Arduino UNO Vs NANO: Comparison Guide, Which Is Better?

It reminds me of my old days when I was starting out in electronics and I bought the first Arduino UNO board in my life. It was pretty basic and straightforward. The best thing about the board was the community, it was very helpful, and I learned a lot.

The difference between Arduino UNO and Nano is its size; UNO is double to NANO. Arduino Nano is smaller and uses a mini USB port while UNO uses a regular port. The Nano has 32KB flash memory with a pre-installed bootloader and UNO has 32 KB flash memory without a pre-installed bootloader.

Arduino has many advantages over other microcontroller boards, and one of the best things about Arduino is: it is an open-source hardware, and software program. There’s no perfect age to learn Arduino, but age 10 is recommended. Before you move ahead with other boards, I have compiled all major and minor differences between Arduino UNO and NANO.

What is Arduino UNO?

Arduino UNO is a microcontroller board based on the Atmega328p (datasheet). It has 14 advanced input/output pins (of which 6 can be utilized as PWM yields), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz gem, a USB association, a control jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything required to bolster the microcontroller; essentially interface it to a computer with a USB cable or control it with an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to begin.

The Arduino UNO board got to be more well-known than other boards within the Arduino family because of its reliability, and easy to use. This drove to its expanded appropriation for electronic prototyping, making a tremendous community of electronic newbies and specialists.

Arduino UNO could be a low-cost, adaptable, and easy-to-use programmable open-source microcontroller board that can be coordinated into an assortment of electronic ventures. Arduino UNO can be easily interfaced with other Arduino boards, Arduino shields, and Raspberry Pi and can control transfers, LEDs, servos, and engines as an output.

What Are The Advantages of Arduino UNO?

Inexpensive
Open source in hardware
No need for an external programmer (Burner)
Programming ease
Open-source in software
IDE Software operates on any operating system
Large user community free
Broad ranges of libraries of codes
Easy to learn and work with
A wide array of sensors
Many third-party libraries
A large number of projects and resources exist for free

Disadvantages of Arduino

Processing power is weaker than other microcontrollers
Some errors remain quite persistent and error messages may not be quite useful.

Arduino UNO Memory

Atmega356 has 32 KB of flash memory, and 0.5kb is set for the bootloader. 2 KB is set for the SRAM, and 1 KB is for EEPROM.

Arduino UNO Pin Description

The Arduino UNO board contains the taking after components and specifications:

ATmega328 – Usually the brain of the board in which the program is stored.

Ground – There are a few ground pins joined on the board.

PWM – the board contains 6 PWM pins. PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation, utilizing these pins to control the speed, and direction of the servo motor, DC engine, and brightness of the LED.

Digital I/O Pins – there are 14 digital (0-13) I/O pins accessible on the board that can be associated with external electronic components.

Analog Pins – there are 6 simple pins coordinates on the board. These pins can study the simple sensor and can change over it into a computerized signal.

AREF – It is an Analog Reference pin utilized to set an outside reference voltage.

Reset Button – This button will reset the code stacked into the board. This button is valuable when the board hangs up, pressing this button will take the complete board into a starting state.

USB Interface – This interface is utilized to associate the board with the computer and to upload the Arduino portrays (Arduino Program is called a Sketch)

Micro SD Card – The UNO board underpins a miniaturized scale SD card that permits the board to store more information. 3.3V

VIN – It is the input voltage connected to the UNO board.

Voltage Controller – The voltage controller controls the voltage that goes into the board.

Features of Arduino UNO board

Microcontroller	ATmega328P
Operating Voltage	5V
Input Voltage	7-12V
Digital I/O Pins	14 (of which 6 give PWM output)
Advanced I/O Pins	6
SRAM	2 KB (ATmega328P)
EEPROM	1 KB (ATmega328P)
Clock Speed	16 MHz
LED_BUILTIN	13
Analog Input Pins	6
DC Current per I/O Pin	20 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin	50 mA
Flash Memory	32 KB
Length	68.6 mm
Width	53.4 mm
Weight	25 g

What is Arduino NANO?

Arduino NANO, a microcontroller board, is used by electronics students for various projects because of its smaller size as compared to other boards.

This board has numerous capacities and highlights like an Arduino Duemilanove board. Be that as it may, this Nano board is diverse in bundling. It doesn’t have any DC jack so the control supply can be given by employing a USB port, or something else straightly associated with the pins like VCC & GND. This board can be provided with 6 to 20 volts employing a smaller-than-expected USB port on the board.

Features of Arduino NANO

Atmega328p Microcontroller is from 8-bit AVR family
The operating voltage is 5V
I/O pins
DC Current is 40 mA
Flash memory is 32 KB
SRAM is 2 KB
EEPROM is 1 KB
CLK speed is 16 MHz
Weight-7g
Input voltage (Vin) is 7V to 12V
Input/Output Pins are 22
Analog i/p pins are 6 from A0 to A5
Digital pins are 14
Power utilization is 19 mA
The size of the printed circuit board is 18 X 45mm
Supports three communications like SPI, IIC, & USART

Advantages of Arduino Nano

The incredible stage for beginners.
Tiny measures make it ideal for compact projects.
Functionally the same as their bigger counterparts.
Fits onto a breadboard making, prototyping easier.

Disadvantages of Arduino Nano

The need for local network limits is a conceivable Web of Things (IoT) use.
Limited onboard memory can make complex programs troublesome.

Application of Arduino NANO board

Medical Instruments
Industrial Automation
Android Applications
Virtual Reality Applications
Real-time Face Detection
Automation and robotics
GSM Based Projects
Embedded Systems
Arduino Metal Detector

Arduino NANO memory

Atmega168 and Atmega 256 have different memory; Atmega 168 has 16 KB of flash memory, whereas Atmega256 has 32 KB of flash memory. An easy microcontroller has 2 KB set for the bootloader, and 512 bytes for the EEPROM while Atmega256 has 2 KB of SRAM, and 1 KB of EEPROM.

Arduino Nano Pin Description

Serial Pins (Rx) and 1 (Tx) – Rx and Tx pins are utilized to get and transmit TTL serial information. They are associated with the Comparing ATmega328P USB to TTL serial chip.

External Hinder Pins 2 and 3 – These pins can be designed to trigger an hinder on a moo esteem, a rising or falling edge, or an alter in value.

PWM Pins – 3, 5, 6, 9 and 11. These pins give an 8-bit PWM yield by utilizing the analogWrite() function.

SPI Pins – 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO) and 13 (SCK) These pins are utilized for SPI communication.

Inbuilt Driven Stick 13 – This stick is associated with a built-in Driven. When stick 13 is Tall – Driven is on and when stick 13 is Moo, it is off.

I2C A4 (SDA) and A5 (SCA) – Utilized for IIC communication using the Wire library.

AREF – Utilized to supply reference voltage for the analog inputs with the analogReference() function.

Reset Stick – Making this stick Moo, resets the microcontroller.

Controlling your Arduino Nano

There are three ways by which you’ll be able to control Nano.

USB Jack – Interface the scaled down USB jack to a phone charger or computer through a cable and it’ll draw control required for the board to operate
Vin – The Vin stick can be provided with an unregulated 6-12V to power the board. The on-board voltage controller controls it to +5V.
+5V pin – In the board that you have got a controlled +5V supply at that point you’ll straightforwardly give this to the +5V stick of the Arduino.

Arduino UNO VS NANO: Which one is better?

The Arduino Nano board is comparable to an Arduino UNO board counting comparative microcontroller like Atmega328p. In this way, they can share a comparable program. The biggest distinction between these two is the measure. Since the Arduino UNO estimate is twofold to the NANO board. So UNO sheets utilize more space on the framework.

The programming of UNO can be done with a USB cable though Nano employs the mini USB cable.

Specification	Arduino UNO	Arduino NANO
Processor	ATmega328	ATmega328
Input Voltage	5V/7-12V	5V/7-12V
Speed of CPU	16MHz	16MHz
Analog I/O	6/0	8/0
Digital I/O	14	14
EEPROM	1	1
SRAM	2	2
FLASH	32	32
USB	Regular	Mini
USART	1	1

Which board is better for beginners: Arduino UNO vs. NANO?

If you are just starting out, I would suggest you to use Arduino UNO because it is easy, and you only need jumper wires to connect to your projects. On the other hand, the NANO can be a bit confusing for a beginner because NANO has all the male connectors, and you need a small breadboard to connect it within your projects.

Most of the beginners who don’t have any experience in Arduino start their Arduino journey with a UNO board, and after putting effort into these boards then they relatively move to other boards on Arduino MEGA, Arduino Lilypad, and Arduino NANO.

Note: It totally depends on you whether you use Arduino UNO or NANO, but if you supply more voltage or current than the recommended one, there is a high chance of burning up the chip and it can easily be replaced in UNO whereas you can’t reverse the damage in NANO.

Which board is cost-effective: Arduino UNO or NANO?

There are many Arduino clones available in the market, and I don’t recommend you buy a clone version just to save a dollar or two. It has less efficiency and reliability. Usually, UNO cost varies and lies between $17-$25, and NANO costs not more than $10. They both can run with the A/B cable. I would suggest you go for NANO if you have less space in your project as it is compact in size.

What is the dimension of Arduino UNO and NANO?

Dimensions may be very useful when you are designing your own robot on some design software just like 3d max. Arduino UNO is 68.66 mm long, and its width is almost 53.4mm. On the other hand, NANO is one-third of the UNO Board; it is 45mm long and 18 mm in width. It makes this board the smallest board in the Arduino family.

What is the weight of the Arduino UNO and NANO?

When I made my line-following robot, it didn’t climb the hurdle because of the unnecessary weight distribution, and it is important to know the exact weight when you are working on the internet of things project. Because of its larger size, the weight of the Arduino UNO is 25 grams, whereas NANO is just 7 grams, and it is powered via a mini USB Cable.

What programming languages do they both use: Arduino UNO and Arduino NANO?

You might be wondering why I need any programming language for these boards. But how would this board sense the real-world data, and it needs programming to react to it? Each Arduino family board can be programmed with C or C++ programming languages using API standards, and it is also called Arduino programming language. There’s also another way to program the board, it provides open-source project software IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

Recommended Reading:

Arduino programming languages – There is a recommended and dedicated software from Arduino for Arduino programming, but you can also program it with other languages such as C, C++, and many more. If you are interested to know what languages are used to program Arduino, you should check out this amazing guide about Arduino programming languages.

What projects can you do with Arduino UNO and NANO?

Arduino UNO Projects

Arduino Traffic lights simulator
Arduino music instruments
UNO Home automation
UNO Universal remote controller
Arduino Indoor garden

Arduino NANO Projects

Digital clock
Arduino CNC plotter
Arduino Nano Lie Detector
Arduino Nano wattmeter