What are the best Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ives 2024?

Raspberry Pi has basically become a synonym for single board computer. The current Raspberry Pi 5 model is more powerful than ever with features such as the 2.4 GHz Quad Core and up to 8 GB RAM. The downside is that this also has an impact on costs. What cost-effective al­tern­at­ives to the Raspberry Pi are there?

What are some of the best al­tern­at­ives to Raspberry Pi?

There is an im­press­ive variety of Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ives out there. Our overview only rep­res­ents a small selection. The current Raspberry Pi 5 serves as the starting point for the com­par­is­on, and the per­form­ance scope of this model was also the basis for selecting the re­spect­ive al­tern­at­ives.

A direct com­par­is­on of Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ives

Correct as of Februar 2024

Banana Pi M5

The re­sound­ing success and influence of the model is reflected in the name of this Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ive. Banana Pi M5 is more than just a copy of the famous model. The powerful Amlogic S905X3 processor with four ARM Cortex-A55 cores and a maximum clock speed of 2.0 GHz provides plenty of power. The model also comes with 4 GB of RAM and 16 GB of in­teg­rated eMMC flash memory. A microSD card slot is also available.

To connect the Banana Pi M5 to networks, simply use the in­teg­rated Ethernet port. If you also want to work with wireless con­nec­tions, you will also need to purchase the Banana Pi WIFI&BT Expansion Board. Like the Raspberry Pi, the Banana Pi uses a 40 GPIO pin header. According to the man­u­fac­turer, many of the common operating systems for single-board computers can be installed on the Banana Pi M5. This includes various Linux de­riv­at­ives such as Ubuntu and Debian as well as Android and the Raspberry Pi system Raspbian.

Orange Pi CM 4

With the Orange Pi CM 4 -orangepi.org you get a compact (55 x 40 mm) and in­ex­pens­ive, yet powerful Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ive. At its heart is a Cortex-A55 processor (Quad Core) that boasts up to 1.8 GHz computing power, while you can choose between 1, 2, 4 and 8 GB of RAM. An in­teg­rated 8 to 128 GB eMMC flash memory is available for data storage.

Similar to the Raspberry Pi 5, the Orange Pi CM 4 features a 40-pin GPIO interface, making it an excellent platform for in­ter­fa­cing with external devices and building circuits. It also comes equipped with an Ethernet chip and a WiFi adapter. The device supports a range of operating systems, including Android 11, Ubuntu 22.04 and 20.04, as well as Debian 12. For those seeking higher per­form­ance, the man­u­fac­tur­ers offer an al­tern­at­ive to the Raspberry Pi 5 in the form of the Orange Pi 5, which boasts an 8-core processor (2.4 GHz) and up to 16 GB of RAM, though at a higher cost.

Libre Computer Alta AI

With the Alta AML-A311D-CC, also known as Alta AI, the man­u­fac­turer Libre Computer has a Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ive in its portfolio that has a special approach. This is because the built-in Amlogic A311D processor combines four 2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 cores with two Cortex-A53 cores (up to 1.8 GHz). The Alta also relies on an NPU (Neural Pro­cessing Unit) with 5 TOPS (Tera Op­er­a­tions per Second) to speed up AI ap­plic­a­tions, which is why the single-board computer is par­tic­u­larly suitable for this type of software. It also has 4 GB of RAM.

The Alta AI also comes with a 40 pin GPIO interface to provide suf­fi­cient scope for circuits and external con­nec­tions. The board also offers a high level of com­pat­ib­il­ity with the Raspberry Pi interface. The Alta AML-A311D-CC is equipped with an in­teg­rated Ethernet port for network con­nectiv­ity and does not include a WiFi adapter. According to Libre Computer, you can operate the Alta AML-A311D-CC with all common Linux dis­tri­bu­tions.

ODROID-M1S

The ODROID-M1S product page“) is a good Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ive from the South Korean man­u­fac­turer HARDKER­NEL. The processor used is a Rockchip RK3566 Quad Core with up to 1.8 GHz. As with the Alta AI, an NPU (0.8 TOPS) is also in­teg­rated for AI software. When it comes to RAM, you can choose between a 4 GB and an 8 GB version. You can save files either on the internal eMMC memory module with 64 GB capacity or on an external SD card, thanks to the microSD slot.

Network con­nec­tions are only possible via cable as standard, as the ODROID-M1S has an Ethernet port but no WiFi adapter. In contrast to the other al­tern­at­ives and the Raspberry Pi itself, the South Korean single-board computer offers a total of 56 in­ter­faces. This is due to an ad­di­tion­al strip with 16 pins, sup­ple­ment­ing the 40-pin GPIO interface. The supported operating systems are Android 11, Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04

Pine64 Quartz64 Model B

PINE64 is a community that works together on ARM and RISC-V devices such as the Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ive Quartz64 Model B. The single-board computer uses a Rockchip RK3566 Quad Core ARM Cortex A55 (64-bit), which you can clock up to 2 GHz (in­teg­rated NPU with 0.8 TOPS). The board computer is currently only available in the official PINE64 store with 4 GB RAM, although further editions are planned according to the man­u­fac­turer. There is no in­teg­rated memory solution, but there is a slot for both microSD and eMMC memory modules.

There are 40 GPIO pins available for con­nect­ing to external devices and WiFi and Ethernet adapters for network con­nec­tions. This means you can connect the Quartz64 to the internet or your private network either by cable or wire­lessly. When it comes to the operating system, you prac­tic­ally have free rein since Linux dis­tri­bu­tions such as Ubuntu, Debian and Arch are supported as well as BSD (Berkeley Software Dis­tri­bu­tion) and Android.

Summary of the best al­tern­at­ives to Raspberry Pi

Which Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ives are the best depends on many factors – above all, the intended purpose and the ex­per­i­ence of the user. If you want to run a pure data server, you can use the weaker and therefore cheaper Raspberry Pi al­tern­at­ives. Orange Pi falls into this category, for example. For AI ap­plic­a­tions, on the other hand, single-board computers with their own computing unit and high TOPS such as the Libre Computer Alta AI are re­com­men­ded.

The software side shouldn’t be neglected, however. Hardware can only work to its full potential when suf­fi­cient software is supported. In this respect, Raspberry Pi still proves to be a perfect all-rounder – es­pe­cially for beginners. There is also a large community offering sug­ges­tions and support. But even the in­ex­pens­ive or less expensive al­tern­at­ives to Raspberry Pi still offer superior hardware.