Top 10 Best Sbc Software of 2026

PlatformIO is a professional, open-source ecosystem for embedded and IoT development, supporting over 1,500 hardware platforms including popular SBCs like Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, and ODROID. It provides a unified CLI-based build system, library/package manager with 100,000+ components, and seamless IDE integrations for VS Code and others, enabling efficient firmware development, debugging, testing, and deployment. As a cross-platform solution, it abstracts away vendor-specific toolchains, making it ideal for multi-board projects.

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, open-source code editor developed by Microsoft, offering a highly customizable environment for writing, debugging, and deploying code across multiple languages and platforms. For SBC software development, it excels with Remote Development extensions like Remote - SSH and Dev Containers, enabling seamless editing, building, and debugging directly on devices such as Raspberry Pi or other ARM-based boards. Its vast extension marketplace includes tools for embedded systems, IoT, PlatformIO, and Docker, making it a versatile powerhouse for SBC projects.

Raspberry Pi Imager is the official imaging tool from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, designed to write operating system images to microSD cards or USB drives for Raspberry Pi single-board computers. It supports a wide selection of OSes beyond just Raspberry Pi OS, including Ubuntu, Manjaro, and Kali, with a simple interface for downloading and flashing images. Advanced options allow users to pre-configure settings like Wi-Fi credentials, hostname, locale, and SSH access directly within the tool, streamlining the initial setup process.

Balena Etcher is a free, open-source application designed for flashing OS images onto SD cards and USB drives, making it essential for Single Board Computer (SBC) users like those with Raspberry Pi. It features a simple drag-and-drop interface that validates images during flashing to ensure bootable media. Cross-platform compatibility across Windows, macOS, and Linux makes it accessible for diverse SBC setups.

The Arduino IDE is a free, open-source integrated development environment designed primarily for programming Arduino microcontroller boards and compatible hardware like ESP32 and ESP8266, which can serve as lightweight SBC alternatives for IoT projects. It enables users to write C/C++ sketches, compile code, and upload firmware directly via USB or serial connections, with built-in tools like a serial monitor and library manager. While not optimized for full OS-based SBCs like Raspberry Pi, it excels in bare-metal embedded development and rapid prototyping on resource-constrained single-board devices.

Node-RED is a flow-based programming tool that enables visual creation of applications by wiring together nodes representing hardware devices, APIs, and services. Designed for IoT and automation, it runs efficiently on Single Board Computers (SBCs) like Raspberry Pi, supporting GPIO integration, sensor data processing, and protocol handling such as MQTT and HTTP. Its browser-based editor allows real-time deployment and management directly from the SBC, making it ideal for edge computing projects.

Thonny is a lightweight, beginner-friendly Python IDE tailored for education and hobbyists, with strong integration for MicroPython on SBCs like Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP32. It offers a simple code editor, step-by-step debugger, variable explorer, and built-in tools for flashing firmware and managing connected devices directly. Ideal for SBC programming, it simplifies the workflow from code writing to deployment without needing complex setups.

Docker is an open-source platform for developing, shipping, and running applications inside lightweight containers that bundle code and dependencies. It uses OS-level virtualization to provide isolation and portability, making it ideal for resource-constrained environments like Single Board Computers (SBCs) such as Raspberry Pi. On SBCs, Docker enables running multiple services efficiently without full virtual machines, supporting rapid deployment and scaling via Docker Compose and Swarm.

MicroPython is a lightweight, optimized implementation of Python 3 designed for microcontrollers and single-board computers (SBCs) with constrained resources, enabling direct execution of Python code on bare metal without a full operating system. It supports interactive development via a built-in REPL and includes libraries for hardware peripherals like GPIO, I2C, SPI, and UART. Popular on SBCs such as Raspberry Pi Pico, ESP32, and Pyboard, it's widely used for IoT prototyping, robotics, and embedded education.

Buildroot is an open-source build system that automates the creation of complete, customizable embedded Linux distributions for Single Board Computers (SBCs) and other embedded targets. It handles cross-compilation toolchains, Linux kernels, bootloaders, and root filesystems, producing minimal, optimized images tailored to specific hardware. Widely used for resource-constrained environments, it supports hundreds of SBC boards like Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone.