1) Orange Pi Project Board
The Orange Pi Plus offers better specifications and performance than the Raspberry Pi 3 at a similar price. But, one thing it lacks is the large community support and enough documentation to solve the setup and debugging issues.
Some amazing features that make the Orange Pi a better Raspberry Pi 4 alternative:
It has higher hardware specifications than Pi 4 at lower price
It has SATA, IR, Gigabit Ethernet, and also a built-in mic which cannot be found on any of the Raspberry Pi models yet
Instead of the traditional Broadcom Arm processor, it comes with an Allwinner Quad-core H5 Cortex-A53 CPU
This single board computer has an open source support and can run Android, Debian, Ubuntu, etc. It comes with a 1GB SDRAM, 16GB internal storage, 4K video support, and much more features to give a tough competition to Pi.
2) Banana Pi Single Board Computer
Banana Pi is a single board open source computer which can run Kali Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Android, Cubieboard image and even the Raspberry Pi image. You can build games, WiFi server, sound and music, Android, HD videos, a fully functional computer and much more.
Top-class features of Banana Pi Single Board Computer:
It has an SATA port and Gigabit Ethernet port
AllWinner SoC and SDRAM of 1GB provides an optimal performance
This open source computer will not only allow you to consume the technology but also lets you create something unique to control your surrounding world
The build of Banana Pi is somewhat similar to the Raspberry Pi, but it has a faster CPU compared to the Pi models. With the lower price than the Raspberry Pi and onboard SATA support to connect your any mass storage device without configuring the USB port, the Banana Pi is giving a headache to Raspberry Pi family and became one of top Raspberry Pi 3 alternatives.
3) ASUS Tinker Board
The Asus Tinker Board has made us take it into the notice because it beats the Raspberry Pi in many benchmarks. It has impressive hardware specifications with well-executed design at a mid-range price. This single board is an all-in-one computer with motherboard, GPU, CPU, memory, and much more added to it.
Some high-quality hardware specifications of Asus Tinker Board include:
Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR connectivity
LPDDR3 2GB memory
HDMI port which supports 4K resolution
Four USB ports to have multiple connections
Latest 802.11 b/g/n Wireless support
The Asus Tinker Board supports Debian OS with inbuilt KODI compatibility. It has a more powerful processor than the Raspberry Pi and also has a double RAM support. Also, it supports 4K videos and 192K/24bit audio which are greater than the Raspberry Pi 3. It consumes more power than the Pi, though, but it is very marginal which can be neglected.
The Asus Tinker Board is perhaps the newest Raspberry Pi 4 alternative, but if it wants to become the best competitor to Pi, then it should build a good community support and get available for global users (p.s. – It currently available only in the UK).
4) Beagleboard (BeagleBone Rev C)
The Beagleboard is a single board computer system which consumes low power than its competitor – Raspberry Pi. Due to the open source hardware and software support to the users, it allows you to create a various design out of your mind.
Some noticeable features and specifications of Beagleboard BeagleBone Rev C are:
With the dimensions of just 75X75 mm, it is extremely lightweight and portable
ARM Cortex A8 Processor supports RISC OS, Open BSD, Free BSD, Linux Minix, Sybian and other OS
4GB onboard storage with a 512MB DDR3 RAM makes it a beast
It boots Linux OS in less than 5 seconds, and you can start development in less than 5 minutes
If we compare both, then we see that the Beagleboard is a cheap priced development single board computer which is a great alternative to Raspberry Pi. It lacks the Android support, but the company is aimed to provide it soon to the users. It is a fully potential board for the open source developers.
5) Arduino Board
The first Arduino board was launched in 2005, and since then it remains as the top Raspberry Pi competitor. It supports a long list of excellent open source creations. It is the only company that has tremendous community support just like the Raspberry Pi or better than it. It is not a single board computer but still it competes with Rpi.
The Arduino board comes with features like:
It supports programming languages like C, C++, etc. to code different projects of the real world
It is a perfect open source development platform for the electronic enthusiasts, robotic machine developers, and many other ventures
The UNO Rev3 board uses the ATmega328 processor with a high number of PWM outputs and digital I/O pins
It supports an integrated platform to any software and hardware project development environment
Most of the automation machines are based on the Arduino platform. With a full community and development support, the Arduino is the best Raspberry Pi alternative till the date.
6) ODROID-XU4 Single Board Computer
The ODROID-XU4 comes with a 2GB LPDDR3 RAM, USB 3.0, and a quad-core 2GHz A15 processor. It is claimed as working 2-4 times faster than the fastest Raspberry Pi 3 SBC.
Features of ODROID-XU4 Single Board Computer are:
It includes energy-efficient hardware configurations which provide powerful performance
It has Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and eMMC 5.0 interfaces to provide super-fast data transfer speeds
It is more compact, more expandable, and more affordable than the other single board computers
It has all the capabilities to support the ARM devices with some exceptional processing power support
If you test the ODROID-XU4, then you will definitely see the upgrade it booting, browsing, gaming, and computing speeds. With a small form factor, faster processing speeds, and support to almost all the Operating Systems, the ODROID-XU4 is a good Raspberry Pi4 alternative.
Of so many types of machines it will be necessary to decide on the most convenient to utility and costs, since these systems change constantly, that's what I consider to be our choice.