ESP32 vs. ESP8266: Which IoT Board is Better?
For years, the NodeMCU ESP8266 was the undisputed king of cheap Wi-Fi microcontrollers. But with the release of the ESP32, developers now have a much harder choice to make.
Processing Power
The ESP8266 features a single-core processor running at 80MHz. The ESP32 completely crushes this with a dual-core 240MHz processor, making it capable of handling secure HTTPS requests, web servers, and complex math simultaneously without crashing.
Bluetooth Connectivity
The ESP8266 only has Wi-Fi. The ESP32 has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (Classic and BLE). If you want to connect your project to a smartphone app without going through a Wi-Fi router, the ESP32 is mandatory.
Analog Pins
The ESP8266 has a single analog input (A0) which only supports 0-1V (or 3.3V on the NodeMCU board). The ESP32 features 18 analog input pins with 12-bit resolution. If you are reading multiple analog sensors, the ESP8266 simply cannot do it without external multiplexers.
Conclusion
If you are building a simple, single-sensor temperature logger, the ESP8266 is cheap and perfect. For anything involving Bluetooth, multiple sensors, or heavy web processing, upgrade to the ESP32. You can buy both directly from KSP Electronics!
