Arduino is a great tool for prototyping. But often, a prototype evolves into a product. At that point, a more complete development platform is needed that allows for a higher level of abstraction, higher performance, and a wider variety of options. The best alternatives to the app are able to do everything that Arduino does, and more.

PLATFORMIO

PlatformIO is the best alternative to the Arduino IDE. It comes with a rich community, which is a great place to get help when you need it.

The philosophy behind its design is a good one, too. It’s an open source project, so you can use it in the way you want. The only thing you have to do is run a command which will create a folder in the directory of your choice. In that folder, you will find a Makefile which can be used to build your code.

Once you’re done with the build, you can use the command line to execute your program. In addition to that, you can also use PlatformIO to deploy to a microcontroller, a Raspberry Pi board, a desktop, or a server.

KTECHLAB

KTechLab is a free and open source IDE for microcontroller programming. It is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS. It supports a wide range of microcontrollers and boards. It is a very powerful IDE and supports a wide range of features. 

It is a very popular IDE and is used in many educational institutes. KTechLab is cross-platform. It is available for Windows, Linux/MacOS, and Raspberry Pi. It has a built-in debugger, which is very useful when you are trying to solve errors in your code. Also, KTechLab is free.

SODUINO

The Soduino IDE is based on the Arduino IDE. It has the same features as Arduino IDE, but it comes with an integrated web server. Soduino can, which makes it particularly useful if you are working on an Arduino-based project that needs to be accessible from the internet. The Soduino IDE is open source, so it is free to use.

CODEBENDER

This is a free and open-source platform and supports web and mobile. It is compatible with Arduino boards and the internet is not required. It is an open-source tool and is free. New features are added regularly. This tool is mainly used for image and graphics programming. It is a good tool for beginners.

ZEUS IDE

The Zeus IDE is a simple code editor that can be used to write code for Arduino compatible boards. It currently has support for the Arduino Due, Arduino Leonardo, Intel Galileo, and ChipKit Max32.

Even though this application is simple, it’s extremely useful for coding small projects. It supports basic coding features like syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and real-time error checking.

CONCLUSION

While this is the Arduino alternative I’ve reviewed, it is not the only one out there. I’m sure there are other worthy contenders, but I looked for something that was open-source, could run the same code as Arduino, and had a strong community. I hope you can find something that works for you.