When comparing BeagleV vs HiFive1, the Slant community recommends HiFive1 for most people. In the question“What are the best completely open-source (considering even the bootloader, all drivers, availability of Gerber files, etc) active single board computer designs?” HiFive1 is ranked 3rd while BeagleV is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose HiFive1 is:
Completely open-source CPU architecture.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Board design files are publically available
Pro RISC-V
Completely open-source CPU architecture.
Pro Arduino-compatible
Compatible with Arduino software and accessories, making it an effective drop-in replacement.
Cons
Con Product cancelled
Con Designed with Altium
"The design files for the HiFive 1 were made with Altium, a proprietary and non-Free software."
Con Leverages an FTDI chip, so not fully open-source
"This is an Arduino-compatible board with an FTDI chip providing the USB to serial conversion. [...] An FTDI chip is not Open Source, and they have designed drivers to break chips that aren’t theirs."