GCC/avr-gcc as was the key enabler of Arduino”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Arduino UNO Q bridges high-performance computing with real-time control” “avr-gcc is one of the most important compilers still”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “C's Flexible Integer Sizes Were Not a Design Mistake” Works well and is sufficient
“it worked pretty darn well already”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Arduino Terms of Service and Privacy Policy update: setting the record straight” “avr-gcc and avr-libc is enough”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons”
Other compilers people recommend
The four most recommended other compilers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCC | 138 | 123 | 53% | 12 | 15 yrs9 owners | — |
| Clang | 74 | 50 | 60% | 12 | — | — |
| Free Pascal compiler | 38 | 7 | 84% | 11 | — | Approved |
| GraalVM Native Image | 31 | 9 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| avr-gccThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“avr-gcc is one of the most important compilers still”
“except for GCC/avr-gcc as was the key enabler of Arduino”
“it worked pretty darn well already”
“I recall AVR-GCC not only working just fine in 2005 but being the official method for compiling code for those chips.”
“if you want something really bare bones avr-gcc still targets the whole atmel family”
“avr-gcc and avr-libc is enough”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.