Raspberry Pi Compute Module
Hacker ApprovedRanked 7 of 14 single-board computers by recommenders
People recommend it for its wide popularity, low cost and availability, and for customizing I/O with a carrier board. Caveat: it is now pricier and harder to find.
People recommend it for its wide popularity, low cost and availability, and for customizing I/O with a carrier board. Caveat: it is now pricier and harder to find.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 6 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: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 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
Customizable I/O with carrier boards
“The compute modules are also pretty useful when you really want to customize the I/O.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Raspberry Pi and mini PC home lab prices hit parity as DRAM costs skyrocket” “I'd go designing a carrier board for a Compute Module.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 on Hacker News Small size for slim builds
“Stick one on a nano base board and they’re half the size of a Pi 5”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Apple's 512GB Mac Studio vanishes, a quiet acknowledgment of the RAM shortage” “you could really slim it down by using a pi compute module”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Linux Runs on Raspberry Pi RP2350's Hazard3 RISC-V Cores (2024)”
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 Compute ModuleThis page | 10 | 2 | 83% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it’s probably still the right choice, just more expensive and harder to find than when I started the project in 2024.”
“Completely removes the SD Flash Achilles heel of the RPi.”
“using a CM5, this thing gets hot”
“The main advantage of the raspberry CM ecosystem is just how widely popular it is and how cheap and available”
“While you can run this on a Raspberry Pi 5, Pi 5s don't expose USB OTG”
“Stick one on a nano base board and they’re half the size of a Pi 5”
“I'm finding it hard to find a better trade-off between price, performance and software support”
“It is amazing. It has easily 20x the power, 20x the RAM, better temp specs and such”
“you could really slim it down by using a pi compute module”
“The compute modules are also pretty useful when you really want to customize the I/O.”
“they didn't honor their stocking pledges though”
“I'd go designing a carrier board for a Compute Module.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.