How to choose your Jetson board in 2026?

With the development of edge AI, robotics, visual recognition, and AI large model inference, more and more developers are starting to explore the NVIDIA Jetson series of development boards. Whether it's intelligent robots, ROS cars, AI cameras, or local deployment of LLM/VLM, most projects will ultimately face a problem:

How should you choose Jetson Nano, Orin Nano, Orin NX, AGX Orin, or AGX Thor?

If selected incorrectly:

Insufficient performance → AI model cannot run

High power consumption → Robot endurance crashes

Budget overrun → Project cost out of control

Insufficient interface → External devices cannot be expanded

This article will be combined with the Yahboom Jetson development board sectionSeveral popular products are available to help you quickly find the most suitable Jetson platform for yourself.

1.Understand Jetson's core positioning

NVIDIA Jetson's core advantages:

✅ GPU AI acceleration✅ CUDA/TensorRT/DeepStream ecosystem complete✅ Native support for ROS/ROS2✅ Suitable for robots and edge AI✅ Deploying visual AI and large models

According to NVIDIA's official introduction, the Jetson Orin series is mainly aimed at:

Robot, Industrial AI, Autonomous driving, Edge vision, Multi channel AI reasoning, Local large-scale model application.

2.Jetson development board performance level classification

Jetson can be understood as:

Grade

Target audience

Typical Applications

Entry-level

Al Beginner

Image recognition, YOLO

Mainstream level

Robot development

ROS2, visual navigation

High-performance level

Industrial Al

Multi camera, edge server

Ultimate level

Large models/complex robots

Multimodal AI, VLA

3.How to choose different Jetson development boards?

1) Jetson Nano - the first choice for AI beginners

Recommended Products---Reference link:Jetson NANO 4GB B01 AI Large Model Developer Kit

Who is suitable for?

If you are:

✦ AI beginners✦ Student✦ Introduction to ROS✦ YOLO Recognition Learning✦ OpenCV Learning✦ Python AI project development

Jetson Nano is the first AI development board with a very high cost performance ratio.

Advantage:

--> Low price--> CUDA environment mature--> There are numerous tutorial resources available--> ROS/Rich Visual Cases--> low power consumption

Suitable for the project:

--> Face recognition--> Gesture recognition--> AI robot car--> Intelligence camera--> Beginner of robotic arm

Precautions:

Jetson Nano is already an older platform, and some new versions of AI frameworks have weaker support.

Reddit developers also mentioned: The software ecosystem of the original Nano is gradually aging.

Summary:

Learning AI is no problem. But not recommended for large-scale AI projects

2) Jetson Orin Nano - currently the most recommended mainstream choice

Recommended Products---Reference link:Jetson Orin NANO SUPER Developer Kit

Why is it the most popular?

Jetson Orin Nano is considered by many developers to be: The Jetson platform worth buying from 2025 to 2026.

Because it:

✦ Performance far exceeds Nano✦ Power consumption is still low✦ Capable of running large models✦ Can run ROS2✦ Support multiple visual channels✦ The price is still acceptable

Orin Nano SUPER can achieve 67 TOPS AI computing power

Who is suitable for?

If you want to do:

✦ ROS2 Robot✦ AI visual navigation✦ SLAM✦ Multi camera vision✦ Local deployment of small LLM✦ Multimodal AI project

So Orin Nano is currently a very balanced choice.

Reason for recommendation:1.Excellent balance between performance and power consumption

Compared to AGX Orin:

--> Cheaper--> More energy-efficient--> More suitable for mobile robots

Compared to Jetson Nano:

--> AI inference performance significantly improved--> The new framework supports more complete support

2.More suitable for AI large models

Currently, there are many: DeepSeek, Qwen, Llama, VLM, Visual Language Model already started supporting the Orin platform.

3.Ecology is becoming mainstream

More and more ROS2, robotics, and vision projects:

-->Default support for Orin Nano-->More and more official tutorials are available-->Community resources are growing rapidly

3) Jetson Orin NX - Professional Robot Development Recommendation

Recommended Products--Reference link:Jetson Orin NX SUPER Developer Kit

Core Features:

Orin NX belongs to representative of "small size+high performance"

Orin NX SUPER 8GB can achieve 117 TOPS AI computing power

Orin NX SUPER 16GB can achieve 157 TOPS AI computing power

Who is suitable for?

If you are doing:

✦ High end ROS robot✦ Autonomous driving car✦ Multi camera vision✦ Industrial vision✦ AI edge server✦ Drone✦ Local deployment of medium-sized LLM

Why do many robotics companies choose Orin NX?

1.Performance close to AGX

But:

--> Lighter--> More energy-efficient--> More suitable for embedded devices

In the Reddit discussion, some developers also mentioned: AGX is too heavy for drones, Orin NX is more suitable for mobile robots

2.Better power consumption control

For robots:

Battery life is extremely important

Orin NX is available in:

--> Performance--> Power consumption--> Heat dissipation

The balance between them is very good.

3. More suitable for productization

Many commercial robots will eventually:

--> Upgrading from Nano to NX--> Upgrading from Xavier NX to Orin NX

And currently NVIDIA is also pushing developers to migrate to the Orin series.

4.Jetson AGX Orin - Industrial grade AI performance monster

Recommended Products--Reference link:Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit

Who is suitable for?

If you want to do:

✅ Industrial AI Server✅ Multi channel 4K video analysis✅ Edge computing Gateway✅ autonomous driving✅ AI Factory✅ Multi sensor fusion✅ Local deployment of large models

AGX Orin is the truly suitable solution.

Advantage:

AGX Orin can achieve 275 TOPS AI computing power

This is currently a very powerful platform in industrial edge AI.

What scene is it suitable for?

Multi channel vision: 8-channel camera, Industrial quality inspection, intelligent transportation.

Large model edge deployment: Local LLM, Multimodal AI, AI Agent.

Advanced Robot: Humanoid robot, AMR, Automatic Navigation Platform

5.Jetson AGX Thor - The Next Generation AI Flagship Platform

Recommended Products--Reference link:Jetson AGX Thor Developer Kit

What level is it?--- A Super Edge AI Platform for the Future Robot Era

AGX Thor can achieve 2070 FP4 TFLOPS AI computing power

Clearly located:

--> Large model--> VLA--> Humanoid robot--> Multimodal AI

Which developers are suitable for?

✅ AI company✅ Robot companies✅ Large model edge reasoning✅ Advanced research institutions✅ Research and development of humanoid robots

Summary

If you have just entered the field of AI and robotics:

Learning phase; Choose Jetson Nano is sufficient.

Truly starting an AI project: Choose Jetson Orin Nano directly.

I want to be a commercial robotL Prioritize Jetson Orin NX.

Develop industrial grade AI: Jetson AGX Orin is the true productivity platform.

Creating Future Robots and Large Models: Jetson AGX Thor is the ultimate goal.

For more Jetson AI development boards and robot solutions, you can visit:

Yahboom Jetson Series Zone