Have you heard about small Linux-based development boards like the Raspberry Pi or Beaglebone Black, but been confused about which one is best for you? This guide will compare the specifications, performance, power usage, and development experience of four popular Linux-based development boards to help you choose which is right for you!



The boards that will be covered in this guide include:

This guide will compare each board with an emphasis on their features and capabilities for maker and electronics projects. All of these boards run a version of Linux and are great for putting sensors, gadgets, and other hardware on the internet. However, you'll see there are quite a few differences in the hardware and capabilities that might make you prefer one board over the other.





Note: Since this guide was published an updated Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 model were released. See this excellent comprehensive benchmark of all Raspberry Pi models for more details on their performance compared to each other and related boards.

The following table compares the specs of each board: