What is the difference between 8051, PIC, AVR and ARM?

Let's see now.

 8051, PIC and AVR have Harvard architecture (separate memory spaces for RAM and program
memory). ARM has von Neumann architecture (program and RAM in the same space).
 ARM has a 16 and/or 32 bit architecture. The others are byte (8-bit) architecture.
 8051 and PIC have limited stack space - limited to 128 bytes for the 8051, and as little as 8 words or less
for PIC. Writing a C compiler for these architectures must have been challenging, and compiler choice
is limited.
 8051, AVR and ARM can directly address all available RAM. PIC can only directly address 256 bytes
and must use bank switching to extend it, though using a C compiler conceals this. You still pay a speed
penalty though.
 8051 and PIC need multiple clock cycles per instruction. AVR and ARM execute most instructions in a
single clock cycle.
 8051 and AVR are sufficiently similar that an AVR can usually replace an 8051 in existing products with
practically no hardware change. Some AVRs are made with 8051 pinouts to drop right in. The Reset
polarity is the main difference.
 8051 and AVR instruction sets are different but sufficiently similar that it's possible to translate 8051
assembler to AVR assembler line by line (I have done this). Because an 8051 takes 12 (sometimes six)
clocks per instruction and an AVR takes only one, you have to modify timing critical routines.
 AVR and ARM have the best compiler and application support, including free GCC compilers.

Basically all of them do mostly same things . It only depends on how precisely you can use them.
They differ in Memory architecture , power consumption ,cost, speed etc.

 ARM- if u need fast computing , large number of timer and ADC's then ARM will be suitable.
 8051- if u want a cheap controller with basic functions then 8051 will suffice . It will be of great use in
your low cost college projects.
 AVR- One of the most popular category of controller . Cheap , large number of library files , used in
many robotic applications . Best for the beginners.
 PIC- Cheap , used in refrigerators and low budget projects . I will not advise for this because of its low
community support.

Each family of micro controllers has :

 own architecture
 registers
 memory arrangement
 memory addressing methods
and other things, which results in each family having its own unique instruction set and assembly
language.

AVR and ARM are newer processor family. These are likely to be more compiler-friendly, more flexible than
the 8051, which is a fairly old design.

Courtesy: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-8051-PIC-AVR-and-ARM
The 8051 is an 8-bit processor (it processes an 8 bit data word at a time). Many AVRs are also 8 bit, but
some are 32 bit (handling 32 bits of data at a time), and ARMs are 32 bit, and are considerably more
powerful than 8 bit processors.

Courtesy: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-8051-PIC-AVR-and-ARM