Why the ESP32-S3 Is Becoming the Default Choice for DIY Projects

If you’ve been following recent DIY projects on GitHub or YouTube, you’ll have noticed the ESP32-S3 showing up more and more, replacing the original ESP32 or the older ESP8266. Here’s why.

More GPIO pins and memory

Compared to the original ESP32, the S3 line offers more GPIO pins and larger PSRAM options — genuinely useful for projects that process images, buffer audio, or run several sensors at once without having to ration every single pin.

Light AI acceleration built in

The ESP32-S3 includes instructions suited to running small machine-learning inference workloads, so projects like wake-word detection or simple camera-based motion detection can now run directly on the microcontroller instead of shipping data to a server.

Built-in USB

Many S3 boards expose USB OTG straight from the chip, meaning you can flash code, debug over Serial, and even emulate a USB keyboard or mouse without a separate USB-to-Serial chip — lower cost, fewer points of failure.

So, worth the upgrade?

For simple projects (reading a couple of sensors, publishing over MQTT), a regular ESP32 or even an ESP8266 is still more than enough — no need to switch. But if your project involves a camera, voice recognition, or you keep running out of GPIO pins, the ESP32-S3 is worth considering for your next build.

What board are you using for your current project? Share it in the comments below.