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Comment by DeathArrow | Hacker News Reader

I think Arduino and ESP32 have different goals. One is more of an educational tool targeting children and adults to automate simple stuff and learning to program microcontrollers in a simplified way and the other is focusing on more industrial solutions where performance, price and flexibility matters.

So I am not sure they are competitors. Like Intel and Raspberry Pi aren't competitors as they address very different markets.

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One is more of an educational tool targeting children and adults to automate simple stuff and learning to program microcontrollers in a simplified way

Ok, but then Micro:Bit is much nicer. It has a Nordic nRF52833, so Bluetooth LE, accelerometer, magnetometer, MEMS microphone, buzzer, 5x5 led matrix, tactile push buttons, and a touch sensor button. And it's easy to program with MakeCode (our daughter programmed it when she was 5 or 6) and MicroPython. It's easy to program, supports crocodile chips. And even the bundle with battery holder and batteries is cheaper than an Uno.

It might be true but Arduino built a brand and is better known.

Addressing specific markets only works if you do it uniquely or better. The simplified Arduino tooling works on the ESP32, which is also the cheaper and better option.

Good point. Are there ready made ESP32 boards good for education?

Just google ESP on AliExpress. Tons of different dev boards available.

NodeMCU ESP32

People rate the ESPs from DF robot.

They aren’t cheap but they also provide support and a good to deal with. https://www.dfrobot.com/

But that Arduino tooling and all the libraries, tutorials, etc. wouldn't exist if nobody had bought Arduinos. If I'm just buying a few boards for personal projects I like to support companies that provide more than just hardware to the maker community.

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