Identify Your Raspberry Pi Hardware via SSH

I have three Raspberry Pis running headless in various corners of my home. One runs Pi-hole, another handles home automation, and the third… I genuinely forgot what model it is.

Is it a Pi 4 with 2GB or 4GB? Maybe a Pi 3B+? I could unplug it and check the board, but there is an easier way.

If you can SSH into your Pi, you can identify your Raspberry Pi hardware with a few simple commands.

The Quick Answer

Run this command:

cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model

Output:

Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0

That is it. The exact model, variant, and revision in one line.

All the Commands You Need

Here is the complete reference for identifying every aspect of your Pi’s hardware:

Model Identification

Method 1: Device tree (cleanest output)

cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model

Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0

Method 2: CPU info

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep Model

Model		: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0

Both give you the same information. The device tree method is slightly cleaner.

Memory (RAM)

free -h

               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.9Gi       248Mi       7.6Gi        13Mi       153Mi       7.6Gi
Swap:          511Mi          0B       511Mi

The total column under Mem shows your RAM. In this case, 7.9GB indicates an 8GB model (some memory is reserved for the GPU).

Quick RAM check:

Displayed	Actual Model
~430MB	512MB model
~920MB	1GB model
~1.9GB	2GB model
~3.7GB	4GB model
~7.9GB	8GB model

CPU Details

lscpu

Architecture:            aarch64
CPU(s):                  4
Vendor ID:               ARM
Model name:              Cortex-A76
CPU max MHz:             2400.0000
CPU min MHz:             1500.0000

Key fields:

• Architecture: aarch64 means 64-bit ARM, armv7l means 32-bit
• Model name: The ARM core type (Cortex-A76 for Pi 5, Cortex-A72 for Pi 4)
• CPU(s): Number of cores
• CPU max MHz: Maximum clock speed

Full CPU Info

For the complete picture:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

This outputs detailed information for each CPU core, including:

• Hardware revision code
• Serial number
• Model string

The revision code at the bottom can be decoded using the Raspberry Pi revision codes documentation.

Operating System

lsb_release -a

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Debian
Description:	Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Release:	12
Codename:	bookworm

Or alternatively:

cat /etc/os-release

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian

The OS version often indicates the Pi’s era:

Codename	Debian Version	Raspberry Pi Era
Bookworm	12	Pi 4, Pi 5
Bullseye	11	Pi 4, Pi Zero 2
Buster	10	Pi 3, Pi 4
Stretch	9	Pi 2, Pi 3

GPU Memory Allocation

vcgencmd get_mem gpu

gpu=76M

This shows how much RAM is allocated to the GPU. On a Pi 5, the default is typically 76MB.

Quick Reference Script

Here is a one-liner that shows everything at once:

echo "=== Raspberry Pi Hardware Info ===" && \
echo "Model: $(cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model)" && \
echo "RAM: $(free -h | awk '/^Mem:/ {print $2}')" && \
echo "CPU: $(lscpu | grep 'Model name' | cut -d: -f2 | xargs)" && \
echo "Cores: $(nproc)" && \
echo "OS: $(lsb_release -ds 2>/dev/null || cat /etc/os-release | grep PRETTY_NAME | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '"')"

Output:

=== Raspberry Pi Hardware Info ===
Model: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0
RAM: 7.9Gi
CPU: Cortex-A76
Cores: 4
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)

Save this as pi-info.sh on your Pi for quick future reference:

echo '#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Raspberry Pi Hardware Info ==="
echo "Model: $(cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model)"
echo "RAM: $(free -h | awk '\''/^Mem:/ {print $2}'\'')"
echo "CPU: $(lscpu | grep '\''Model name'\'' | cut -d: -f2 | xargs)"
echo "Cores: $(nproc)"
echo "OS: $(lsb_release -ds 2>/dev/null || cat /etc/os-release | grep PRETTY_NAME | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '\''"'\'')"' > ~/pi-info.sh && chmod +x ~/pi-info.sh

Then run it anytime with:

~/pi-info.sh

Identifying Pi Models by Specs

If you only have partial information, here is how to identify your Pi:

Model	CPU	Cores	Max MHz	RAM Options
Pi 5	Cortex-A76	4	2400	4GB, 8GB
Pi 4	Cortex-A72	4	1500-1800	1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB
Pi 3B+	Cortex-A53	4	1400	1GB
Pi 3B	Cortex-A53	4	1200	1GB
Pi Zero 2 W	Cortex-A53	4	1000	512MB
Pi Zero W	ARM1176	1	1000	512MB

When These Commands Do Not Work

“No such file or directory” for device tree:

Older Pi OS images or non-Raspberry Pi OS distributions might not have /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model. Use /proc/cpuinfo instead.

vcgencmd not found:

Install it with:

sudo apt install libraspberrypi-bin

Or on newer Pi OS versions, it may be at /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd.

lsb_release not found:

Use cat /etc/os-release instead, or install it:

sudo apt install lsb-release

Summary

What You Want	Command
Model name	cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model
RAM	free -h
CPU type	lscpu
Full CPU info	cat /proc/cpuinfo
OS version	lsb_release -a or cat /etc/os-release
GPU memory	vcgencmd get_mem gpu

Now I know exactly which Pi is running where - without leaving my desk.

---

This post is part of a series on Raspberry Pi. See also: Raspberry Pi Headless SSH Setup and Keep Your Raspberry Pi Online.