The Raspberry Pi everyone stopped talking about is still worth buying

When the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the Raspberry Pi 4 and then Pi 5, the two new boards took all the limelight, and for good reason. They've got specs that essentially match those of proper mini PCs, with faster processors, USB 3.0, and real Gigabit Ethernet. The Raspberry Pi 3B+, the final edition of the legendary Pi 3, quietly faded into the background.

It's still in production, however, and is still very much worth your attention. And with Raspberry Pi prices spiraling upwards due to a memory crisis, this humble $50 board is starting to look a lot more interesting than anyone expected.

The Raspberry Pi market changed while nobody was looking

Why yesterday’s budget board suddenly makes sense again

To understand why the Pi 3B+ is suddenly interesting again, you'll have to take a look at Raspberry Pi's entire lineup. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has raised prices multiple times since late 2025, citing skyrocketing LPDDR4 DRAM costs. The Pi 4 with 4GB of RAM now costs around $100, up from $55 at launch. The Pi 5 with 4GB RAM will set you back $110; the 8GB variant is up to around $175; and the 16GB Pi 5 has a staggering $300 price tag.

I'm not saying the Pi 4 and Pi 5 are bad boards. They're great for what they offer, especially considering the launch price. But they're not selling at launch prices anymore, and the increased prices don't justify the board's purchase. Raspberry Pi is still cheap, especially compared to proper entry-level mini PCs, but it's no longer the smartest choice for a first Linux project.

The Raspberry Pi 3B+, on the other hand, is usually found within the $40 to $50 range. That is still an increase from its original $35 launch price, but that's a far more reasonable price for a single-board computer compared to the hundreds that the new Pis can cost you. The reason behind the Pi 3B+'s relatively low price is simple: it uses LPDDR2 RAM, the older generation that isn't caught up in the memory crisis. That also means the Pi 3B+ is unlikely to move from its current price point. That is, at least until the 2030 production end date arrives.

There’s still a lot packed into this little computer

What you actually get for the money in 2026

Just because the Pi 3B+ is cheap, it doesn't mean it's automatically a drop-in replacement. The board is almost eight years old in 2026, meaning you'll have to manage your expectations. It's got a 1.4GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 chip paired with 1 GB of LPDDR2 RAM. That's not going to run a modern desktop environment or transcode 4k video. You also get four USB 2.0 ports, a single full-size HDMI output, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Gigabit Ethernet, although it runs over USB 2.0, meaning you won't see more than 300 Mbps throughput in real-world usage.

The biggest annoyance, however, is going to be the microUSB power port. I went all in on USB-C in 2025, and just finding a microUSB cable lying around was difficult. Most Raspberry Pi implementations require it to be sitting in a corner plugged in, so it's not that big of an issue, but still an annoyance to watch out for.

Some projects don’t need the latest hardware

The workloads where this older Pi still shines

One of the best use cases for the 3B+ is running a Pi-hole DNS sinkhole. Pi-hole runs almost entirely in resident memory, barely touches the SD card, and uses a fraction of the on-board CPU. This $50 board can also replace your smart home hubs as it makes an excellent machine for Home Assistant. Although if you've got heavier add-ons, image-processing, or camera streams, it can struggle as that 1GB memory becomes a bottleneck.

But if your smart home is relatively lean, the 3B+ handles it just fine. Just skip the SD card for storage and boot from an SSD via USB instead. The Pi 3B+ supports this with a one-time bootloader flag, and it makes a significant difference when it comes to reliability and write endurance.

It's also a solid board for a retro gaming console with RetroPie or Batocera, can function as a network-attached print server, a Tailscale exit node, an NTP server with a GPS HAT, or a lightweight media player. For a board that you can easily buy on an impulse, that's just the top of the iceberg when it comes to usability.

Age catches up eventually

The limitations you’ll notice compared to newer boards

The 1GB of LPDDR2 memory that saves the Pi 3B+ from being unreasonably expensive is also its biggest weakness. Combined with the rest of the aging hardware, you shouldn't expect the 3B+ to keep up with anything computationally intensive. Running multiple Docker containers, serving as a Plex or Jellyfin transcoding server, or acting as a primary Home Assistant instance with dozens of heavy integrations will push the board to its limits or beyond.

The memory is not only a constraint for multitasking, but also for any workloads that keep a lot of data in memory. If you're planning to build a full home lab or run a self-hosted stack with multiple services, the Pi 4, Pi 5, or even a used mini PC is a better choice.

The USB 2.0 bus is also worth keeping in mind. Since both the Ethernet controller and external USB storage share that bus, running heavy disk I/O while also taxing the Ethernet port and pushing lots of network traffic is a recipe for bottlenecks. For dedicated single-purpose tasks, this rarely matters, but for anything else more demanding, it's a headache.

Specs matter less than the project

Choosing the right board instead of the newest one

The Pi 3B+ isn't a drop-in replacement for the newer, more powerful Raspberry Pis or their competition. If you need raw performance, a Pi 5 is worth every dollar—or at least it used to be. But if you have a well-defined, lightweight task like network filtering, basic home automation, or a game emulator for retro titles, the 3B+ does the job for a fraction of the cost.

In a market where the flagship Pi costs beyond $100 for a midrange configuration, the board everyone stopped talking about is now one of the most sensible buys in the lineup.