I run ChipRadar, a real-time price tracker for single-board computers. We monitor 55+ boards across 5+ vendors and update prices every 6 hours. Here's what the data says about the best SBCs under $100 right now.
These are live prices captured from Amazon and other vendors as of this week:
The undisputed king of ecosystem. You pay for the community and software support, and it's worth every penny. Runs everything, has endless tutorials, and the RP1 chip gives it genuine IO improvements over Pi 4.
Best raw performance per dollar under $100. Rockchip RK3588S with 8GB RAM outperforms the Pi 5 in multi-core tasks. Better for compute-heavy workloads. The catch? Software support isn't as polished.
Best IO of any board in this price range. Full-size PCIe slot means you can attach NVMe drives, AI accelerators, or SATA controllers directly. The RK3588 chip gives it similar CPU performance to the Orange Pi 5.
| Need | Best Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| General purpose / learning | Pi 5 4GB ($57) | Best software support |
| Compute / AI workloads | Orange Pi 5 8GB ($79.99) | RK3588S + 8GB RAM |
| NAS / storage projects | Rock 5B 8GB ($82.47) | PCIe + NVMe |
| Media center | Pi 5 or ODROID-N2L | Codec support |
| Embedded / IoT | Pi Zero 2 W ($15) | Size + power |
We've been tracking SBC prices since mid-2026. Key observations:
Want live prices for all 55+ boards? Check out ChipRadar — we update every 6 hours with prices from Amazon, AliExpress, and direct vendors. You can also set up price alerts for your target boards.
All prices captured from public vendor listings. Prices change frequently — check ChipRadar for current data.