Arduino the code platform is still open source. So just don’t buy an original Arduino piece of hardware, buy a clone, and don’t pay for any of their subscription services.
Depends on what you mean by compatible, if you want an exact replacement for hardware just use the clones but remember that unless youre using hats (boards that plop onto eg. Arduino Uno) then you can use any other microcontroller with the caveat that some use 5v as digital io and some use 3.3v
My favourites for now are Esp8266/Esp32 if i want some kind of wireless connectivity or need a bunch of ram/rom, usually in the form of seeed studio boards or clones (outputs 3.3v but is fine with 5v as input and most boards that you might want to connect to it even if they except 5v on the io will typically work with 3.3, just power them with 5v)
Attiny series 1 or 2 if I’m planning to create a custom pcb and I’m fine with limited ram/rom
But these are just my preferences, a lot of people swear by the raspberry pico series or stm32
Software - IDE
Platformio - more complex than arduino ide but also provides more options as its an extension for vs code
What’s the plan now? Are there open source, compatible alternatives?
Arduino the code platform is still open source. So just don’t buy an original Arduino piece of hardware, buy a clone, and don’t pay for any of their subscription services.
Business as usual then
Good
Hardware:
Depends on what you mean by compatible, if you want an exact replacement for hardware just use the clones but remember that unless youre using hats (boards that plop onto eg. Arduino Uno) then you can use any other microcontroller with the caveat that some use 5v as digital io and some use 3.3v My favourites for now are Esp8266/Esp32 if i want some kind of wireless connectivity or need a bunch of ram/rom, usually in the form of seeed studio boards or clones (outputs 3.3v but is fine with 5v as input and most boards that you might want to connect to it even if they except 5v on the io will typically work with 3.3, just power them with 5v) Attiny series 1 or 2 if I’m planning to create a custom pcb and I’m fine with limited ram/rom
But these are just my preferences, a lot of people swear by the raspberry pico series or stm32
Software - IDE Platformio - more complex than arduino ide but also provides more options as its an extension for vs code