# Raspberry Pi OS Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra > With the help of Capterra, learn about Raspberry Pi OS Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Operating Systems products and more. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/230090/Raspbian --- # Raspberry Pi OS Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on March 13, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[Pricing](#pricing)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) Raspberry Pi OS ## What is Raspberry Pi OS? Raspbian is a free Debian-based operating system optimized for the Raspberry Pi hardware. Raspbian provides more than a pure operating system, coming with over 35,000 pre-compiled software packages for easy installation on the Raspberry Pi. ## What is Raspberry Pi OS used for? [Operating Systems](https://www.capterra.com/operating-systems-software/) Overall rating Based on 19 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive \- Neutral \- Negative \- Contact vendor for pricing Free trial not available Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Do you work for Raspberry Pi OS?[Manage this product listing](https://digitalmarkets.gartner.com/get-listed/claim-bx?url=https://www.raspberrypi.org&name=Raspberry Pi OS) ## Compare with a popular alternative Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status. ### Raspberry Pi OS 4.8 (19) VS. [### Windows 11](https://www.capterra.com/p/251507/Windows-11/) [4.4 (101)](https://www.capterra.com/p/251507/Windows-11/reviews/) Starting Price Contact vendor Starting Price Contact vendor Free Trial Free Version Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version Ease Of Use 4.5 (19) Ease Of Use 4.5 (101) Value For Money 4.9 (16) Value For Money 4.1 (81) Customer Service 4.1 (13) Customer Service 4.0 (72) ## Raspberry Pi OS alternatives [Android 11](https://www.capterra.com/p/228982/Android-11/) [4.6 (121)](https://www.capterra.com/p/228982/Android-11/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/228982/Android-11/) [Ubuntu](https://www.capterra.com/p/229058/Ubuntu/) [4.7 (122)](https://www.capterra.com/p/229058/Ubuntu/reviews/) Starting price $225.00 Per User, Per Month [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/229058/Ubuntu/) Highest Rated [MacOS Big Sur](https://www.capterra.com/p/228984/MacOS-Big-Sur/) [4.8 (59)](https://www.capterra.com/p/228984/MacOS-Big-Sur/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/228984/MacOS-Big-Sur/) [iOS14](https://www.capterra.com/p/228981/iOS14/) [4.6 (53)](https://www.capterra.com/p/228981/iOS14/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/228981/iOS14/) [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/230090/Raspbian/alternatives/) ## Pricing Value for money 4.9 (16) ### Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Free trial available Value for money 4.9 (16) 4.9 Based on 16 reviews ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 4.1 (13) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 4.1 (13) 4.1 Based on 13 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.8 Based on 19 reviews Filter by rating 5(16) 4(3) 3(0) 2(0) 1(0) Mentioned topic Sorted by most recent KP Kyle P. Owner Operator Public Safety ### "RaspberryPi is that DIY thing that every IT nerd should at least give a chance" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 March 4, 2025 Love the platform and continually learning more every time a new project arises. Pros Ease of use and limitless possibilities for implementation of custom technology Cons Availability of units during certain times Alternatives considered [Arduino IDE](https://www.capterra.com/p/241593/Arduino-IDE/) Reasons for choosing Raspberry Pi OS Familiar with the RaspberryPi OS from previous project and cost wasn't that much different to change Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. GL Griffin L. Manager of All Operations Computer Software ### "Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian) " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 February 14, 2025 It was mostly good, nice for a pocket computer Pros It is very friendly to slightly experienced users Cons It isn't very nice-looking, but you can fix that with a 3rd party DE Alternatives considered [Debian](https://www.capterra.com/p/229027/Debian/) Reasons for choosing Raspberry Pi OS It's a little more straightforward in terms of setup and installation Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. KH Kyle H. IT Director Warehousing ### "Rasp Pi OS the Go to for Tinkering/Testing easy application implementation in production. " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 August 6, 2024 I've used this OS for many applications and for general testing/fun from robotics tinkering to mini server farms. Pros Linux based, customizable, easy to work with GPIO's on the board Cons It's a solid OS, nothing negative to say. Alternatives considered [Ubuntu](https://www.capterra.com/p/229058/Ubuntu/) [Arcade](https://www.capterra.com/p/174248/Arcade/) Reasons for choosing Raspberry Pi OS It just depends on what I'm trying to do or if I want to test something. I have multiple Operating systems for a raspberry pi, the simplicity of swapping SD cards is extremely useful for fast testing purposes. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. MS Maha S. Assistant Professor Computer Software ### "Raspberry Pi OS: Controlling Raspberry Pi I/O using Python" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 August 31, 2023 Very good experience with the Pi as a controller for external machinery. I even used it in developing my microprocessor design courses for testing automation and interfacing applications. Pros We tested Raspberry Pi OS in developing control software for Raspberry Pi 3B+ controllers. The configuration simply consists of connecting relay switches to the output ports of the Raspberry Pi to automate the on/off switching of electrical machinery. The programming language we used is Python which had all the libraries needed to control the I/O ports on the Raspberry Pi. Moreover we developed simple Web Server code on the Raspberry Pi to provide a Web user interface to the device management. Very easy to use and develop to produce real-world control applications. Would like to upgrade to Raspberry Pi 4 which promises better energy efficiency (this is a major problem I faced with task intensive processing on the Pi. Cons Data as well as processing intensive operations produce a lot of heat on the Raspberry Pi. This is definitely not an issue with the OS but an architectural issue. It would be nice to upgrade and inspect with Raspberry Pi 4 as it promises better energy management. It would be great to test some machine learning training or image processing on the Pi and see how it goes in terms of energy consumption and heat dissipation. Reasons for choosing Raspberry Pi OS More flexible programming environment. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. WI Wassim I. Associate Professor Computer Networking ### "Raspberry Pi OS: Driving an efficient low-cost IoT controller" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 3.0 3.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 June 19, 2023 We used Raspberry Pi OS for providing an IoT controller for a home automation system. It proved very efficient and feature-rich to provide a full-fledged interfacing solution. Pros The main thing that drove us to use Raspberry Pi OS/Raspberry Pi devices is the Input/Output ports that can be fully controlled to interface with external IoT devices and sensors. The programming was done using a traditional Python interpreter which made the development very smooth and portable. Cons Raspberry Pi devices are not capable of running resource intensive tasks such as in the fields of signal and image processing or AI model training. This is fully understandable as these devices are not designed for such tasks but I believe with a slight increase in the cost of the device much better energy/heat dissipation could make the processors capable of supporting such tasks. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. EO elies o. Ouvrier Health, Wellness and Fitness ### "Raspberry et moi" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 March 17, 2023 Pros C'est un OS intéressant qui fonctionne comme un pc esthétiquement il est minuscule ! Cons Bâcher Ubuntu par exemple peut être un problème dans une erreur de syntaxe et tout est à refaire Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AU Anonymous User Ingeniero de automatismos Automotive ### "Mi sistema operativo favorito para desarrollo de apps con raspberry Pi" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 March 13, 2023 El sistema está realmente bien optimizado y se te olvida que estás ultilizando un hardware de baja potencia como es la Raspberry Pros El sistema operativo está bien optimizado para el uso en el hardware de la Raspberry pi Cons No tengo nada en contra de este sistema operativo pero podría tener actualizaciones más frecuentemente. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. MJ Maisy J. Student Computer Networking ### "The No.1 OS for all yoru raspberry pi developmental needs!" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 December 24, 2022 Pros Easy to use, simple and clean interface. qgreat for getting your hands dirty with development and programming with the raspberry pi as the center peice of your project Cons Can be a bit daunting to setup for new users. You don't really know where to start unless you have done extra research on what you want to do with your raspberry pi. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. David B. Software developer Program Development ### "Fans de la domótica he aquí el principio!" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 December 3, 2022 Pros Lo fácil que es programar y usar este producto, magnífico! Cons Siempre se puede mejorar algo, pero poco puedo decir 😈 Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. GO Garin Osvaldo T. Especialista Mechanical or Industrial Engineering ### "No solo Raspberry" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 3.0 3.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 November 28, 2022 Muy practica y con mucho que enseñar y aprender. Pros Es un sistema operativo, como su nombre lo indica apto para uso del mini pc raspberry, pero no solo sirve para eso, tiene buenas herramientas y un gran potencial para desarrolladores. Cons Aun esta en bruto, me recuerda a los inicios del Linux Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/230090/Raspbian/reviews/) Popular comparisons [Windows 11 vs Raspberry Pi OS](https://www.capterra.com/compare/230090-251507/Raspbian-vs-Windows-11) [Ubuntu vs Raspberry Pi OS](https://www.capterra.com/compare/229058-230090/Ubuntu-vs-Raspbian)  Independent research methodology Capterra's researchers use a mix of verified reviews, independent research and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. 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