Looking back, 2024 feels like a golden year for single board computers, as the increasing price of RAM (and storage and other components) since late 2025 due to the AI demand has made those much less attractive, price/performance ratio-wise.
We’ve already documented Raspberry Pi SBC price hikes, and after several increases, the Raspberry Pi 5 16GB went from $120 to $305, or a 154% change in price. Yesterday, I noticed the Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero had a new version with 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, and a reader was quick to point out the $181 price tag to Europe was painful, bearing in mind it also includes VAT and shipping. Looking at the original December 2023 article, the BPI-M4 Zero 2GB/8GB sold for $28.90 plus shipping, and it now shows up at $115 before taxes. That’s a 297% hike, or about four times the price from a little over two years ago.
So I thought it might be a good idea to check the price changes for several SBCs introduced in 2024, before all that craziness. I’ll use one Arm SBC from each major vendor, and also add a couple of x86 SBCs to see if they were impacted to the same extent.
Here are the candidates:
- Raspberry Pi 5 (reference) – Launched in September 2023 – Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Cortex-A72 SBC with 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4X-4267, no default storage.
- Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero – Launched in December 2023 – Raspberry Pi Zero-sized SBC with Allwinner H618 quad-core Cortex-A53 SoC, 2GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC flash.
- Orange Pi 5 Ultra – Launched in December 2024 – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core SBC with 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB LPDDR5, no default storage (except 16MB SPI flash)
- Radxa ROCK 5B+ – Launched in July 2024 – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core SBC with 4GB, 8GB, 16GB. 24GB, or 32GB LPDDR5, no default storage (except SPI flash)
- Hardkernel ODROID-M2 – Launched in August 2024 – Rockchip RK3588S2 octa-core SBC with 8GB or 16GB 64-bit LPDDR5, 64GB eMMC flash
- FriendlyELEC NanoPi Zero2 – Launched in September 2024 – Entry-level Rockchip RK3528 SBC with 1GB or 2GB LPDDR4/LPDDR4X, no storage by default
- NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit – Launched in December 2024 – Robotics/Edge AI SBC with a 6-core Arm Cortex-A78AE CPU, 8GB LPDDR5, no default storage. Note: subsidized hardware for developers.
- Radxa X4 – Launched in July 2024 – Entry-level x86 SBC with Intel N100 CPU, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR5, no storage by default (except SPI flash)
- UP Xtreme i14 – Launched in June 2024 – Higher end x86 SBC with Intel Core Ultra 5/7 Meteor Lake SoCs, up to 64GB LPDDR5, no storage by default
I’ll use the Raspberry Pi 5 8GB as a reference, so whenever possible, I’ll compare the pricing increase with 8GB variants of the boards. I used both ratio and percentage values for the price increases, depending on how you prefer to check price differences.
| Board | Memory | Storage | Launch Price | April 2026 Price | Ratio | Percentage | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 5 | 8GB LPDDR4 | N/A | $80 | $175 | 2.19x | +119% | MSRP |
| Banana Pi BPI-M4 Zero | 2GB LPDDR4 | 8GB eMMC flash | $28.90 | $115 | 3.97x | +297% | AliExpress |
| Orange Pi 5 Ultra | 16GB LPDDR5 | N/A | $125 | $309 | 2.47x | +148% | No stock/price for 8GB model |
| Radxa ROCK 5B+ | 8GB LPDDR5 | N/A | $90 | $129.99 (See remark) | 1.44x | +44.4% | Sold out |
| ODROID-M2 | 8GB LPDDR5 | 64GB eMMC flash | $115 | $195 | 1.69x | +69.5% | Kit with enclosure |
| NanoPi Zero2 | 1GB LPDDR4/LPDDR4X | N/A | $18 | $18 | 1.00x | 0% | |
| NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Devkit | 8GB LPDDR5 | N/A | $249 | $249 (See remark) | 1.00x | 0% | Sold out in most places |
| Radxa X4 | 8GB LPDDR5 | N/A | $79.96 | $265.99 | 3.33x | 233.5% | Launched on AliExpress, now on RS UK (ext VAT) |
| UP Xtreme i14 | 16GB LPDDR5 | N/A | $749 | $1,149 | 1.53x | 53.4% | Intel Core 5 125H model |
Some boards are out of stock, and vendors don’t rush to replenish stock for products they may not be able to sell at a profit. Talking about profit, several third-party sellers are trying to take advantage of the situation, and saw a Radxa Rock 5B+ with 8GB RAM on AliExpress for $450… Most of the prices don’t include shipping, and none integrate VAT or tariffs.
Only two products from the table didn’t see any price hike. The first is the NanoPi Zero2 1GB RAM, which is still sold for $18. The Raspberry Pi 4/5 with 1GB or 2GB RAM didn’t get price increases either, so it looks like lower capacity RAM chips are not impacted, or not too much. The second is the NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit. I first thought it was because it was out of stock everywhere, but I eventually found it for the same $249 price tag on Amazon, which makes it a relatively good value.
The range of price changes from 0% to close to 300% is really amazing, so it pays off to shop around to find more affordable hardware matching your requirements. Tinkering with SBCs in 2026 is not a low-cost hobby, and it may feel like the (AI-generated) illustration below… until things improve (next year?).
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress. We also use affiliate links in articles to earn commissions if you make a purchase after clicking on those links.
