2.4GHz~2.5GHz Bluetooth, WiFi -40°C~85°C 2.7V~3.6V ADC, GPIO, I2C, I2S, PWM, SDIO, SPI, UART 150Mbps 20.5dBm 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.2 + EDR, Class 1, 2 and 3 -97dBm Module
RP2040 and ESP32 are all microcontrollers. This article is going to talk about the differences between them.
Raspberry pi pico vs esp32
Overview of RP2040
The Raspberry Pi RP2040 is the company’s first microcontroller. It brings to the microcontroller arena our distinctive values of great performance, low cost, and ease of use. It provides professional users with unrivaled power and flexibility because of its huge on-chip memory, symmetric dual-core processing complex, deterministic bus fabric, and comprehensive peripheral set reinforced with our innovative Programmable I/O (PIO) subsystem. It provides the lowest possible barrier to entry for beginning and amateur users, with thorough documentation, a polished MicroPython port, and a UF2 bootloader in ROM.
The RP2040 is a stateless device with external QSPI memory cached execute-in-place functionality. This design option allows you to select the right density of nonvolatile storage for your application while also taking advantage of commodity Flash‘s low pricing.
The RP2040 is built on a cutting-edge 40nm process node that delivers great performance, low dynamic power consumption, and low leakage, as well as a range of low-power modes to facilitate extended battery operation.
Overview of ESP32
ESP32 is a low-cost, low-power system on a chip (SoC) series with Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth features developed by Espressif Systems! The chip s ESP32-D0WD Q6 (and ESP32-D0WD ), ESP32-D2WD, ESP32-S0WD, and the system in package (SiP) ESP32 -PICO-D4 are all part of the ESP32 family. A dual-core or single-core Tensilica Xtensa LX6 microprocessor with a clock rate of up to 240 MHz is at its heart. Antenna switches, RF baluns, power amplifiers, low-noise receive amplifiers. filters, and power management modules are all included in the ESP32, ESP32 is designed for mobile devices, wearable electronics, and IoT applications, and it uses power-saving technologies including fine resolution clock gating, numerous power modes, and dynamic power scaling to achieve ultra-low power consumption.
RP2040 Features
- Dual ARM Cortex -M0+ @ 133MHz
- 264kB on-chip SRAM in six independent banks
- Support for up to 16MB of off-chip Flash memory via dedicated QSPI bus
- DMA controller
- Fully-connected AHB crossbar
- Interpolator and integer divider peripherals
- On-chip programmable LDO to generate a core voltage
- 2 on-chip PLLs to generate USB and core clocks
- 30 GPIO pins, 4 of which can be used as analog inputs
- Peripherals
ESP32 Features
Processors:
- CPU: Xtensa dual-core (or single-core) 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, operating at 160 or 240 MHz and performing at up to 600 DMIPS
- Ultra-low-power (ULP) co-processor
- Memory: 320 KiB RAM, 448 KiB ROM
- Wireless connectivity:
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE (shares the radio with Wi-Fi )
Peripheral interfaces:
- 34 × programmable GPIOs
- 12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels
- 2 × 8-bit DACs
- 10 × touch sensors (capacitive sensing GPIOs )
- 4 × SPI
- 2 × I²S interfaces
- 2 × I²C interfaces
- 3 × UART
- SD/SDIO/CE-ATA/MMC/eMMC host controller
- SDIO/SPI slave controller
- Ethernet MAC interface with dedicated DMA and planned IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol support[4]
- CAN bus 2.0
- Infrared remote controller (TX/RX, up to 8 channels)
- Motor PWM
- LED PWM (up to 16 channels)
- Hall effect sensor
- Ultra-low-power analog pre-amplifier
Security:
- IEEE 802.11 standard security features all supported, including WPA, WPA2, WPA3 (depending on the version)[5] and WAPI
- Secure boot
- Flash encryption
- 1024-bit OTP, up to 768-bit for customers
- Cryptographic hardware acceleration: AES, SHA-2, RSA, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), random number generator (RNG)
Power management:
- Internal low-dropout regulator
- Individual power domain for RTC
- 5 μA deep sleep current
- Wake up from GPIO interrupt, timer, ADC measurements, capacitive touch sensor interrupt
RP2040 VS ESP32 Features
| RP2040 | ESP32 | |
| Core count | Dual-core | Single/dual-core |
| Microcontroller | RP2040 | Tensilica Xtensa LX6 |
| Clock frequency | 48MHz/133MHz | 80Mhz/160MHz/240MHz |
| SRAM | 264 KB in 6 banks | 520 KB |
| Interna Flash Memory | 2 MB | 4 MB |
| External Flash Support | Up to 16 MB | 16MB |
| SPI | 2 | 4 |
| I²C | 2 | 2 |
| PWM | 16 | 16 |
| ADC | 3(12-bits) | 18(12-bits) |
| GPIO(total) | 26 | 36 |
| UART | 2 | 3 |
| RTC memory | Not Specified | 16 KB |
| MCU Voltage | 3.3 VCD | 3.3 VCD |
| Programming Language | C, C++ MicroPython | C, C++ MicroPython |
| Operating Voltage | 3.3 VDC | 3.3 VDC |
| Temperature Sensor | Yes | Yes |
| Touch Sensor | No | Yes |
| WIFI | Not Supported | 802.11 b/g/n |
| Wi-Fi Mesh | Not Supported | Up to 1000 nodes |
| Bluetooth | Not Supported | V4.2 (Supports both Classic Bluetooth and BLE) |
| Bluetooth Mesh | Not Supported | BLE Mesh |
| Ethernet | Not Supported | 10/100 Mbps |
| Onboard LED | 1 programmable LED(GPIO 25) | 1 programmable LED(GPIO 2) |
| SD/MMC slot | Yes | Yes |
Differences between the RP2040 and ESP32’s Features
On the spec sheet, both microcontroller boards are excellent. The RP2040 is the Raspberry Pi Pico is an ARM Cortex -M0+ Dual-core CPU, while the Tensilica Xtensa LX6 in the ESP32 is a 32-bit dual-core CPU, Though an option to get a Single-core variant of ESP 32 is also available. The Pico’s CPU runs at 133 MHz, while the ESP32 runs at 240 MHz. As a result, the Arm Cortex -M0+ CPU is significantly slower than the ESP 32 ‘s 32-bit LX6 CPU.
The Pi Pico has 2 MB of Flash memory, while the ESP 32 has 4 MB. A board’s flash memory is the location where the program is stored. ESP 32 has double the flash memory of Pico, but it also has wireless connectivity, so the 4 MB storage difference is negligible. If we don’t have any WiFi or Bluetooth-based programs, 2 MB of storage should be plenty. The SRAM on the ESP 32 is 520 KB, while the SRAM on the Raspberry Pi Pico is 264 KB, The SRAM size is sufficient because the Raspberry Pi Pico uses MicroPython projects.
RP2040 VS ESP32 Pinout
RP2040 Pinout
ESP32 Pinout
RP2040 VS ESP32 Block Diagram
RP2040 Block Diagram
ESP32 Block Diagram
RP2040 VS ESP32 Specifications
| RP2040 | ESP32 | |
| CPU | Arm Cortex-M0+ Dual-core @133MHz | Tensilica Xtensa LX6 32 bit Dual-Core @ 160 / 240Mhz |
| Programmable pins | 30 | 38 |
| Supply Voltage | 1.8-5.5V | 2.2-3.6V |
| RAM | 264 KB | 520 KB |
| ROM (Flash) | 448 KB | |
| UART | 2 | 3 |
| SPI | 2 (OSPI) | 4 |
| Deep sleep consumption | 18 µA (Dormant) 39 µA (Sleep) | 10 µA |
| DAC | 8 bit up to 2 channels | |
| I2S | 1 | 2 |
| ADC | x4 12-bit | 12 bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels |
| Temperature sensor | × | √ |
| Hall effect sensor | × | √ |
| GPIO | 30 | 32 (up to) |
| Touch sensors | 10 | |
| External SPIRAM | 16 MB up to | |
| RTC Memory | 16 KB | |
| Ethernet (LAN, RJ45) | 10/100Mbps | |
| Height | 0.27559 in (7 mm) | 0.23622 in (6 mm) |
| Width | 0.27559 in (7 mm) | 0.23622 in (6 mm) |
Differences between the RP2040 and ESP32’s Specifications
There are 30 programmable pins on the Raspberry Pi Pico and 38 on the ESP32. External flash is present on both boards. Both boards, on the other hand, feature a sufficient number of pins for IoT development and projects. Except for I2S and CAN, the Raspberry Pi Pico supports practically all conventional Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) interfaces. These two interfaces are not necessarily required, however they are included with the ESP 32. Direct Memory Access (DMA) is available on both boards. The Raspberry Pi Pico has standard USB support, however, the ESP 32 is missing this most fundamental and useful capability.
For debugging, both the Raspberry Pi Pico and the ESP 32 provide a Serial Wire Debug interface. Wireless communication, such as WiFi or Bluetooth, is not supported by the Raspberry Pi Pico, The ESP32 board, on the other hand, supports WiFi and Bluetooth communication. The power consumption of the two boards is drastically different. With WiFi switched off, the Raspberry Pi Pico consumes only 18mA of current, whereas the ESP 32 board consumes a massive 53 mA. Raspberry has done a fantastic job here.
When it comes to an input supply voltage, the Raspberry Pi Pico can run between 1.8 and 5.5 volts, whereas the ESP32 can operate between 2.2 and 3.6 volts. This means that a Li-Ion battery (3.3-4.2V) or two AA batteries (2.0-3.2V) can be directly connected to the Raspberry Pi Pico. but the ESP 32 will not accept either of these primary batteries. Both microcontroller boards are the same price, $4, making them both reasonably priced.
RP2040 VS ESP32 Datasheet
- RP2040 Datasheet
- ESP32 Datasheet
Conclusion:
The Raspberry Pi Pico is a beginner-friendly microcontroller board that uses MicroPython to provide a warm introduction to the IoT branch and microcontrollers. The RP2040 is a well-designed microprocessor that may be used in practically any IoT project. It has sufficient power to get the job done efficiently. ARM M0+ is the CPU type for the dual-core processor. All of these capabilities for about $4 is a fantastic price, especially for students who want to board for a variety of projects that do not require wifi access.
The ESP 32, on the other hand, is a small but powerful microcontroller board. It is a very well-developed microchip that may be utilized in a variety of IoT applications because of its low cost, low power consumption, and small size. This microcontroller board. on the other hand, has earned a reputation as one of the best boards for IoT developers because of its wireless connectivity and other fascinating features.
RP2040 VS ESP32 Package information
RP2040 Package information
ESP32 Package information
ESP32 Manufacturer
PIC Programming Software. The cost of developing the Microchip PIC has been reduced thanks to the EPIC family of in-circuit emulators. The first EPIC was released in May 1995, and since then, over 10,000 units have been shipped, making the ICEPIC the most popular emulator on the planet. Microchip Technology has chosen to offer the product as well as integrate it into their own MPLAB operating system. They also sell programmers, C compilers, BASIC compilers, a variety of reference books, tutorials, and project boards, making them a one-stop-shop for PIC microcontroller development.
