Arduino vs Raspberry Pi – What’s the Difference?

The primary difference between Arduino vs Raspberry Pi is that Arduino is a microcontroller controller board that allows you to control the electronic parts attached to a system’s circuit board. In contrast, the Raspberry Pi is a microprocessor controller board that allows you to compute data, generate valuable outputs, and control components in a system based on the results of its computation.

In this article, we will significantly explore the difference between Arduino and Raspberry Pi. But, before we explore Arduino vs Raspberry Pi, let’s go through the topics listed under the table of contents (TOC) that we will cover in this article.

Table of contents (TOC)

• Arduino vs Raspberry Pi
• What is Arduino?
• Advantages of Arduino
• What is Raspberry Pi
• Advantages of Raspberry Pi
• Key differences between Arduino vs Raspberry Pi
• Conclusion

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Arduino vs Raspberry Pi

For a better understanding, let’s explore the difference between Arduino vs Raspberry Pi in a tabular format:

Benchmark	Arduino	Raspberry Pi
What does it do?	It allows you to control the electronic parts attached to a system’s circuit board.	It allows you to compute data, generate valuable outputs, and control components in a system based on the results of its computation.
Is it open-source?	Yes. Both its hardware design and software are open source.	No. Both its hardware design and software are closed source.
Control unit is from which family?	Atmega family	ARM family
It is based on	Microcontroller	Microprocessor
Logic level	5V	3V
The structure of hardware and software is	Simple	Complex
RAM usage	It uses less RAM (approx 2 kB)	It uses more RAM (approx 1 GB)
The processor runs at the speed of	16 MHz	1.4 GHz
CPU architecture	8 bit	64 bit
Cost	It is cheaper than Raspberry Pi.	It is more expensive than Arduino.
I/O current drive strength is	High	Low
Does it support Bluetooth and WiFi?	No	Yes
Applications	Traffic light countdown timers, Weighing machines, etc.	Robot Controllers, Stop motion cameras, etc.

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What is Arduino? 

Arduino definition: Aurdino is a microcontroller board that allows you to control the electronic parts attached to a system’s circuit board. 

In layman’s terms, Audrino is an open-source microcontroller controller board that can read inputs, such as a finger on a button, and based on these inputs, produces output, such as activating a motor after you press a button. The control unit used in Arduino is from the Atmega family, and this microcontroller board has a simple hardware and software structure.

All the software parts used in Arduino are programmable in C and C++ programming languages. And in order to program the Arduino microcontroller board, a particular type of software is used, known as Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment). This software consists of a variety of toolchains that are needed in order to edit, compile, and program the source code on the Arduino board.

The primary objective of Arduino boards is to make it simple for software developers and different age groups to get started with microcontroller programming.

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Advantages of Arduino 

Now that we know what Arduino is let’s go through some of its advantages, such as:

• Arduino is easy to program with the help of Arduini IDE.
• Arduino is way cheaper as compared to Raspberry Pi boards.
• The hardware and software structure is simple; hence, it is easy to understand and best suited for new learners.
• As Arduino is open source, you can choose from a variety of codes available in the library, and you also have the option to customize it.

What is Raspberry Pi?

Raspberry Pi definition: Raspberry Pi is a microprocessor that has provisions just like a desktop computer that can be plugged into a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

In layman’s terms, the Raspberry board is essentially an entire computer that can connect various devices such as a keyboard, mouse, monitor, camera, and Internet. The Raspberry board is often called Single Board Computers, consisting of various components, such as connectors, processors, graphics, storage, etc.

Raspberry Pi boards operate using Python operating system. Because of this, various programming languages, such as HTML, C, C++, Python, Java, etc., can be used in order to develop the software for Raspberry Pi boards. The primary objective of Raspberry Pi boards is to allow people of all ages to learn about programming languages and computer science.

Advantages of using Raspberry Pi

Now that we know what Raspberry Pi is, let’s go through some of its advantages, such as:

• You can use Raspberry Pi boards for various applications, such as MS Office.
• You can use Raspberry Pi boards for complex tasks, such as weather monitoring, controlling robots, etc., as it supports an OS (Operating system).
• Raspberry Pi boards can also be used as portable computers connecting various devices such as a keyboard, mouse, monitor, camera, and Internet.
• Raspberry Pi boards support a significant number of GPIO (General-Purpose Input/Output) pins, and because of this, they can support a large number of sensors.

Key differences between Arduino vs Raspberry Pi 

Here are the key differences between Arduino vs. Raspberry Pi:

• Arduino is a microcontroller, whereas Raspberry Pi is a microprocessor.
• The structure of the hardware and software of an Arduino board is simple. On the other hand, the structure of the hardware and software of a Raspberry Pi board is complex.
• The I/O capability of an Arduino board allows it to drive external hardware directly. On the other hand, The Raspberry Pi has limited I/O and relies on transistors to power the hardware.
• Arduino boards do not support the Internet, but the Raspberry Pi board does.

Conclusion

In terms of – which board is better or which one to choose, Arduino vs Raspberry, I will recommend Arduino boards if you are entirely new to electronics and want to start learning hardware prototyping. And, if you have some experience go with a Raspberry Pi board. Which board is better depends on the purpose for which you are planning to use the board and the person who will be using the board?

Suppose you want to use the board as a web server; go with a Raspberry Pi board, as it can’t be done with Arduino boards. In contrast, if you want to interact with sensors and motors, you can use an Arduino board as it will be much easier to work and cheaper than Raspberry boards.

In this article, we have explored Arduino vs Raspberry Pi boards in detail. If you have any queries related to the topic, please feel free to send your query to us through comments, and we will be happy to answer!