Hardware · Where to buy

Where to buy.

By

What this is
Sources of supply for the hardware here
Not
A storefront. We sell nothing; we point you to who does
For
Anyone trying to actually get the parts

None of this hardware is hard to find once you know where to look. These are the places growers and makers actually buy from, grouped by what they are good for. We sell nothing and host nothing here: this is a map to other people’s shelves, with a word on each. The list grows as the collective adds to it.

A rough rule. For the cheapest common parts, a marketplace is fine if you can wait. For genuine, exact components with datasheets, use a distributor. For documented, beginner-friendly gear, the maker shops are worth the small premium. For accurate water, light, and soil measurement, the specialty instrument makers are in a class of their own.

Marketplaces.

Cheap and familiar, with variable quality and longer lead times. Good for common parts and kits; read reviews and expect the occasional clone.

Amazon Fast and familiar, for everyday parts and kits. eBay New and surplus; good for older or odd parts. AliExpress Cheapest, longest lead time; buy the common stuff. Alibaba Bulk and wholesale, direct from makers. Banggood Hobby gear and kits, mid lead time.

Electronics distributors.

The real supply chain: genuine parts, deep stock, and datasheets for everything. The right place when you need the exact, authentic component.

DigiKey The reference distributor: genuine parts, deep stock, datasheets. Mouser Same class as DigiKey, huge genuine catalog. Arrow Large distributor, strong on volume. Newark / element14 Farnell and element14 in the US; genuine parts. RS / Allied Broad industrial catalog. Avnet Global distributor, volume and design support. TME European distributor, broad catalog.

Maker specialty.

Curated, well-documented gear made for builders. You pay a little more and get tutorials, support, and parts that just work.

SparkFun Curated boards and breakouts with great tutorials. Adafruit Documented parts and the best beginner guides. Seeed Studio The Grove ecosystem, LoRaWAN, and fab services. Pimoroni Playful, well-made boards and add-ons (UK). DFRobot Gravity analog and ag sensors, robotics. Pololu Motors, drivers, and precise electromechanical parts. Crowd Supply New and open hardware, often first. Tindie A marketplace for independent makers. Olimex Open-source, industrial-grade boards (EU). Waveshare Displays, HATs, and a vast accessory range. M5Stack Tidy modular ESP32 devices in cases. Screek Workshop mmWave presence and radar sensors with ESPHome firmware for Home Assistant.

PCB fabrication & assembly.

When you outgrow a breadboard and want your own circuit board made. Cheaper and easier than most growers expect.

JLCPCB Very cheap PCBs and assembly; the hobby default. PCBWay PCBs, assembly, and CNC; strong service. OSH Park Lush purple US-made prototype PCBs. Aisler EU PCB fab and assembly, hobby-friendly. Eurocircuits EU PCBs with serious tooling.

Agriculture & scientific specialty.

The instruments most growers have never heard of: research-grade probes for water, light, and soil. More money, far more accuracy.

Atlas Scientific Water-chemistry probes: pH, EC, dissolved oxygen, ORP. Apogee Instruments Research-grade light (PAR and PPFD) and weather sensors. METER Group Research soil and environment instruments. Vegetronix Rugged soil-moisture and temperature probes. Campbell Scientific High-end dataloggers and field instruments. SenseCAP (Seeed) LoRaWAN sensors built for agriculture.

A note on buying.

Prices and stock move constantly, so we link to each vendor rather than quote a number that goes stale. Cheap marketplace parts are often clones of an open design, which is usually fine, but confirm the chip and read the reviews before you trust a reading. When accuracy matters, pay for the real part from a distributor or a specialty maker. If you know a good supplier we have missed, tell us through the Contact page and we will add it.