FRC Motors Compared: NEO vs Kraken X60 vs Falcon 500 vs NEO Vortex

Picking a motor used to be the easy part of designing an FRC robot. Now there are four serious brushless options, two competing ecosystems, and a feature called FOC that sounds like a typo. This guide cuts through it with exact numbers straight from the manufacturers, so you can choose the right motor for your drivetrain and your mechanisms without guessing.

Every motor below is a brushless DC motor, meaning it uses electronic commutation (no carbon brushes to wear out) and needs a motor controller to spin. They split cleanly into two camps: REV Robotics motors (NEO family) that use a separate controller, and the CTRE/VEX motors (Kraken, Falcon) that have the controller built into the motor housing.

The spec table

These numbers are pulled directly from the official documentation. Read them carefully: the headline "free speed" and "stall torque" describe opposite ends of a motor's behavior, and the difference between motors is bigger than it looks.

Sources: REV NEO V1.1, REV NEO Vortex, WCP Kraken X60 performance, and the CTRE Falcon 500 store page.

The big story here is the Kraken. Its stall torque of 7.09 Nm (trapezoidal) is nearly three times the NEO's 2.6 Nm and over 1.5x the Falcon's 4.69 Nm. That is why the Kraken became the dominant drivetrain motor almost immediately after its October 2023 release.

How to read these numbers

A motor lives on a straight line between two extremes. At free speed it spins fastest but makes zero usable torque. At stall it makes maximum torque but isn't turning at all (and draws huge current). Real mechanisms operate somewhere in the middle.

• Free speed (RPM) sets your top-end. A faster motor lets you use a more aggressive gear reduction for the same wheel speed, or hit a higher max speed.
• Stall torque (Nm) is the muscle. More stall torque means quicker acceleration, more pushing force in a drivetrain shoving match, and the ability to hold a heavy arm against gravity.
• Stall current (A) is the catch. A Kraken in FOC mode can pull 483 A at stall. You will never run that unlimited through a robot, your battery and the 40 A breakers won't allow it, so you set a current limit in code. That limit is one of the most important parameters you'll configure for the entire robot.

Because all of these motors are gearbox-fed, raw stall torque matters more than you'd think: a single high-torque motor can replace two weaker ones, saving weight, wiring, and a controller.

What is FOC?

You'll notice the Kraken has two columns. FOC stands for Field-Oriented Control (also called vector control). Standard trapezoidal commutation energizes the motor coils in coarse six-step blocks. FOC instead continuously calculates the optimal current angle and drives the coils with smooth sinusoidal waveforms, keeping the magnetic field perfectly perpendicular to the rotor for maximum torque per amp.

The payoff is real: on the Kraken X60, FOC raises stall torque from 7.09 to 9.37 Nm and peak power from 1108 to 1405 W, at the cost of a slightly lower free speed (5800 vs 6000 RPM). CTRE describes FOC as delivering roughly a 15% increase in peak power plus better efficiency and smoother, quieter low-speed control.

The important footnote for budgeting and rules: FOC on CTRE motors requires a Phoenix Pro license, purchased per-device through CTRE (or unlocked for a whole bus by licensing a CANivore). Without it, your Krakens and Falcons still run great in trapezoidal mode, you just don't get the FOC numbers. REV's NEO Vortex does not gate any performance behind a paid license.

Controllers and the CAN bus

This is where the two ecosystems differ most.

REV (separate controllers). A NEO plugs into a SPARK MAX (REV-11-2158) and a NEO Vortex into a SPARK Flex (REV-11-2159). Both are rated at 60 A continuous and 100 A peak (2-second surge) per the SPARK Flex specs and SPARK MAX specs. The separate-controller design means you mount and wire the controller somewhere on the robot, which costs space but makes the controller easy to swap if it fails. Crucially, the NEO Vortex pairs with the SPARK Flex to expose a high-resolution 7168 counts-per-revolution encoder, far finer than the NEO's 42 CPR hall sensor.

CTRE/VEX (integrated controllers). The Kraken and Falcon have a Talon FX controller built into the back of the motor. One unit, fewer wires, and the controller and encoder are matched at the factory. The downside: if the integrated electronics fail, the whole motor is scrap.

Both ecosystems talk over the robot's CAN bus, the daisy-chained network connecting every motor controller to the roboRIO. CTRE additionally sells the CANivore, a USB-to-CAN FD adapter that creates a second, faster CAN FD bus. CAN FD carries larger frames at higher bandwidth, which reduces bus utilization and improves swerve odometry when you have a dozen-plus devices. Licensing a CANivore also unlocks Phoenix Pro features, including FOC, for every CTRE device on that bus. REV runs everything on the standard roboRIO CAN bus.

For wiring both ecosystems safely, every motor still needs its own breaker on the PDH/PDP and correctly gauged power leads, see the LearnFRC Electrical guide.

Which motor should you pick?

Drivetrain

For a competitive swerve or tank drive, the Kraken X60 is the current default. Its torque advantage means faster acceleration and a drivetrain that wins pushing matches, and the integrated Talon FX keeps the wiring clean. If you want maximum push, the FOC numbers are there (license permitting).

If you're already a REV team or want simpler licensing, the NEO Vortex is a strong, fully-open alternative: 640 W of peak power and that excellent 7168 CPR encoder make it very capable, even if it can't match the Kraken's raw stall torque.

Mechanisms (arms, elevators, shooters, intakes)

This is where the standard NEO V1.1 still earns its place. It's the lightest (0.425 kg), cheapest, and most plentiful brushless motor in FRC. For an intake roller, a wrist, or a light arm joint, 2.6 Nm of stall torque through a gearbox is plenty, and there's no reason to spend Kraken money on it. Many championship robots run Krakens on the drivetrain and NEOs everywhere else.

For high-torque mechanisms like a heavy elevator or a powerful shooter, a single Kraken or NEO Vortex can do the job of two NEOs, simplifying your CAD and your gearbox. Plan that reduction carefully in the CAD and Mechanical phases.

A note on the Falcon 500

The Falcon 500 was the motor that started the high-power brushless era, but VEX stopped producing it and the store page has listed it as out of stock since the 2023 season, effectively replaced by the Kraken X60. Falcons are still competition-legal and use the same Talon FX/Phoenix software, so if your team has a bin of them, keep using them. Just don't plan a new robot around buying more, you can't.

The bottom line

There's no single "best FRC motor," only the best fit. Krakens for the drivetrain and heavy mechanisms, NEOs for everything light, and the NEO Vortex if you want a license-free high-power option. Match the motor's torque to the job, set sane current limits, and you're most of the way to a reliable robot.

Ready to turn these motors into a working mechanism? Start with the LearnFRC Mechanical Build guide.