Arm Keil MDK vs PlatformIO Core
| Arm Keil MDK | PlatformIO Core | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | No | No |
| Paid from | $99/mo | Free |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | api, extension, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows | extension, Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Debugger included | — | Yes |
| SDK components | — | Arduino, CMSIS, ESP8266 SDKs, Espressif IoT Development Framework, FreeRTOS, Mbed, STM32Cube, Zephyr, and other frameworks and SDKs |
| Target architectures | — | AVR, ARM-based Atmel SAM, ESP32, ESP8266, 8051, PIC32, Nordic nRF51/nRF52, RISC-V, STM32, STM8, MSP430, TIVA, and others |
| Host platforms | — | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Linux ARMv6+ |
| Build systems | — | PlatformIO Build System with platformio.ini project configuration |
| Debug interfaces | — | Atmel-ICE, Black Magic Probe, CMSIS-DAP, JTAG-HS1, J-LINK, ESP-Prog, QEMU, Renode, ST-LINK, TI-ICDI, Verilator, and custom interfaces |
| License model | — | open-source |
Both are listed in Best Embedded Systems Toolchains. On The Geeks Club, Arm Keil MDK scores higher on our published basis.