The Raspberry Pi family has been at the forefront of the SBC landscape ever since the release of its progenitor board in 2012. That said, despite the Raspberry Pi’s iron grip on the industry, rival boards have improved significantly in the last couple of years – to the point where many of these Single-Board Computers can surpass their Raspberry Pi counterparts.

But with so many worthwhile options on the market, it’s easy to get overwhelmed while you’re out to buy your next SBC. So, we’ve compiled a list of factors that you should consider when picking between the Raspberry Pi and rival SBCs.

4 Get other SBCs if you want different CPU architectures

You don’t have to force yourself to use the ARM architecture

The ARM architecture may be commonplace in the SBC marketplace, but it's far from the only option for tinkerers. Whereas the Raspberry Pi boards have stuck to the power-efficient ARM processors (and no, I’m not talking about the Pico 2 microcontroller and its RISC-V cores), other SBC manufacturers have moved on to different architectures.

For example, SBCs powered by RISC-V CPUs have already started making the rounds, and you can easily nab certain inexpensive boards like the Milk-V Duo S to experiment with these processors. Then there are the Radxa X4, Odroid H3/H3+, and other x86 boards, which are an absolute game changer for DIY lovers who need more oomph out of their SBCs. Not only can they run a plethora of operating systems, but these tiny devices walk toe-to-toe with budget-friendly mini PCs when it comes to performance.

3 Raspberry Pi boards have a larger collection of peripherals

Plenty of HATs for your green SBC

As the first major player in the consumer SBC space, the Raspberry Pi series has multiple first and third-party accessories designed specifically for its boards. So, if you’re someone who needs to interface branded PoE, IO expander, and temperature sensor HATs with your SBC, it might be a good idea to go with a Raspberry Pi system instead of trying your luck with a rival board.

And that’s before you include the extra HATs you can interface with the Raspberry Pi 5 thanks to its PCIe slot. If you’re looking to add AI-powered object detection, posture recognition, image segmentation, and other facilities to your camera module, you can outfit the SBC with the Raspberry Pi AI Kit. Heck, you can even connect a GPU with the miniature board, though you’ll need the patience of a saint and the skills of a DIY maestro to pull this wacky project off.

2 Buy other SBCs if you want better specs

Aside from the Zero lineup, the Raspberry Pi family doesn't have economical offerings

Despite the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s initial premise of making computing systems affordable for all, the price tags on the mainline boards tell a different story. Sure, the Zero lineup is fairly light on the wallet and is arguably the best budget-friendly SBC out there. However, the numbered entries in the Raspberry Pi series tend to lag behind its competitors.

For instance, the Raspberry Pi 5 ships with an Arm Cortex-A76 processor and a maximum of 8GB memory for $80. That doesn’t sound all that bad on paper, but once you include the overinflated prices caused by low stocks, it’s hard to call it an economical option. On the performance-per-dollar ratio, the Radxa X4 has the RPi 5 soundly beat, while the Orange Pi 5 and Odroid H3 leave the newest Raspberry Pi board in the dust in terms of sheer performance.

1 Grab a Raspberry Pi for better software support

After all, it’s backed by a huge community of tinkerers

Community support and apps can make or break a device, and the Raspberry Pi series is clearly an example of the former. With a highly motivated community of DIY experts, coders, and project-building masterminds, there’s a vast number of apps, services, and packages you can run on your Raspberry Pi.

And that’s before you include the detailed documentation and how-to guides designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi boards. Of course, rival SBCs have taken great strides in the OS and software departments. But as far as community support is concerned, it’s impossible to triumph over the huge collection of DIY projects built with the Raspberry Pi family.

So, which one’s better for newcomers?

While I’m not very fond of the corners the Raspberry Pi Foundation has cut in its recent offerings, I’d still pick RPi boards if I were to start my DIY journey again. Not only are Raspberry Pi systems better documented, but you also have plenty of projects to choose from. But given how budget-friendly rival boards – especially those of x86 origin – have become these days, I’d say they’re also worth keeping an eye out for.