Is the Jetson Orin Nano better than a Raspberry Pi 5?

For AI workloads that need a GPU — local LLMs, vision-language models, multi-camera robotics — yes, by a wide margin: about 19 tokens/s on Llama 3.1 8B versus models a Pi can't realistically run. For object detection on a camera or two, a Raspberry Pi 5 with an AI HAT+ is cheaper, draws less power and has a bigger hobbyist ecosystem.

Can a Raspberry Pi 5 run an LLM?

Small ones. On the CPU alone, an 8 GB Pi 5 runs 1.5B models at about 10-12 tokens/s and Llama 3.2 3B at about 5.5 tokens/s with Ollama. The AI HAT+ 2 (Hailo-10H) can run selected 1-1.5B models, but independent tests measured it slower than the Pi's own CPU.

How much does a Raspberry Pi 5 cost in 2026?

After several memory-driven price increases, list prices in October 2026 were about $110 for the 4 GB model, $175 for 8 GB and $305 for 16 GB, with the 2 GB model at $77.50. The 1 GB model stayed at $45.

Which is better for a Frigate NVR, Jetson or Raspberry Pi?

A Raspberry Pi 5 with a Hailo-8 AI HAT+ (26 TOPS) is the simpler, cheaper Frigate box — Frigate supports Hailo first-class and documents about 7 ms per frame for YOLOv6n on Hailo-8. Jetson works via TensorRT or ONNX on JetPack 6, with Frigate listing 20-40 ms typical inference.

Does the Jetson Orin Nano have GPIO like a Raspberry Pi?

Yes, the developer kit has a 40-pin expansion header with a Raspberry Pi-like layout, but many Pi HATs and Python GPIO libraries don't work unmodified. If you rely on specific HATs, check Jetson compatibility first.

Jetson Orin Nano vs Raspberry Pi 5 (2026): Which Edge AI Board Should You Buy?

Quick Answer: Buy the NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super if your project needs a GPU — a local LLM, a vision-language model, robotics with several cameras, or anything CUDA. It runs Llama 3.1 8B at about 19 tokens/s; no Raspberry Pi setup can. Buy a Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB) + AI HAT+ 26 TOPS if you want object detection for one or two cameras, a Frigate NVR, or a general-purpose maker board: it costs less, sips power and has the bigger ecosystem. In 2026 both got more expensive, but the Jetson’s jump from $249 to $399 changed the value math the most.

Price check: both boards got pricier in 2026

Build	Late 2024 list	October 2026 list
Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit (8 GB)	$249	$399
Raspberry Pi 5, 8 GB (board only)	$80	$175
Raspberry Pi 5, 4 GB (board only)	$60	$110
Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 13 TOPS / 26 TOPS	$70 / $110	check current price
Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ 2 (Hailo-10H)	— (launched Jan 2026 at $130)	about $200 at resellers

Sources: NVIDIA Jetson pricing FAQ via CNX Software (July 2026); Raspberry Pi price rounds reported by Tom’s Hardware, Liliputing and others through October 2026; AI HAT+ 2 reseller price via ComputingForGeeks (checked October 12, 2026). Raspberry Pi has said it hopes to reverse increases once memory prices fall — always check the live listing.

A Pi 5 8 GB plus the 26 TOPS AI HAT+ comes to roughly $285 at list before storage and a power supply. A usable Jetson build (kit + NVMe + camera) lands around $440-480. That $150-200 gap is what you’re paying for the GPU.

Side-by-side specs

	Jetson Orin Nano Super	Raspberry Pi 5 + AI HAT+ 26 TOPS
CPU	6-core Cortex-A78AE @ 1.7 GHz	4-core Cortex-A76 @ 2.4 GHz
AI accelerator	Ampere GPU: 1,024 CUDA + 32 Tensor cores (67 sparse / 33 dense INT8 TOPS)	Hailo-8 NPU, 26 INT8 TOPS (vision models only)
Memory	8 GB LPDDR5, 102 GB/s, shared CPU/GPU	1-16 GB LPDDR4X (Pi); the Hailo-8 has no RAM of its own
Storage	2× M.2 NVMe + microSD	microSD; NVMe needs the single PCIe lane the AI HAT+ uses
Camera	2× 22-pin MIPI CSI-2	2× MIPI CSI/DSI connectors; huge Pi camera range
Power	7-25 W modes	Pi 5 roughly 3-12 W plus a few watts for the HAT
Software	JetPack 6 (Ubuntu 22.04), CUDA, TensorRT, Ollama, ROS 2	Raspberry Pi OS, rpicam-apps + Hailo runtime, Frigate
Best for	LLMs, VLMs, robotics, multi-camera GPU work	Object detection, NVR, maker projects, low power

Round 1 — local LLMs: Jetson by a mile

Model (4-bit)	Jetson Orin Nano Super	Pi 5 8 GB CPU	Pi 5 + AI HAT+ 2
Llama 3.2 3B	43.1 tok/s	5.6 tok/s	2.7 tok/s
Qwen2 1.5B	—	12.5 tok/s	8.3 tok/s
Llama 3.1 8B	19.1 tok/s	not practical	not supported

Jetson: NVIDIA MLC INT4 (best case). Pi 5: Jeff Geerling’s Ollama and hailo-ollama runs, compiled by ComputingForGeeks.

If a chatbot, voice assistant or VLM is part of the plan, this round decides it. The Pi’s 26 TOPS AI HAT+ doesn’t accelerate LLMs at all, and the LLM-oriented AI HAT+ 2 lost to the Pi’s own CPU in independent tests. Our full Jetson Orin Nano Super review covers the 8 GB memory ceiling in detail.

NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit

Winner for LLMs, VLMs and robotics · $399 list (July 2026)

CUDA GPU with Tensor cores; runs Ollama, llama.cpp, MLC, TensorRT and PyTorch.
About 19 tok/s on Llama 3.1 8B (INT4), 43 tok/s on Llama 3.2 3B.
Two NVMe slots and two CSI camera connectors on the carrier board.

Check Orin Nano Super price on Amazon →

Whichever board you pick, the build usually stalls on a missing cable or power supply rather than the board itself — a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial gets the extras to you in two days.

Round 2 — object detection: Raspberry Pi + Hailo wins on value

For classic computer vision — detecting people, cars and pets in a camera feed — the Hailo-8 on the AI HAT+ is purpose-built and very efficient. Frigate’s own hardware docs list about 7 ms per frame for YOLOv6n on Hailo-8 (11 ms on Hailo-8L), versus a typical 20-40 ms for Jetson via TensorRT/ONNX. The Jetson has more raw compute, but for one or two cameras the Pi + Hailo combo is fast enough, simpler to set up for Frigate and draws less power around the clock.

Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB)

Best general-purpose maker board · $175 list (Oct 2026)

Quad-core Cortex-A76 at 2.4 GHz; PCIe lane for an AI HAT+ or an NVMe SSD.
Needs the official 27 W USB-C power supply and an active cooler for sustained AI work.
The 4 GB model ($110) is enough for Hailo-based vision; get 8 GB for CPU LLM experiments.

Check Raspberry Pi 5 price on Amazon →

Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ (26 TOPS, Hailo-8)

Best Pi vision accelerator · $110 launch list

Hailo-8 NPU on a HAT+ board; Raspberry Pi OS enables PCIe Gen 3 automatically.
First-class Frigate support; integrates with rpicam-apps for camera pipelines.
The 13 TOPS (Hailo-8L, $70) version is fine for one or two cameras.

Check AI HAT+ 26 TOPS price on Amazon →

Which AI HAT to get is its own question — we break down all four versions in Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ vs AI Kit.

Round 3 — power, ecosystem and storage

Power: a Pi 5 with an AI HAT+ idles at a few watts; the Jetson’s lowest mode is 7 W and it’s usually run at 15-25 W. For a 24/7 camera box, that difference adds up.
Ecosystem: the Pi has the bigger community, more HATs, more cameras and more beginner tutorials. Jetson’s 40-pin header looks familiar, but many Pi HATs and GPIO libraries need work to port.
Storage: the Jetson has two NVMe slots. The Pi 5 has a single PCIe lane, so an AI HAT+ and an NVMe SSD compete for it — running both needs a third-party PCIe-switch board, and they then share the lane.
Software: Jetson gets you the whole NVIDIA stack (CUDA, TensorRT, DeepStream, Isaac ROS). Hailo’s toolchain runs only models compiled for Hailo, which is easy for the supported zoo and harder for custom networks.

The verdict

If you want to…	Buy
Run a local LLM, VLM or voice assistant	Jetson Orin Nano Super
Build a robot with ROS 2 and several cameras	Jetson Orin Nano Super
Run Frigate on 1-4 cameras	Raspberry Pi 5 + AI HAT+ 26 TOPS
Learn AI as a hobby at the lowest cost	Raspberry Pi 5 4 GB + AI HAT+ 13 TOPS
Learn CUDA and TensorRT	Jetson Orin Nano Super

If you are not sure, start from the workload: anything with “language” in it means Jetson; anything that is “detect objects in a camera” means Pi + Hailo. For the Frigate case specifically, also see Hailo-8 vs Google Coral — the old default answer, the Coral, is no longer what Frigate recommends.