Is the Orange Pi Zero3 Better Than the Raspberry Pi?

The Orange Pi Zero3 is a relatively low priced SBC with a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor. It supports up to 4GB of RAM and can run Arch Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, and Android. There is also built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Gigabit Ethernet. Could this be a viable alternative to the Raspberry Pi?
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#garyexplains

[blandeauxfillaskii]

I purchased an Orange Pi Zero (original model) with 512 Mb ram with case and USB expansion board for $20 in May 2018. It has been running ever since with pihole for my network this entire time. I can't remember having any down time, it's been rock solid.

[marcos_pctech]

Ordered a 4 GB version
from Amazon for $40 with power supply
free shipping in the US. Im ordered yesterday and it arrived today . thanks for your contributions.

[LucasHartmann]

Having all connectors on the same edge is actually pretty useful if you intend to panel-mount or embed it

[mobodojo]

Using this bad boy to satisfy my addiction for self hosted services. Right now it’s running a 3D model repository for storing and viewing 3D models with full 360 rotation. Works great and efficiently and the OPiZ3 says it can handle more!

[srowley]

I ordered a 4 GB version from Amazon for $28 with free shipping in the US. I'm very interested to see how the software evolves in the coming months.

[PhG]

Great review with at the end a no-nonsence and straight forward advice! Awesome!

[Stabby]

Although many of these alternative boards could be contenders to the Raspberry Pi, they just don't have any community support and the board manufacturers never bother supporting them with new Linux builds or drivers, as they're more interested in just selling new boards. So often the video and other hardware is barely supported, or doesn't use any acceleration, and trying to write code for these boards (in C/C++) is almost impossible as header files etc are missing or incompatible. They're fine for basic stuff like running a file server, web server, or blinking an LED, but outside that they're basically abandonware.

[mysomervda]

Thanks Gary, Nice review - I have been getting excited with using the base Orange Pi Zero LTS (Not 3) and been really impressed. I ended up finding Armbian worked best for me, and was only running the board in headless mode so didn't have to worry about hdmi and drivers. It took a while but was able to find libraries that worked with python and the hardware (OPi.GPIO, luma for Oled and I2c, and could also get rtmidi going that use the uart). Maybe I will try a zero 3 to see how it compares.

[samaitcheson]

Thanks Gary. I've just bought a 1GB version to run Pi Hole. Great value for £13.

[GarthClarkson]

I've been using Orange Pi for years and have always found Armbian to be the most reliable and compatible option. It also works well for GPIO work but I did need to create a mapping file to make them properly compatilbe with the pinouts for Raspberry Pi HATs

[Autotrope]

The charts of relative performance were especially helpful. Do you have a spreadsheet somewhere or a website where you have more?

[thenextproblem]

Remember guys, these boards are not hobbyist generally. They need someone to do without Google help. İ have actually some products with zero lts and working for years without a problem.

İf you are serious to learn go buy one.

İf you are looking for something to play with go with raspberry

[rolyantrauts]

Strange as most are going on about Ram but for a non-desktop of simple display its got more than enough with 1gb as its still an A53.
Its the low price and the 1gb is a great deal.
I just found I/o a tad slow

[seabreezecoffeeroasters]

The OPi Zero2 Daughter board works on the Zero3 to breakout the other two USB's along with some other I/O

[breebw]

From the comments below, yep I get it, there can be some disadvantages to these boards compared to a RPi.
But when the latter is simply not available or restricted, then its moot.
Go with whats available, and adapt.

[felipeportela]

What micro sd you were using?
Thanks for the video!

[stal]

Dear Gary,
could you publish a link where you ordered your Orange Pi Zero 3? I only found more expensive offers at Aliexpress or Amazon.

[deultima]

While OrangePi themselves don't seem to do long-term support of their boards. Armbian does have more up to date versions of Debian & Ubuntu for the Orange Pi Zero 2 (Last updated June 6, 2023). I'm sure they will be supporting the Zero 3 in no time. I use my Zero 2 as a PiHole server, and it seems to do a great job. I must admit however, that I do prefer the Raspberry Pi ecosystem as you mentioned. Just way more and longer-term support for the boards is worth the extra few bucks.

[michaelkaercher]

Mine did not crash. It is for me not in direct competition with the Raspi, since the Raspis now are around 120 Euros for a full config. They priced themselves out of this market.

[shinigamilee]

Crashing might have something to do with the unshielded processor. You should test it with a shield and see what happens.