14 of the 20 features in our table differ between the ESP32 and the ESP32-S3.
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.
Dual-core, PSRAM, USB OTG, camera, AI instructions
The all-rounder: two cores at 240 MHz, PSRAM, USB OTG, camera and RGB display interfaces, and vector instructions for AI.
Watch out: On modules with octal PSRAM, GPIO 35 to 37 are taken. Bluetooth is LE only, so no A2DP audio.
| Feature | ESP32 | ESP32-S3 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2 × Xtensa LX6, 240 MHz | 2 × Xtensa LX7, 240 MHz |
| Low-power core | ULP (FSM) | ULP RISC-V + FSM |
| SRAM | 520 KB | 512 KB |
| PSRAM | External (4 MB mapped, up to 8 MB via himem); 2 MB in-package on some versions | In-package or external, quad or octal |
| Bluetooth | Classic (BR/EDR) + LE 4.2 | LE 5 |
| USB | No (USB-serial chip on the board) | OTG full speed + Serial/JTAG |
| GPIO | 34 | 45 |
| ADC channels | 18 (ADC1: 8) | 20 (ADC1: 10) |
| DAC | 2 × 8-bit | No |
| Touch pins | 10 | 14 |
| Display interface | Parallel (i80, via I2S) | Parallel RGB and i80 |
| Ethernet MAC | Yes (RMII) | No (SPI module) |
| Deep sleep | 10 µA | 7 µA |
| AI / DSP | No | 128-bit SIMD (PIE) |
Same on both: Wi-Fi, Thread / Zigbee, Camera, TWAI (CAN), ESPHome, 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 Bluetooth Classic, wired Ethernet with the built-in MAC, and a true analog output (DAC). The ESP32-S3 has USB OTG, an RGB parallel display interface, vector instructions for AI and DSP, and more GPIO (45 against 34).
The ESP32-S3: 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 Bluetooth Classic or wired Ethernet with the built-in MAC won’t carry over: the ESP32-S3 doesn’t have that hardware.
ESP32 vs ESP32-C3 ESP32 vs ESP32-C5 ESP32 vs ESP32-C6 ESP32 vs ESP32-H2 ESP32 vs ESP32-P4 ESP32 vs ESP32-S2 ESP32-C3 vs ESP32-S3 ESP32-C5 vs ESP32-S3 ESP32-C6 vs ESP32-S3 ESP32-H2 vs ESP32-S3 ESP32-P4 vs ESP32-S3 ESP32-S2 vs ESP32-S3
Figures from Espressif datasheets, ESPHome and Arduino-ESP32 documentation, checked in November 2026.