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Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to CHIP

The world's first nine dollar computer (pre-launch)

CHIP is a nine-dollar computer designed as an affordable computing device. Launched as a Kickstarter project in 2015, it targets makers, hobbyists, and anyone seeking an inexpensive entry point into computing projects.… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. CHIP launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1
    Chip▲6

    The world's first nine dollar computer (Kickstarter)

    2015 · kickstarter.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    The $5 computer

    2015 · raspberrypi.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    How to Make a CHIP Robot. In this tutorial we walk you through how to build and make a C.H.I.P. robot with the $9 Computer.

    2016 · dexterindustries.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    A complete PC built into a keyboard for $70

    2020 · raspberrypi.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    A desktop pick-and-place machine

    2016 · kickstarter.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Pine64 - the Most Affordable Single Board Computer

    2016 · artofthekickstart.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    A new breed of affordable desktop computers

    2017 · endlessglobal.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Inventing the transistor for the quantum age

    2025 · news.microsoft.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9IM

    Building a 10BASE-T Ethernet transceiver (receiver and transmitter) with discrete logic chips

    2024 · qdiv.dev · its alternatives →

  10. 10
    Pine A64▲201

    First $15 64-Bit single board super computer

    2015 · kickstarter.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Re-build a retro computer with Lego®

    2017 · powerpig.ecwid.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    An educational puzzle game. Solve a series of tasks where you build increasingly powerful components. Starts with the simplest logical components and ends up with a programmable computer.

    2018 · nandgame.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Amazon's first quantum computing chip

    2025 · aboutamazon.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14AD

    Hey HN! We are the founders of atopile. We’re building a tool to describe electronics with code. Here is a quick demo: https://youtu.be/7-Q0XVpfW3Y Could you imagine the pain of building an entire software product using only assembly code? That’s about how we felt designing hardware. We don’t currently have good ways to describe what we need, reuse existing designs and compile that description down to a product. We started atopile to fix this. atopile is an open-source language and toolchain to describe circuits with code. The compiler is here:…

    2024 · its alternatives →

  15. 15
    Microbit▲153

    BBC's handheld, programmable computer given free to UK kids

    2016 · microbit.org · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    The magic of Mac at a surprising price

    Mar 2026 · apple.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Hey we are Computable. We spent years building trading infrastructure at Jump Trading and Coinbase. From that point of view, compute looks like energy markets before 2000: everything trades through private bilateral leases, there’s no visible price, and nothing can be resold. The same H100 rents at a 2x spread depending on who’s asking, and once you sign a 24-month lease, it can never change hands. So we built a market for GPU nodes, sold by the calendar week. Here are three things you can do on it that you can’t do anywhere else: - Buy exactly the weeks you need. Three nodes for the last…

    Aug 2026 · getcomputable.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Apple's smallest desktop ever

    2024 · apple.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    Build the best computer, from stone tools to your own chips

    12d ago · thecomputergame.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    The overall idea is to chart out the thousands of Mini PCs by benchmark and reveal the Pareto Front so you can get the most Compute per Dollar. Definitely a labor of love as I have a number of Mini PCs for my "homelab" (TrueNAS, piHole, Plex, basic stuff). It uses Gemini to extract specs from listings (since they're not often strongly categorized). Quick blog post here: https://luke.zip/posts/pareto-pcs/

    Jun 2026 · minipcs.zip · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    The mini with a punch

    2018 · apple.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    Chip, Reimagined: The First Silicon Born of Code.

    Feb 2026 · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Micro Displays for Raspberry Pi . Contribute to igbit/micro-displays development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24
    EDGE▲167

    The first modular work from home kit

    2021 · indiegogo.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →