Commercial use of raspberry pi

[mrdebug]

Hi. I want to use raspberry pi 0 wifi in a commercial and industrial project.
Is it possible? If yes where can I buy it? I see in a lot of website I can buy only one at a time. Why?

[rpdom]

It is possible to buy the Pi Zero W in large quantities, but it won't be at the standard educational discounted price. Try emailing info@raspberrypi.org with the quantities you are thinking of ordering and they may be able to help you.

[Imperf3kt]

Note also that the RPF have specified the Pi0 range is subject to change without notice.
It is entirely possible that they could redesign the board form factor or layout tomorrow which may impact your commercial endeavour - imagine creating a case only to find a revision has caused the HDMI port to move 1mm to the left not but a week after you launch your product. It'd be disastrous!
Exaggerated, of course, they're not likely to change the form factor or layout, but it's not impossible.

For this specific reason, they released the CM line for commercial applications.

[fruitoftheloom]

Note also that the RPF have specified the Pi0 range is subject to change without notice.
It is entirely possible that they could redesign the board form factor or layout tomorrow which may impact your commercial endeavour - imagine creating a case only to find a revision has caused the HDMI port to move 1mm to the left not but a week after you launch your product. It'd be disastrous!
Exaggerated, of course, they're not likely to change the form factor or layout, but it's not impossible.

For this specific reason, they released the CM line for commercial applications.

Really ??

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-zero/

Obsolescence Statement
Raspberry Pi Zero will remain in production until at least January 2026

[Heater]

I always liken this kind of question to the idea of basing an industrial product on the free plastic toys that come out of corn flake packets sometimes.

Not that I'm suggesting the zero is a toy but you see what I mean.

[rpdom]

I always liken this kind of question to the idea of basing an industrial product on the free plastic toys that come out of corn flake packets sometimes.

Not that I'm suggesting the zero is a toy but you see what I mean.

Or on the cover of magazines?

[Imperf3kt]

Really ??

Yes, really...
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 2#p1130167
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 2#p1126627
These are only the first two moderator replies I could find with 5 minutes of googling.
I'm sure if I looked longer I could find many more.

Code: Select all

site:raspberrypi.org pi zero commercial

You yourself appear to at one time have agreed with my statement.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 0#p1158289

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 4#p1125947

[fruitoftheloom]

Really ??

Yes, really...
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 2#p1130167
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 2#p1126627
These are only the first two moderator replies I could find with 5 minutes of googling.
I'm sure if I looked longer I could find many more.

Code: Select all

site:raspberrypi.org pi zero commercial

You yourself appear to at one time have agreed with my statement.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 0#p1158289

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 4#p1125947

Yes 2 years ago when RPT / RPF had not at that time published a public statement as to long term availability.

[jamesh]

The Zero design could indeed change. Whether it will, I doubt it. Form factor seems to work OK - already very cheap.

As to the OP;s question, the basic Zero is only available in quantities of ONE at the headline prices. You can buy large quantities at a higher price. Use the Zero WH as a baseline price. As above, email info@raspberrypi.org for any questions on quantity discounts. You will need to be order quite a lot (500 or more would start to see discounts I suspect)

[fruitoftheloom]

The Zero design could indeed change. Whether it will, I doubt it. Form factor seems to work OK - already very cheap.

As to the OP;s question, the basic Zero is only available in quantities of ONE at the headline prices. You can buy large quantities at a higher price. Use the Zero WH as a baseline price. As above, email info@raspberrypi.org for any questions on quantity discounts. You will need to be order quite a lot (500 or more would start to see discounts I suspect)

Yes the Zero WH at $15, always forget about this model, unlimited quantities:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/zero-wh/

[mrdebug]

I have written yesterday morning but no response up to now.

[rpdom]

I have written yesterday morning but no response up to now.

That email address is very busy. Give it time. It may also have to filter through to the appropriate department.

[rin67630]

I always liken this kind of question to the idea of basing an industrial product on the free plastic toys that come out of corn flake packets sometimes. Not that I'm suggesting the zero is a toy but you see what I mean.

At least the Pi Zero is IMHO not reliable enough for a commercial use.
I have experienced so much more failures on the Zero than on the 3a+ which is ways more reliable.

[rpdom]

I always liken this kind of question to the idea of basing an industrial product on the free plastic toys that come out of corn flake packets sometimes. Not that I'm suggesting the zero is a toy but you see what I mean.

At least the Pi Zero is IMHO not reliable enough for a commercial use.
I have experienced so much more failures on the Zero than on the 3a+ which is ways more reliable.

Anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything.

(been running a Pi Zero with an uptime of 465 days before upgrading to Buster and still running with no problems).

[rin67630]

Anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything.
(been running a Pi Zero with an uptime of 465 days before upgrading to Buster and still running with no problems).

You are contradicting yourself in your next sentence.
You have got ONE Pi Zero running flawlessly?
I have got a good dozen of them, and from them three got broken.

[rpdom]

Anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything.
(been running a Pi Zero with an uptime of 465 days before upgrading to Buster and still running with no problems).

You are contradicting yourself in your next sentence.
You have got ONE Pi Zero running flawlessly?
I have got a good dozen of them, and from them three got broken.

And you are making assumptions on how many I have running without problems. That was just the one that had been running the longest without a reboot.

[rin67630]

That was just the one that had been running the longest without a reboot.

When I mean broken, I don't mean only rebooting: one of them have got non functional HDMI, one gets really very hot despite of running at 2% CPU, one is just fully dead.
The about 20 Raspberry Pi 3 that I have on production all run 24/24/365 flawlessly.

[DougieLawson]

That was just the one that had been running the longest without a reboot.

When I mean broken, I don't mean only rebooting: one of them have got non functional HDMI, one gets really very hot despite of running at 2% CPU, one is just fully dead.
The about 20 Raspberry Pi 3 that I have on production all run 24/24/365 flawlessly.

What you're showing is that you've got the hardware abuse sorted to a tee. Your problems are clearly of your own making.

You're also demonstrating that a sample size of one is statistically meaningless. Your experiences are not even noise in a population of 30,000,000+