Nowadays there are many Arduino boards are available in the market. As of now, we have only discussed the Arduino UNO only. In this article, I have differentiated between some popular Arduino boards. Here you will find a detailed comparison between some Arduino boards. Now, the reason behind they launched different types of boards is to provide flexibility to use it according to your project need.
So, in this tutorial, I will provide the information so that you can use those boards for your different types of projects. So let’s see what Arduino boards I have added in my comparison list.
Table of Contents
Arduino UNO
This board is used the most by beginners to enthusiasts. Almost in every Arduino project, you can see this board. It has the ATMega328p microcontroller on board. One can program this board through the USB interface available on the board. It is so popular nowadays because it is cheap, easy to use, and most important it has the largest number of supporting libraries and module prototypes. This makes it very easy to use in any project. The table below has some technical information about this board.
| Number of digital pins | 14 |
| Number of PWM pins (out of digital pins) | 6 |
| Analog inputs | 6 |
| Program Memory | 32kB |
| Random Access memory | 2kB |
| EEPROM | 1kB |
| Operating frequency | 16MHz |
| Communication ports | UART(Serial), I2C, SPI |
| DC Current per I/O Pin | max 40mA and 20mA continuous |
You can use this board in almost every project where you need a program space of less than 32kB and size doesn’t matter that much.
Arduino Nano
Arduino Nano is a smaller version of Arduino UNO. It has the same chip as UNO but in the SMD version. The only differences are the external power jack (available on the Arduino UNO) and the USB to TTL converter chip. The best thing about this board is that it is breadboard friendly. You can mount it onto the breadboard. This makes it even easier for the experiment purpose. This board is popular among developers because of its breadboard friendliness and small size. The technical specifications of both boards are the same.
| Number of digital pins | 14 |
| Number of PWM pins (out of digital pins) | 6 |
| Analog Inputs | 6 |
| Program Memory | 32kB |
| Random Access memory | 2kB |
| EEPROM | 1kB |
| Operating frequency | 16MHz |
| Communication ports | UART(Serial), I2C, SPI |
| DC Current per I/O Pin | 40mA |
Arduino Nano Every
Arduino Nano Every is the upgraded version of the Arduino Nano. It is powered by the more powerful microcontroller ATMega4809. This processor features 50% more program data and 200% more RAM space. It has 14 digital pins and 8 analog pins. 5 out of 14 digital pins also provide PWM functionality. It also can be mounted on the breadboard. Here are the technical specifications of the Arduino Nano Every.
| Number of digital pins | 14 |
| Number of PWM pins (out of digital pins) | 5 |
| Analog Inputs | 8 |
| Program Memory | 48kB |
| Random Access memory | 6kB |
| EEPROM | 256B |
| Operating frequency | 16MHz |
| Communication ports | UART(Serial), I2C, SPI |
| Operating voltage | 7-18V |
| DC Current per I/O Pin | 15mA |
Arduino PRO Mini
If you remove the USB Interface from Arduino nano then you will get the Arduino Pro Mini. To program this you will need an external USB to TTL converter. The functionality of this board is the same as the Arduino UNO and Nano. This is the smallest Arduino board you can get. It operates on 3.3 volts as well as 5 volts. It comes in both versions. They reduce its clock speed to 8MHz to improve stability.
| Number of digital pins | 14 |
| Number of PWM pins (out of digital pins) | 6 |
| Analog Inputs | 6 |
| Program Memory | 32kB |
| Random Access memory | 2kB |
| EEPROM | 1kB |
| Operating frequency | 8MHz |
| Communication ports | UART(Serial), I2C, SPI |
| DC Current per I/O Pin | 40mA |
Arduino Mega 2560
Arduino Mega 2560 is the biggest board in the Arduino family. Mega has 54 input/ output pins out of which 15 can be used as PWM pins, 16 analog input pins, and 4 UARTs (Serial communication). It has more program memory and RAM. This board is used mostly in industries because it has more program storage and RAM. This board is ideal for applications that need more storage or more pins or both.
| Number of digital pins | 54 |
| Number of PWM pins (out of digital pins) | 15 |
| Analog Inputs | 16 |
| Program Memory | 256 KB of which 8 KB is used by the bootloader |
| Random Access memory | 8kB |
| EEPROM | 4kB |
| Operating frequency | 16MHz |
| Communication ports | 4 UART(Serial), I2C, SPI |
| DC Current per I/O Pin | 40mA |
Arduino UNO WiFi
Arduino UNO WIFI comes in the same form factor and size as Arduino UNO. But it is powered using a powerful chip ATMega 4809 with u-blox NINA-W102 for WIFI and Bluetooth communication. WiFi connectivity which makes it easier to use in IoT projects. It can connect to any network or mobile hotspot with the NINA SoC with integrated TCO/IP protocol stack and browse anything from the internet. It also can work as an access point so that you can connect WiFi devices to it and use it as a local area network. This board also features onboard crypto chip accelerator (ECC608) for enchanced security and IMU for accelerated (Inertial) measurements.
| Number of digital pins | 14 |
| Number of PWM pins (out of digital pins) | 6 |
| Analog inputs | 6 |
| Program Memory | 32kB |
| Random Access memory | 2kB |
| EEPROM | 1kB |
| Operating frequency | 16MHz |
| Communication ports | UART(Serial), I2C, SPI |
| DC Current per I/O Pin | max 40mA and 20mA continuous |
| Additional featuresr | WiFi connectivity, BLE and accelerometer |
These are not only boards available. There are many more Arduino boards that we can considered. I have not added those Arduino boards in my comparison.
If you need any other functionality in the arduino boards then you can just plug the module of that device which provides that functionality. For example if you need the bluetooth connectivity then you can connect the HC-05 or HC-06 module to any arduino board. Moral of the story is that if you get the arduino boards with all the functionality you need in the reasonable price then go for it but if you don’t find it or it is costly, buy the indivisual components.