Arduino AI Assistant vs. ChatGPT: Which one to use for your projects?

If you’ve been turning to ChatGPT to write your Arduino code, you may actually be missing out on a tool designed just for you: the Arduino AI Assistant, built directly into Arduino Cloud.

While general-purpose AIs like ChatGPT can generate code, they often miss critical details, such as using the wrong libraries or adding unnecessary complexity. The Arduino AI Assistant, on the other hand, is trained on Arduino’s own documentation and libraries and has context about the user’s work and the hardware used, so it speaks the same language as your boards, sensors, and projects.

To put this to the test, we ran a side-by-side comparison. We put the Arduino AI Assistant, built right into Arduino Cloud, up against two versions of ChatGPT: the Free model and the premium “ChatGPT 5-Thinking.”

Arduino AI Assistant vs. ChatGPT: The test

We gave all three AIs the same test:

“Write a sketch for Nano ESP32 that connects to Wi-Fi and publishes temperature readings from an external HTS221 sensor to an MQTT broker (test.mosquitto.org) every 5 seconds. Use libraries wherever possible.”

So why this challenge? Because it tests real-world coding needs: Wi-Fi connectivity, sensor integration, MQTT communication, all while requiring the use of specific Arduino libraries:

• Wi-Fi: Nano ESP32 core WiFi library
• MQTT: ArduinoMqttClient
• Sensor: Arduino_HTS221

This is a common IoT use case and a perfect test to see if each model really “understands” Arduino.

Evaluation methodology

To ensure fairness and transparency in comparing the Arduino AI Assistant with ChatGPT, we adopted the LLM-as-a-Judge approach — a method detailed in recent research (A Survey on LLM-as-a-Judge).

We originally developed a large performance evaluation test suite as part of building the Arduino AI Assistant. This suite includes a wide range of realistic queries and scenarios that reflect what Arduino users typically ask when working on projects.

Because of the size of this test suite, we needed an evaluation method that was fast, programmatic, and impartial. Instead of relying solely on manual human review, we use an LLM “judge” to analyze responses against clearly defined criteria and determine whether they meet the requirements.

For this article, we applied the same methodology not only to the Arduino AI Assistant but also to ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Plus (Thinking). This ensures a level playing field: each tool was tested against the same input and evaluated by the same criteria.

Here, we’re sharing one representative example from the test suite to illustrate the evaluation process and the performance differences we observed.

The results

ChatGPT Free

ChatGPT Free generated code, but it failed to meet all requirements. 

Instead of using the correct MQTT library, it defaulted to PubSubClient and Adafruit_HTS221, which are not the official library for this board. That means the sketch would not meet the standards set for Arduino projects and could cause compatibility issues.

ChatGPT 5-Thinking

Next is ChatGPT 5-Thinking and the result is pretty similar to ChatGPT Free. 

You will get a code that technically works, but it still ignores the specified libraries. On top of that, it adds extra explanations and features that make the sketch more verbose than necessary. It’s closer to the target, but not precise enough for reliable Arduino use.

Arduino AI Assistant

Finally, the Arduino AI Assistant. 

Here, the difference is clear. The Assistant generates a concise sketch, uses the exact Arduino libraries we asked for, and is ready to upload immediately. No debugging, no wasted time. Just correct code, tailored to the Nano ESP32 and HTS221 sensor.

Arduino AI Assistant vs. ChatGPT: The winner

In side-by-side comparisons, it’s obvious: the Arduino AI Assistant delivers the right answer, while the other models miss the mark.

Watch Watch Leonardo Cavagnis, Firmware Engineer at Arduino, give you a quick overview of the Arduino AI Assistant vs. ChatGPT comparison in this video.

Try the Arduino AI Assistant yourself

You don’t need to leave your workflow to get this kind of support. The Arduino AI Assistant is built right into the Sketch section in Arduino Cloud and it’s free to use with 30 interactions/month. You can:

• Generate sketches for your board and sensors
• Fix errors in your code
• Explain Arduino concepts
• Help you wire your hardware correctly
• And more all Arduino-specific