AVR microcontroller
Hacker ApprovedRanked 16 of 28 microcontrollers by recommenders
People 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.
People 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.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Good for learning assembly
“Doing asm on the AVR is beautiful, you can count clock cycles easily and then observe them on the scope.”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “PCB devboard the size of a USB-C plug” “found playing with AVR microcontrollers to be a nice intro to assembly”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “I learned how to program the AVR in assembly 25 years ago”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons” Friendly toolchain and open source tooling
“it was easier to get the programmer, and it had a lot better open source tooling”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons” “There are great chips now that have free gcc support, reasonable power draw”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “SDCC – Small Device C Compiler” “AVR was super-developer-friendly well before the Arduino”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Adafruit: Arduino’s Rules Are ‘Incompatible With Open Source’” Simple instruction set, easy timing
“Doing asm on the AVR is beautiful, you can count clock cycles easily and then observe them on the scope.”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “PCB devboard the size of a USB-C plug” “One big advantage is a far cleaner, simpler instruction set”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “PCB devboard the size of a USB-C plug” Strong peripherals for mixed-signal work
“the reason to reach for a PIC or AVR these days is because of 4-20mA protocol or other such mixed-signal tasks”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “SDCC – Small Device C Compiler” “The PIC and AVR are both more about peripherals”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “Hosting a website on an 8-bit microcontroller”
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 |
| AVR microcontrollerThis page | 12 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's also a lot of fun to do on tiny 8 bit microcontrollers like the AVR.”
“the reason to reach for a PIC or AVR these days is because of 4-20mA protocol or other such mixed-signal tasks”
“There are great chips now that have free gcc support, reasonable power draw”
“The PIC and AVR are both more about peripherals”
“AVR is vastly better to program than 8 bit PIC”
“Doing asm on the AVR is beautiful, you can count clock cycles easily and then observe them on the scope.”
“One big advantage is a far cleaner, simpler instruction set”
“AVR was super-developer-friendly well before the Arduino”
“even 8 bit Atmel chips get way more attention from me”
“faster, more registers than the IBM 360, > 64k RAM”
“it was easier to get the programmer, and it had a lot better open source tooling”
“I learned how to program the AVR in assembly 25 years ago”
“found playing with AVR microcontrollers to be a nice intro to assembly”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.