The best ESP32 relay boards for home automation and industrial control: Waveshare’s isolated 1, 6 and 8-channel ESP32-S3 relay modules, LILYGO T-Relay, budget 2, 4 and 8-channel ESP32 relay boards, and Espressif-based Shelly smart relays, with ESPHome tips, mains safety advice and verified Amazon links.

The best ESP32 boards with wired Ethernet and Power over Ethernet: the WT32-ETH01, Waveshare ESP32-S3-ETH with and without PoE, ESP32-S3 PoE camera boards, Espressif’s ESP32-Ethernet-Kit, an industrial 8-channel PoE relay, a WLED Ethernet controller and an ESP32-P4 PoE board, with RMII vs SPI Ethernet explained and verified Amazon links.

The best ESP32 LoRa boards for Meshtastic, MeshCore and LoRaWAN: Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V4 and V3, LILYGO T-Beam and T-Beam Supreme, T-Deck Plus, the Seeed XIAO ESP32S3 Wio-SX1262 kit, Heltec Wireless Tracker V2 and LILYGO LoRa32, with region, antenna and power tips and verified Amazon links.

The best ESP32 starter kits for beginners, students and makers: Freenove’s ESP32 and ESP32-S3 Ultimate kits, LAFVIN’s budget and Ultimate kits, SunFounder’s ESP32 kits, plus robot car, AI voice chatbot and retro game console kits, with verified Amazon links and honest verdicts.

Which ESP32 should you buy in 2026? A side-by-side comparison of every ESP32 chip (original ESP32, C3, S2, S3, C5, C6, H2, P4 and the ESP32-CAM) with the best board for each, a chip-by-project decision guide, and links to our detailed buying guide for every chip.

The best displays to pair with an ESP32: SSD1306, SH1106 and SSD1309 OLEDs, ST7789 and ILI9341 TFTs, a 3.5-inch ILI9488 touchscreen, a GC9A01 round display, Waveshare e-paper panels, an I2C LCD1602, a MAX7219 dot matrix and a 64×32 RGB LED matrix, with wiring tips, library advice and verified Amazon links.

The best ESP32-C3 development boards compared: the Seeed XIAO ESP32C3, ESP32-C3 SuperMini packs, DevKitM-1 and Waveshare C3 Mini boards, C3 boards with built-in OLEDs and round touch displays, and a mains relay board, with verified Amazon links, honest verdicts and tips for the SuperMini’s known quirks.

The best ESP32-S2 development boards compared: ESP32-S2 Mini multi-packs, Espressif’s DevKitC-1U, the Saola-1R, SparkFun Thing Plus and the Flipper Zero Wi-Fi Dev Board, with an honest look at when the single-core, Wi-Fi-only ESP32-S2 still makes sense in 2026 and verified Amazon links.

The best ESP32-C5 development boards for dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi 6, Thread and Zigbee projects: Waveshare’s ESP32-C5-WIFI6-KIT, the Seeed XIAO ESP32-C5, DevKitC-1 style boards, LILYGO’s T-Dongle-C5 and T-Display C5, and 2.8-inch C5 touch displays, with verified Amazon links and honest verdicts.

The best ESP32-P4 development boards compared: Waveshare’s ESP32-P4-NANO, Module DEV-KIT, WIFI6 and Pico boards, PoE Ethernet boards, the M5Stamp-P4 module, and 7-inch, 4-inch and round ESP32-P4 touch displays for HMI and camera projects, with verified Amazon links and honest verdicts.