The Raspberry Pi has been the default recommendation for home server projects for over a decade. Small, cheap, low-power, with an enormous community and tutorial library. But the mini PC market has matured significantly, and for many home server use cases, a $150 mini PC now offers meaningfully better value than a $80 Raspberry Pi 5 once you account for all the extras you need to buy.
This isn’t a slam on the Pi — it’s an excellent product for specific use cases. But the comparison deserves an honest look at what each platform actually delivers for home server workloads.
Total Cost of Ownership: It’s Not as Close as It Looks
A Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB) retails for $80. But to actually use it as a home server, you need:
- MicroSD card (fast, reliable): $15–25
- USB-C power supply (official recommended): $12
- Case with active cooling (Pi 5 runs hot without): $12–20
- Optional: NVMe HAT for proper SSD boot: $25–35
- Optional: PCIe to SATA adapter for drives: $25–40
A fully equipped Pi 5 home server costs $130–195 before you add any storage. An N100 mini PC like the Beelink Mini S12 Pro runs $165–180 and includes 16GB RAM, a 500GB NVMe SSD, a proper case and cooling, and a standard power adapter. Out of the box, it’s a complete computer.
Performance: x86 vs ARM
The Raspberry Pi 5 uses an ARM Cortex-A76 CPU — fast for an SBC, but fundamentally an ARM architecture chip. The Intel N100 is x86. This matters more than benchmark numbers suggest because most server software is primarily developed and optimized for x86. While ARM support has improved dramatically (Docker containers, most Linux server software, Home Assistant all run on ARM), you’ll occasionally hit edge cases: a container that only has an x86 image, software that won’t compile cleanly on ARM, or performance differences in x86-only workloads.
For raw compute, the N100 is significantly faster than the Pi 5 in sustained multi-threaded workloads. In Plex transcoding specifically, the N100’s Intel Quick Sync GPU provides hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC transcoding — the Pi 5 has no equivalent hardware transcoding path for modern codecs.
Storage Architecture: The Pi’s Weakness
The Raspberry Pi 5’s storage interface is through its USB ports or an M.2 HAT that uses the single PCIe Gen 2 x1 lane. You can attach drives, but the architecture wasn’t designed around heavy storage workloads. A mini PC with a dedicated M.2 slot plus multiple USB 3.0 ports offers more practical storage flexibility with better sustained transfer performance.
Where the Raspberry Pi Wins
The Pi has genuine advantages in specific scenarios:
- GPIO pins: Hardware interfacing with sensors, actuators, and electronics isn’t possible on a standard mini PC. If your home server needs to control physical hardware (temperature sensors, relay switches, LED strips), the Pi’s GPIO is unmatched.
- Form factor and power: The Pi’s credit-card size is genuinely smaller than any mini PC. For embedded or hidden installations, this matters.
- Community and tutorials: The sheer volume of Raspberry Pi-specific tutorials, guides, and community resources is unmatched. For beginners who learn by following step-by-step guides, Pi documentation is more abundant.
- Educational use: If the goal is learning Linux, electronics, or programming, the Pi’s ecosystem of hats and accessories makes it ideal.
The Verdict
For pure home server use — Plex, NAS, Pi-hole, Home Assistant, VPN, Docker containers — a mini PC running the N100 is the better value for most people in 2025. More performance, more storage flexibility, better software compatibility, and comparable cost once you account for Pi accessories.
For GPIO projects, embedded installations, education, or if you already own a Pi and just want to expand its use, stick with the Pi. It’s purpose-built for those scenarios and nothing matches its community for those use cases.