CircuitPython
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 9 Python interpreters by recommenders
Beginner-friendly Python for microcontrollers that suits quick prototypes and small projects people ship. The most common caveat is that low-level functions are hard to add for less experienced users.
Beginner-friendly Python for microcontrollers that suits quick prototypes and small projects people ship. The most common caveat is that low-level functions are hard to add for less experienced users.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not 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 6 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
Beginner friendly for quick prototyping
“Very beginner friendly, great for quick prototyping/one-offs, but serious enough that one can ship small scale projects with it.”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “The Death of Arduino?” “I've also found CircuitPython's interpreter to be bonkers useful in prototyping embedded projects”
Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “Swift 6.3 Released” “Curcuit/Micropython works really well if you just want to make stuff happen”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Death of Arduino?” Simpler than C/C++ and MicroPython
“it seems quite great actually. For small projects it's far simpler to use than C/C++”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development – Jeff Geerling” “takes some of the complexity of Micro Python away”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Adafruit: Arduino’s Rules Are ‘Incompatible With Open Source’” Low barrier to entry for microcontrollers
“IMO the lowest barrier to entry for programming MCUs”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Death of Arduino?” “the circuitpython docs made it relatively simple.”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Death of Arduino?” Good for small shipped projects
“Very beginner friendly, great for quick prototyping/one-offs, but serious enough that one can ship small scale projects with it.”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “The Death of Arduino?” “shipped at least one freelance project using it”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development – Jeff Geerling”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to add low-level functions
“it's such a beast that it's really impenetrable for someone at my skill level if I want to add low level functions”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “picol: A Tcl interpreter in 500 lines of code”
Other Python interpreters people recommend
The four most recommended other Python interpreters, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PyPy | 57 | 34 | 63% | 9 | — | — |
| Pyodide | 31 | 8 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| MicroPython | 25 | 10 | 71% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Monty by Pydantic | 15 | 3 | 83% | 5 | — | Approved |
| CircuitPythonThis page | 12 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the alternative might be to use actual microcontroller that runs CircuitPython/MicroPython”
“shipped at least one freelance project using it”
“it seems quite great actually. For small projects it's far simpler to use than C/C++”
“Adafruit has contributed a significant amount of open source software and hardware that improves developer experience on microcontrollers”
“I've also found CircuitPython's interpreter to be bonkers useful in prototyping embedded projects”
“it's such a beast that it's really impenetrable for someone at my skill level if I want to add low level functions”
“I've played with CircuitPython to create little gadgets that my less technically inclined colleagues can work with”
“takes some of the complexity of Micro Python away”
“ESP32 or RP2 based boards with for example MicroPython/CircuitPython”
“Very beginner friendly, great for quick prototyping/one-offs, but serious enough that one can ship small scale projects with it.”
“Curcuit/Micropython works really well if you just want to make stuff happen”
“IMO the lowest barrier to entry for programming MCUs”
“the circuitpython docs made it relatively simple.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.