Raspberry Pi vs. Banana Pi: Powerful New Features Compared
At first glance, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B and the Banana Pi M5 might appear to be the same product made by different companies. Though they are generally used by the same types of people (such as electronics hobbyists) and offer similar specifications, they are rival products with some distinct differences. Let’s explore and compare some of the key features of these inexpensive single-board computers and how they compare.
Raspberry Pi History
The Raspberry Pi is a series of single-board computers (SBC) designed and manufactured by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the United Kingdom. These devices were initially intended for promoting computer science education, but they quickly found widespread use in other fields such as home automation and robotics, as well as in industry.
The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B was launched in June 2019 and brought numerous hardware and performance improvements over its predecessors. The Raspberry Pi 4 B is one of the most common SBCs out there, and it can be used in a wide range of DIY projects such aswireless doorbells,fun gaming projects, and forstoring your passwords securely.
Banana Pi History
With the success of the Raspberry Pi in the consumer and industrial sectors, a number of clones soon appeared in the market, trying to get a slice of the pie. Sinovoip Co., Ltd’s Banana Pi is one such board range that has become very popular and consistently tries to outdo Raspberry Pis. The hardware design for these boards is based on that of the Raspberry Pi and usually includes a similar 40-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) connector.
The Banana Pi was one of the first boards to support SATA, for connecting mass-storage devices, and has been around since 2014. It has a good reputation for being reliable and easy to use. The company has recently revealed a Raspberry Pi Compute 4 alternative, the BPI-RK3588, that is loaded with a powerful octa-core Rockchip RK3588 CPU.
However, here we’re focusing on the Banana Pi M5,the latest SBC released by the company, and how it compares to the Raspberry Pi 4.
Reasons to Choose the Raspberry Pi 4
The Raspberry Pi 4 has many advantages. You should consider buying one because:
Reasons to Choose the Banana Pi M5
The Banana Pi M5 has several strengths, including the following:
Price: Which Board Is Cheaper?
At the time of writing, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model 4 B is much cheaper than the Banana Pi M5. The Raspberry Pi 4 is officially sold at a starting price of $35 while the Banana Pi M5 is currently being sold wholesale for about $64 onAlibaba. However, due to the recent shortage, you will be lucky to find a Raspberry Pi 4 at that stated place. You are much more likely to find it being sold by third-party retailers for far more. Find outwhere you can buy a Raspberry Pi.
The Banana PI, on the other hand, isn’t in as much demand as the Pi 4 and you are more likely to find it for less money. The board, together with a heat sink and a compatible power supply, is available for $89 in thisAliExpress store.
So, which board is actually cheaper? The answer is not so straightforward. How much you spend entirely depends on where you buy it from, but current events have made it easier to find a Banana Pi M5 for a better price.
Networking Features
Unfortunately, the BPI M5 provides limited options for connectivity. It only includes a Gigabit Ethernet port and lacks onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, although you can buy a USB dongle for wireless connectivity.
On the other hand, the Raspberry Pi 4 has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so you have the USB ports free for other uses.
Thermal Performance
Thermal performance is another important factor to consider when choosing an SBC. The BPI M5 is powered by the ARM-55 processor, which has been proven to be more power-efficient than the Raspberry Pi 4’s A-72.
This means that the Banana Pi M5 runs a little cooler than the Raspberry Pi 4 without as many thermal throttling issues, making it better suited for use under heavy load and in tighter enclosures.
Memory and CPU Performance
The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B has 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB versions to suit the needs of different users. The BPI M5 only comes with 4GB of RAM. So if you are going to be running memory-intensive programs, the Raspberry Pi 4 may be a better choice. Both devices have sufficient memory for light surfing, retro emulation, and multimedia viewing.
The onboard eMMC storage of the BPI M5 provides much better read/write speeds than you get with SD cards and gives the board an edge over the Pi 4.
The Raspberry Pi 4 has a more powerful CPU and this is evidenced inbenchmark tests, with the BPI M5 performing slightly worse than the Pi 4 on the Octane 2.0 benchmark. The Banana Pi M5 board still performs better than the Raspberry Pi 3 B, but it is not a major contender for the more high-end Raspberry Pi 4.
Hardware Specifications Compared
Banana Pi M5
Raspberry Pi 4B
Dimensions & Weight
92mm x 60mm, 48g
85,6mm × 56.5 mm, 46 g
Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Cortex-A55 (ARMv8.2-A) 64-bit @1.5GHz
Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @1.5GHz
Mali-G31 MP2 GPU
Broadcom VideoCore VI
4GB LPDDR4
1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM
16GB eMMC flash with support for up to 64GB, microSD card slot
No eMMC, microSD card slot
Gigabit Ethernet; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth available via expansion boards
Gigabit Ethernet; 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless; Bluetooth 5.0, BLE
Audio Output(s)
3.5 mm analog audio-video (or digital via HDMI)
3.5 mm analog audio-video jack (or digital via HDMI)
Video Output(s)
1 x HDMI 2.1 (up to 4K@60Hz with HDR, CEC, EDID)
2 × micro-HDMI 2.0 (up to 4K@60Hz supported)
Power Supply
5V@3A via USB-C
5V DC (minimum 3A) via USB-C or GPIO header; Power over Ethernet (using PoE HAT)
Physical Switches
Reset, User, and U-boot
4 × USB 3.0 ports
2 × USB 3.0 ports and 2 × USB 2.0 ports
40-pin GPIO header (2x20 pins), 2.54mm pitch
Documentation, Support, and Community
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has provided usefuldocumentationfor all its devices. This documentation includes introductory guides and technical information for Raspberry Pi users of all levels.
There is agetting-started guidefor the Banana Pi M5 as well, but it is nowhere as detailed. It does offer helpful information for installing an operating system and configuring the Banana Pi.
Both devices have communities that offer support online. The Raspberry Pi community is much larger and way more active, which means that you’re more likely to find solutions to whatever problems may arise. The Banana Pi community is by no means dead or inactive, but it is tiny compared to that of the Raspberry Pi.
You also get regular updates and bug fixes with the Raspberry Pi. On the other hand, vendor support is one of the many tradeoffs you are going to make when you buy a Banana Pi. That might not be much of a deal-breaker for advanced users, but beginners are going to be better served by the much larger Raspberry Pi community and the regular updates offered by the company.
Which Should You Go For?
The Raspberry Pi 4 is better suited for beginners as it offers a less rocky start to hardware hacking. The community is active and growing, and there is a wealth of resources dedicated to helping you understand the Raspberry Pi and how to use it.
The Banana Pi M5 will be a better fit for people who are already quite familiar with SBCs, know their way around a GPIO header, and need the particular features of the Banana Pi in their projects.
The current supply situation with Raspberry Pis has also made alternative boards more attractive. If you fall into any of these aforementioned categories, you may want to check out the Banana Pi M5.
Which Raspberry Pi project should you start with? Here’s our roundup of the best Raspberry Pi uses and projects around!
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