Arduino is an open-source project and we’re happy that so many people have created variations on our hardware and software. We realize, however, that it’s sometimes hard to tell which products are part of the Arduino platform itself. The official boards are listed on the hardware page (and pictured above, with the exception of the official shields and Mini-USB adaptor). These are the products that we feel provide the best overall experience and utility to the Arduino community. They include boards from three manufacturers: SmartProjects (in Italy), SparkFun, and Gravitech (both in the US). These companies pay a licensing fee in exchange for support for these products in the Arduino software and documentation.
The official Arduino products are the only ones licensed to use the word “Arduino” in their name. Other products may be labelled as “Arduino-compatible” or “for Arduino”, but these are not a part of the platform itself and don’t fund continuing work on the project. If you’re making a product and wondering what to call it, we’ve added some guidelines to the FAQ. We think that these conventions make it easier for everyone to understand what products they’re buying and who supports them.
Finally, we’d like to thank a few companies that have been particularly good about working with us on these issues: Adafruit Industries, Oomlout, and SparkFun Electronics. Thanks for your cooperation and all the great products!
Good stuff – support the Arduino project (and the companies that support the Arduino project) and make sure the Arduino you’re buying is the real deal, every week or so we hear awful stories of poor-quality clones on eBay that just don’t work at all but use all the naming and branding.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
To verify if an Arduino is genuine or not, just snap it in half. If it doesn’t ooze steamy delicious mozzarella with a touch of basil and tomato sauce, it’s not the real deal.
And you should smell them when they come right out of the reflow oven… heaven!
To verify if an Arduino is genuine or not, just snap it in half. If it doesn’t ooze steamy delicious mozzarella with a touch of basil and tomato sauce, it’s not the real deal.
And you should smell them when they come right out of the reflow oven… heaven!