ESP32 Guide 2024 | Choosing and Using an ESP32 Board

The ESP32 family has grown considerably since its introduction in 2016. We’ll look at every ESP32 series and see how they compare. We’ll also check out a few development boards that might belong in YOUR workshop.
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DevKits, Modules, Systems on a Chip - the ESP32 has been around for over seven years! There are now almost a dozen distinct ESP32 series’, each with unique features and target applications. Combine that with a selection of a few hundred development boards, and it can be difficult to pick out the best ESP32 board for your project.
Today, we’ll look at every ESP32 series and see how they compare. That includes some new devices that will be released this year. It’s amazing how many features they have crammed into the ESP32!
We’ll also preview ESP Boards Manager 3.0 with the Arduino IDE and one of the latest ESP32-C6 DevKits. It’s coming out later this year, but you can run an Alpha copy now.
And I’ll show you how to use an online version of ESP Tools to identify those mystery ESP32 boards from your parts' drawer. ESP Tools is a great utility that you’ll be seeing more of here in the workshop.
Here is the Table of Contents for today's video:
00:00 - Introduction
02:48 - Espressif ESP32 Series
09:23 - ESP32 Product Selector
10:33 - Working with the ESP32
14:04 - Using Online ESP Tools
19:04 - Selecting an ESP32 Board
25:28 - Some Suggested ESP32 Boards
29:37 - Some Other ESP32 Boards
32:59 - ESP32 Boards Manager Alpha 3.0
39:19 - Conclusion
The ESP32 has to be the most versatile microprocessor around today, and you can build many experiments and projects with it. So pick out a great ESP32 development board and start exploring the amazing world of the Espressif ESP32!
Hope you enjoy the video!
Bill

[@Dronebotworkshop]

Hi everyone - It's come to my attention that there has been someone masquerading as myself, responding to some comments here with a link to a Telegram chat to win a prize from me. THIS IS A SCAM, I am not holding a contest, nor do I have a Telegram account. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THESE MESSAGES!! It's happening on a lot of my videos, I'm taking steps to remove them manually, but as I have 162 videos, it will take some time. If you do run across a suspicious comment, I would appreciate you letting me know at [e-mail]. Thanks! Bill (The real one!)

[@duongtrantanphat6974]

Using arduino nano with pzem004t and module sd card

[@pubdigitalix]

As soon as reported to youtube they are taking out. This is a big problem for channel owners.

[@cymeriandesigns]

These are a plague on many other channels I watch. Scam never sleeps.

[@davidmorton8170]

No worries, I would expect a "prize" to be announced in the video first! lol The whole point of a youtube creator is get people to watch the video (or maybe the next one!)

[@user-fi5hr2ig4s]

Hello! just today i got a new ESP8684 dev board, but i cant find any way to program it.

[@BlackDragonBE]

I think you read my mind, I was just trying to figure out the differences between all the ESP32 boards when this video showed up in my recommendations. Thanks for another informative video!

[@gabrielgaby5840]

Me too..! Luckily I found mine..❤

[@jstro-hobbytech]

​@gabrielgaby5840 they need to update the floating point blocks. Ever see it try to render a few wire frame shapes.

[@jstro-hobbytech]

Make sure you get ones with usb c ports. They use almost 150mA when you flash them and certain ch340 and cp210x serial ics are starved for power and don't flash large programs.

[@dcpowered]

I was also wondering about the same! 😊

[@thomasleftwite]

I've been using ESP32 for several years. But I didn't know the history of ESP32, so this video was very helpful. thank you!

[@vickylance]

what applications do you use ESP32 for?

[@thomasleftwite]

@@vickylance Weather logger( temp., hum., barom.,), Clocks( w/ 74595, w/ TM1637), OpenWeather monitor, ISS locator, Stock price alarm, Remote bell via ESP-NOW, etc. Now I'm trying to make a XY pen plotter. And I would like to make an inverted pendulum. Comparing to Arduino UNO, I think it useful as it has WiFi BT.

[@user-xo8dp8dv8k]

I was just trying to figure out the differences between all the ESP32 boards when this video showed up in my recommendations! Thanks a lot! Very helpful!

[@BuckWezr]

KZbin gets worse with every passing year. As if constantly getting Recommended videos of things I've already watched recently isn't bad enough, but the number of channels I'm finding myself unsubscribed to is just stupid. Love your videos, sir! I'm happy to be back.

[@theminer49erz]

Yup! It pretty much only recommends stuff I've seen before...usually things I've seen MANY times before because I just give up and put it on as background while I work. I seem to only get notifications from the best funded/most popular channels while my favorites never make it thought the barrage of nonsense. Many of the recommendations I get that I haven't seen are not from those channels either . Google "AI" is trash.

[@cookinsteve9281]

I’ve been waiting for this for almost 4 years and didn’t even know it. Thanks a lot for this, DroneBot Man. You’re a hero.

[@mt-qc2qh]

As a hobbyist and developer I learned not to chase the next shiny thing. These are all great SOC's, but in maturing I settled on the C3 for ll my sleeper sensors, replacing any 8266 older designs. I used 3 S2's, just to get rid of them, for some gateway devices. I used up my old esp32's for plugged-in bluetooth devices (i.e garage door opener and other relay modules). The S3 is an incredible device. I employ several for heavier duty devices, especially in I2S audio applications. For wearables I use the Xiao nrf52 devices. The other devices, ie rp2040 and the older avr mcu's have found a permanent spot in the junk box. Great overview. Love your channel....

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

I'd agree with nearly everything you say, except I am having a harder time tossing the rp2040s in the junk box. They still appeal to me at $4usd. But lack of wifi is making them harder to use in my projects since almost everything I do these days is networked and/or using MQTT etc. And if I momentarily consider the rp2040 module with wifi, I always seem to come back to an ESP32 for the project... The price/feature is impossible to beat.

[@ddegn]

I don't suppose you document any of these projects you mention? I was disappointed you don't have any videos on your channel. Thanks for letting us know about your experience. I've used the ESP32 in some projects but I haven't tried the newer versions yet.

[@joeborovina4769]

Outstanding ,a great presentation with a hellva bus ride with you driving! Thank you!

[@LukeHoersten]

Thanks for making this video. It took me forever to figure out even the basics of the ESP32 lineup with just the specs. No youtube video existed for this a few months ago. Really appreciate the effort here!

[@johnwest7993]

That's a good summary of a lot of useful knowledge. Content is king. Thank you.

[@RommudohDev]

Very nice overview! I always like your videos, they are easy to understand, contain a lot of (but not too much) information, and give hints where to look for more.

[@iangrice5511]

THANK YOU, yes it WAS sooooo confusing, thank you for coming to my rescue mate, perfect video 👍

[@abpccpba]

Have not watched you in a while; great to hear you impeccable English again : = }}

[@Tom_H]

Thanks for the informative video. Nice start for the new year.

[@YanVerde]

Wow, so many things I didn't know all in video! Thanks!

[@maxmanonutube12]

Great video ! Content creators like yourself are worth your weight in gold !

[@bertblankenstein3738]

Im a big fan of the LilyGo TTGO boards. I connect up the sensor and can display the values on the same device. No need for an external display. Otherwise i have a dozen esp32 dev boards. Thank you for this video, very helpful

[@donaldkormos5529]

Thanks Bill ... need to know more about ESP32 and your video was perfect to get me going!!! Cheers ...

[@michaelmccarty4765]

OMG, thank you! I was starting to tear my hair out over this subject.

[@Dastubert]

Excellent video, as always!

[@darinwhite5475]

Great overview, Bill. Thanks from Waterloo.

[@retrig202]

Great episode! The part about identifying the exact model of SoC is awesome! I have so many different ones, and I've long lost track of what's what. Thanks!

[@user-zv3lj1ef7l]

I love this channel, thanks for sharing.

[@Mithinco]

Thanks for the overview! It is super informative!

[@taj-ulislam6902]

Very informative. Another exceptional presentation. Thank you

[@TheEragoon]

i was just researching what ESP32 to get, there are a lot of variants out there. Thanks for helping out!

[@nkbdl]

Thanks for the video. This video answered my questions exactly. Thanks again!

[@budgetstacker]

This is a great video with so much helpful information about the ever popular ESP32. Thanks for making this. The history was very interesting as well as I never knew much about their origin.

[@wabilemotswasele8705]

Great work, thank you

[@mmgc84]

Thanks for sharing, great video to start the year

[@edwardfletcher7790]

This video guide is incredibly handy, thank you 👍

[@djpenton779]

Wow, super useful video, Bill. Thanks!

[@devrim-oguz]

Espressif naming scheme is crazy. Thanks for the video for making it more clear.

[@cpk001]

Thank your videos. They are very informative. Keep up the excellent work

[@keitholiver3981]

Thanks Bill very informative, good to keep as a reference

[@hxtec32]

Btw, the C61 also supports PSRAM as well, so it can be used for things like cheap HMI boards

[@TD-er]

at around 6:45 in the video: ESP32-C61 does NOT support 5 GHz WiFi. It only supports 802.11ax, which is WiFi6 at 2.4 GHz, as does the ESP32-C6. The ESP32-c5 will be the first one to support 5 GHz WiFi What makes the ESP32-C61 special is that it has PSRAM, which no other ESP32-Cx model has. It seems like the C61 may have less GPIO-pins due to this PSRAM, however that's just speculation until we see final silicon. Right now all we have is a press announcement. The ESP32-P4 does have an RMII interface for Ethernet, just as the ESP32(classic) does. All other ESP32 boards can only be equipped with Ethernet via a SPI Ethernet controller.

[@chrisstephens9460]

Agreed. Seems like a glaring mistake to show the ESP32-C61 supporting 5ghz WiFi. Hopefully he fixes that.

[@D9ID9I]

802.11ax is just a protocol. It can run on ANY band and not limited to 2.4Ghz. However that does not means that C61 has 5Ghz.

[@alainmilette6460]

Thanks for sumarizing all of that information

[@PavolFilek]

Thanks for presentation.

[@JamesBaber]

One thing to note with audio applications. The audiokit board uses the ESP-32-A1S module which seems to be either in short supply at the moment or discontinued. I was hoping to use it recently but I'm glad I checked availability early in development.

[@philgo2024]

J'adore votre chaine et vos explications toujours claires ! Vous aussi prenez soin de vous .

[@uajoku]

Quite an instructive video as usual.

[@KAMIPROJECTS]

Really need this video.amazing content appreciate that

[@henristievenard199]

You are really excellent. Thank you very much for helping others with your huge knowledge. In addition, for foreigners (I'm French) your English is perfect to understand. Congratulations for this very useful and great realised Tutorial.

[@pvollas]

Excellent video! Thank you very much.

[@henrybecker2842]

Thank you very much. This is quite informative.

[@garyelder6799]

Thanks for another great video. Just starting to work with my first ESP32 dev board. I picked up a couple Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO. Amazing features on this board, plus POE. Great for IOT and home automation when you don't want the security risk of wireless. No need for external power source either. Not as convenient as battery operated wireless, but more secure and less maintenance. Looking forward to your next vid. Cheers.

[@lorisrobots]

Masterful video! Thanks.

[@jaysalomon5298]

Great timing, I'm replacing my many items from all the various different systems with esps and relays , really glad I came across this as the ZigBee options could be exactly what I need

[@RoySATX]

Thanks for doing this run-through of the various ESP32's, especially the information on the online ESP Tool, I wasn't aware of that. Prior to the ESP32 I had been relying on the Teensy 2/3 for many projects and was forever being frustrated by how fickle and prone to ESD damage they were, sometimes simply openin the antistatic wrapper they came in was enough to cause glitches no matter how carefullly grounded me and my workstation were. ESP32 are now my default for all but the most basic projects, I haven't had any ESD issues on any of them regardless of dev board platform. I literally can toss them around and they still just work.

[@slip0n0fall]

I grew up with Z80s, Hitachi, Motorola, Pic and Atmel mcus, and scoffed at the popularity of the ESP8266s. Well it's finally time I took my head out of the sand and this was an excellent primer. Thank you!

[@fukkenPavlo]

Best channel on MCU on entire KZbin

[@vadik1001]

what a magnificient video. thanx a lot to you sir

[@brianbauer6361]

One of the best episode I seen god job :)

[@lwo7736]

Thank you Bill, this is great

[@Professor.H]

Bro.. I just needed this video.. I am making a project.. something that has never been built. I was suggested to use ESP. I was completely blank on ESPs. you are soo on right time.

[@ms070965]

Just started dev in microcontrollers world. Thx a lot for your knowledge and very clear explainations.

[@temyraverdana6421]

Thanks a lot, an amazing useful lesson

[@beanMosheen]

I still remember when the 8266 came out and made wifi immediately easy and accessable. That was so exciting. I love that the 32 has become so developed.

[@hekk_tech5975]

Superb! Thank you sir you are the King!

[@henrysiegertsz8204]

I just got 3 ESP32 Boards and two snazzy dev boards with terminal strips as well as female headers, got a few projects in mind, solenoid locking and motorising my garage doors being one. Adding CNC automation to my Board Flattening Router sled. And a remote control for my Sony TV/ TEAC audio system. I'm not new to electronics, about 40 years plus experience in digital and analog design, Mostly maintenance Avionics and ATE, but I'm completely new to Microcontollers. Your content surpasses all I've seen so far by a country mile. Thanks Bill for a great channel!

[@Nighr]

I like the Pursuit of Happiness tune in the introduction.

[@Kaless_Liu]

I'm hesitating for days, your video really does much help, I think it's time to buy myself a esp32.

[@Kaless_Liu]

Actually I'm a student studying IoT, this chip is highly reputated in IoT, but the series contains so many chips which really confuse me.

[@Nick-ye5kk]

Another excellent video.

[@StuartEdick]

Finally, a beginner-friendly explanation. Thank you.

[@talmokady8528]

Great video. Thank you

[@IvanCableampo]

Esp32 modules or bare chip soldering for usage in projects would be awesome

[@MikeHarris1984]

I love my esp32s!!! They are perfect for my IoT custom projects and custom controllers!

[@khomo12]

Thank you!

[@edinfific2576]

Did they improve the terrible ADC on any of them?

[@JohnDoe-el5ir]

I think the main factor that you didn’t mention is the on board debugger. I learned it hard way first configuring Eclipse and getting to know that only some boards have it, that have proper ftdi or are like S3 or other that have it directly over USB. Debugging with use of serial monitor in arduino that BTW is not working most of the time or even when compiling C in Eclipse that BTW works properly is often not enough to diagnose some things. You cannot write print to print everything all the time😊

[@misterx2598]

Great vid, thanks!

[@drumslapper]

Great, that helped a lot.

[@DeveloperJourney]

Working with these devices is often like a blind man feeling his way around an elephant to determine what the thing is. This video brought together a lot of things I knew a little bit about to make me much more aware of how the ESP32 ecosystem has evolved and continues to grow. The product selector is great. There's also a product comparison tool on that same page that was is really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to make videos like this. I know it takes a lot of time and effort and I appreciate it.

[@Clayne151]

Considering the size of these things, I would say it's more like a blind elephant feeling his way around a mouse 😉

[@neilshobbyhq]

Great Stuff, Thanks

[@kevgermany]

Thanks. Was looking for a couple the other day. I was horrified by the number of variants. Some good clarity here.

[@cristooobal]

Thank you bro

[@uribench]

As always, you have made a great and very much needed tutorial. I believe there is a typo in the article with the link to the new alpha boards manager. It misses the word '_dev' in it. The link in the video is correct, though.

[@thehappycoder3760]

very helpful

[@Vindolin]

There's also a cheap, relatively new ESP32-C3 board with 32 pins on ali that is only 9 pins wide which let you use 2 rows of pins on a standard bread board. flash_mode has to be set to dio for this one to work.

[@PaulThomsen1E]

Great video. Just the overview I needed. BTW - you mention that we should check for recent and extensive support, including from the community, before focusing on a particular board because they each costs $20 or more. I suggest the much bigger reason is that we can spend dozens or even hundreds of hours trying to get our solution working only to find that we hit a technical issue that we can't resolve.

[@casperghst42]

Thanks.

[@willytwo53072]

Thanks!

[@Dronebotworkshop]

And thank you as well!

[@Lunolux]

great video

[@Deveyus]

Hey! Rust support for ESP devices is getting pretty good as well, and the guarantees afforded by the language are very nice to have in a microcontolller environment.

[@user-lk4bq5uk9v]

So nice

[@_explossive_]

oh man what a good vid!!

[@therzook]

God electronics research became so easy, compared to late 90s when I left electronics in favor for electric enguneering... Now I am gradually getting hold in electronics.

[@johnburgess2084]

Thanks for a great, informative video. Unless one deals with the ESP32 variants all the time, it's difficult to become conversant with all the variants. "Oh, I need a -C6 for this, or a -Q9 for that." I'm going to bookmark this for later reference!

[@imagiro1]

Very nice video, clear and understandable. Good overview! Wish I would have had this video when I created my own boards (one with PCM5102, one with NRF24l01+ for use with OpenDTU), it would have helped me to save quite some time navigating the ESP32-jungle :)

[@imagiro1]

Placeholder to distract scammers, please ignore

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

Thanks, Bill. No wonder I was feeling a bit confused lately about all the ESP options. I have a stash of old ESP-01 (8266) that I have almost thrown in the trash so many times now, out of frustration. Might just try one... more... time... to make a project out of them by using the ESP online flasher. I pretty much moved on to all ESP32 for my projects these days, as even with a breakout board, or screw terminal board, they are very affordable. Might have to see if I have a use case for some of the latest ESP offerings. Cheers.

[@badieguwaisem4345]

Still, my favourite channel

[@dannybloe]

Thanks

[@Dronebotworkshop]

You are very welcome!

[@nyinkercom]

Hi. Can you, in future video, go into details of how one esp can be use as co-processor? Thanks

[@Pequenastonterias]

Great ! New sub!

[@michaelthomsen8771]

A few years ago it was very few esp32 boards that used proper low quiescent current voltage regulators, which meant that deep sleep used mAs instead of teens of uAs. I am not sure if that's still the case, but if you run on batteries and want long battery life, then it's worth looking at!

[@jdaniele]

Really great video. I was a bit confused about ESP32 versions before this video. I really loved the passion and the details you put in this video. Thanks a lot for sharing. I'm curious about how to use the ESP32 C6 or H2 to connect or make a thread network and integrate it into Home Assistant as a Matter device...🙄 I will check if you have any video about that topic. Thumb up and subscribed.😁😜

[@Financeification]

👍 great vid

[@kattz753]

I love the LilyGo T devices with the displays. I have a real oddball - the T-Pico. It has an RP2040 chip and an ESP32-C3. It has the display. I'm pretty sure that it was made to add wifi to the RP2040 before the Pico W came out. The weird part is that you flip the USB C around to boot to either the RP2040 or the ESP32-C3. USB C is not the same on both sides despite that we can generally plug them in either way.

[@marinehm]

You beat me to it! I collected all versions of ESP32 that I could get. As much documentation as I could. Just no time to do this same video. I could not find a decent breakout board