Raspberry Pi 5 vs Beelink EQ14
Highly recommended
Photo: SimonWaldherr · CC BY 4.0
Illustration
Highly recommended
Our verdict
Editorial opinionOur verdict
In 2026 a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB, case, supply and SSD costs about as much as a Beelink EQ14, which has twice the RAM, two 2.5 GbE ports, two SSD slots and Quick Sync. As a home server the EQ14 is the easier pick. The Pi wins for electronics (GPIO), low power and its software and community.
| Factual data | Raspberry Pi 5 | Beelink EQ14 |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Broadcom BCM2712 | Intel N150 |
| Cores / threads | 4 / 4 | 4 / 4 |
| RAM | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| Drive slots | 0 | 2More |
| Network | 1 × 1 GbE | 2 × 2.5 GbEAdvantage |
| Video engine (encode) | None | H.264, HEVC 8-bit, HEVC 10-bit (HDR), VP9 |
| Processor power | — | 6 W |
| Size | 85 × 56 × 17 mm | 126 × 126 × 39 mm |
| Price from | $78Advantage | $385 |
What each one is good forDerived from the specs
| Uses | Raspberry Pi 5 | Beelink EQ14 |
|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant | GoodOfficial or well-supported Home Assistant OS image | Great fitOfficial or well-supported Home Assistant OS image |
| Media server | LimitedNo hardware video encoder: direct play only, or slow software transcoding | Great fitIntel Quick Sync: the best-supported transcoding in Plex and Jellyfin |
| Homelab / Proxmox | LimitedArm processor: Docker works, Proxmox VE does not | GoodUp to 16 GB of RAM in SO-DIMM slots |
| Router / firewall | LimitedOne network port: only as a 'router on a stick' with VLANs and a managed switch | Great fit2 network ports, up to 2.5 GbE |
| NAS | LimitedNo internal drive slot: USB drives only | Good2 internal drive slots (2× M.2) |
| Desktop | LimitedLinux desktop on Arm: fine for browsing, coding and learning, slow with heavy sites | GoodWindows 11 supported |
| Electronics / GPIO | Great fit40-pin GPIO header | Not suitableNo GPIO header: add a USB microcontroller board instead |
Software supportEditorial opinion
| Windows 11 | Not supported | Excellent |
|---|---|---|
| Linux (Debian, Ubuntu or vendor image) | Excellent | Excellent |
| Proxmox VE | Not supported | Excellent |
| Home Assistant OS | Excellent | Excellent |
| OPNsense / pfSense / OpenWrt | Good | Excellent |