Best Arduino Starter Kits: Our Top 7 Reads of 2023

A good Arduino starter kit can help jump-start a beginner’s journey into learning electronics.

The best Arduino starter kits come packed with user-friendly tutorials as well as a bunch of added components and accessories – like LEDs, sensors, buttons, and buzzers.

On the other hand, it’s easy to get bored quickly when your Arduino starter kit doesn’t have many extras. Poor user-manuals and missing pieces can be a huge turn-off for a beginner buying their first kit.

So to help you separate the good from the bad – we’ve reviewed the Top 7 Arduino Starter Kits of 2023.

Buy with the confidence that you’re purchasing one of the best Arduino starter kits on the market. Let’s jump straight into the reviews.

Kuman Arduino Kit

• Wide range of included accessories
• Comes with 23 different lessons
• Good value for money

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Keyestudio Arduino Kit

• Excellent build quality
• Comes with 32 different project ideas
• Very easy to understand lessons

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Elegoo Arduino Kit

• Affordable price
• Good variety of accessories
• Free PDF tutorial (over 22 lessons)

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Top 7 Best Arduino Starter Kits

Kuman Arduino Starter Kit with Mega 2560 R3 – Best Overall

Kuman’s Arduino starter kit is our best overall model due to its reasonable price mixed with its wide range of accessories.

This is the perfect beginner Arduino board because it also comes with a free 23-lesson PDF tutorial that can get you up to speed on the basics.

The tutorial comes loaded onto a CD that also features a project introduction as well as the source code. This starter kit comes with the Arduino Mega board, which is rather easy to work with but also features additional I/O pins and power.

Beyond the included learning materials on the CD, you’ll also get a package of examples and more in an email shortly after buying this product. These resources will prove to be invaluable if you’re new to working with an Arduino and you’re looking to make the most out of your new board.

Of course, this kit also comes included with a wide range of accessories that include three different kinds of LEDs, several 7 segments, a remote control, and more.

Overall, this is the best place to start if you’re looking to kick-start your Arduino journey without spending too much money.

Keyestudio Arduino Starter Kit with Mega 2560 R3 – Premium Choice

If you don’t mind paying a little extra, Keyestudio’s super Arduino starter kit is an amazing option that comes included with everything you’ll need.

Much like the last model, this kit comes with an Arduino Mega board, which is approachable enough for beginners but also powerful enough so that you can still get plenty of mileage out of it.

This kit comes with a few things that you wouldn’t expect in a basic starter set.

One of the most surprising inclusions was the base plate that lets you connect the breadboard to the Arduino board, keeping everything tidy.

If you find it hard to work on project building with other boards, this may be perfect for you.

Since this is the Mega variant of the Arduino, you’ll also benefit from better pinouts. You’ll also find that this kit comes included with some helpful extras.

For example, the power supply pack allows you to power your creations using AA batteries.

Other accessories include buttons, LEDs, an access key, a pair of LCDs, and much more that you can use to experiment.

While it may be a little more expensive than your average Arduino starter kit, this model from Keyestudio also comes with some very helpful educational materials that more than justify the price. Highly recommended for those who are happy to pay a bit extra for quality.

Elegoo Arduino Starter Kit with Tutorial and Uno R3 – Excellent Value

This Elegoo Arduino starter kit is just outstanding. Elegoo has delivered the perfect combination of low price and high quality; it is considered by many to be the best value on the market.

Elegoo Arduino super starter kit comes with more than 200 components, in which 63 are different. As well as essential components like resistors, pushbuttons, and LEDs – it also comes packed with a nice set of modules and sensors including a motion sensor, LED matrix, RFID reader, accelerometer/gyroscope module, water level sensor, ultrasonic sensor and much more!

With this Arduino kit, you’ll get a CD with a PDF file in it, which includes more than 20 tutorials with fun projects. The manual includes all of the code (you can also copy-paste the code from a CD that comes with the kit), and pictures of assembled circuits to help make sure you don’t get lost.

Elegoo has rigorously tested the code to ensure that you don’t get compilation errors when uploading your code to your Arduino board.

Everything comes in a solid plastic case to keep everything organized, plus an extra mini box to store the small parts. The microcontroller is an Arduino clone from Elegoo – but works exactly the same as the official Arduino. This is an excellent kit not just for beginners but also for experienced Arduino creators.

Overall if you’re looking to get the most value for your money, the Elegoo UNO Super Starter Kit is an excellent choice.

REXQualis Arduino Starter Kit with Uno R3

REXQualis Super Starter Kit based on Arduino UNO R3 with Tutorial and...

• The most economical kit comes with everything compatible with Arduino to starting programming for beginners .
• This is the upgraded starter kits come with a 9V 1A Power Adapter (At least $5.99 on amazon) to replace a 9V Battery , and...
• Include High Quality Base Board base on Arduino UNO R3 compatible with Arduino IED and Sensors, Servo, Motor, ULN2003 driver...

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Another great value-buy: this REXQualis’s Arduino starter kit comes included with all the essentials you’re going to need at an incredibly cheap price.

While it may be cheaper, this kit still comes with the Arduino Uno R3, meaning you’ll be able to work on a wide range of different projects.

This Arduino starter kit comes with a huge range of components, including a Joystick module, servo motor, fan blade, 5V relay, tilt switch, buttons & buzzers, 6 different colored LEDs – and much more. All of the extra parts function flawlessly, even after repeated use, which is a pleasant surprise after having gone through far too many cheap and unreliable kits.

This starter kit also comes included with a CD tutorial to help you get started through the first steps of getting acquainted with your new Arduino. One of our only complaints is that it’s rather difficult to tell the value of the included resistors, so you’ll have to do some experimenting to find out.

Overall REXQualis is slightly lower quality than the Elegoo Arduino Starter Kit, but comes at a slightly lower price. An excellent value buy if you’re looking to get maximise the bang for your buck in your first Arduino starter kit.

Official Arduino Starter Kit for Beginners

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Official Arduino Starter Kit [K000007] (English Projects Book)

• It’s a quick and easy way to get started with the learning of STEAM subjects at home, and it can be used to think...
• This kit walks you through the basics of Arduino and electronics in a hands-on way. No prior experience is required, as the...
• The kit comes with a 170-page project guide book and includes over 100 components.

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This is the official Arduino starter kit. This official starter kit comes with the Arduino UNO board, a 170 page project book with 15 projects, and over 100 components – including a breadboard, temperature sensor, servo motor, DC motor, resistors, LEDs, jumper wires, and much more.

Except for a couple screws, this starter kit includes all the required components needed for the projects detailed in the project book.

This kit includes a bunch of added components, including:

• Arduino UNO + USB cable
• Project Book with 15 projects
• 1 breadboard
• Added transistors, capacitors and diodes
• Optocoupler 4N35
• Jumper wires
• Temperature sensor [TMP36]
• 9V battery snap
• Wooden base
• 3x potentiometer
• Motor drive L293D
• Servo motor
• LEDs (multiple different colors)
• 10x pushbuttons
• Tilt sensor
• 16×2 LCDs
• 6x phototransistor
• DC motor
• Piezo capsule
• Various resistors

While this kit is fantastic, the biggest let down is its price tag. Being the official Arduino starter kit, it’s much pricer than some of the other options on our list. There are simply better options when it comes to value for money.

That notwithstanding, the official Arduino starter kit is still an option for those who want a premium product, and don’t mind paying a bit extra for it. So if you’re looking for a the official Arduino starter kit and don’t mind paying a premium price – this is the kit for you.

Official Arduino Uno R3 Board

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Arduino UNO REV3 [A000066]

• This board is your entry to the unique Arduino experience: great for learning the basics of how sensors and actuators work,...
• Arduino UNO Rev3 is the most used and documented board in the world
• "Uno" means one in Italian and was chosen to mark the release of Arduino Software (IDE) 1.0, now evolved to newer releases

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If you don’t need any added accessories, the Official Arduino Uno R3 Board is a great starting point that won’t cost you much money at all.

The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button.

As you would expect from the low price, this kit doesn’t come included with a wide range of accessories, but it at least comes with the basics.

Technical Specifications:

• Microcontroller: ATmega328P
• Operating Voltage: 5V
• Input Voltage (recommended): 7-12V
• Input Voltage (limit): 6-20V
• Digital I/O Pins: 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
• DC Current per I/O Pin: 20 mA
• DC Current for 3.3V Pin: 50 mA
• Flash Memory: 32 KB (ATmega328P) of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader
• SRAM: 2 KB (ATmega328P)
• EEPROM: 1 KB (ATmega328P)
• Clock Speed: 16 MHz
• Led_Builtin: 13

While the lack of accessories won’t let you accomplish much, you’ll at least get acquainted with coding your new Arduino. This product is also the official Official Arduino Uno R3 Board. It’s made in Italy, and it’s extremely high quality (hence the higher price tag).

If you’re looking for a high-quality Arduino board without all the added accessories, then the Official Arduino Uno R3 Board is an excellent choice.

Official Arduino Nano Board

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Arduino Nano [A000005]

• The Arduino Nano is one of the smallest Arduino boards available on the market
• Tiny form factor, complete, and breadboard-friendly board based on the ATmega328
• It works with a Mini-B USB cable

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Finally, if you’re looking for the smallest and most lightweight Arduino possible, then you should get your hands on the official Arduino Nano board. While it doesn’t include any components or extras, this Arduino is affordable enough for anyone to get started coding. This is a great option if you’ve already got yourself a starter kit and are just looking for another Arduino by itself.

If you’re a beginner, you’ll find this model easy to work with as it comes with the header pins already soldered into place.

The only thing that you’ll have to do is install a driver, which doesn’t take too much effort, and this is a better-quality clone than many others that we’ve seen.

However, this Arduino provides excellent value for money, and its small size make it suited for projects where mobility and small size are needed. If you’re looking the absolute cheapest set to get started – this is a viable alternative.