ESP-IDF
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 3 embedded frameworks by recommenders
Developers recommend it as a professional C framework for ESP32 chips, with broad hardware support and a capable VS Code plugin. Critics mainly point to breaking API changes between versions.
Developers recommend it as a professional C framework for ESP32 chips, with broad hardware support and a capable VS Code plugin. Critics mainly point to breaking API changes between versions.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works with VS Code and PlatformIO
“That native sdk and the vscode plugin are very professional.”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “ESP32-S31: 320MHz 2C RV32IMAFCP+CLIC, 512KB SRAM, GbE, 802.11ax, 61 GPIO” “PIO + esp-IDF is the only way I write ESP firmware.”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Adafruit: Arduino’s Rules Are ‘Incompatible With Open Source’” “Well you can use PlatformIO/VSCode and the ESP-IDF.”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Arduino published updated terms and conditions: no longer an open commons” Clean C interface to hardware
“ESP-IDF, which is a pretty good C-style interface to all sorts of hardware features.”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Death of Arduino?” “ESP-IDF is built on C and I can write C code just fine.”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Ladybird Browser adopts Rust” Works well and feels stable
“Other than that it works pretty well.”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “ESP32-S31: 320MHz 2C RV32IMAFCP+CLIC, 512KB SRAM, GbE, 802.11ax, 61 GPIO” “it's significantly more stable”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “ESP32-S31: 320MHz 2C RV32IMAFCP+CLIC, 512KB SRAM, GbE, 802.11ax, 61 GPIO”
Other embedded frameworks people recommend
The two most recommended other embedded frameworks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 3 embedded frameworks, rankedWhat people said
18 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Version 6 of IDF didn't even work on my host.”
“I have a bunch of components that are basically "compile if this SDK config is set"”
“automatic light sleep between BLE advertisments”
“I just started with esp-idf because I can't stand all the bloat”
“it solves a host of mundane problems that need solving in real products”
“at least we get some variation”
“Other than that it works pretty well.”
“That native sdk and the vscode plugin are very professional.”
“it's significantly more stable”
“ESP-IDF is built on C and I can write C code just fine.”
“the fact they implemented support for that is amazing”
“ESP-IDF is a bright stars when it comes to opensource HALs in the microcontroller world”
“you need to use the ESP32 function calls if you want to do anything sophisticated (and idf.py)”
“the esp-idf HAL has had a number of breaking API changes over the years”
“PIO + esp-IDF is the only way I write ESP firmware.”
“There's a fantastic port of ESP-IDF on Rust that Espressif themselves is maintaining nowadays”
“Well you can use PlatformIO/VSCode and the ESP-IDF.”
“ESP-IDF, which is a pretty good C-style interface to all sorts of hardware features.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.