Difference between 8051 and PIC

A micro-controller is a single Integrated Circuit (IC) which is comparable to a little stand alone computer and it is designed to perform the specific tasks of embedded systems. 8051 and PIC comes under the family of micro-controller. 8051 micro-controller and PIC micro-controller differs from each other in terms of different architecture and different sets of instruction, speed, cast, Memory, Power Consumption, Bus Width etc. Now let’s understand in detail what actually they are and how they differs from each other.

1. 8051 micro-controller : It is 8 bit family of micro-controller. It is an entry level micro-controller used for most basic applications all across the world and it consumes low power and available with low budget. It was developed by the Intel in the year 1981. This micro-controller is used in various devices and the major areas includes automobiles, medical devices and energy management.

2. PIC micro-controller : PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller. PIC micro-controller was developed by Microchip. This micro-controller is a very fast simple micro-controller in implementation and performance point of view. This micro-controller is easy to program and also it easy to interface with other peripherals. 
Difference between 8051 and PIC :

S.No.	8051	PIC
01.	8051 micro-controller has bus width 8 bit for standard core.	PIC micro-controller has bus width is 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit.
02.	8051 micro-controller is slower than PIC micro-controller.	PIC micro-controller is faster than 8051 micro-controller.
03.	It uses Von Neumann architecture.	It uses Harvard architecture.
04.	8051 is very basic and commonly used micro-controller and used for simple applications.	PIC is used to interface more advanced peripherals like microSD card, RFID scanner etc.
05.	It uses ROM, SRAM, FLASH memory.	It uses SRAM, FLASH memory.
06.	In general if we will see it has more community support than PIC.	In general if we will see it has less community support than 8051.
07.	8051 micro-controller consumes average power.	PIC micro-controller consume low power.
08.	8051 uses UART, USART, SPI, I2C communication protocols.	PIC uses PIC, LIN, UART, USART, CAN, Ethernet, I2S, SPI communication protocol.
09.	8051 micro-controller is created by Intel but used by some vendors.	PIC micro-controllers are from company micro-chip.
10.	It has 12 clock per instruction cycle.	It has 4 clock per instruction cycle.
11.	Its family includes 8051 variants.	Its family includes PIC16, PIC17, PIC18, PIC24, PIC32.
12.	Popular micro-controllers are AT89C51, AT89C52, AT89S51, AT89S52, AT89C1051, AT89C2051.	Popular micro-controllers are PIC18fXX8, PIC16f88X, PIC32MXX.
13.	8051 micro-controller uses CISC.	PIC micro-controller uses some features of RISC.

Feature	8051	PIC
Architecture	8-bit	8-bit or 16-bit
CPU Speed	Typically up to 33 MHz	Typically up to 32 MHz
Power Consumption	Higher	Lower
Instruction Set	Limited	More complex and diverse
On-chip memory	Limited	More and larger on-chip memory
On-chip peripherals	Limited	More and diverse on-chip peripherals
Interrupt handling	Simple and limited	More complex and efficient
Development tools	Widely available and mature	Growing ecosystem
Cost	Lower	Lower (compared to some ARM and MSP430)