Which ESP32 Should I Buy?

Espressif's ESP32 family has grown from one chip to over ten variants. Here's how to pick the right one.

Quick Decision Guide

- Battery sensor or simple IoT device → ESP32-C3 or ESP32-C6

• Camera or display with UI → ESP32-S3 (with PSRAM)

• Matter/Thread smart home → ESP32-C6 or ESP32-H2

• Audio processing → ESP32-S3

• Legacy project compatibility → Original ESP32

• Ultra-low-cost → ESP32-C2

  Chip Comparison

  | Variant | Cores | Wi-Fi | BLE | Thread/Zigbee | Best For |

----------------------------------------------------- ESP322× LX6✓✓–General purpose, existing projects ESP32-S21× LX7✓––USB, touch sensing ESP32-S32× LX7✓✓–AI/ML, camera, displays ESP32-C31× RISC-V✓✓–Low-cost, low-power ESP32-C61× RISC-VWi-Fi 6✓✓Matter, Thread | ESP32-H2 | 1× RISC-V | – | ✓ | ✓ | Thread/Zigbee only |

Recommended Dev Boards

1. Seeed XIAO ESP32S3 - Tiny, camera-ready, great value 2. ESP32-DevKitC - Official, well-documented, widely compatible 3. LilyGO T-Display-S3 - Built-in touchscreen display 4. Cheap Yellow Display - Budget-friendly with display