Comparison table for ESP8266/ESP32/ESP32-S2/ESP32-S3/ESP32-C3/ESP32-C6

Comparison Espressif ESP MCUs.md

Comparison table for ESP8266/ESP32/ESP32-S2/ESP32-S3/ESP32-C3/ESP32-C6

A minimal table to compare the Espressif's MCU families. The reported specifications are referred to the SoC, not to the modules (silver shield).

	ESP8266	ESP32	ESP32-S2	ESP32-S3	ESP32-C3	ESP32-C6
Announcement Date	2014, August	2016, September	2019, September	2020, December	2020, November	2021, April
Main processor	Tensilica L106 32-bit (up to 160MHz)	Tensilica Xtensa 32-bit LX6 (up to 240MHz) (optionally dual core)	Tensilica Xtensa 32-bit LX7 (up to 240MHz)	Tensilica Xtensa 32-bit LX7 dual core (up to 240MHz)	RISC-V 32-bit (up to 160MHz)	RISC-V 32-bit (up to 160MHz)
SRAM	160KB	520kB	320kB	512kB	400kB	512kB
ROM	0	448kB	128kB	384kB	384kB	320kB
JTAG	-	✓	✓	?	✓	✓
Cache	32 KB instruction	64kB	8/16kB (configurable)	?	16kB	?
WiFi	Wi-Fi 4 (only up to 72.2Mbps)	Wi-Fi 4	Wi-Fi 4	Wi-Fi 4	Wi-Fi 4	Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth	-	BLE 4.2 (upgrade to 5.0, with limitations)	-	BLE 5.0	BLE 5.0	BLE 5.3
Ethernet	-	✓	-	?	-	?
RTC memory	768B	16kB	16kB	16kB	8kB	16kB
PMU	✓	✓	✓	?	✓	?
ULP coprocessor	-	✓	ULP-RISC-V	?	-	?
Cryptographic Accelerator	-	SHA, RSA, AES, RNG	SHA, RSA, AES, RNG, HMAC, Digital Signature	SHA, RSA, AES, RNG, HMAC, Digital Signature	SHA, RSA, AES, RNG, HMAC, Digital Signature	SHA, RSA, AES, RNG, HMAC, Digital Signature
Secure boot	-	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Flash encryption	-	✓	XTS-AES-128/256	✓	XTS-AES-128	XTS-AES-128
SPI	2	4	4	?	3	?
I2C	1	2	2	?	1	?
I2S	1	2	1	?	1	?
UART	2 (one TX only)	3	2	?	2	?
SDIO Host	-	1	-	2	-	0
SDIO Slave	-	1	-	0	-	0
GPIO	17	34	43	44	22	22
LED PWM	5	16	8	?	6	?
MCPWM	-	6	-	2	-	0
Pulse counter	-	8	4	?	-	X
GDMA*	-	-	-	?	6	?
USB	X	-	USB OTG 1.1	?	Serial/JTAG	?
TWAI**	-	1	1	?	1	?
ADC	1x 10-bit SAR	2x 12-bit SAR, up to 18 channels	2x 13-bit SAR, up to 20 channels	?	2x 12-bit SAR, up to 6 channels	?
DAC	-	2x 8-bit	2x 8-bit	?	-	X
RMT	1x transmission + 1x reception	8x transmission/reception	4x transmission/reception	?	2x transmission + 2x reception	?
Timer	2x 23-bit***	4x 64-bit	4x 64-bit	?	2x 54-bit + 1x 52-bit	?
Temperature Sensor	✓	✓	✓	?	✓	?
Hall Sensor	-	✓	-	?	-	?
Touch Sensor	-	10	14	?	-	?

* All the MCUs have some sort of DMA. However, if this field is not checked, it means that the user hasn't the direct control over DMA. With General DMA term, Espressif intends a specific DMA peripheral in full control of user. He will be responsible to manage such peripheral.

** In some old datasheet and documentation, it was referred as CAN bus.

*** A timer is dedicated to Wi-Fi, so you cannot freely use it.

For more details about specific models and variants, look at Espressif Product Selector.

The table will be updated as new information will be released. Contributions and suggestions are welcomed!

(I posted this on @sekcompsci's fork also, for some reason the fork has a lot more attention than this original)

some suggestions:

• clarify that this is comparing chips (SoCs) rather than modules (silver boxes). for example most modules will have fewer GPIOs than the chip itself offers?
• replace all "0" and "X" with "-" which is a clearer indication of absence?
• I think we can fill in all the "?" now?

I'd be happy to send you a diff or make a fork or something-- unfortunately gists don't support pull requests I think?

Yeah, definitely this table deserves to be completed, I will complete as soon as possible.

I wasn't aware of that fork... probably that guy is running a YT channel, a blog or something similar.

Thanks for notifying it.

replace all "0" and "X" with "-" which is a clearer indication of absence?

Accepted, because it is more visible than '0' and 'X', and since this table is not dynamic is very important.

clarify that this is comparing chips (SoCs) rather than modules (silver boxes). For example, most modules will have fewer GPIOs than the chip itself offers?

Given the amount of variety of modules, I report only the SoC specs. Maybe I can add the qty of pins in the most complete module for each SoC.