usb rp2040 programming? atmega instead?

Hi guys, new here, sorry for my lack of knowledge, I have years of software coding experience but not much with rp or arduino. Kind of expecting to get roasted for asking about arduino here in the first place hahaha So I have a small project built using a pico pi. I have the goal of converting it to cheaper parts, as the pico costs me roughly 11 dollars here. I originally looked into using the rp2040 chip after learning about ics and avrs, however I was told it would be difficult to program the chip for use in a breadboard, and that I would be better off using an avr programmer. Went to the store, purchased a programmer as well as an atmega328P U. After a week of tinkering, I am now being told in an arduino server that I should be using the rp2040 😂 Can anyone help me to understand a bit about what kind of architecture and chipset I should use for my project?

You say nothing about your project and without knowledge about it is impossible to give advice. And I normaly roast plp asking Arduino questions but you are in the land between the two 😉 Both Raspberry Pi Pico and Arduino ATmega 328 is of the type MCU (Micro Controller Unit) and that is a CPU, RAM and I/O on the same chip. I uses ATmega or ESP8266 with Arduino and it has it's use cases I have a Pico that I have been playing around with but mainly for learning more about Python. And you can program a Pico from the Arduino IDE 🙂

Thanks <@796000224690307072>, that was some good information

Sorry, am often afraid to type to much. My project is very simple, and involves an NEC Remote control, as well as a servo, and an led that isn't very important haha. I already have the system programmed on my pico and it works well, but I want to use cheaper parts for reproduction, and short of custom ordering pcbs or arm chips which I also have zero knowledge about, I was told that avr would be a good solution for me to prototype with, as I can program the chip directly from my computer and use it in a small circuit at home

Yes the MCU that Pico use is not for beginners to solder

Thanks man that's what I thought

Honestly, pico is great I'm back using it now until I can figure this mega out