Bare chips
The cheapest way to buy silicon, and the right choice only if you are designing your own RF layout and handling your own regulatory certification.
| Part number | Chip | Flash | PSRAM | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32-C3 | C3 | — | — | $1.00 |
| ESP8684 | C2 | — | — | $1.18 |
| ESP32-S2 | S2 | — | — | $1.25 |
| ESP32-C3FH4 / C3FH4X | C3 | 4 MB | — | $1.30 |
| ESP8684H4X | C2 | 4 MB | — | $1.32 |
| ESP32-S2R2 | S2 | — | 2 MB | $1.35 |
| ESP32-H2 | H2 | — | — | $1.39 |
| ESP32-H2FH4S | H2 | 4 MB | — | $1.46 |
| ESP32-C61 | C61 | — | — | $1.46 |
| ESP32-S2F | S2 | 4 MB | — | $1.48 |
| ESP32-C3FH8X | C3 | 8 MB | — | $1.50 |
| ESP32-D0WD-V3 / D0WDQ6-V3 | ESP32 | — | — | $1.50 |
| ESP8685 | C3 | — | — | $1.50 |
| ESP32-C61HF4 | C61 | 4 MB | — | $1.51 |
| ESP32-S2FN4R2 | S2 | 4 MB | 2 MB | $1.60 |
| ESP32-S3 | S3 | — | — | $1.85 |
| ESP32-C6 | C6 | — | — | $1.85 |
| ESP32-U4WDH | ESP32 | 4 MB | — | $1.88 |
| ESP32-D0WDRH2-V3 | ESP32 | — | 2 MB | $1.95 |
| ESP32-C6FH4 | C6 | 4 MB | — | $2.06 |
| ESP32-S3R8 | S3 | — | 8 MB | $2.28 |
| ESP32-S3FH4R2 | S3 | 4 MB | 2 MB | $2.34 |
| ESP32-S3FN8 | S3 | 8 MB | — | $2.38 |
| ESP32-PICO-V3 | ESP32 (SiP) | — | — | $2.48 |
| ESP32-S3R16V | S3 | — | 16 MB (Octal) | $2.49 |
| ESP32-C5HF4 / C5HR2 | C5 | 4 MB / — | — / 2 MB | $2.50 |
| ESP32-S0WD | ESP32 | — | — | $2.50 |
| ESP32-C5 | C5 | — | — | $3.00 |
| ESP32-PICO-V3-02 | ESP32 (SiP) | 8 MB | 2 MB | $3.20 |
| ESP32-S3-PICO-1 | S3 (SiP) | — | — | $3.47 |
| ESP32-S31NRV16 | S31 | — | 16 MB | $3.80 |
| ESP32-S3-PICO-1-N8R8 | S3 (SiP) | 8 MB | 8 MB | $3.89 |
| ESP32-P4NRW16X | P4 | — | 16 MB | $4.00 |
| ESP32-PICO-D4 | ESP32 (SiP) | 4 MB | — | $4.50 |
| ESP32-P4NRW32X | P4 | — | 32 MB | $4.50 |
No public reference price has been posted for the H21, H4 or E22.
Modules
For most projects and nearly all commercial products, this is the right thing to buy. A module bundles the chip, crystal, flash, PSRAM, antenna and matching network onto a certified PCB — so you inherit FCC and CE certification rather than paying for your own RF qualification, which typically costs thousands and takes weeks.
The premium over a bare chip is roughly $0.80 to $1.50. It is almost always worth it.
Wi-Fi 4 + BLE modules
| Module | Chip | Price from |
|---|---|---|
| ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4-A | C3 | $1.80 |
| ESP32-C3-MINI-1-H4 / -H4X | C3 | $1.90 |
| ESP32-C3-WROOM-02 | C3 | $1.90 |
| ESP32-C3-MINI-1U-N4X | C3 | $1.90 |
| ESP32-S2-MINI-1 | S2 | $2.00 |
| ESP8685-WROOM-01 … -07 | C3 | $2.25–$2.30 |
| ESP32-MINI-1 / -1U | ESP32 | $2.30 |
| ESP32-S2-MINI-2 | S2 | $2.32 |
| ESP32-S2-SOLO-2 | S2 | $2.40 |
| ESP32-WROOM-32E / -32UE | ESP32 | $2.50 |
| ESP32-WROOM-32E-H4 | ESP32 | $2.68 |
| ESP32-WROOM-32E-N8 | ESP32 | $2.80 |
| ESP32-WROVER-E / -IE | ESP32 + PSRAM | $2.80 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U | S3 | $2.95 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 | S3 | $2.96 |
| ESP32-WROOM-32E-N16 | ESP32 | $2.99 |
| ESP32-WROVER-E-N8R8 | ESP32 | $2.99 |
| ESP32-S3-MINI-1-N4R2 | S3 | $3.01 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N4R2 | S3 | $3.10 |
| ESP32-S3-MINI-1 / -1U | S3 | $3.10 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N8 | S3 | $3.20 |
| ESP32-WROVER-E-N16R8 | ESP32 | $3.28 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N4R8 / -N8R2 | S3 | $3.35 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16 | S3 | $3.48 |
| ESP32-PICO-MINI-02 | ESP32 (SiP) | $3.50 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N8R8 / -N16R2 | S3 | $3.62 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 | S3 | $3.90 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-2 | S3 (Octal) | $5.85 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-2-N32R8V | S3 | $6.68 |
| ESP32-S3-WROOM-2-N32R16V | S3 | $6.88 |
Wi-Fi 6, 802.15.4 and next-generation modules
| Module | Chip | Radio | Price from |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32-H2-MINI-1 | H2 | BLE 5 + 802.15.4 | $2.03 |
| ESP32-H2-MINI-1-H4S | H2 | BLE 5 + 802.15.4 | $2.07 |
| ESP32-H2-MINI-1U / -1U-H4S | H2 | BLE 5 + 802.15.4 | $2.13–$2.19 |
| ESP32-C61-MINI-1 / -1U | C61 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE 5 | $2.14 |
| ESP32-C6-MINI-1-N4 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE 5.3 + 802.15.4 | $2.50 |
| ESP32-C6-MINI-1U / -1U-H4 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $2.53–$2.60 |
| ESP32-C6-MINI-1 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $2.57 |
| ESP32-C61-WROOM-1 / -1U | C61 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE 5 | $2.60 |
| ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $2.85 |
| ESP32-C6-WROOM-1U | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $2.88 |
| ESP32-C6-MINI-1-H8 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $2.71 |
| ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N8 / -1U-N8 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $3.13–$3.15 |
| ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N16 / -1U-N16 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $3.40–$3.43 |
| ESP32-C5-WROOM-1 / -MINI-1 | C5 | Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 + BLE + 802.15.4 | $3.50 |
| ESP32-C5-WROOM-1-N8R8 / -1U | C5 | Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 | $4.50 |
| ESP32-C5-WROOM-1-N16R8 | C5 | Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 | $5.00 |
| ESP32-S31-WROOM-3 | S31 | Wi-Fi 6 + BT 5.4 + 802.15.4 + 1 GbE | $5.00 |
The U suffix means an external antenna connector instead of the PCB antenna; the I in WROVER-IE
means the same thing. See Boards → decoding part numbers
for the full
suffix grammar.
Official development kits
| Kit | Chip | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32-S2-DevKitC-1 / DevKitM-1 | S2 | Basic breakout | $8 |
| ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 | C3 | Basic breakout | $8 |
| ESP32-C6-DevKitM-1 | C6 | Basic breakout | $8 |
| ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 | C6 | Basic breakout, more pins | $9 |
| ESP8684-DevKitM-1 / DevKitC-02 | C2 | Basic breakout | $9.80 |
| ESP32-PICO-KIT-1 | ESP32 | SiP breakout | $10 |
| ESP32-H2-DevKitM-1-N4S | H2 | Thread / Zigbee / BLE | $10 |
| ESP-Prog-2 | — | JTAG debugger and flashing tool | $11.50 |
| ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 | S3 | Basic breakout | $15 |
| ESP32-C5-DevKitC-1 | C5 | Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 | $15 |
| ESP32-C3-DevKit-RUST-2 | C3 | Rust toolchain kit with onboard sensors | $18 |
| ESP32-C3-AWS-ExpressLink-DevKit-2 | C3 | AWS IoT ExpressLink | $25 |
| ESP-VoCat | S3 | 1.85" round touch, dual mic, LLM voice kit | $40 |
| ESP32-S3-EYE | S3 | 2 MP DVP camera + 1.3" display | $45 |
| ESP32-S3-BOX-3 | S3 | 2.4" touch, dual mic, radar, IR — AIoT kit | $49 |
| ESP-SensairShuttle | S3 | 1.93" touch + Bosch BME690/BMI270/BMM350 | $49.90 |
| ESP32-P4X-Function-EV-Board | P4 | 7" 1920×1080 MIPI-DSI + MIPI-CSI camera | $56 |
| ESP32-S3-LCD-EV-Board | S3 | 3.95" 480×480 RGB display kit | $59 |
| ESP32-S31-Korvo-1 | S31 | Audio and voice reference board | $59 |
| ESP32-S3-LCD-EV-Board-2 | S3 | Larger display variant | $69 |
Third-party boards
Street prices, which move more than Espressif’s reference figures. Included to give a sense of the market rather than as a price list.
| Board | Chip | Notable | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generic NodeMCU-32S / DevKitC clones | ESP32 | The cheapest way to get started | $3–6 |
| AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM | ESP32 | OV2640 camera + microSD | ~$10 |
| Seeed XIAO ESP32-C3 | C3 | Thumbnail-sized, battery pads | ~$5–8 |
| Seeed XIAO ESP32-C6 | C6 | Wi-Fi 6 + Thread, tiny | ~$8–10 |
| Seeed XIAO ESP32-C5 | C5 | Cheapest dual-band ESP32 board | ~$7 |
| Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense | S3 | Camera + mic, 8 MB PSRAM / 8 MB flash | ~$14–20 |
| Adafruit QT Py ESP32 | ESP32 | STEMMA QT connector | $14.95 |
| Adafruit ItsyBitsy ESP32 | ESP32 | Small, breadboard friendly | $14.95 |
| Adafruit HUZZAH32 Feather / Feather V2 | ESP32 | LiPo charging, FeatherWing ecosystem | $19.95 |
| LilyGO T-Display-S3 | S3 | 1.9" IPS display in a slim board | $15–23 |
| LilyGO T5 4.7" E-Paper | S3 | Large e-paper, low power dashboards | $35–45 |
| “Cheap Yellow Display” / Sunton / Guition | ESP32, S3 | Resistive or capacitive touch panels | $12–30 |
| WT32-ETH01 | ESP32 | Ethernet + Wi-Fi gateway board | $8–14 |
| TTGO LoRa32 / Heltec WiFi LoRa | ESP32, S3 | SX127x/SX126x LoRa + OLED | $18–30 |
| M5Stack Core / StickC / Atom | ESP32, S3 | Enclosed, stackable modules | $10–50 |
| Waveshare ESP32-P4-Nano | P4 | Compact P4 with MIPI headers | ~$30–45 |
| BPI-BIT | ESP32 | Education board | ~$20 |
What actually drives the cost of a product
The chip is rarely the largest line on the BOM. If you are costing an ESP32 product, these matter more:
Memory configuration. Going from no PSRAM to 8 MB on an S3 module costs roughly $0.40; going to 16 MB Octal on a WROOM-2 roughly triples the module price. Buy the memory you need and no more — but note that running out of RAM late in a project is far more expensive than the part difference.
Certification. Using a pre-certified module means you inherit FCC and CE approval for the radio. Designing with a bare chip means running your own intentional-radiator testing: typically several thousand dollars and weeks of schedule, per market. This is why the module premium is worth paying below roughly 50,000 units.
Antenna choice. A PCB antenna is free but constrained by enclosure and ground-plane geometry. An
external antenna on a U-variant module adds a connector, a cable and an antenna — call it $1 to $3 —
but recovers range when the enclosure is metal or the board is crowded.
Flash endurance and OTA. Two OTA partitions plus a factory image plus filesystem means 4 MB fills up faster than expected. Going to 8 MB costs about $0.30 at the module level, which is cheap insurance against not being able to ship a firmware update in year three.
Power supply. These chips have high peak currents during transmit — hundreds of milliamps in bursts. An undersized regulator or insufficient bulk capacitance produces brownouts that look like firmware bugs, and debugging that costs more engineering time than a better regulator costs in parts.
Development boards are not products. A $15 DevKitC has a USB-serial bridge, an LDO and headers you will not ship. Prototype on the kit, cost the module.