4 ms·

Compare Single Board Computers

222 points by todsacerdoti 1y ago

HeyMeco 1y ago
Love when actually useful sites appear. Fits the same category of sites like the one LTTLabs is working on
cjs_ac 1y ago
Similar (but without comparisons): https://hackerboards.com/ https://hackerboards.com/
- MartijnBraam 1y ago
  Uuh hackerboards has comparisons, for example https://hackerboards.com/compare/raspberry-pi-foundation-raspberry-pi-5/pine64-hardrock64/ https://hackerboards.com/compare/raspberry-pi-foundation-ras...
hackingonempty 1y ago
Looks cool but no microcontroller boards yet. I didn't get any results for "RP2350" for example.
- Neywiny 1y ago
  Those aren't SBCs
  - hackingonempty 1y ago
    what is the difference?
    - Neywiny 1y ago
      I'm sure there are exceptions to these but: SBCs have micro*processors* not microcontrollers. What's the implication? SBCs run Linux. What's the implication? You can develop a set of programs and stacks on a big desktop, and kinda just copy-paste boom it's on an embedded device. Often including networking, USB, HMI, cameras, etc. All can be done on a microcontroller (though you'd want something with more power than a pico), but not copy paste.
    - shadowpho 1y ago
      SBC are easier to program for, you can trivially ssh in later and fix/update things. Meanwhile mcu are… tricky. For an example I wanted to measure co2 level. It took me about a week to write it in raspberry pi zero w2. It captures data, stores it in sqlite, then every so often transfers to Postgres. To do the same in esp32 took a couple months ( including storage and updates)
      - Neywiny 1y ago
        Ngl it sounds like you architected that wrong then? The ESP32 should've issued an API request to some other server that runs the sql and whatnot. That shouldn't take months. I've done that in like a few minutes with adafruit's stuff
        shadowpho 1y ago
        It’s easy to do something that will work for weeks. It’s hard to do something that will last years. For example, how does it handle wifi going down? Does it recover gracefully? Does it manage to save the data during downtime and reupload it all afterwards? How does it handle updates through wifi? OTA updates are important for 10 devices deployed, but is not easy.
        bschwindHN 1y ago
        Honestly I would much rather handle that sort of project in an embedded environment and not something running linux. esp-idf has answers for all those questions. You can hook up an SD card to buffer measurements when the network is down, reconnecting is usually as simple as a loop that tries to reconnect if you're not currently connected, and OTA updates are a solved problem with many different strategies to choose from.
        shadowpho 1y ago
        >Honestly I would much rather handle that sort of project in an embedded environment and not something running linux. That’s because you haven’t done it. There’s a lot more code to write in embedded case and lots of pitfalls to fall into. >OTA updates are a solved problem with many different strategies to choose from. No. Just no. Esp32 provides nice libraries to do update but acquisition/logic/code to use that is up to you. You still have to write a lot of code around the libraries and more importantly — debug and think of how to use it. For example — let’s say you pushed an update that crashes early in boot (or other points). No problem, you’ve designed an AB update system so you just roll back to A. Not so fast because A partition will try to update back to the botched update after roll back. Causing device to go into a update/crash loop and killing the esp32 in the process (flash has a limited number of erase cycles) So you say “ok I’ll just store the update number in flash and only update 3x times before blacklisting”. Well congrats now you gotta go write more code! And this time you get to have fun with nvs library which is great but not trivial. And once again if you make a bug you’ll face either a dead and recoverable device or dead for real device. >reconnecting is usually as simple as a loop that tries to reconnect if you're not currently connected Oh god no. Take a look here: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32s2/api-guides/wifi.html https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32s... Specifically this part: >Generally, it is easy to write code in "sunny-day" scenarios, such as WIFI_EVENT_STA_START and WIFI_EVENT_STA_CONNECTED. The hard part is to write routines in "rainy-day" scenarios, such as WIFI_EVENT_STA_DISCONNECTED. Good handling of "rainy-day" scenarios is fundamental to robust Wi-Fi applications. How well does your code handle “I’m connected to Wi-Fi but don’t have an IP?” Or it has an ip but can’t hit your server? Or it can’t hit dns? There’s a bunch of errors and transitionary state that just sucks. Meanwhile you mention “just buffer the data in SD card”. Once again, write a pile of code, and then put a layer on top of it to store your data. This is a more straight forward problem but adding data to SQLite file and then sending it out is just so much easier. And then you have to work with time. “Just buffering data” also requires keeping track of time because now you can’t use receive time as your capture time. Now you gotta write more code to synchronize the time on esp32 to your server which is a solved problem on Linux.
    - Gigachad 1y ago
      Not sure the most specific definition. But in an easy to understand way, SBCs run an OS like Linux or Windows, while microcontroller boards have a single program flashed directly on to them which directly interacts with the hardware. Microcontrollers are super cheap and have incredibly low latency so they are great for when you need to do something like pulse an output pin with sub millisecond accuracy, but have very very little compute compared to a real CPU and can’t run normal software.
okanat 1y ago
Benchmarks are alright but as an embedded engineer I first select a performance segment and then actually prioritize the hardware abilities and engineering support from the SoC manufacturer. Before getting into benchmarks I would actually look which hardware capabilities a specific SoC supports first (eDP, HDMI or LVDS, USB ports, i2c, GPIO pins etc). Then I would check whether the manufacturer actually maintains mainline Linux kernel drivers or keeps an up-to-date downstream kernel. I look at their frequency for updates. For media systems having HW acceleration is crucial. Most ARM vendors do a crappy job of providing good open source drivers for this. Similarly I go and check their Yocto BSPs. If I don't like their organization, that's going to affect my final decision. If it is a power-sensitive project, then the special modes and extra driver support for various sleeping modes come into play. (Most of the time Intel just wins with those criteria because ARM ecosystem is a mess of proprietary blobs. However there are manufacturers like NXP and MediaTek who do release passable drivers and when power consumption is important they get selected or if the product is very price-sensitvie) This website looks alright maybe for hobbyists for pure CPU loads with very well cooled systems. I don't find it very useful without the actual engineering details, adding those would massively benefit the website.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  Hey! So I was quite surprised to see my site posted on here so soon after hitting the "go live" button, and thanks for your comment. I wrote a blog post about why I made the site at https://bret.dk/introducing-sbc-compare/ https://bret.dk/introducing-sbc-compare/ if anyone's interested, but to TL;DR it, I didn't set out to create a site like this, it was a side quest after creating the automation and database to support my reviews, which do indeed focus on the hobbyist trying to explore Raspberry Pi SBCs and their many alternatives. I have full specifications and hardware capabilities hidden behind a feature flag at the moment as I'm working my way through adding all of that data (currently at 80 SBCs in the database, and I'm only adding those I own and have run tests on) so there should be something similar to what you're asking for soon. Thanks again!
  - nuker 1y ago
    After that, have a look at pcpartpicker.com, motherboards section. They have feature selectors, like number of usb ports, power connector type and so on. Very useful to find boards.
leeoniya 1y ago
if LattePanda for $178 is on the list might as well throw in the Quieter 4C: https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Mini-Quieter-4C-Astrophotography/dp/B0CP3YL6J7 https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Mini-Quieter-4C-Astrophotography... very impressive N100 device. i run EndeavourOS with KDE/plasma on mine. i swapped out to a faster and more efficient single sided 4TB nvme. it's fanless and idles at ~4.5W according to the USB-C cable's lcd power readout.
- pizza234 1y ago
  The quite renowned Odroid Hx are also missing.
  - sthlmb 1y ago
    I guess I'll reply here and cover both of the comments :D There are currently 80 SBCs in the database, and they're all boards that I've obtained over the last few years. It's a side project/hobby and buying many more boards would be a very expensive affair :( New boards will be a mixture of those that interest me, and those that vendors (very kindly) send to be included on the website. Sadly, as much as I'd love to, I can't do a Pokémon and catch them all, so there will be some missing!
    - aspenmayer 1y ago
      Do you accept donations of hardware to be tested and added to the site?
      - sthlmb 1y ago
        I do accept them from vendors directly (and it has no bearing on how I run the tests) but I've not taken any from individuals before. I'm not quite sure how I'd do that logistically, but if there's something interesting then I'm open to discussing it! I'm currently in talks with a few of the vendors to start filling the database with missing boards from their ranges so we should have more data available in the coming weeks. There should be 2 BeagleBoard (Eco Green and PocketBeagle 2) arriving tomorrow/Tuesday to expand their range on the site!
blopp99 1y ago
Did the up in price on RPis ended up being permanent?
IshKebab 1y ago
None of it really matters until there's a competitor that has software support 1/10th as good as Raspberry Pi.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  Check out Libre Computer if you haven't already!
- hackingonempty 1y ago
  TI's "Beagle" ecosystem has software support at least 1/10th as good as RPI, maybe even 2/10ths.
- ValdikSS 1y ago
  Newer Raspberries also rely on third-party components they have limited control of. VL805 USB chip in RPi 4 and 5 has known bugs since 2020 which are still not fixed.
- pjmlp 1y ago
  Agreed, I would only consider Arduino or ESP32 as alternatives, which naturally don't even have the resources for UNIX clone, which is akin to going back to 16 bit home coding, booting straight into the game or demoscene.
- pyb 1y ago
  This. Your SBC's ecosystem/support is 10x more important than its specs.
- squarefoot 1y ago
  Not one but two full Debian ports are more than enough to me. https://www.armbian.com/download/ https://www.armbian.com/download/ https://dietpi.com/#download https://dietpi.com/#download Things may differ a bit in the educational field because of the vast community the RPi can count on, but Linux is Linux, I don't see why a school shouldn't use a different platform and make the solution of problems, if any, part of the learning process.
  - 1y ago
eqvinox 1y ago
No searching by PCIe support it seems :'( (Or I'm too stupid to use it.) btw: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbarm https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbarm - but also no search by PCIe there
- sthlmb 1y ago
  I have full specification capability hiding in the background and once I've filled out all of the data, you'll be able to do just this!
iancarroll 1y ago
Clicking on “ARM” only seems to show Raspberry Pi’s and not the other ARM boards listed on the site.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  I've noticed a couple of issues with the search and filtering this evening, I'll have to look at it tomorrow. In the meantime, https://sbc.compare/arm https://sbc.compare/arm (there's also /risc-v and /x86) may help a little here!
  - iancarroll 1y ago
    That’s a nice list, thanks!
geerlingguy 1y ago
I'm happy to see this exist; I've considered putting together something similar using the data I compile for https://sbc-reviews.jeffgeerling.com/ https://sbc-reviews.jeffgeerling.com/ - but it's surprisingly complex. One of the hardest things is settling on specific tests, and ensuring tests are run in an extremely standardized environment. I do my best, but a test lab I am not. It's good to have a quick way to get relative comparisons, even if imperfect.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  And until you decide to execute on that plan, I'll enjoy this little bit of attention :D Thanks again for the support!
franga2000 1y ago
Performance is cool, but if you're already building a giant database of SBC information, I/O, peripherals and features seem like a much more important thing to add. Just in the Orange Pi lineup, there are so many different models and so little structured information about them, that the best source still seems to be the google sheet that I created in 2017 and has been continously updated by various community members over the years [0]. And that's all one manufacturer! Things like which type and how many video outs, USB ports, if it has onboard flash, DSI/CSI, pinout compatibility... are so much more important and so much harder to get than performance numbers, which usually boil down to the SoC plus a small margin for thermal and power design of the board. If this site were open source (and time + knowledge of stack permitting), I'd take a stab at adding a way to include that info as well, maybe even through crowd-sourcing. [0] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14QDXdMR1a1kc0gpRpTzIV60Tfx_zF6eurGOc3y7w3FY/edit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14QDXdMR1a1kc0gpRpTzI...
- sthlmb 1y ago
  I hear you! Like I mention to others in the thread, this functionality is already there, I just need to finish populating all of the data. To get over a mental block I had to decide whether I'd continue trying to add each feature before an initial launch (and be there forever) or give myself a shot of motivation by getting an initial performance comparison feature set out there and iterate as I go along. As soon as I have all of that data in there (I think I'm at around 30-40% so far, the initial batch of testing has been a slog, data entry for this took a back seat) I'll be enabling that option and it will all be there to view on comparison pages, and search for to help find/compare on a deeper level.
  - franga2000 1y ago
    I completely get it, it's great that you launched it quickly, I've gotten stuck on that before too, where I just kept working on a thing to make it "ready for launch" until I ran out of steam and never ended up launching it. It's a really cool site, I'll defenitely be keeping an eye on it and if you ever go the crowdsourcing route, hopefully also contribute. And I'm sorry for being yet another lazy HN commenter who didn't read far enough down the thread before opening their mouth (keyboard?) :)
logicallee 1y ago
to the author: thanks for making this. Can you tell us about how long it took you to develop this site, and what technology stack you use for it? How did you make it?
amelius 1y ago
Question. Are the RPi, Orange Pi, etc. suitable for use in professional hardware, or are these considered hobbyist products?
- sthlmb 1y ago
  Raspberry Pi products can be found in a lot of industrial/professional setups, especially things like their compute module range(s) that can be dropped into off-the-shelf, or custom carrier boards. Others can be a bit more hit and miss, though Libre Computer are up there with great software support, and will have their own compute modules available soon.
- vbezhenar 1y ago
  Most professional high-volume projects wouldn't use Raspberry Pi as it is, because those boards contain functions they don't need. So they would design their own board which will be cheaper and more compact by including only functions they need. That's why there's "Compute Module" SoM with minimal functionality. It is made for professional designs. But if you want to produce low volume product or you're 100% fulfilled with Raspberry Pi, there's nothing "unprofessional" about it. PCB is PCB.
sowbug 1y ago
Feature request: if the cells in a row are all identical, either exclude the row, de-emphasize it, or merge the cells so it's visually apparent that they're all the same. Example: Raspberry Pi 4 vs Raspberry Pi 5 (https://sbc.compare/9-raspberry-pi-4-2gb/14-raspberry-pi-5-4gb https://sbc.compare/9-raspberry-pi-4-2gb/14-raspberry-pi-5-4...). Architecture is ARM. But it's repeated for each column, which makes the reader have to look carefully at each cell to see whether it really is different. This is a pet peeve, particularly when a company's "compare versions" page lists dozens of identical dimensions across the product line, making finding the differences into a dreary where's-Waldo game.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  Good point! Added to my to-do list :)
foofoo12 1y ago
I noticed Luckfox Pico Mini isn't included there. Runs Linux. Few bucks on AliExpress: https://www.luckfox.com/Luckfox-Pico-Mini-A https://www.luckfox.com/Luckfox-Pico-Mini-A
- splitbrain 1y ago
  Unfortunately it seems not to have any wireless connectivity.
  - foofoo12 1y ago
    Correct. They do have one, more expensive, with wireless: https://www.luckfox.com/Mini-PC/Luckfox-Pico-Zero?sort=p.price&order=ASC https://www.luckfox.com/Mini-PC/Luckfox-Pico-Zero?sort=p.pri...
- sthlmb 1y ago
  Realistically, I don't think any of the tests I have would run on something like that, I'd need to look at different types of tests, and then they wouldn't really be comparable with the rest. Though, I don't think most people would really be thinking "Hmm should I get a Luckfox Pico Mini A, or a Raspberry Pi" but the feedback surrounding these smaller boards has been interesting, so never say never, but I don't think it's within the scope I had in mind just yet.
  - foofoo12 1y ago
    > "Hmm should I get a Luckfox Pico Mini A, or a Raspberry Pi" You're correct that they aren't really comparable. But a lot of the time a RPI is a monumental overkill of biblical proportions for what is needed.
tuatoru 1y ago
Idle power and sleep power are important for embedded applications.
Havoc 1y ago
Nice project!
veegee 1y ago
This is actually pretty terrible. Apart from the things “okanat” said, the site is a nightmare in terms of UI and extremely buggy. I didn’t realize modern websites could get this bad.
- taink 1y ago
  How so? Where are the bugs you speak of? I don't find the UI to be nightmarish either. Can you point to specific issues the site maintainer can look at? If this is the worst modern website you've seen, you're very lucky.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  If you could share a little more on what you actually mean, that would help a ton. I’m not a developer, I put this together as I went, learning along the way. It’s not perfect, and I’m aware of some issues, but if you’d be so kind to expand on “pretty terrible” then maybe I can see if it’s already known, or something I should add to the list.
- Tor3 1y ago
  I've been clicking my way around the website for a while now. I haven't seen any bugs or glitches. Could you give an example of what's failing for you?
plutonium3345 1y ago
[dead]
fiddlerwoaroof 1y ago
Is there a SBC that can run entirely off PoE+ and that can take a couple SATA or M.2 drives?
- sthlmb 1y ago
  It's a little bigger than what I imagine you're looking for, but the Radxa 5 ITX (not the ITX+) has 4 SATA ports, PoE+ (via a separate module), 2x2.5GbE, and the RK3588 SoC - I've been testing OpenMediaVault on it for the last couple of weeks and it's been pretty solid. If you're fine with M.2, the Radxa ROCK 5B+ has 2 M.2 M-Key connectors, the same RK3588 SoC, and PoE via a HAT bought separately. Otherwise, there are dual NVMe HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 but you'll be splitting a single PCIe Gen 2 lane across both drives (unless you go for the much more expensive HATs that have a Gen 3 PCIe switch on them to then share a single Gen 3 lane across them!)
  - fiddlerwoaroof 1y ago
    That looks about the right size, I think: my goal was to put it on top of my ubiquiti dream machine and directly wire it, but I’m limited in terms of power supply because of the number of outlets in the area.
splitbrain 1y ago
I wish there were any SBCs under 10 bucks. Remember the promise of the RPi Zero being 5$? That promise never came true.
- squarefoot 1y ago
  It was, but for a very restricted number of users. For like 2 years people hoped to get a RPi Zero at $5 and as a result didn't buy boards by the competition (OrangePi, NanoPi, etc) which were becoming really good and cheap, although not at that price, if memory serves the NanoPi Duo (first model) was around $12. That move was the reason that pushed me to abandon the RPi for other brands and never look back.
trashb 1y ago
I wonder why a lot of SBC comparisons leave out the Intel up-board line of products.
chfritz 1y ago
No video encoder information! As a roboticist, the number one thing I look for when comparing SBCs is whether they have hardware encoders for h264 video. Pi4, Jetson Nano, and Orange Pi 5 all had one, but some newer boards like the Pi5 and Orin Nano don't. It would be awesome to have that part of the spec be included in the data/comparison.

222 points by todsacerdoti 1y ago

HeyMeco 1y ago

Love when actually useful sites appear. Fits the same category of sites like the one LTTLabs is working on

cjs_ac 1y ago

Similar (but without comparisons): https://hackerboards.com/ https://hackerboards.com/

MartijnBraam 1y ago
Uuh hackerboards has comparisons, for example https://hackerboards.com/compare/raspberry-pi-foundation-raspberry-pi-5/pine64-hardrock64/ https://hackerboards.com/compare/raspberry-pi-foundation-ras...

hackingonempty 1y ago

Looks cool but no microcontroller boards yet. I didn't get any results for "RP2350" for example.

Neywiny 1y ago
Those aren't SBCs
- hackingonempty 1y ago
  what is the difference?
  - Neywiny 1y ago
    I'm sure there are exceptions to these but: SBCs have micro*processors* not microcontrollers. What's the implication? SBCs run Linux. What's the implication? You can develop a set of programs and stacks on a big desktop, and kinda just copy-paste boom it's on an embedded device. Often including networking, USB, HMI, cameras, etc. All can be done on a microcontroller (though you'd want something with more power than a pico), but not copy paste.
  - shadowpho 1y ago
    SBC are easier to program for, you can trivially ssh in later and fix/update things. Meanwhile mcu are… tricky. For an example I wanted to measure co2 level. It took me about a week to write it in raspberry pi zero w2. It captures data, stores it in sqlite, then every so often transfers to Postgres. To do the same in esp32 took a couple months ( including storage and updates)
    - Neywiny 1y ago
      Ngl it sounds like you architected that wrong then? The ESP32 should've issued an API request to some other server that runs the sql and whatnot. That shouldn't take months. I've done that in like a few minutes with adafruit's stuff
      - shadowpho 1y ago
        It’s easy to do something that will work for weeks. It’s hard to do something that will last years. For example, how does it handle wifi going down? Does it recover gracefully? Does it manage to save the data during downtime and reupload it all afterwards? How does it handle updates through wifi? OTA updates are important for 10 devices deployed, but is not easy.
        bschwindHN 1y ago
        Honestly I would much rather handle that sort of project in an embedded environment and not something running linux. esp-idf has answers for all those questions. You can hook up an SD card to buffer measurements when the network is down, reconnecting is usually as simple as a loop that tries to reconnect if you're not currently connected, and OTA updates are a solved problem with many different strategies to choose from.
        shadowpho 1y ago
        >Honestly I would much rather handle that sort of project in an embedded environment and not something running linux. That’s because you haven’t done it. There’s a lot more code to write in embedded case and lots of pitfalls to fall into. >OTA updates are a solved problem with many different strategies to choose from. No. Just no. Esp32 provides nice libraries to do update but acquisition/logic/code to use that is up to you. You still have to write a lot of code around the libraries and more importantly — debug and think of how to use it. For example — let’s say you pushed an update that crashes early in boot (or other points). No problem, you’ve designed an AB update system so you just roll back to A. Not so fast because A partition will try to update back to the botched update after roll back. Causing device to go into a update/crash loop and killing the esp32 in the process (flash has a limited number of erase cycles) So you say “ok I’ll just store the update number in flash and only update 3x times before blacklisting”. Well congrats now you gotta go write more code! And this time you get to have fun with nvs library which is great but not trivial. And once again if you make a bug you’ll face either a dead and recoverable device or dead for real device. >reconnecting is usually as simple as a loop that tries to reconnect if you're not currently connected Oh god no. Take a look here: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32s2/api-guides/wifi.html https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/stable/esp32s... Specifically this part: >Generally, it is easy to write code in "sunny-day" scenarios, such as WIFI_EVENT_STA_START and WIFI_EVENT_STA_CONNECTED. The hard part is to write routines in "rainy-day" scenarios, such as WIFI_EVENT_STA_DISCONNECTED. Good handling of "rainy-day" scenarios is fundamental to robust Wi-Fi applications. How well does your code handle “I’m connected to Wi-Fi but don’t have an IP?” Or it has an ip but can’t hit your server? Or it can’t hit dns? There’s a bunch of errors and transitionary state that just sucks. Meanwhile you mention “just buffer the data in SD card”. Once again, write a pile of code, and then put a layer on top of it to store your data. This is a more straight forward problem but adding data to SQLite file and then sending it out is just so much easier. And then you have to work with time. “Just buffering data” also requires keeping track of time because now you can’t use receive time as your capture time. Now you gotta write more code to synchronize the time on esp32 to your server which is a solved problem on Linux.
  - Gigachad 1y ago
    Not sure the most specific definition. But in an easy to understand way, SBCs run an OS like Linux or Windows, while microcontroller boards have a single program flashed directly on to them which directly interacts with the hardware. Microcontrollers are super cheap and have incredibly low latency so they are great for when you need to do something like pulse an output pin with sub millisecond accuracy, but have very very little compute compared to a real CPU and can’t run normal software.

okanat 1y ago

Benchmarks are alright but as an embedded engineer I first select a performance segment and then actually prioritize the hardware abilities and engineering support from the SoC manufacturer. Before getting into benchmarks I would actually look which hardware capabilities a specific SoC supports first (eDP, HDMI or LVDS, USB ports, i2c, GPIO pins etc). Then I would check whether the manufacturer actually maintains mainline Linux kernel drivers or keeps an up-to-date downstream kernel. I look at their frequency for updates. For media systems having HW acceleration is crucial. Most ARM vendors do a crappy job of providing good open source drivers for this. Similarly I go and check their Yocto BSPs. If I don't like their organization, that's going to affect my final decision. If it is a power-sensitive project, then the special modes and extra driver support for various sleeping modes come into play. (Most of the time Intel just wins with those criteria because ARM ecosystem is a mess of proprietary blobs. However there are manufacturers like NXP and MediaTek who do release passable drivers and when power consumption is important they get selected or if the product is very price-sensitvie) This website looks alright maybe for hobbyists for pure CPU loads with very well cooled systems. I don't find it very useful without the actual engineering details, adding those would massively benefit the website.

sthlmb 1y ago
Hey! So I was quite surprised to see my site posted on here so soon after hitting the "go live" button, and thanks for your comment. I wrote a blog post about why I made the site at https://bret.dk/introducing-sbc-compare/ https://bret.dk/introducing-sbc-compare/ if anyone's interested, but to TL;DR it, I didn't set out to create a site like this, it was a side quest after creating the automation and database to support my reviews, which do indeed focus on the hobbyist trying to explore Raspberry Pi SBCs and their many alternatives. I have full specifications and hardware capabilities hidden behind a feature flag at the moment as I'm working my way through adding all of that data (currently at 80 SBCs in the database, and I'm only adding those I own and have run tests on) so there should be something similar to what you're asking for soon. Thanks again!
- nuker 1y ago
  After that, have a look at pcpartpicker.com, motherboards section. They have feature selectors, like number of usb ports, power connector type and so on. Very useful to find boards.

leeoniya 1y ago

if LattePanda for $178 is on the list might as well throw in the Quieter 4C: https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Mini-Quieter-4C-Astrophotography/dp/B0CP3YL6J7 https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Mini-Quieter-4C-Astrophotography... very impressive N100 device. i run EndeavourOS with KDE/plasma on mine. i swapped out to a faster and more efficient single sided 4TB nvme. it's fanless and idles at ~4.5W according to the USB-C cable's lcd power readout.

pizza234 1y ago
The quite renowned Odroid Hx are also missing.
- sthlmb 1y ago
  I guess I'll reply here and cover both of the comments :D There are currently 80 SBCs in the database, and they're all boards that I've obtained over the last few years. It's a side project/hobby and buying many more boards would be a very expensive affair :( New boards will be a mixture of those that interest me, and those that vendors (very kindly) send to be included on the website. Sadly, as much as I'd love to, I can't do a Pokémon and catch them all, so there will be some missing!
  - aspenmayer 1y ago
    Do you accept donations of hardware to be tested and added to the site?
    - sthlmb 1y ago
      I do accept them from vendors directly (and it has no bearing on how I run the tests) but I've not taken any from individuals before. I'm not quite sure how I'd do that logistically, but if there's something interesting then I'm open to discussing it! I'm currently in talks with a few of the vendors to start filling the database with missing boards from their ranges so we should have more data available in the coming weeks. There should be 2 BeagleBoard (Eco Green and PocketBeagle 2) arriving tomorrow/Tuesday to expand their range on the site!

blopp99 1y ago

Did the up in price on RPis ended up being permanent?

IshKebab 1y ago

None of it really matters until there's a competitor that has software support 1/10th as good as Raspberry Pi.

sthlmb 1y ago
Check out Libre Computer if you haven't already!
hackingonempty 1y ago
TI's "Beagle" ecosystem has software support at least 1/10th as good as RPI, maybe even 2/10ths.
ValdikSS 1y ago
Newer Raspberries also rely on third-party components they have limited control of. VL805 USB chip in RPi 4 and 5 has known bugs since 2020 which are still not fixed.
pjmlp 1y ago
Agreed, I would only consider Arduino or ESP32 as alternatives, which naturally don't even have the resources for UNIX clone, which is akin to going back to 16 bit home coding, booting straight into the game or demoscene.
pyb 1y ago
This. Your SBC's ecosystem/support is 10x more important than its specs.
squarefoot 1y ago
Not one but two full Debian ports are more than enough to me. https://www.armbian.com/download/ https://www.armbian.com/download/ https://dietpi.com/#download https://dietpi.com/#download Things may differ a bit in the educational field because of the vast community the RPi can count on, but Linux is Linux, I don't see why a school shouldn't use a different platform and make the solution of problems, if any, part of the learning process.
- 1y ago

eqvinox 1y ago

No searching by PCIe support it seems :'( (Or I'm too stupid to use it.) btw: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbarm https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbarm - but also no search by PCIe there

sthlmb 1y ago
I have full specification capability hiding in the background and once I've filled out all of the data, you'll be able to do just this!

iancarroll 1y ago

Clicking on “ARM” only seems to show Raspberry Pi’s and not the other ARM boards listed on the site.

sthlmb 1y ago
I've noticed a couple of issues with the search and filtering this evening, I'll have to look at it tomorrow. In the meantime, https://sbc.compare/arm https://sbc.compare/arm (there's also /risc-v and /x86) may help a little here!
- iancarroll 1y ago
  That’s a nice list, thanks!

geerlingguy 1y ago

I'm happy to see this exist; I've considered putting together something similar using the data I compile for https://sbc-reviews.jeffgeerling.com/ https://sbc-reviews.jeffgeerling.com/ - but it's surprisingly complex. One of the hardest things is settling on specific tests, and ensuring tests are run in an extremely standardized environment. I do my best, but a test lab I am not. It's good to have a quick way to get relative comparisons, even if imperfect.

sthlmb 1y ago
And until you decide to execute on that plan, I'll enjoy this little bit of attention :D Thanks again for the support!

franga2000 1y ago

Performance is cool, but if you're already building a giant database of SBC information, I/O, peripherals and features seem like a much more important thing to add. Just in the Orange Pi lineup, there are so many different models and so little structured information about them, that the best source still seems to be the google sheet that I created in 2017 and has been continously updated by various community members over the years [0]. And that's all one manufacturer! Things like which type and how many video outs, USB ports, if it has onboard flash, DSI/CSI, pinout compatibility... are so much more important and so much harder to get than performance numbers, which usually boil down to the SoC plus a small margin for thermal and power design of the board. If this site were open source (and time + knowledge of stack permitting), I'd take a stab at adding a way to include that info as well, maybe even through crowd-sourcing. [0] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14QDXdMR1a1kc0gpRpTzIV60Tfx_zF6eurGOc3y7w3FY/edit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14QDXdMR1a1kc0gpRpTzI...

sthlmb 1y ago
I hear you! Like I mention to others in the thread, this functionality is already there, I just need to finish populating all of the data. To get over a mental block I had to decide whether I'd continue trying to add each feature before an initial launch (and be there forever) or give myself a shot of motivation by getting an initial performance comparison feature set out there and iterate as I go along. As soon as I have all of that data in there (I think I'm at around 30-40% so far, the initial batch of testing has been a slog, data entry for this took a back seat) I'll be enabling that option and it will all be there to view on comparison pages, and search for to help find/compare on a deeper level.
- franga2000 1y ago
  I completely get it, it's great that you launched it quickly, I've gotten stuck on that before too, where I just kept working on a thing to make it "ready for launch" until I ran out of steam and never ended up launching it. It's a really cool site, I'll defenitely be keeping an eye on it and if you ever go the crowdsourcing route, hopefully also contribute. And I'm sorry for being yet another lazy HN commenter who didn't read far enough down the thread before opening their mouth (keyboard?) :)

logicallee 1y ago

to the author: thanks for making this. Can you tell us about how long it took you to develop this site, and what technology stack you use for it? How did you make it?

amelius 1y ago

Question. Are the RPi, Orange Pi, etc. suitable for use in professional hardware, or are these considered hobbyist products?

sthlmb 1y ago
Raspberry Pi products can be found in a lot of industrial/professional setups, especially things like their compute module range(s) that can be dropped into off-the-shelf, or custom carrier boards. Others can be a bit more hit and miss, though Libre Computer are up there with great software support, and will have their own compute modules available soon.
vbezhenar 1y ago
Most professional high-volume projects wouldn't use Raspberry Pi as it is, because those boards contain functions they don't need. So they would design their own board which will be cheaper and more compact by including only functions they need. That's why there's "Compute Module" SoM with minimal functionality. It is made for professional designs. But if you want to produce low volume product or you're 100% fulfilled with Raspberry Pi, there's nothing "unprofessional" about it. PCB is PCB.

sowbug 1y ago

Feature request: if the cells in a row are all identical, either exclude the row, de-emphasize it, or merge the cells so it's visually apparent that they're all the same. Example: Raspberry Pi 4 vs Raspberry Pi 5 (https://sbc.compare/9-raspberry-pi-4-2gb/14-raspberry-pi-5-4gb https://sbc.compare/9-raspberry-pi-4-2gb/14-raspberry-pi-5-4...). Architecture is ARM. But it's repeated for each column, which makes the reader have to look carefully at each cell to see whether it really is different. This is a pet peeve, particularly when a company's "compare versions" page lists dozens of identical dimensions across the product line, making finding the differences into a dreary where's-Waldo game.

sthlmb 1y ago
Good point! Added to my to-do list :)

foofoo12 1y ago

I noticed Luckfox Pico Mini isn't included there. Runs Linux. Few bucks on AliExpress: https://www.luckfox.com/Luckfox-Pico-Mini-A https://www.luckfox.com/Luckfox-Pico-Mini-A

splitbrain 1y ago
Unfortunately it seems not to have any wireless connectivity.
- foofoo12 1y ago
  Correct. They do have one, more expensive, with wireless: https://www.luckfox.com/Mini-PC/Luckfox-Pico-Zero?sort=p.price&order=ASC https://www.luckfox.com/Mini-PC/Luckfox-Pico-Zero?sort=p.pri...
sthlmb 1y ago
Realistically, I don't think any of the tests I have would run on something like that, I'd need to look at different types of tests, and then they wouldn't really be comparable with the rest. Though, I don't think most people would really be thinking "Hmm should I get a Luckfox Pico Mini A, or a Raspberry Pi" but the feedback surrounding these smaller boards has been interesting, so never say never, but I don't think it's within the scope I had in mind just yet.
- foofoo12 1y ago
  > "Hmm should I get a Luckfox Pico Mini A, or a Raspberry Pi" You're correct that they aren't really comparable. But a lot of the time a RPI is a monumental overkill of biblical proportions for what is needed.

tuatoru 1y ago

Idle power and sleep power are important for embedded applications.

Havoc 1y ago

Nice project!

veegee 1y ago

This is actually pretty terrible. Apart from the things “okanat” said, the site is a nightmare in terms of UI and extremely buggy. I didn’t realize modern websites could get this bad.

taink 1y ago
How so? Where are the bugs you speak of? I don't find the UI to be nightmarish either. Can you point to specific issues the site maintainer can look at? If this is the worst modern website you've seen, you're very lucky.
sthlmb 1y ago
If you could share a little more on what you actually mean, that would help a ton. I’m not a developer, I put this together as I went, learning along the way. It’s not perfect, and I’m aware of some issues, but if you’d be so kind to expand on “pretty terrible” then maybe I can see if it’s already known, or something I should add to the list.
Tor3 1y ago
I've been clicking my way around the website for a while now. I haven't seen any bugs or glitches. Could you give an example of what's failing for you?

plutonium3345 1y ago

[dead]

fiddlerwoaroof 1y ago

Is there a SBC that can run entirely off PoE+ and that can take a couple SATA or M.2 drives?

sthlmb 1y ago
It's a little bigger than what I imagine you're looking for, but the Radxa 5 ITX (not the ITX+) has 4 SATA ports, PoE+ (via a separate module), 2x2.5GbE, and the RK3588 SoC - I've been testing OpenMediaVault on it for the last couple of weeks and it's been pretty solid. If you're fine with M.2, the Radxa ROCK 5B+ has 2 M.2 M-Key connectors, the same RK3588 SoC, and PoE via a HAT bought separately. Otherwise, there are dual NVMe HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 but you'll be splitting a single PCIe Gen 2 lane across both drives (unless you go for the much more expensive HATs that have a Gen 3 PCIe switch on them to then share a single Gen 3 lane across them!)
- fiddlerwoaroof 1y ago
  That looks about the right size, I think: my goal was to put it on top of my ubiquiti dream machine and directly wire it, but I’m limited in terms of power supply because of the number of outlets in the area.

splitbrain 1y ago

I wish there were any SBCs under 10 bucks. Remember the promise of the RPi Zero being 5$? That promise never came true.

squarefoot 1y ago
It was, but for a very restricted number of users. For like 2 years people hoped to get a RPi Zero at $5 and as a result didn't buy boards by the competition (OrangePi, NanoPi, etc) which were becoming really good and cheap, although not at that price, if memory serves the NanoPi Duo (first model) was around $12. That move was the reason that pushed me to abandon the RPi for other brands and never look back.

trashb 1y ago

I wonder why a lot of SBC comparisons leave out the Intel up-board line of products.

chfritz 1y ago

No video encoder information! As a roboticist, the number one thing I look for when comparing SBCs is whether they have hardware encoders for h264 video. Pi4, Jetson Nano, and Orange Pi 5 all had one, but some newer boards like the Pi5 and Orin Nano don't. It would be awesome to have that part of the spec be included in the data/comparison.