Raspberry Pi 2
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 5 of 14 single-board computers by recommenders
Long-lived board that people run unattended for years; the older model still gives good value, though one critic found it struggled with heavy workloads.
Long-lived board that people run unattended for years; the older model still gives good value, though one critic found it struggled with heavy workloads.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 9 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 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
Runs for years on original SD card
“I have a rasperry pi 2 and 4 that have been running on the same size uSD (reputable brand) for 5 years and haven’t had any issues”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “The death and rebirth of my home server” “I have a Raspberry Pi 2 that has been running a weather station for over 12 years, and it has been on the original SD card.”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Home Assistant waters my plants” “Well, it's still running today on the original SD card.”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Raspberry Pi Drag Race: Pi 1 to Pi 5 – Performance Comparison” Needs no attention once set up
“It's on 24/7 and it's been doing its job just fine since years.”
Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Raspberry Pi Drag Race: Pi 1 to Pi 5 – Performance Comparison” “it doesn't need any time or attention. It just does its job.”
Comment from 21 Mar 2026 in “MacBook M5 Pro and Qwen3.5 = Local AI Security System” Good cost-benefit for older model
“The 2b, 3b and Zero 2 have the best cost-benefit ratio.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development – Jeff Geerling” “no point in buying the latest and greatest version”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “The Raspberry Pi Interactive Timeline · 2006–2026” Enough performance for light use
“An old Pi 2 or 3 which dont need any cooling are very useful still for a range of applications”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Most Stable Raspberry Pi? Better NTP with Thermal Management” “it's plenty performant for the ~10 people that access it regularly”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “A Modern Web App in C”
Other single-board computers people recommend
The four most recommended other single-board computers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi | 425 | 277 | 61% | 12 | 5.5 yrs35 owners | — |
| Raspberry Pi Zero | 77 | 23 | 77% | 12 | 8 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| NVIDIA Jetson | 28 | 21 | 57% | 12 | — | — |
| Orange Pi 6 Plus | 18 | 30 | 38% | 5 | — | — |
| Raspberry Pi 2This page | 12 | 2 | 86% | 8 | 9 yrs5 owners | Approved |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's plenty performant for the ~10 people that access it regularly”
“no point in buying the latest and greatest version”
“I have a 2b and 3b lying around”
“The Pi was choking on the mega strings and they were getting cut off early.”
“I have a rasperry pi 2 and 4 that have been running on the same size uSD (reputable brand) for 5 years and haven’t had any issues”
“a Raspberry Pi 2 is a hundred times better engineered and well-rounded product”
“It's a great application for this platform.”
“The 2b, 3b and Zero 2 have the best cost-benefit ratio.”
“it doesn't need any time or attention. It just does its job.”
“I have a Raspberry Pi 2 that has been running a weather station for over 12 years, and it has been on the original SD card.”
“Well, it's still running today on the original SD card.”
“It's on 24/7 and it's been doing its job just fine since years.”
“due to a design failure by the rpi folks”
“An old Pi 2 or 3 which dont need any cooling are very useful still for a range of applications”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.