Nodes
Community-voiced board data and quotes are lifted from the canonical pin: discussion #2334 — Boards: what works, what’s flaky, what to avoid. If a board you’ve run isn’t listed, comment on that thread and we’ll fold it in.
Chip families
Section titled “Chip families”Pick a chip first, then a board within it.
| Chip | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ESP32-S3 | yes — recommended for new deployments | 8 MB flash typical, BT 5.0 LE coded PHY, USB-CDC |
| ESP32-C3 | yes — recommended for cost-sensitive deployments | RISC-V, 4 MB flash typical |
| ESP32-C6 | yes — bleeding edge | Newer RISC-V part with BT 5.3; firmware build available |
| Original ESP32 | yes, for now | Less CPU and RAM than the S3/C3/C6. Still supported, but expect it to age out; prefer a newer chip. |
| ESP32-S2 | no | No Bluetooth radio |
| ESP8266 | no | No Bluetooth radio |
Recommended boards
Section titled “Recommended boards”The boards in bold are the picks if you don’t want to think about it — M5 Atom S3 Lite as the default, M5Stack NanoC6 for kitting out a whole house (tiny, enclosed, ~$6), M5 Stamp C3 Mate as a cost-conscious alternative.
All branded boards here flash with the browser installer, which picks the right firmware flavour automatically.
ESP32-S3
Section titled “ESP32-S3”| Board | Stores | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| M5 Atom S3 Lite | m5stack ali ali2 amz/us | Enclosed, USB-C. 8 MB flash, 3D antenna, IR emitter, RGB LED, button, GROVE 1 |
| LILYGO T-Energy-S3 | amz/us | 18650 holder and power switch: a portable node for calibration walks, about a day per charge. 16 MB flash, PCB antenna, USB-C 1 |
| M5 Atom S3U | m5stack ali amz/us | Enclosed, USB-A. 8 MB flash, 3D antenna, IR emitter, PDM mic, RGB LED, button, GROVE 1 |
| M5 Stamp S3 | ali amz/us | Stamp form. 8 MB flash, 3D antenna, RGB LED 1 |
| Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 | ali amz/us | Tiny module, USB-C. 8 MB flash + 8 MB PSRAM, U.FL connector with external antenna. Listing also sells the C3 and S3 Sense — pick the S3 option. Amazon sells a 3-pack 1 |
ESP32-C3
Section titled “ESP32-C3”| Board | Stores | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| M5 Stamp C3 Mate | m5stack ali amz/us | Stamp form. 4 MB flash, 3D antenna, RGB LED, button |
| M5 Stamp C3U Mate | m5stack ali amz/us | Stamp form, USB-A. 4 MB flash, 3D antenna, RGB LED, button 1 |
| ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1U | ali | Espressif’s dev board with ESP32-C3-MINI-1U module and U.FL connector. 4 MB flash, 160 MHz |
ESP32-C6
Section titled “ESP32-C6”C6 support is bleeding edge — expect rougher edges than S3/C3.
| Board | Stores | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| M5Stack NanoC6 | m5stack ali amz/us | Very small and enclosed, USB-C. 4 MB flash, ceramic antenna, IR emitter, RGB LED, button, GROVE |
| Seeed XIAO ESP32-C6 | ali amz/us | Tiny module, USB-C. 4 MB flash, onboard ceramic antenna + U.FL connector. Amazon sells a 3-pack |
Original ESP32
Section titled “Original ESP32”Still supported, but don’t buy one new — the silicon is old and the newer S3/C3/C6 boards above are better for about the same money. These are for people who already own one.
| Board | Notes |
|---|---|
| M5 Atom (Lite / Echo / Matrix) | Enclosed. The 3D antenna is much better than generic clones |
| M5 Stamp Pico | Stamp form. Small, still has a 3D antenna |
| Adafruit Huzzah32 | Dev board. Branded, quality control unlike generic ESP32 dev boards |
Works, with caveats
Section titled “Works, with caveats”These boards run ESPresense, but antenna and module QC vary — RSSI from one of these often won’t agree with a branded board at the same distance, which makes fleet calibration harder and hurts Companion’s room solver. Use one you already own rather than buying a new one. If a “with caveats” board misbehaves, reproduce on a tier-1 board before opening a firmware issue — RF problems on a marginal clone look identical to firmware bugs and burn triage time.
| Board | Caveat | Source |
|---|---|---|
| AZDelivery ESP32 NodeMCU (WROOM-32 module on a generic dev board) | Works but no brand QC | #2334 / #1567, #1577 |
| Generic D1 Mini ESP32 (Micro-B and USB-C) | Multiple users report working in practice; same no-brand → no-QC caveat on the RF front-end | #2334 / #162 |
| LOLIN D32 ESP32 | Works; unbranded RF caveat | #2334 |
| M5StickC Plus | Built-in battery is a liability for a fixed-in-place node | #2334 |
| Macchina A0 | Car OBD-II dongle. From v5 it runs the plain esp32 build with a board template instead of its own flavor | #2530 |
| SEEEDSTUDIO XIAO ESP32-C3 (amz/us, 3-pack) | Runs on the esp32C3 flavour. One report of a board overheating (#1364); use a known-good USB-C cable and a real power supply | #2334 / #1364 |
Ethernet and PoE boards
Section titled “Ethernet and PoE boards”A wired node keeps WiFi out of the way, and a PoE board needs only one cable. Ethernet works on the esp32 and esp32s3 builds. Pick the board under Ethernet Type on the Network page, or apply the board’s template. Most of these are original-ESP32 boards, because that’s where the Ethernet MAC is.
| Board | Ethernet Type | PoE | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO | ESP32-POE | 802.3af, isolated | The classic PoE node. Non-ISO version: never plug in USB while on PoE |
| Silicognition wESP32 | wESP32 Rev7+ (older: WESP32) | 802.3at, isolated | Rock solid, 12 V output. ~$55 plus a $15 programmer |
| GL.iNet GL-S10 | GL-inet GL-S10 v2.1 | Yes | Enclosed, external antenna. Open the case once to flash |
| Waveshare ESP32-S3-ETH | Waveshare ESP32-S3-ETH (W5500) | Add-on module | The only S3 option. Native USB, use the esp32s3-cdc flavor |
| LilyGO T-Internet-POE | LilyGO-T-ETH-POE | 802.3af, isolated | No USB data port; flash with an adapter |
| LilyGO T-ETH-Lite (ESP32) | LilyGO-T-ETH-Lite (RTL8201) | Shield | No USB data port. Not the S3 version |
| WT32-ETH01 | WT32-ETH01 | No | Cheapest wired node. No USB, some units hang at power-up |
| EST-PoE-32 | EST-PoE-32 | Low power, not isolated | Often sold out |
| QuinLED-ESP32 (Ethernet) | QuinLED-ESP32 | No | Comes on QuinLED’s “with LAN” LED controllers |
| Espressif ESP32-Ethernet-Kit | KIT-VE | 802.3at board | Dev kit, ~$55 |
| TwilightLord-ESP32 Ethernet Shield | TwilightLord-ESP32 | No | Hobbyist Tindie shield, not currently sold |
| RGB2Go Ethernet module, Athom “IoTorero” Ethernet controller | ESP32Deux | No | LED controllers that use this profile; reuse one if you have it |
Smart plugs
Section titled “Smart plugs”An ESP32 smart plug flashed with ESPresense is a node that’s also a working outlet, and it never needs a USB charger. From v5 (ESPresense#2530) the relay is a proper output, a Home Assistant switch the button toggles, and BL0937, HLW8012 and CSE7766 meters report power and energy.
| Plug | Chip | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SwitchBot Plug Mini | ESP32-C3 | Excellent. Converts over the air with ESPreSwitch, tested on stock firmware v2.7 |
| Athom Plug V3 | ESP32-C3 | Works, but the antenna is weak. Use the esp32c3-cdc flavor so the power meter gets GPIO 20 |
Steer away
Section titled “Steer away”Each of these comes up often enough that it’s worth saying plainly:
- Unbranded “ESP32 dev board” listings (Amazon / AliExpress). ESPresense uses RSSI as its main input: every distance estimate and every Companion room solve assumes the fleet’s readings agree. Unbranded clones don’t have consistent antenna designs, even within one listing; two boards from the same batch routinely differ by several dB at the same distance, which is feet of error on the Companion floor plan. That doesn’t matter for ESPHome-style sensor/relay projects, which is why “these same cheap boards never drop with ESPHome” is a common (accurate but irrelevant) objection — ESPHome isn’t doing RSSI distance estimation across a calibrated fleet. The failure is silent too: the board flashes, joins WiFi and reports to MQTT, but its RSSI doesn’t line up with the rest of the fleet. @maxi1134 separately reports a 40-50% WiFi-retry rate on generic ESP32 dev boards (#1364, summarised in #2334). For any node you intend to calibrate against the fleet — and especially for Companion — spend the extra few dollars on a branded board.
- ESP32-CAM. Not supported. Camera owns most of the GPIOs, tighter RAM, no maintained firmware variant. One member keeps a fork working with source-side changes (#1347); we don’t build for it.
- ESP32-S2 / ESP8266. No Bluetooth radio — can’t run ESPresense.
- NSPanel as a base station. Open question. The chip is an ESP32, but no one has got both the touch UI and BT scanning working under ESPresense (#1335).
Power and cabling
Section titled “Power and cabling”USB-C chargers
Section titled “USB-C chargers”- 20W USB-C Wall Charger — small fast charger with foldable plug
- 20W USB-C Wall Charger (3-pack)
- USB-C Charger (AliExpress) — listed as 40W; a node only draws a watt or two, so any working charger is plenty
USB-C to C cables
Section titled “USB-C to C cables”USB-A chargers
Section titled “USB-A chargers”- Dual USB-A 3-pack — compact cube design
USB-A to C cables
Section titled “USB-A to C cables”- 10 ft flat, 2-pack
- 1 ft braided, 3-pack
- 6 inch, 5-pack
- Straight adapter 4-pack
- Right-angle adapter 4-pack
USB-A to Micro-B cables
Section titled “USB-A to Micro-B cables”See also
Section titled “See also”- Canonical pin #2334 — community discussion, raw quotes, source threads
- Install Firmware — browser-based installer
- Discord — faster human turnaround on board questions