While Raspberry Pi boards have been around since 2012, they have historically been powered by Broadcom SoCs. All of this changed in January 2021 when we saw the first Raspberry Pi silicon, the RP2040 arrive. In a short space of time the RP2040 has become a major SoC in the maker community. With two Arm Cortex M0+ cores running at 133 MHz, 264KB of RAM and up to 16MB of Flash (stored external to the RP2040), these chips open up a new range of microcontrollers that compete more closely with traditional Arduino boards than a Raspberry Pi 4. Raspberry Pi used the RP2040 in its Lego compatible Build HAT in place of the STM32 that Lego uses in its control bricks.
The Raspberry Pi Pico, and the Raspberry Pi Pico W are both great boards, but there are many more to choose from. There are now around 100, third-party boards that offer improvements ranging from smaller boards to built-in Wi-Fi, more storage or may more additional outputs. There are even RP2040-powered keypads and digital displays. All of these boards share the same $1 RP2040 chip, but offer much more than the stock model.
With Raspberry Pi still being hard to come by (it is getting better, with 1 million units per month now) we’ve compiled the best RP2040 boards to get your projects up and running. These boards can be used for everything from general learning to building Wi-Fi connected robots to implementing basic A.I.
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- What size / pins do you need? Smaller RP2040 boards like Pimoroni’s Tiny RP2040, SparkFun’s Pro Micro RP2040 and Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 have fewer than the standard 40 pins, but can fit in smaller projects.
- Do you need wireless? With the introduction of the Pico W , we now have a low cost and easy to use means to get our projects online. Before that the RP2040 required add on boards such as Adafruit’s Airlift board or Pimoroni’s Pico Wireless Pack. There is also Arduino’s Nano RP2040 Connect, which comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, but this board costs over three times that of the Pico W.
- Choose your ecosystem: The pinouts of different RP2040 boards may align with different add-ons. For example, Adafruit’s Feather RP2040 is compatible with around two dozen different FeatherWing, including those which offer wireless connectivity while the Pico itself connects directly to Pimroni’s “packs.”
- Specialist connectors such as Stemma QT, Qwiic and Grove are desirable extra features for those that want simple and neat electronics projects. The Pico doesn’t come with any of these, but many third-party boards do. The simplicity of these connections belies the choice of sensors and components offered.
Best Raspberry Pi RP2040 Boards You Can Buy Today
The original and least expensive RP2040 board, the Raspberry Pi PIco costs just $4, and while it provided a solid base for projects it lacked Wi-Fi. The $6 Raspberry Pi Pico W introduced Wi-Fi to the Pico, while retaining the exact same pinout as its predecessor. This smart move means that the plethora of RP2040 accessories are available to the Pico W.
Getting online with the Raspberry Pi Pico W is a breeze. Just five lines of MicroPython is all it takes to connect, and from there we have a multitude of options at our disposal. We now have a $6 data collection device, a web controlled robot, or Internet connected information gathering platform.
The Raspberry Pi Pico W adds to the Pico ecosystem. It provides us with a lower power option to the Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 and keeps the Raspberry Pi product range ticking while the global supply chain recovers.
Read: Raspberry Pi Pico W Review
Adafruit, partners in the RP2040 project have released many great RP2040 boards in a short space of time. The company has its own ecosystem of form factors and its largest, the Feather, is where we saw their first RP2040 system. Designed to take advantage of an expansive range of add-ons called “FeatherWings”, the Feather RP2040 has fewer pins than a typical Raspberry Pi Pico, but the choice of pins is curated to give us the best that the RP2040 can offer.
What we lose in GPIO pins we gain in onboard LiPo / Li-Ion battery charging, great pin labeling and Stemma QT, Adafruit’s connector of choice for components that connect using I2C. With Stemma QT we have none of the messy wiring and polarity issues, enabling us to focus on the project and not our wiring.
If you’re looking for the most versatile RP2040 board on the market, look no further. Sure, we pay a premium over the Raspberry Pi Pico, but the Adafruit Feather RP2040 is a refined product that is ready to drop into your next project.
Read: Adafruit Feather RP2040 Review
The Raspberry Pi Pico is a fun and inexpensive way to get into coding and electronics. After buying a Pico, we need to also buy extra components to expand its scope and this can become costly and complicated. The Maker Pi Pico crams a lot of extra functions into a small package all for less than $10, including a pre-soldered Raspberry Pi Pico.
For $10, the sheer amount of features is amazing. We have a micro SD card reader, buzzer / 3.6mm audio jack, NeoPixel, all of the GPIO pins broken out for use and we have six Grove connectors for use with compatible components. Each of the GPIO pins has a useful LED that can be used to quickly debug an issue. The included ESP-01 header enables basic Wi-Fi access and, since we wrote our review, Cytron has released an updated guide on how to get the Maker Pi Pico connected to wireless. For $10 this board is hard to beat!
Read: Cytron Maker Pi Pico Review
Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 is similar to Pimoroni’s Tiny 2040. We have the RP2040 squeezed into the smallest package and we have a curated selection of GPIO pins for our projects. Adafruit’s QTPy RP2040 has castellated edges, designed to surface mount the board into a project and it features a Stemma QT / Qwiic connector which breaks out an additional I2C connection for use with Stemma QT / Qwiic compatible components, a useful and tidy solution for rapid prototyping.
The low cost and ease of use afforded by the QTPy RP2040 is amplified by Adafruit’s MicroPython fork, CircuitPython, which has many libraries of code for use with Stemma QT / Qwiic components. Even if you already own a Raspberry Pi Pico, the QTPy RP2040 should still be part of your project box.
Read: Adafruit QT Py RP2040 Review
Solder Party’s RP2040 Stamp is a $12, one-inch square board resembles a postage stamp but emblazoned on the center is the familiar RP2040 SoC, along with 8MB of flash storage and a full complement of GPIO pins forming a perimeter of castellations around the board.
RP2040 Stamp is designed for use in your own PCBs. The castellations and onboard LiPo charging system means that most of the hard work is done for us. This is a smartly designed board which we can see being used in a plethora of new projects.
Read: Solder Party RP2040 Stamp Review
Many of the Raspberry Pi Pico alternatives have one thing in common, they lack the full set of GPIO pins found on the Pico. Pimoroni’s Pico LiPo is a drop-in replacement for the Raspberry Pi Pico that provides all of the GPIO pins found on a Pico, with added bonus of onboard LiPo / Li-Ion charging and a Stemma QT / Qwiic connector.
Pico LiPo does cost more than three times the price of a standard Pico, but with these extra features in the same form factor we can justify spending the extra money. If you are planning to build embedded / mobile projects or wish to try out the Stemma QT / Qwiic components ecosystem, then Pico LiPo is a serious contender for your attention.
Read: Pimoroni Pico LiPo Review
For the Raspberry Pi, the Explorer HAT series of boards were the first step for many roboteers. Mixing easy to use software with great hardware was a winning combination. For the Raspberry Pi Pico W we see Inventor 2040 W following this fine tradition. When we say it just works, we really do mean it.
In our review we loved the simplicity of the board. It afforded us the confidence to invent and create ideas. From motorized contraptions, servos, sensors, a rather cute light show and a sea shanty. You can do it all with this board.
At the heart of the board is the Raspberry Pi Pico W and this brings Wi-Fi to the mix. This board has all the features you could need, and it can replace the Raspberry Pi Zero for many maker projects. In the classroom, makerspace or the home, this board is the one to reach for.
Read: Pimoroni Inventor 2040 W Review
Seeed’s $5 XIAO RP2040 is an upgrade on its previous SAMD21 model for no extra money. It shares the same pinout as Adafruit’s QT Py RP2040 but lacks the Stemma QT port. If you really need that port then pay the extra $5 for the QT Py, but for most uses Seeed’s XIAO RP2040 is more than up to the job.
The tiny board is made for dropping into an embedded project, and the castellated edges mean we can easily surface mount solder this board to a PCB. The cost per board means that we can embed and forget a project without hurting our wallets.
Read: Seeed XIAO RP2040
A bright and clear 2.4 inch IPS LCD that you can wear around your neck, or keep on your desk. Powered by the RP2040, Tufty 2040 is all about the display. Front and center this is a great display with good viewing angles and rich colors. Designed to be worn as a conference badge, Tufty 2040 is much more than a vanity project.
Around the back we see connections for Qw/ST (StemmaQT / Qwiic) sensors, which means we can easily use Tufty 2040 as a desktop data station for air quality and temperature data. Power can come from one of three sources. USB C, AAA batteries or LiPo. The AAA batteries and LiPo options connect via a dedicated JST-PH connector, but note that there is no builtin charging circuit so your batteries will need to be charged externally.
The small size, easy to use MicroPython library and Qw/ST connector elevate Tufty 2040 from being “just a badge” into a great data visualization tool. Sure we would love to see Wi-Fi as an option, Tufty 2040 came out just before the Raspberry Pi Pico W, so the overlap is unfortunate. That said, Tufty 2040 is still a great purchase.
Read: Pimoroni Tufty 2040 Review
Pimoroni’s Keybow 2040 is something special in the RP2040 range: a programmable 16-key keypad, powered by the RP2040. This isn’t a board that you use to build a project, rather it is something that we integrate into a project. With 16 mechanical keys, each with an addressable NeoPixel LED we can build the Keybow 2040 into our daily workflow.
The board ships with Pimoroni’s fork of MicroPython with modules to use Keybow 2040, but you will only get the best from this board via Adafruit’s CircuitPython and its USB HID module. Using this we can assign keypresses, media keys and mouse movements to any of the keys, making short work of tedious tasks.
Read: Pimoroni Keybow 2040 Review
The $10 SparkFun Pro Micro RP2040 is the cheapest model in SparkFun’s range and follows a classic design that resembles an Arduino Nano board layout which is at home in a breadboard and embedded into your projects. We have fewer GPIO pins than a Pico, but more than Adafruit’s QTPy RP2040 while retaining a small layout.
SparkFun’s Qwiic connector, compatible with Adafruit’s Stemma QT, enables us to use many of the compatible components such as sensors and displays with the Pro Micro and for $10 this is a Swiss Army Knife of a board that provides a cost effective and multi-purpose means to explore the RP2040 ecosystem.
Read: SparkFun Pro Micro RP2040 Review
The Raspberry Pi Pico W unleashed a low-cost, easy to use entrypoint for education and citizen science projects. For just $6 we now have a Wi-Fi connected device that can stream data over a network. Pimoroni’s Enviro Indoor uses the Pico W as the brains of an Internet of Things appliance that comes with its own temperature, humidity, air pressure, light and air quality sensors, packaged in a small board. The included setup script elevates Enviro Indoor from being “just another” sensor, into an accessible appliance designed to get results with minimal effort.
Read: Pimoroni Enviro Indoor
