Arduino Cloud Editor vs Google Colab
Arduino Cloud Editor
create.arduino.cc
Google Colab
colab.research.google.comSide by side
| Figure | Arduino Cloud Editor | Google Colab |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1.67/mo | $8.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 9 |
| Spec score · Coding Playgrounds | 9.0 (#12) | 9.3 (#4) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Arduino Cloud provides Amazon Alexa voice control, and the School plan lists Google Classroom integration. | Users can import data from Google Drive, spreadsheets, GitHub, and other sources, and the site lists Google Cloud Storage, Sheets, and BigQuery resources. |
| Intended users | Arduino describes its products as serving students, makers, and professional developers. | Google describes Colab as useful for students, data scientists, AI researchers, educators, and researchers. |
| Support | Arduino points Cloud users to documentation, the Arduino Forum, Discord, and its contact form for help. | Users can report bugs or ask questions through Help > Send feedback in any Colab notebook. |
| Usage limits | Arduino says unlimited plan features are subject to fair usage, including fewer than 256 variables per Thing, at most 210 MB of sketch storage, and at most 1,000 sketch files. | Free usage limits, idle timeouts, maximum VM lifetime, and available GPU types vary over time and are not published as fixed limits. |
Plans
Arduino Cloud Editor
- FreeFree
- Maker$72 a year
- Team$1,000 a year
- School$20 a year
- FreeFree
- School$20 a year
- Maker$72 a year
- Team$1,000 a year
- EnterprisePriced on request
Google Colab
- Colab Pro$8.33 a month
- Colab Pro+$41.66 a month
- ColabFree
- Colab freeFree
- Colab EnterprisePriced on request
- Colab ProPrice not published
- Colab Pro+Price not published
- Colab Pro / Pro+ / Pay As You GoPriced on request
- Pay As You GoPrice not published
In their own words
Arduino Cloud Editor
Arduino Cloud Editor lets users read, edit, and verify code for Arduino Cloud projects in a browser, including projects set up through Arduino Cloud. Its experimental AI Assistant helps write sketch code and is included across Cloud plans, with different monthly interaction limits. The Free plan costs nothing and includes two Things, five variables per Thing, 25 compilations per day, and 30 AI interactions per month. Annual plan prices listed are $72 a year for Maker, $1,000 a year for Team, and $20 a year for School; Enterprise has no listed price. Physical board connections on Windows, macOS, and Linux require the Arduino Cloud Agent. ChromeOS can create and upload sketches, though board support is limited to compatible boards. Arduino Cloud supports remote code uploads and dashboard sharing with viewer or editor access. Amazon Alexa voice control is available, and the School plan lists Google Classroom integration. Arduino says plan features are subject to fair-use limits, including caps on variables, sketch storage, and sketch files. Maker is intended for personal use; business and school users are directed to corresponding plans.
Google Colab
Google Colab lets users write and run Python in a browser without configuring a local environment, with access to GPUs and notebook sharing. Its hosted Jupyter notebooks combine executable code with rich text, images, HTML, and LaTeX. Data can come from Google Drive, spreadsheets, GitHub, and other sources, with Google Cloud Storage, Sheets, and BigQuery resources listed for integration. Colab AI can generate or transform code, explain Python libraries, suggest fixes, and perform multi-step data-analysis workflows. By default, it does not access Drive files or user secrets, though it can generate code to access them when explicitly requested. Google says generative-AI features collect prompts, related code, outputs, usage information, and feedback; human reviewers may process that data for up to 18 months. Free notebooks can run for at most 12 hours, depending on availability and usage. Pro+ supports continuous execution up to 24 hours when enough compute units are available. Colab also has a Visual Studio Code extension and a beta, allowlist-gated API. Paid plans start at 8.33 USD/user/mo (annual).