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Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro vs Sipeed LicheePi 4A: Comparison
What is the difference between Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro and Sipeed LicheePi 4A?
The first real difference is gpu model: Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro Mali-G52 against Sipeed LicheePi 4A Imagination BXE-4-32 MC1. They differ on soc model too, Rockchip RK3576 on the Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro versus Alibaba T-Head TH1520, Quad-Core RISC-V C910 @ 1.85GHz on the Sipeed LicheePi 4A.
Which should you buy, Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro or Sipeed LicheePi 4A?
Take the Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro for edge AI and network appliance projects needing dual Ethernet and solid onboard NPU performance on a budget. Avoid it for serious ML training or inference workloads, the Jetson Orin Nano Super offers far more raw compute for that. The Sipeed LicheePi 4A is the one to take for developers exploring RISC-V AI/NPU toolchains early and RAM-hungry RISC-V projects (up to 16GB), though it is not built for production AI deployments needing mature tooling and buyers wanting the broadest available software support. Our rating of the Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro (7/10): A budget-friendly edge AI and network appliance board with dual Ethernet and a capable 6 TOPS NPU. Our rating of the Sipeed LicheePi 4A (6.9/10): the most ambitious RISC-V AI board available today, but its software stack is still catching up to what its hardware promises -- best suited to developers who want to be early rather than comfortable.
Specs and benchmarks
These products are in different categories and don't share enough specifications to compare meaningfully.
Which one should you pick?
Choose Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro if you already have it on hand or find it at a lower price.
Choose Sipeed LicheePi 4A if you already have it on hand or find it at a lower price.
Price comparison
| Retailer | Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro | Sipeed LicheePi 4A |
|---|---|---|
| Consumercarts listing | $99.00 View on Consumercarts listing |
Disclaimer: The price and specification of the given product may differ from the actual product. Please confirm on the retailer's website before buying.
Verdict
Banana Pi BPI-M5 Pro
7 / 10 Expert Rating
A budget-friendly edge AI and network appliance board with dual Ethernet and a capable 6 TOPS NPU.
Sipeed LicheePi 4A
6.9 / 10 Expert Rating
The most ambitious RISC-V AI board available today, but its software stack is still catching up to what its hardware promises -- best suited to developers who want to be early rather than comfortable.