There is a lot more software for Linux boxes than there is for the NodeMCU, for example. Furthermore, their processing power is orders of magnitude apart, as i

There is a lot more software for Linux boxes than there is for the NodeMCU, for example. Furthermore, their processing power is orders of magnitude apart, as is RAM and storage. NodeMCU targets embedded, and there are plenty of cases where a rpi is used but a NodeMCU would be more than sufficient. But that doesn't mean that they're equivalent, there are also plenty of use cases where a NodeMCU is horribly underpowered.