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

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

A minimal table to compare the Espressif's MCU families.

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 400KB
ROM 0 448KB 128KB 384KB 384KB 384KB
JTAG X ?
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 X BLE 4.2 (upgrade to 5.0, with limitations) X BLE 5.0 BLE 5.0 BLE 5.0
Ethernet X X ? X ?
RTC memory 768B 16KB 16KB 16KB 8KB ?
PMU ? ?
ULP coprocessor X ULP-RISC-V ? X ?
Cryptographic Accelerator X 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 X
Flash encryption X 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 0 1 0 2 0 0
SDIO Slave 0 1 0 0 0 0
GPIO 17 34 43 44 22 22
LED PWM 5 16 8 ? 6 ?
MCPWM 0 6 0 2 0 0
Pulse counter 0 8 4 ? 0 X
GDMA* 0 0 0 ? 6 ?
USB X X USB OTG 1.1 ? Serial/JTAG ?
TWAI** 0 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 X 2x 8-bit 2x 8-bit ? X 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 X X ? X ?
Touch Sensor 0 10 14 ? X ?

* 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!

@psg666
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psg666 commented Oct 13, 2022

Great summary! Do you plan to add power consumption as well (avg and peak under different conditions)?

@TheWobbagong
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TheWobbagong commented Oct 22, 2022

Great summary! Do you plan to add power consumption as well (avg and peak under different conditions)?

Agreed and yes please

@sekcompsci
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Author

Hey everyone. I have an official comparison site to recommend.

That's ESP Product Comparison

Let's try it.

@66mhz
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66mhz commented Nov 24, 2022

I was looking for a comparison table, this is probably the best, thanks a lot

@Anutrix
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Anutrix commented Dec 6, 2022

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v5.0/esp32s3/hw-reference/chip-series-comparison.html.

There's some more data here which can filled on this page a bit.

@a-v-s
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a-v-s commented Dec 10, 2022

The ESP8266 does support JTAG, See https://visualgdb.com/tutorials/esp8266/nodemcu/jtag/

@RomanAlexandroff
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https://products.espressif.com/#/product-selector

stefan-sherwood, OMG, dude! You are the best!!!

@jumpjack
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this table needs now a further column on right repeating contents of first column.

@rcarrico
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Espresssif video from DevCon23 given by Mohammad Afaneh says the ESP32-C6 has Bluetooth 5.3?
https://youtu.be/qqpvH6zJuhM?si=2_UJFA1Oo_tEyAh0&t=1462
image

@digital-diplomat
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ESP32-S3 series does also have touch sensing capability on 14 pins. Source here.

@thomasfredericks
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Thank you for the table. It is simpler to read than https://products.espressif.com/#/product-comparison !
An important omission is the Floating Point Unit. For example, the ESP32-S2 does not have a FPU! For sources, see :

@Spacechild1
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Spacechild1 commented Feb 13, 2024

An important omission is the Floating Point Unit. For example, the ESP32-S2 does not have a FPU!

Neither do the C3 and C6! https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v5.1.2/esp32c6/api-guides/performance/speed.html

@rtek1000
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rtek1000 commented Mar 3, 2024

@drelephant
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ESP32 S2 and S3 are the only ones that support USB Host mode, and JTAG debugging over USB, might be worth adding.

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