Arduino vs Teensy: Why will anyone choose Uno or Nano?

Spoke like a beginner 😉 

Teensy definitely has way more power—faster processor, more memory, better I/O—but honestly, most people don’t need all that for basic projects. Uno and Nano are just simple and work straight out of the box. Like if you're just blinking LEDs, reading sensors, or making a small robot, a Nano does the job perfectly.

Also, there’s just so much support for Uno and Nano. Almost every beginner tutorial or sensor breakout example online is written for those boards. You plug it in, upload the sketch, and it works. Teensy is awesome, but sometimes you gotta mess with libraries or deal with compatibility stuff which can be a bit annoying, especially for beginners.

Another reason is cost. You can get Nano clones super cheap—like under 2 bucks sometimes. So if you fry one or mess something up, no big deal. Teensy costs more, and not everyone wants to risk that if they’re still learning or just experimenting.

One other important thing is that there are many variations of Nano boards- with or without a WiFi module, more processing power, etc. So you can upgrade anytime once you are used to the basic Nano board. Similarly, UNO R4 WiFi and Minima are the upgraded version of UNO R3.

So yeah, Teensy is technically better in a lot of ways, but Uno and Nano are just more beginner-friendly, cheaper, and good enough for like 80% of hobby projects.

If you're a beginner, I would never recommend starting with the Teensy. It's great for advanced users and demanding applications, but the Uno and Nano strike the perfect balance between simplicity, cost, and community support—making them the preferred choice for many hobbyists and students.

So, start with the Uno to learn the basics of robotics. If you're an advanced user, you can definitely switch to Teensy.