17 of the 20 features in our table differ between the ESP32 and the ESP32-H2.
Dual-core, Bluetooth Classic, Ethernet MAC, DAC
The original: two cores, Wi-Fi, and the only chip here with Bluetooth Classic, an Ethernet MAC and a DAC together. The most boards, examples and libraries.
Watch out: ADC2 pins stop working while Wi-Fi is on, and strapping and flash pins limit the free GPIOs. No native USB.
Thread, Zigbee and BLE, no Wi-Fi
No Wi-Fi: Thread, Zigbee and Bluetooth LE only, made for battery sensors in a mesh network.
Watch out: It needs a Thread border router, a Zigbee coordinator or a BLE gateway to reach your network.
| Feature | ESP32 | ESP32-H2 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2 × Xtensa LX6, 240 MHz | 1 × RISC-V, 96 MHz |
| Low-power core | ULP (FSM) | No |
| SRAM | 520 KB | 320 KB |
| PSRAM | External (4 MB mapped, up to 8 MB via himem); 2 MB in-package on some versions | No |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b/g/n), 2.4 GHz | No |
| Bluetooth | Classic (BR/EDR) + LE 4.2 | LE 5.3 |
| Thread / Zigbee | No | Yes (802.15.4) |
| USB | No (USB-serial chip on the board) | Serial/JTAG (flash, serial, debug) |
| GPIO | 34 | 19 |
| ADC channels | 18 (ADC1: 8) | 5 |
| DAC | 2 × 8-bit | No |
| Touch pins | 10 | No |
| Camera | Parallel (DVP) | No |
| Display interface | Parallel (i80, via I2S) | SPI only |
| Ethernet MAC | Yes (RMII) | No (SPI module) |
| Deep sleep | 10 µA | 7 µA |
| ESPHome | Yes (ESP-IDF or Arduino) | Yes (ESP-IDF, over Thread) |
Same on both: TWAI (CAN), AI / DSP, and Arduino-ESP32.
Open the ESP32 comparison →Tick what your project needs and see which of the eight chips fits best.
ESP32 pinout: safe GPIO, strapping pins and ADC2 →
The ESP32 has Wi-Fi on the chip (Wi-Fi 4 on 2.4 GHz), Bluetooth Classic, a camera interface (parallel), and a display interface (parallel i80). The ESP32-H2 has a lean radio for battery end devices on Thread or Zigbee (no Wi-Fi to power or set up), Thread or Zigbee, USB on the chip for flashing and the serial monitor, and a lower deep-sleep current (7 against 10 µA).
The ESP32-H2: 7 µA against 10 µA for the ESP32, as typical figures for the chip alone in Espressif’s datasheets. On a development board the regulator, the LEDs and the USB-serial chip usually draw more than the chip itself.
Arduino-ESP32 and ESP-IDF support both chips, so most code builds for either; pin numbers, strapping pins and some peripherals change. Anything that uses Wi-Fi on the chip (Wi-Fi 4 on 2.4 GHz) or Bluetooth Classic won’t carry over: the ESP32-H2 doesn’t have that hardware. In ESPHome the ESP32-H2 works only with the ESP-IDF framework, so components that need Arduino won’t build.
ESP32 vs ESP32-C3 ESP32 vs ESP32-C5 ESP32 vs ESP32-C6 ESP32 vs ESP32-P4 ESP32 vs ESP32-S2 ESP32 vs ESP32-S3 ESP32-C3 vs ESP32-H2 ESP32-C5 vs ESP32-H2 ESP32-C6 vs ESP32-H2 ESP32-H2 vs ESP32-P4 ESP32-H2 vs ESP32-S2 ESP32-H2 vs ESP32-S3
Figures from Espressif datasheets, ESPHome and Arduino-ESP32 documentation, checked in November 2026.