My younger sister has enrolled in the CSE program at NIT and it has excellent facilities for the program. The brand name of NIT and IIT is still more popular for some of the engineering aspirants because they lack awareness. Even my sister thought so before admissions, but NIT ranks #16 on the NIRF Engineering scale, IIIT A ranks #103, and IITs are usually in the top 5 in the same. 

Furthermore, your decision may change based on the following-

• The location of IIIT Allahabad is a factor contributing to its low popularity. It is located in a small village area called Jhalwa. There are no recreational facilities around and the only eating outlets are MacDonald's and Dominoes, which harm in the long run.
• The placement statistics of IIIT A show that it has a good 96% placement rate, but not many top companies come to visit because of the location. Networking is not an issue, but an institute in a developed area would have easy accessibility, lectures by renowned faculty, spots of refreshment; which are not present here.
• The hostels are not very good and those who reside in them, face difficulties related to social outings.
• Another fact of importance is that this institute has only two departments: Information Technology and Electronics and Communication.

You can see below, the comparatives of the institutes:

As you may see, IIIT A and NITs have excellent placement rates. The faculty will be more brilliant at IITs but students are dissatisfied even there. So you can see for yourself according to location, placement scenario, and brand name if that matters.

IIIT Amethi is situated near a village named Tikarmafi, 10 km away from Amethi. It has its own perks. Here are some factors about the institute.

Academics:

• Both IIIT Allahabad and IIIT Amethi have the same curriculum and professors. Because of that, professors visit the Amethi campus on a daily basis. 
• As almost everything is similar for both campuses, the exams are also conducted parallelly in both of them, making them at par for things related to academics.

Placements:

• Students of IIIT Amethi are shifted to the campus of IIIT Allahabad after their 4th year, securing them placements similar to the Allahabad campus. 
• Needless to say, IIIT Allahabad does come with good placements. IIIT Amethi also enjoys the same privilege as placement is same for both the institutes.

Facilities and Infrastructure:

• This is exactly where you can set the contrast between the two campuses. IIIT Amethi lacks good infrastructure. It is a very compressed campus with only two boys’ hostels and one girls’ hostel. 
• There had not been any sports facilities in the institute before. But at present, it has standard Basketball courts, a Badminton court, TT tables and a playground for cricket.
• The labs and libraries are minuscule too. It can hardly support the strength. 
• Besides, you might also not find any up-to-the-mark food items around the campus, but just snacks to keep the day going.
• There’s an option to take a bus ride to visit a town nearby, Sultanpur, which helps in a way to let students escape from the everyday life at Amethi, and rather spend time in that area, or buy decent food.

IIIT Amethi does have its fair share of disadvantages but it offers good placement in top-notch MNCs such as Google, Facebook, and Adobe, etc. Also, the pros outweigh the con for IIIT Amethi.

This is a really nice question to ask. IITs only focus on developing good engineers, it does not focus on the mindset of people.

For a moment, let us forget about the packages and only focus on popularity. The popularity of an institute depends on how old it is because this impacts the alumni network, its history, and oral communication which contributes to publicity. 

• When asked for advice, many people talk about IITs and NITs because they have been functioning for so many years now and more importantly, were at their best.
• If you ask a current engineering student for advice, you will get better suggestions. There are 25 IIITs in India and not all are famous. But, IIIT Allahabad and IIIT Hyderabad are at their best and par with IITs in terms of academic standards.
• Factors such as academic curriculum, infrastructure, faculty, culture, placements, etc, should be the factors to be considered rather than how many might have heard of it or how popular the institution is.
• The course curriculum is something that IIIT Allahabad should proudly brag of. 
• It offers a great coding environment and is way better than MNNIT Allahabad. Also, IIIT Allahabad is ranked number in SPOJ Rankings.

In the coming years, IIIT Allahabad will surely be among the top popular institutions in India. IIITS are central government-funded institutes that specialize in Information Technology, which the IITs do not provide.

Harsha Suryanarayana, one of India’s first Red Coders, was from IIIT Allahabad and every IT person must have heard of him. He also represented IIIT Allahabad in the ACM ICPC World Finals. When it comes to regional rounds, many teams from the institutions win in comparison to teams one or two teams from MNNIT.

Talking about rankings and placements, IIIT Allahabad is above about 25 NITs and many new IITs.

IIIT Allahabad is unquestionably superior to NIT Durgapur. But this isn't to say that NIT Durgapur isn't good. 

• If you want a career in ECE, don’t go for NIT Durgapur. ECE branch at NIT Durgapur does not have good reviews. 
• However, if you want to go for an MBA after your BTech, then NIT Durgapur can be a good option. 
• In the ICT sector, IIIT Allahabad holds a special position for ECE and this institute specializes in the IT sector. I have a few friends at the institute who vouches for the course. 

Here’s a brief comparison of the ECE branch at these two institutes.

Apart from that, just like NITD, IIIT Allahabad is an institute of national importance that is entirely funded by the Ministry of Human Resources Development. 

So, for ECE, IIIT Allahabad is definitely the better option.